Director of Public Prosecutions v Buck
[2021] VCC 759
•11 June 2021
magistrat
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
CR 20-01533
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| JYE BUCK |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE RIDDELL | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 6 May 2021 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 11 June 2021 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v BUCK | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2021] VCC 759 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Sentence
Catchwords: Intentionally Cause Injury – Threat to Kill – Reckless Conduct Endangering Serious Injury – Persistent Breach of Family Violence Intervention Order – Intimate Partner – Unprovoked attack – Prior history of violence – Plea of Guilty – Remorse -- Bugmy v R
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited:Kalala v The Queen [2017] VSCA 223; 269 A Crim R 1; Shau v The Queen [2020] VSCA 252; Verdins v The Queen [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 240; 169 A Crim R 581; Bugmy v R (2013) 302 ALR 192
Sentence: Total Effective Sentence 3 years 5 months imprisonment with Non-parole period 2 years
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr F. Cameron | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr W. Barker | Michael J. Gleeson & Associates |
HER HONOUR:
1Jye Buck, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal damage; one charge of common assault; one charge of conduct endangering serious injury; one charge of intentionally cause injury; one charge of make a threat to kill; a summary charge of trespass and a summary charge of committing an indictment offence on bail. Those matters relate to an incident that occurred on 3 October 2019.
2In addition, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of persistent contravention of a family violence intervention order which is related to that event.
3You were 28 at the time of the offending. You had been in a relationship with the victim, Natalie Brewer,[1] for approximately four months.
[1] pseudonym used
4Ms Brewer lived in a town near Geelong with her flat mate, Daniel Townson[2] and her 12 and 7 year old daughters were present.
[2] pseudonym used
5At the time of this incident, you were on bail in relation to charges of theft.
Summary of Offending
6On Wednesday 2 October 2019, you stayed overnight with Ms Brewer at her home. The following afternoon, you woke and asked Ms Brewer where your Xanax was. She told you that she did not know, but brought you your bag.
7Ms Brewer became nervous about the Xanax tablets being missing because her young children were in the house. She said to you, 'This is why you shouldn't have kids or be around mine. You should be more responsible'. She told you that you were not to come to her house and use heroin or be high around her kids.
8You became angry. Ms Brewer was in the bathroom. On the pretence of looking for your Xanax, you ripped her clothes off. She started crying and told you to stop. You picked up a hair dryer and hit her on the back of the head with it more than five times. She ducked and tried to protect herself and was screaming. Ms Brewer held the back of her head and was unable to stand up. Ms Brewer had blood in her eyes and her head was throbbing. You said, 'Get the fuck up'. The injury you gave her was later seen to be an open wound to the top of her head, with bone and skull exposed. (Charge 4: Causing injury intentionally).
9Ms Brewer either stood up and walked or was dragged by you to the bedroom. You proceeded to punch her five or six times to the face while she was standing up. She ended up on the floor. She valiantly tried to keep quiet to protect her daughters from hearing or seeing what was happening. While she was on the ground, you stomped on her head and chest with your foot numerous times, as she curled into a ball. Ms Brewer was in fear that you would kill her.
10Ms Brewer tried to get up and you grabbed her around her neck and windpipe and dug your fingers into her windpipe very hard. Ms Brewer could not breathe, (Charge 3: Conduct endangering serious injury). You said to Ms Brewer that you were going to kill her (Charge 5: Threat to kill). You let go and Ms Brewer could not breathe properly for a while. You told her to get dressed and she put on a dressing gown.
11Daniel Townson heard yelling and screaming coming from Ms Brewer's bedroom. He heard her yelling at the top of her voice and telling you to, 'Stop'. He heard the sound of flesh on flesh and thought it sounded like Ms Brewer was being punched. At this time, Ms Brewer's daughters were sitting on the lounge room floor.
12
Townson opened Ms Brewer's bedroom door. He saw you sitting on the bed and
Ms Brewer on the floor. You had your hands on the sides of her head. He yelled at you to stop and said that the kids were there. You told Mr Townson to get out a number of times. Mr Townson told you to stop and that he was not going to shut the door. You let go of Ms Brewer, stood up and slammed the door. Mr Townson continued to hear noises and screaming coming from the bedroom, consistent with
Ms Brewer being assaulted.
13During this period, Ms Brewer's seven year old daughter was crying and Mr Townson told her older sister to take her outside.
