Director of Public Prosecutions v Butler

[2022] VCC 537

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

CR-21-02707

CR-21-02708 CR-22-00529

CR-21-01748

THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

MEAGAN BUTLER
DARRYL HEATHCOTE
DAMIAN RIPPER

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 April 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP V Butler & Ors
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 537

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Catchwords:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Crown	Ms N. Burnett
For Accused Butler
For Accused Heathcote
For Accused Ripper

HER HONOUR:

1       Mr Damian Ripper, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of threat to kill, three charges of common law assault, one charge of theft, one charge of possessing a drug of dependence, and one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.  You have also pleaded guilty to a summary charge of unlicensed driving. 

2       Meagan Rochelle Butler, you have pleaded guilty before me to two charges of subornation of perjury and one charge of possessing a drug of dependence.  You have also pleaded guilty to the summary charge of making a false statement. 

3       

Darryl Francis Heathcote, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of perjury, pursuant to Indictment no.M10544435 and one charge of theft, pursuant to Indictment no.42520580.  You have also pleaded guilty to

one summary charge of unlicensed driving.

4       The facts underlying the prosecution of offending by each of you are contained in the extremely detailed summary of prosecution opening, which is annexed to my sentencing remarks.  In short compass, however, the offending was as follows:

5       

On 13 August 2020, the victims Drew Jackson, his girlfriend Tyla Dowell,

Jacob Lawless and his girlfriend, Crystal Call set up a campsite on a track on

Shoreline Drive, Golden Beach.  At about 4.10 the next day, three of them apart from Ms Call were sitting around a campfire when they saw a white

Nissan Patrol stop near the campsite.  They noticed four men getting out of the car, one of them holding a shifter; that being you, Mr Ripper.

6       You walked up to Mr Jackson and said, 'Sign your bikes over.  I run this town'.  Jackson said he was not going to do that and then you swung the shifter at Jackson, although no contact was made, this underlying Charge 2 on the indictment: common law assault of Jackson.

7       You started yelling, 'I'm going to kill you' and accused the group of something that they could not make out.  Those actions underly Charge 1 on the indictment:  making a threat to kill Jackson and Lawless.

8       

Still carrying the shifter, you walked towards Lawless and picked up a shovel, hitting Lawless with it on his right shoulder.  This underlies

Charge 3 on the indictment, Mr Ripper: common law assault of Lawless.

9       You then said to the three others, 'Get the gun out of the back seat'.  Those actions are underlying Charge 4 on the indictment: common law assault of Jackson, Lawless and Dowell.  Around this time, Jackson, Lawless and Dowell ran away from the campsite, you calling after them, 'I'm going to take your bikes', referring to their two motorbikes. 

10      

Eventually Ms Call was rung; she returned, picking up the three men who were hiding at the side of the road.  It was on return to the campsite that it was noticed both motorbikes were gone, along with Jackson's gold-coloured

Nissan Patrol.  These actions underly Charge 5: theft of motor vehicles, being the Nissan Patrol and the two motorbikes.  Police attended soon after. 

11      

Police attended Ms Butler's address on 17 August 2020 to execute a search warrant, where you, Mr Ripper, were located hiding in a wardrobe. 

12      Cannabis was located on the top of the dresser, which underlies Charge 6 on your indictment, Mr Ripper: possessing a drug of dependence.  You were taken to the Sale police station where a record of interview was conducted.  There is a very lengthy series of extracts from the record of interview.  You made what could be said to be partial admissions.  It was certainly a very full record of interview which did not contain actual admissions, but an explanation essentially justifying your position.

13      After the record of interview was completed, you, Mr Ripper, were remanded in custody.  Your telephone calls were recorded whilst in custody.  These calls are called Arunta calls. 

14      

Charge 7: an attempt to pervert the course of justice relates to

five specific instances where you communicated various people, asking them to change the contents of their police statement and contact others to change the content of their police statement, or to contact the other

three males to have them change the contents of their police statements or provide the information to police, aimed at having the charges filed against you withdrawn. 

15      

The co-accused were identified as you, Ms Butler, you, Adam Ripper, and you,

Darryl Heathcote. 

16      On 17 August 2020, Darcy Butler in a record of interview with police told them that you, Mr Ripper, and another male had found Darcy Butler's car smashed up, followed motorbike tracks, found the campsite, pushed over the bikes, and then left after the men ran away.  He said that you, Mr Ripper, had a shifter in your hand at the time you spoke to the victims, and he said that you, Mr Heathcote, took a motorbike from the campsites.  He also stated that there were other items that were taken were taken by others who were there.  He said he did not know where the other three vehicles, being the two stolen motorbikes and the stolen Nissan Patrol went.

