Director of Public Prosecutions v Bryant

[2016] VCC 404

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Revised
(Not) Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 16-00198

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ASHLEY BRYANT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	16 March 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v BRYANT
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 404

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr G Hughan

HIS HONOUR:

1Ashley Bryant, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing child pornography and two charges of failing to comply with reporting obligations.  They are on two indictments, one numbered 766 and one numbered 767.  There are also three summary matters of failure to comply with a supervision order and you have pleaded guilty to those.  All of these charges carry a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

2You are 38 years of age.  You have pleaded guilty to all these and I take that into account.  You have endeavoured to resolve them as best you could.  You do have a criminal history and you have been gaoled for this type of offending before. You have been cooperative.  Upon the conclusion of the sentence that I will impose, there is a virtue certainty that you will continue to be an on extended supervision order.

3In those circumstances, I see no point in this sentencing process in putting in either a period of parole or any form of community disposition.  Accordingly, I propose to give a straight sentence, upon the expiration of which I have no doubt you will be released into the community or taken to Corella Place and that is a matter for others, not a matter for me.

4Even though you do have an extensive criminal history and offending of this type of nature, I accept the material that you do not pose a danger to any children other than by means of the production of the pornography, which is usually in Eastern Europe from what I can gather.

5On indictment 767, you fall to be sentenced as a serious sex offender because of the nature of the charges that I will be imposing.  I am sure that is right.

6MR HUGHAN:  I think that is 766, Your Honour.  The child pornography charge, Your Honour's speaking of here?

7HIS HONOUR:  No, 766, thank you.

8MR HUGHAN:  Yes, Charge 1 on 766.

9HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  In this particular situation, I am aware that public protection becomes the principal sentencing purpose, but I do not think that that is of any significance here.  I will not be ordering a disproportionate sentence and would not have in any event.  However, I do direct that that be entered in the records of the court.

10Because of this offending, you will be - are already on, but again, will be referred to the Sex Offenders Registration.  I can indicate that that will be for a period of life and that form will be signed by my associate as you not having been asked.  You are well aware of the provisions of that and I am sure that the gaol have given you one.  So I take all of those matters into account.

11As well as the plea of guilty, you also pleaded guilty to a breach of a suspended sentence, of effective nine months which I gave you back in August of 2014.  On the charge of breach, you are convicted and discharged.

12What I will do is simply annex to these my sentencing remarks.  My sentencing remarks from August of 2014 and also the Crown summary of this offending.  It is quite voluminous in its description.  Anybody with a genuine interest can avail themselves of that Crown summary which is not disputed.

13The simplest way of dealing with it is to go through the very helpful chronology that was presented to me.  I see no reason to go through your background or past history or anything along those lines.  You have been subject to supervision orders.  There is a wealth of psychiatric and psychological material in relation to you, all of which is on file for anybody with a genuine interest in it.

14Going back over the years, the history is this.  In June of 2005, six months for possess child pornography.  In August of 2005, on appeal that became an intensive Correction order, which you as I understand it, completed.  In April 2009, four charges of child pornography, three years.  The intensive Correction order was breached and you were ordered to serve 39 days.

15Within that significant period of time, a lot of which you were in gaol, April 2014, possession of child pornography, 293 days.  On 30 June 2012, supervision order of four years duration, due to expire on 13 March 2016 and there are applications on foot to seek to extend that.

16In October of 2012, failing to comply, 180 days imprisonment.  December of 2014, the supervision order was confirmed.  August 2014, five charges of failing to comply with a supervision order, at which stage I gave you an aggregate sentence of 12 months.  Nine months of which was suspended for a period of 12 months.  I recall distinctly, Mr De Young was representing you at that stage, telling me that I had set you up to fail.  He was quite correct.

17In April 2015, you were permitted to reside in West Footscray.  In May 2015, items were seized and again in May 2015, you were interviewed by Corrections and were in possession of a play-station.  Later in May 2015, a warrant was executed at your address and you were arrested and interviewed.  Again in May of 2015, you were remanded and the charges were transferred to the County Court.

18You have been through the process, now over an extended period of time.  You have been prepared to plead guilty to appropriate charges since the outset.  The circumstances of the offending are such that you have been gaoled for it before.  You are aware that failure to comply is a serious matter and there has to be a separate punishment for it.

19In this particular situation, without moralising it or going through it all, I am simply going to do this.  On Indictment 766, on Charge 1, six months.  On Charge 2, three months concurrent, giving an effective sentence on that indictment of six months.  On Indictment 767, on Charge 1 three months, again concurrent with the six months imposed on Indictment 766. 

20The summary matters are in some respects more serious.  The summary matters are rolled up and I give you an aggregate sentence of six months.  Because of all the circumstances and because I am not going to be giving parole periods, I simply make that cumulative upon the six months from Indictment 1.  At that stage, there is an effective head sentence of 12 months.

21There are certainly no exceptional circumstances, so I have to restore the suspended sentence of nine months.  In this particular situation, bearing in mind that you will be released into extensive supervision, I propose to make three months of that sentence concurrent, with the 12 months.  In other words, six months cumulative which gives an effective sentence - straight sentence of 18 months and there is no minimum term for the reasons that I have outlined.  I direct that a period of 293 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

22MR HUGHAN:  I think we said 294, Your Honour, in terms of our calculation.  It was ‑ ‑ ‑

23HIS HONOUR:  I'm happy with 294.

24MR HUGHAN:  That's right, it was the 7th ‑ ‑ ‑

25COUNSEL:  Yes, that's my ‑ ‑ ‑

26MR HUGHAN:  Today's the 16th isn't it, Your Honour?

27HIS HONOUR:  It might've been cause there's the 293 days he got once before, which is a pretty extraordinary coincidence.  All right, so 294.

28MR HUGHAN:  Two-ninety-four.

29HIS HONOUR:  It's 18 months, 294.

30COUNSEL:  Yes.

31HIS HONOUR:  And that's the overall sentence.  In this situation, because of the way I have set it out and because of the suspended sentence, a 6AAA is meaningless.  So I do not propose to make one, it would be ridiculous.  Other than to say that by his cooperation of pleading guilty, Mr Bryant has saved himself a significant period of time in custody.

32MR HUGHAN:  Your Honour pleases.

33HIS HONOUR:  Anything else I need to do, or say, or not say?

34MR HUGHAN:  No, Your Honour.

35HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Very well, well what I'll do, I'll just leave the Bench while you have a quick yarn to him.

36COUNSEL:  Sure.

37HIS HONOUR:  Or otherwise (indistinct words) tomorrow.

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