14You came out of the bedroom and into the lounge room, where Mr Townson was standing. Without warning, you punched him to the left side of his head three times and said, 'Don't you call the cops, I'll get ya'. Mr Townson said to you, 'Think of the kids'. You walked back into the bedroom and Townson could hear the assault continuing (Charge 2: Common law assault of Mr Townson).
15You came out of the bedroom and walked out of the front door. Ms Brewer walked out of the bedroom. Mr Townson observed her to be naked and covered in blood. He observed that there was blood all over the top of her hands, her face and running down her body and that her lips were swollen and bleeding. Ms Brewer said to Mr Townson, 'Can you call an ambulance'. Ms Brewer went back into the bathroom and closed the door.
16A few minutes later, you came back inside and went into the bathroom. Mr Townson heard more screaming, banging and thumping sounds. Mr Townson tried to call Triple 0, but did not have reception, so was forced to walk outside. He checked on the children who were sitting on the nature strip. He then went back inside and heard more screaming and yelling. Mr Townson continued to try and call Triple O. Ms Brewer's 12 year old daughter came inside and told him that she had been calling Triple 0 and you had taken the phone. She asked Mr Townson to call the police. He told her to go back outside and wait up the street for him.
17At some point during the incident, Ms Brewer ran from you and you chased her up the street. Ms Brewer yelled and screamed and told you to, 'Fuck off'. You caught her, grabbed her hair, grabbed at her face, her arms and her body. You had a knife and told her you were going to slit her throat with it. She put her hands up to her neck to stop you from cutting her and instead, you cut her little finger. She tried to push you away, but you were too powerful. You dragged her by the arm while she was on her back, along the footpath.
18During the course of this assault, Ms Brewer lost consciousness a number of times.
19You left the house at one point. Ms Brewer immediately locked the front wire door and internal wooden front door. You began banging on the locked wire door, yelling to be let inside. Ms Brewer was at the door yelling at you to go away. You smashed the front window, that is part of Charge 1 (Charge 1: Damaging property), the front window next to the door and pulled the wire door and broke it. You kicked at the wooden door. Ms Brewer leant against the wooden door and tried to stop you from coming inside. You broke the door jamb by kicking it and the door flew open (Charge 1: Damaging property). Ms Brewer was pinned against the wall. You walked into the house and walked towards Mr Townson. Mr Townson ran out of the back sliding door. You then walked to Ms Brewer. After you broke into the house, a neighbour heard a lot more yelling and screaming. (Related Summary Offence: Trespass).
20Police eventually arrived and arrested at you at Ms Brewer's house. You were in the shower.
Injuries
21.
In addition to the injury to her head, you caused the following injuries to
Ms Brewer: bruising underneath and anterior to her chin; bruises, scratches and an abrasion to her neck; a bruise to chest, her forearm and the back of her hand and a bruise and cut to her inner lower lip; a linear open wound, horizontally across her nose; and red marks to the back of her hand. Those injuries are all part of Charge 4, the intentionally cause injury.
Persistent breach of Family Violence Intervention order
22.
On the day following these events, a Family Violence Intervention Order was taken out against you, preventing you from contacting or communicating with Ms Brewer or her children in any way. Despite that order, between 6 February 2020 and
26 February 2020, you telephoned Ms Brewer from custody on twelve occasions in breach of the intervention order, including on one occasion, asking her to write a letter to the Judge about the aggravated burglary charge.
23On 26 February, she told you not to contact her anymore and to your credit, you desisted. (Charge 6: Persistent breach of intervention order).
Sentencing Principles
24This is serious violence in the context of an intimate partner relationship. The sentence I impose must express the community and the court's denunciation of such offending. It must generally deter other men from engaging in similar violence towards their partners. It must be aimed at community protection.
25In recent times, the courts and the community have begun to better understand the seriousness of family violence offending. The impact on direct victims, even from one off event and their children, may be immediate and long lasting.
26Although considering a very different type of offence, but in a setting of incitement to murder a de facto partner, the then Chief Justice of this state, Justice Warren stated in Kalala v The Queen[3]
'These factors [of the intimate partner or domestic partner setting] indicate a high degree of moral culpability. Such behaviour is totally unacceptable and cannot be tolerated. People should be able to expect protection from their partners, not violence. Family violence is an issue with which our community is tragically plagued. A clear message must be sent to the community. General deterrence and denunciation are therefore important sentencing considerations in this case'.