17      

You participated in further records of interview, Mr Ripper, on 19 August 2020

and 22 August 2020 in which you denied stealing the motor vehicles.  You,

Darryl Heathcote, engaged in a record of interview on 22 September 2020 where you essentially you made admissions to being with Mr Ripper at the time of the incident, and admitted riding one of the victim's Honda motorcycle to the farm property where you, Mr Ripper, were renting.  As a result, you, Mr Heathcote, were charged with theft of the motor vehicles and unlicensed driving and were placed on bail. 

18      After you, Mr Ripper, were remanded in custody, police attained statements from a number of people including your aunt, Debbie Marks.  She had been charged in relation to handling stolen goods, being a chainsaw stolen from Mr Lawless.  She gave a statement, swearing that you gave her the chainsaw. 

19      On 23 January 2021, you called Ms Butler who organised a call between you and Ms Marks, during which you discussed how you needed Mr Heathcote to do a statutory declaration to get you out of gaol. 

20      On 24 January 2021, you called Ms Butler and spoke to her about Ms Marks, during which you said that you needed a statement from Ms Marks stating that you did not give her the chainsaw but that Mr Heathcote did. 

21      

On 31 January 2021, you, Ms Butler, attended the Sale police station in order for them to sign two statutory declarations.  This underlies

Charge 1 on the indictment: subornation of perjury. 

22      On 2 February 2021, you, Mr Ripper, called you, Ms Butler, directing her to go to Ms Marks' house and get a statement saying that what she said about you giving her the chainsaw was incorrect. 

23      

On 16 February 2021, you, Ms Butler, drove to Traralgon and collected

Mr Heathcote.  In the afternoon of that that day, the two of you engaged in a conference call with you, Mr Ripper, during which you directed Mr Heathcote to prepare a statutory declaration detailing the version of events to be set out in that false statutory declaration.

24      

You, Ms Butler, then wrote a handwritten statement for Mr Heathcote and drove him to the Traralgon police station where he completed a statutory declaration in support of the statement which exonerated Mr Ripper.  This underlies the charge of perjury against you, Mr Heathcote, and the

second charge of subornation of perjury against you, Ms Butler.

25      You called back Mr Ripper and confirmed that you, Ms Butler, had written the contents of the statutory declaration for Mr Heathcote. 

26      

On 11 March 2021, a search warrant was executed at your home, Ms Butler, where false statutory declarations signed by Mr Heathcote, your son, and

one other underage offender were located.  Again, the details of those statutory declarations are set out, but essentially they exonerated you, Mr Ripper, of any wrongdoing.  Police also located documents and letters written by you, Mr Ripper, in which you admitted to involvement in the offending. 

27      You were arrested, Meagan Butler, and were taken to the Sale police station, where a record of interview was conducted on 11 March 2021, during which you made admissions as to the charges which have been laid against you, stating that you had done so at the direction of Mr Ripper. 

28      Mr Jackson's stolen Nissan Patrol was located in bushland in Golden Beach on 26 September 2020 and the two stolen motorcycles were located and returned to the victims.

29      

The maximum penalty for making a threat to kill, this being a rolled-up charge to include two victims, is 10 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for

common law assault is five years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty of theft of motor vehicle, which is a rolled-up charge involving both the car and the two motorcycles is 10 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for possession of a drug of dependence, being cannabis, is one year imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for attempting to pervert the course of justice is 25 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for unlicensed driving is six months' imprisonment.

30      

You, Mr Ripper, call to be sentenced as a serious violent offender on

Charge 1, as you have a prior conviction for a serious violent offence, being making a threat to kill for which you received a custodial term on

14 December 2017.  This means that if I am of the view that a term of imprisonment is justified, I must regard protection of the community as the principle purpose for which the sentence is imposed.  I can impose a term of imprisonment longer than that which is proportionate to the gravity of the offence.  This course was not urged upon me by the prosecution and I do not intend to impose such a sentence.  Further, that sentence must be served cumulatively on any other sentence imposed unless I direct otherwise. 

31      

The fact that you, Mr Ripper, are being sentenced as a serious offender in respect of Charge 1 must be entered in the records of the court.  You,

Mr Ripper, were remanded in custody on 17 August 2020.  Could I ask, please, of the prosecution what the PSD is now? 