[3][2017] VSCA 223; 269 A Crim R 1
27Very recently, in Shau v The Queen[4], the Victorian Court of Appeal considered a charge of recklessly cause injury where the victim was the pregnant wife of the appellant. After a family function where the appellant had been drinking, he then assaulted his wife, first in the car, and then at a petrol station, including hitting and kicking her when she was lying on the ground. She eventually managed to flee inside the service station. Their Honours described the assault as protracted. At his plea, the victim gave evidence in support.
[4] [2020] VSCA 252
28Nonetheless their Honours stated -
46.Compounding to a significant degree, the seriousness of the offence is the fact that it occurred within the context of a family relationship. That fact had two relevant consequences. First, it meant that the offending arose in a relationship of trust. The breach of trust necessarily made the offending more serious.
47.Next, the courts must respond to the blight of family violence by imposing punishment that denounces the conduct and adequately addresses general deterrence. Unlike in many cases, there was no basis in the evidence to suggest that there had been earlier incidents of violence. … For that reason, the conduct was, on the evidence, an aberration. [The victim] expressed support for her husband on the plea. However, there remains a very high public interest in punishing family violence, both for its denunciatory and deterrent effect….'
29The offender in that matter had one old prior conviction of little relevance. There was no history of domestic violence, it was a plea of guilty and the charge was one of recklessness rather than intentionally cause injury. The Court of Appeal upheld a sentence of three years on that charge which had an applicable maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.
Objective Gravity
30I must assess the objective gravity of your offending in the setting of an intimate relationship. In my view, it was a reasonably serious example of causing injury intentionally for the following reasons.
31It was an assault on your partner who was entitled to your care and kindness.
32It occurred in her home, a place where she should have felt safe.
33You used a household item as a weapon, hitting her to her head repeatedly to a point where she was feeling dizzy. She said she felt unable to stand up, had blood in her eyes and her head was throbbing. The physical injury to her head is a result of those repeated strikes. You continued to assault her, despite her state and her pleading with you to stop.
34The assault was protracted, moving between various rooms in the house, out onto the street and back into the house.
35Your acts of violence against your partner were not only physically violent, resulting in her injuries, but they were degrading, including stripping her naked. One neighbour refers to her running naked in the street, bloodied and bruised.
36As part of the episode, you choked her, which is the charge of reckless conduct endangering serious injury. She describes feeling unable to breathe and wondering whether she would be able to do so again. There are marks around her neck from that part of this event. During that event, you made the threat to kill her. That must have been terrifying given the context of that threat. You later made a threat when brandishing a knife.
37You continued to behave in this way, despite Mr Townson's intervention.
38These acts occurred in the presence and hearing of her children which is most disturbing. Fortunately, there was another adult present who could send them outside. The fact that a 12 year old had to call police because you were violently assaulting her mother is reprehensible. Ms Brewer's daughter was extremely courageous and showed wisdom beyond her years in doing what she could to try and get police to the scene.
39Your assault on Ms Brewer's housemate, Mr Townson, demonstrates your level of aggression. That too was completely unprovoked and against a person who was doing his best to intervene and prevent further harm to Ms Brewer.
40Despite the fact I have not received a victim impact statement, I can well anticipate that Ms Brewer suffered distress, humiliation and fear during this offending, and that she is likely to have experienced some ongoing trauma as a result. Those matters would only be exacerbated in my view, by the presence of her two daughters and her feelings of concern for them.
Cumulation and Serious Offender provisions
41Although the charges are part of a single episode, the protracted nature of them to my mind means that even though cumulation must be moderated, there must still be some cumulation reflecting each of the separate acts constituting Charges 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 on the base sentence of cause injury intentionally.
42I note that for the charge of threat to kill, you are to be sentenced as a serious violent offender, given you received a term of imprisonment for a threat to kill charge in 2016. That fact enlivens the principles of s6E of the Sentencing Act 1991, which creates a presumption of cumulation. The prosecution did not urge me to impose a disproportionate sentence and I will not do so.
43I note the maximum penalties as outlined in the prosecution opening.
44It is clear that a term of imprisonment is warranted for this offending. Your counsel submitted that I should impose a sentence, plus a community corrections order. The prosecution submitted I should impose a sentence with a non-parole period.
45The sentencing synthesis here is a complicated one. Against the backdrop of what I have just outlined, and of your relevant criminal history for violence, which I will come to, you indicated a desire to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity and have expressed remorse. You have been on remand through the Covid pandemic. There are matters in your personal history which raise principles of Bugmy v The Queen, however, any moderation of sentence must be tempered by your ongoing drug use.
46I will turn to those considerations now.
Personal Circumstances
47Your history is contained in the report of clinical and forensic psychologist
Jeffrey Cummins and I also heard evidence from your sister Skye Buck, during your plea.48You were born in Geelong in 1991. Your parents moved between Geelong, Melbourne and Queensland, until separating when you were about eight years old. After separation, your father moved to Queensland and as a result, you saw very little of him during your early and teen years. He served a five year term of imprisonment for arson, being released when you were 17.
49You lived with your mother who worked in childcare and with people with disabilities. She re-partnered when you were 10 and her new partner was physically and emotionally abusive to her and to you. You observed him assault your mother on a frequent basis, including forcing her head into the dash board of the car, resulting in her admission to hospital. You saw him smash a glass bottle over the head of one of your siblings. You also suffered frequent physical beatings and he regularly called you derogatory names implying you were stupid.
50Your relationship with your mother was very good until that relationship. You began playing up, running away from home, using drugs, staying at the homes of strangers. When you were 14, your mother was contacted by police who had arrested you. She told them she did not want you back. Your sister described you as, ‘shunned' by your mother, with clear favoritism towards your brothers.
51You were made a Ward of the State. You were placed in various foster homes by DHHS, as well as Berry Street in Geelong and Melbourne and other care units. Meanwhile your mother and the other children moved to Queensland.
52Your drug use began when you started smoking cigarettes and cannabis at a very early age and then by using prescriptions and cocaine, after you were placed in foster homes.
53You were physically assaulted once by one set of foster parents, and sexually assaulted while in an Ascot Vale secure welfare unit, when a staff member forced you to allow them to do a strip search and touched you during the search. At one of the subsequent facilities, you also found video recordings that a staff member had of you in the showers.
54During that period, you attended various schools until you were 18, where you ultimately completed Year 10. Unsurprisingly, you struggled at school after you were made a ward of the state, including having to change schools multiple times when moving addresses. You fell behind in school and had to attend Barwon Youth to complete your Year 10 education.
55When you turned 18, you left DHHS care and went to live with your father who had moved to Geelong. You were very happy, no doubt, to get out of the care facilities. Your father got married while you were living with him. You were a part of his wedding. You felt part of a family and life it seemed, was finally moving in a positive direction for you. You obtained employment at age 19 with a furniture wholesaler, setting up and arranging warehouse and showroom and unloading new stock.
56Life then changed again when you were 21. Your father died suddenly as a result of a heart attack. His death had a significant impact on you and you resorted to heavy prescription and illicit drug use. On the day of your father's funeral, you apparently became violent to family members and were admitted to the Psychiatric Ward of Frankston Hospital for one night. Apart from some brief follow up with the CAT team, you did not receive any counselling for your grief.
57You were regularly using methamphetamine and heroin. Your drug use peaked when you were selling it, in order to afford your personal use amounts and you were ultimately charged for trafficking.
58Two years later, your partner died while you were on remand. You were not permitted to attend her funeral. Those events also had a significant impact on you, particularly when you were released back to the community without your partner or your father.
59Ever since your father's passing, you have continued to use prescriptions and drugs regularly.
60In 2017, you crashed your motorbike and were hospitalized. You received pain medications which you later abused, along with previous drugs you were taking.
61You report using heroin and methamphetamine and prescription drugs regularly up until the current offending.
Prior Offending
62In the context of your now chronic drug use, you have a reasonably lengthy prior criminal history. I note it begins after the death of your father, when you were approximately 22 years of age.
63Of relevance to my considerations of community protection, specific deterrence and your prospects of rehabilitation, you have a number of prior convictions for violence and one for breaching an intervention order in relation to a previous partner.
64In 2013, you were placed on a CCO for a range of offences, including threat to inflict serious injury, assault and a number of charges relating to property damage. That order was breached soon after by offences of recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault, reckless conduct endangering life, breaching a family violence intervention order, possess methamphetamine and being a prohibited person carrying a firearm. On those charges in May 2014, you were sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, with a 10 month non-parole period.
65In November 2016, you were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for recklessly causing injury, unlawful assault, threat to kill, assault with a weapon, reckless conduct endangering life and other charges relating to driving in a police pursuit, and committing an offence on bail. You were sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 months.
66In September 2018, you were sentenced to another term of imprisonment of 12 months for offences of possessing a controlled weapon, affray, recklessly cause injury, unlawful assault, committing an offence on bail and traffic and use methamphetamine. You would have been released from that sentence in approximately June 2019, with the offending before me, committed in October 2019.