32      MS BURNETT: 604 days, Your Honour.

33      HER HONOUR:  604 days, thank you very much.  I am granting disposal orders in relation to the drugs located and a forfeiture order in relation to the shifter seized.  Insofar as you are concerned, Mr Ripper, as I have said, you were arrested and were remanded in custody and charged with the offending arising from the campsite. 

34      

Your actions in relation to attempting to pervert the course of justice were committed between 25 September 2020 and 23 February 2021.  Ultimately a contested committal hearing was set down but the matter was resolved on

12 August 2021.  On 17 August prior to that committal hearing commencing, you pleaded guilty to the charges. 

35      

In relation to you, Ms Butler and Mr Heathcote, the maximum penalty for subornation of perjury is 15 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for possessing a drug of dependence is one years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for perjury is 15 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for committing an indictable offence on bail - that was a charge faced by Ms Butler, the summary offence - is three months' imprisonment.  Both you,

Ms Butler and you, Mr Heathcote were placed on bail following your arrest.

36      You Ms Butler entered a plea of guilty after an application for summary jurisdiction was refused in the Magistrates' Court on 21 December 2021.  You, Mr Heathcote, entered a plea of guilty after you application for summary jurisdiction was also refused in the Magistrates' Court on 21 December 2021.

37      

I now turn to the personal circumstances of each of you, beginning with you,

Damian Ripper.  You are now aged 45 and you were 44 at the time of the offending.  You are one of twins boys born to your parents, who separated before your birth.  You did not have any contact with your father until you were about 9, when your mother sent you to Western Australia to live with an unknown male with whom you stayed for six months and whom you later realised was in fact your biological father.

38      You took the surname of your stepfather.  Your mother is still alive but has problems with alcohol and you have a limited relationship with her.  You have a sister, Christine, with whom you remain close and who has not been in trouble with police.

39      You told psychologist Jeffrey Cummins, whose report was tendered on the plea, you were subjected to extreme domestic violence growing up, both viewing that between your mother and stepfather and at their hands.  Ultimately you were mainly raised by your maternal uncle, David Bruce, a drug and alcohol abuser who also introduced you to drugs and alcohol at an early stage. 

40      When you attended school, you were sexually abused at the age of 5 and 6 by a priest at that school, which involved sexual penetration.  On reporting that abuse, you were strapped by the headmaster and not believed by your mother, but for years afterwards challenged you about your sexual orientation as a result.  You were expelled from that school and sent to a second Catholic school, which you promptly left after discovering that your abuser also worked there.

41      You then attended two more primary schools, being expelled in Grade 4 for attacking the headmaster who was physically disciplining you.  Your mother then, as I have said, sent you to Western Australia where you stayed with this man who you later discovered was your biological father.  However, you were sent back after six months after shooting a boy who bashed you with a speargun. 

42      When you returned to Victoria you lived briefly with your mother, but she threw you out of home and you went to live with your uncle.  You completed Grade 6 but had a difficult time as it was a Catholic school and you refused to attend church because it triggered a post-traumatic stress disorder reaction, which you developed at the time of your sexual abuse and as a result of the mistreatment afterwards. 

43      

You then attended Sale Technical School where you regularly had a

teacher's aide, and although you said you found school boring, you stayed until Year 11 which you thought you passed. 

44      

As I have said, during this time you essentially lived with your uncle,

David Bruce, who had himself been molested as a child and was a former

Hells Angel member.  He was very involved in drug use and he introduced you to it. 

45      

On leaving school you worked in a gas station in Sale for 19 months, riding a bicycle 37 kilometres each way each day.  Then your half-sister, Lisa, rang you from Western Australia to complain that she was being molested by her

biological father, so you left that work and travelled to Western Australia where you stayed for six months working on a rubbish truck. 

46      You returned to Victoria, ultimately living with your mother in Moe and working for Age Engineering for 15 months.  You then relocated to Melbourne where you worked for 18 months at Brumby's Bakery in Prahran and a pizza shop in Windsor.  You also worked as a mechanic at Autobarn but were then charged with theft after your employer failed to pay you and you took matters into your own hands and, 'borrowed’ the money you believed was owed to you.  You then returned to live with your uncle in Gippsland for 12 months and during that time became the owner of a bakery in Morwell. 

47      Since your early 20s, your employment has regularly been interrupted by multiple stints in gaol.  You believe you were last employed in 2019 when you were a machinist, which employment ended when you were charged with unlicensed driving and possession of methylamphetamines.