67Mr Cummins has assessed you using the, 'HCR-20' as being a, 'Moderate' risk of committing a further offence. I accept that assessment.
68Those matters are concerning. Imprisonment has not achieved the desired deterrent effect. You say you have returned to drug use on release from custody each time, and in the lead up to this offending. At this stage, your prospects of rehabilitation are guarded. They are very much dependent on you receiving treatment for your proneness to violence, and on your ability to withstand future drug use.
Mental Health
69Mr Cummins diagnosed you with a number of conditions, including drug induced paranoia and a trauma and stressor related disorder in the form of an adjustment disorder. In his view, these were operative on you at the time of the offending. However, your self-induced symptoms through poly-substance use must be viewed as a major contributing factor.
70He assessed you as experiencing chronic feelings of depression. He says you spoke about your dysfunctional upbringing, your feelings of abandonment by your parents, and your trauma at the death of your father and then girlfriend. In his view, as I have said, you are suffering a number of disorders. He also referred to your obvious unresolved grief.
71Mr Cummins states that your mental health problems will become more entrenched and exacerbated the longer you spend in custody. I accept that principle 4 of Verdins v The Queen[5] applies, in that your current and ongoing state of mental health will result in increased hardship in your time in custody.
[5] [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 240; 169 A Crim R 581
72Mr Cummins states, 'In my opinion, he requires treatment with a focus on two unresolved grief reactions and a focus on his dysfunctional upbringing. It is imperative he undertake a comprehensive anger management program'. I endorse those comments.
73At the time of Mr Cummins' assessment, you had been prescribed antidepressants and mood stabilizer medication. You had been seen weekly by an intensive case manager regarding your mental health symptoms and feelings of depression.
Bugmy v The Queen
74Mr Barker on your behalf made submissions in relation to the applicability of the principles which emerged from the High Court decision of Bugmy v The Queen[6]. I do not have any difficulty accepting that they apply to you. That is, the social disadvantage and events of your early and formative years have left a mark on you. They explain to some extent, your early drug use, your association with negative peers, your lack of formal education, your use of violence and your descent to criminality. Those matters do not excuse your offending, in particular, and in moderation, must take into account your ongoing drug use and the opportunity to reset yourself when in custody, however, they go some way to explaining the path you have been on. As with any of us, the marks of our formative years do not tend to diminish over time.
[6] [2013] HCA 37
75To an extent, your moral culpability is reduced by virtue of those matters. However, as was sensibly conceded by your counsel in a well-constructed plea, your ongoing drug use must be considered when determining the extent to apply the principles in Bugmy.
Plea of Guilty
76You pleaded guilty to these matters. The charges took some time to resolve, however, you always indicated your intention to plead guilty to the allegations. You made an offer before and again after a contested committal. The sticking point related to charges of aggravated burglary and conduct endangering life. Those charges were eventually withdrawn after a case conference. It was never suggested at the committal to the complainant or any other witness that these events had not occurred as she described. In the circumstances, I consider yours is an early plea and you receive the benefit of that plea.
77The plea has utilitarian benefit, in that it saves the community the cost and resources of a criminal trial. That is of particular weight in the context of the delays brought about by the Covid pandemic.
78Your plea is more important because it saves the victims of your offending from giving evidence. In particular, it saves Ms Brewer recounting an event which was no doubt distressing and humiliating for her.
79In your case, I do accept that your plea is an expression of genuine remorse. I make that finding based on a number of factors. First, you made admissions in your record of interview to your offending. You stated, '… I don't even know how I could do something like this to someone I fuckin' love', and in relation to Mr Townson and him observing what you were doing to Ms Brewer you said, 'I'm fuckin' sorry'.
80Second, although in breach of your Family Violence Intervention Order, during your phone calls with the victim, you expressed your regret and shame and apologized to her.
81Third, you made comments to Mr Cummins expressing your appreciation of the severity of your offending, and your depression and guilt about what you did to Ms Brewer. You told him, 'I loved Natalie. … I feel really bad about what I did to her'.
82Fourth, I take into account the evidence from your sister Skye. She has suffered through your past history of terms of imprisonment and has visited you each time you have been in custody. You have lived with her at various times when released. She knew Ms Brewer. She said when she found out about this offending she was shocked, 'I abused him'. She says she is seeing differences in you during this period of incarceration. She says you are ashamed and regret your behaviour. She says she has heard how remorseful, how sorry and how regretful you are. She stated, 'I knew this time he was sorry'.
Prospects of Rehabilitation
83Genuine remorse is important when I consider your prospects of rehabilitation. It is a sign of a desire not to re-offend in this way again.
84Your sister Skye stated that you have never demonstrated violence towards her or her children, even when she has put her foot down about your drug taking or criminal behaviour. She is offering you a place to stay on your release. She has six children, four living at home. She says she has a caravan at her premises which you could occupy. She also has a cleaning business and there is a prospect of some work.
85There is an intervention order preventing any contact with Ms Brewer and there is no ongoing relationship. Contact from custody was made in breach of the order, but only while Ms Brewer was supportive of it. You have shown no desire to try and contact her now that it is not welcome.
86You have engaged well in custody, completing courses which will help you upon release. You were working as a hairdressing billet at one point.
Custody during Covid
87I take into account that you have been on remand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. I accept imprisonment has been more burdensome in that context. You have served 617 days on remand. You have experienced every stage of restrictions and lockdown from custody, as well as every in custody, outbreak/scare causing prison lockdowns.
88I accept that has been, in addition to the constant restrictions placed on prisoners during the pandemic, including the suspension of personal visits, reduced time out of cells, and reduced availability of property to be delivered or sent in. In particular for you, prior to lockdown, your sister Skye was a regular visitor, along with one of your nieces. She maintained her contact with you over the phone. However, at the plea on 6 May, she stated she had only been able to visit you twice since lockdown had lifted. That is no doubt given the high demand for in person visits and the ongoing density limits.
89The support of your sister Skye and her family is significant. She seems to be a steadying voice to which you should listen.
Disposition
90Your counsel submitted that I could dispose of this matter by way of a term of imprisonment plus a community corrections order. The prosecution submitted it should be met by a parole sentence. I have given both consideration, along with cases I have already referred to. I have considered current sentencing practices more broadly. I am required to impose a just sentence and that is what I have endeavored to do.
91Ultimately I have concluded this offending must receive a parole sentence. To my mind, the seriousness of the actual offending and your history of violence and drug use, despite those mitigating factors which I have taken into account, warrant a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period.
92Having said that, I am very mindful of your sister's evidence that she is seeing a difference in you, this time around. To my mind, that glimmer of hope should be encouraged. The way to achieve that is by reducing the non-parole period, so that you can re-enter the community as soon as possible, but under the supervision which will be provided.
93Mr Buck, the sentence I impose on you is as follows:
SENTENCE
94Charge 1 damaging property – you are convicted and sentenced to eight months imprisonment.
95Charge 2 – the assault of Daniel Townson – you are convicted and sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.
96Charge 3 - conduct endangering serious injury being the choking - you are convicted and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment.
97Charge 4 - causing injury intentionally – you are convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment and that is the base sentence.
98Charge 5 threat to kill – you are convicted and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
99Charge 6 the contravention of the Family Violence Intervention Order - you are convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
100Summary charge of trespass – you are convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment.
101Summary charge of committing an indictable offence on bail – you are convicted and sentenced to one month imprisonment.
102I make the following orders for cumulation. These are cumulation on the base sentence of two years imprisonment. On Charge 1, I direct that two months be served cumulatively. On Charge 2, I direct that two months be served cumulatively. On Charge 3, I direct that six months be served cumulatively. On Charge 5, I direct that four months be served cumulatively. On Charge 6, I direct that two months be served cumulatively and on the summary charge of trespass, I direct that one month be served cumulatively.
103That amounts to a total effective sentence of three years and five months imprisonment.
104I direct that you are to serve 24 months imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.
105I declare that you have served 617 days of pre-sentence detention and that that term should be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.
106But for your pleas of guilty, so if you had not pleaded guilty to these matters, I would have imposed an overall sentence of five years and two months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years imprisonment.
107I direct that your status as a serious violent offender be entered into the record on Charge 5.
108I propose to make the disposal orders in the terms sought. Are there any issues to raise counsel?
109MR BARKER: No, Your Honour. As Your Honour pleases.
110MR CAMERON: No, Your Honour, the court pleases.
111HER HONOUR: Thank you very much. I will mark the email sent by you Mr Barker, in relation to the prior matters. Thank you very much, I will ask my staff to leave you on the link Mr Barker with Mr Buck before he is removed, otherwise I will just stand down.
112MR CAMERON: Thank you.
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