48      

At the time of the offending before this court, you were making a living cutting and selling firewood in the local area.  You told Mr Cummins you had been smoking cigarettes since you were 5, cannabis since you were 7, using speed since you were 11, a drug which you were introduced to by your uncle, and you commenced injecting heroin at age 15.  You were introduced to ice in

2012 and 2013.  At the time of this offending, you estimated you were injecting a point of ice every other day.  You also smoked cannabis daily until your arrest, sometimes up to half an ounce a day.

49      

You have also had problems with alcohol.  You have never undergone residential detoxification or undertaken drug rehabilitation.  You told

Mr Cummins that in recent times for the first time you began speaking out about your sexual abuse.  As a result, you have been referred to Forensicare for counselling which has taken place whilst you have been in custody.  You told Mr Cummins that you found this extremely helpful. 

50      

I received a letter from Forensicare confirming your engagement and participation in that counselling.  You have been diagnosed by this psychologist as suffering a post-traumatic stress disorder, a

narcissistic personality disorder, an anti-social personality disorder, and a

borderline personality disorder.  This appears unsurprising given your

extremely traumatic upbringing.

51      

You estimate that you have tried to commit suicide on multiple occasions since the age of 8.  Often this was because of your mother's taunting,

verbal abuse and questioning of your sexual orientation, a result of your reporting the very serious sexual abuse that you suffered at the hands of the

Catholic priest.  You reported to Mr Cummins frequent flashbacks and nightmares over your sexual abuse.  You were also diagnosed, both by the

Forensicare psychologist and Mr Cummins as suffering a paranoid personality disorder. 

52      

You have an extremely extensive prior criminal history, beginning with

Children's Court appearance in 1994 and you have appeared in court on criminal charges almost every year since, for offences such as handling stolen goods, unlawful possession, going equipped to steal, criminal damage, numerous driving offences, burglary, intentionally or recklessly causing injury, threat to kill, assault, assault police, possessing a controlled weapon, and you have been regularly gaoled. 

53      You have also breached a number of community correction orders.  In 2006 you were gaoled for two years by the Bairnsdale County Court for recklessly causing serious injury, which sentence was increased on a Crown appeal to four years and six months with a minimum term of two years and six months. 

54      

In 2007 you were also gaoled for two years by the Latrobe Valley

County Court for attempting to pervert the course of justice.  You have had further sentences since then for criminal damage, driving in a manner dangerous.  In 2017 you were gaoled for two years on a consolidation of charges, including numerous driving and motor car theft offences.  You also received in that time eight months for a threat to kill, recklessly causing injury. 

55      

You were last before the court prior to this offending being the

Bairnsdale Magistrates' Court on 30 October 2019, where you received

14 days for driving charges, possessing ice, possessing cannabis and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

56      

At the time of this offending you were in a relationship with Ms Butler and were living with her at her rented premises at Golden Beach.  You told

Mr Cummins that you organised the offending, underlying the attempt to pervert the course of justice because initially a car that you had brought for your teenaged son and Ms Butler's teenaged son to work from had been stolen; that you had followed the tracks from the dam where the car was dumped to the campsite where the victims were and took those actions as an angry response to the theft of that car. 

57      You also said you organised to have Ms Butler involve herself in the making of false statutory declarations because of your prior convictions, and as you frankly said, you did not want to face a charge of armed robbery. 

58      Mr Cummins said you had limited insight into the effect that all the trauma and abuse you have had has had upon you, and as to why you commit your offending.  He said you had a very guarded prognosis.  He noted that you have been placed on a mood stabiliser in gaol, which apparently has been very helpful to you.  You are working as a unit billet which is a position of trust.  He believed you require intensive and protracted mental health treatment, but said the fact that you have initiated the therapy you have is a very positive step and I agree with this. 

59      

I accept that you had a terrible and difficult childhood and I note the

High Court decision of Bugmy where it was stated that the effects of prolonged traumatic abuse on a child can result in continual offending, for which moral culpability may be reduced because of what has caused that condition and inability to mature or to learn the lessons handed down by the criminal justice system.

60      

I also accept that you do have some remorse for what you did.  You spoke to

Mr Cummins about your regret in involving the boys.  I accept from what you said that you had particular affection for them.  I should note that you have

three children, two sons by two separate relationships.  You have contact with both of your sons.  You have a 14-month-old daughter with whom you have no contact. 

61      

My biggest difficulty in sentencing you, Mr Ripper, is the extent of your

prior criminal history.  I do have to take into account protection of the community as a sentencing principle in determining what sentence you should receive.  It was not argued that I should deal with you in any way, other than by a term of imprisonment to be immediately served. 

62      A big problem, it seems to me, Mr Ripper, is that I am satisfied from the material that I have received that you had in fact set up a harmonious relationship with Ms Butler, which you found to be supportive; that you were taking an active and supporting role in the children's lives.  And for a man who has used drugs so extensively and been gaoled so much, it seems to be you are a person who has a good work ethic when you do leave gaol.  I got the impression from Mr Cummins' report in particular that you are a man of some intelligence and energy. 

63      It is extremely important for your ongoing well-being, Mr Ripper, that you started the Forensicare counselling.  But you have to understand that the effect of the abuse and trauma on you is that you have gone on to develop these conditions, which can lead you, apart from anything else, to react impulsively and violently.  Indeed, it is quite clear to me that that is what has occurred on this occasion.  Because of your priors, a court is really only ever going to deal with you by way of a term of imprisonment.  So, no matter what you may set up for yourself by way of employment or a stable relationship, unless you can get on top of these conditions which lead you to act as you do, it is always going to be interrupted by more stints in gaol.  Am I making sense to you, Mr Ripper?

64      

No one is saying you had anything other than a horrific and very difficult childhood and adolescence.  But at the same time, you are now 45.  As you said to Mr Cummins, you feel like you are almost institutionalised.  I am sure you do gaol very comfortably.  The trick for you is going to be to establish ongoing stability outside gaol and you are going to do that if you attend to your

drug history and actively seek yourself, quite apart from what might be organised for you by way of parole or any order that you might be on, actively seek for yourself the sort of therapy you need.  As I have said, I am extremely pleased to see that Forensicare have been brought in and I encourage you to use that service as much as you can for as long as you can.  You can also take steps to do something about your drug history and your drug dependency.

65      Again, use of those drugs clearly is used by you as a self-soothing mechanism, but particularly ice disinhibits you and is likely to lead you into situations where you are going to involve yourself in offending.  As I have said, then you are back to the revolving door of gaol. 

66      I also must take into account the fact that you involved two teenaged boys in your offending is an aggravating feature.  I am sentencing you to a term of imprisonment, but it will be largely taken up by the time you have already served, should you make parole.

67      

I sentence you therefore as follows: on the charge of threat to kill, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.  On each of the charges of common law assault; that is, Charges 2, 3 and 4, you are sentenced to three months' imprisonment.  On Charge 5 you are sentenced to eight months' imprisonment.  On the charge of possessing a drug of dependence you are sentenced to one month of imprisonment.  On Charge 7, attempting to

pervert the course of justice, you are sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment.  On the charge of unlicensed driving, you are fined $200.

68      

The base charge will be Charge 7, 22 months.  I order that two months of

Charge 1, one month each on Charges 2, 3 and 4, three months on Charge 5 be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Charge 7 and to

each other.  That should lead to a total effective sentence of 30 months; that is, two years and six months and I order that you serve two years before becoming eligible for parole. 

69      I declare that - I am sorry, Madam Prosecutor, what was the PSD again? 

70      MS BURNETT:  604 days, Your Honour.

71      

HER HONOUR:  I declare that 604 days have already been served of this sentence by way of pre-sentence detention.  Pursuant to s6AAA, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of three years and six months and order that you serve a

minimum term of two years and six months. 

72      

I now turn to you, Meagan Butler.  You are now 44 years old and are the

single mother of three children, your 15 year old son and two daughters,

aged 11 and 9.  You also care for Billy Gilligan who I have mentioned in the outline of the offending, who is aged 15.  He is a friend of your son Darcy's and came to live you after suffering domestic violence in his own home. 

73      You are one of three daughters born to your parents.  You witnessed domestic violence between them and they separated when you were 11.  Your mother remarried and the family moved around, ultimately settling in Sale where you completed Year 11. 

74      

On leaving school, you then lived with your father in Williamstown for

two years, undertaking a land care and conservation course.  You went on to compile a good work history.  You went to RMIT TAFE where you obtained a qualification as an industrial radiographer and then worked in this area at the

Longford Gas Plant in Gippsland. 

75      

You married at the age of 24 but this marriage ended less than

two years later.  After your separation you worked in a factory and in that time met Darcy's father.  You remained in a relationship with him for 15 months.  After Darcy's birth, you worked as a delivery driver for an electrical wholesaler. 

76      

You then began a relationship with the father of your two daughters and that relationship lasted for 10 years.  On the surface it would appear that it was a successful relationship.  You worked in that time as a driver for Sale Linen.  You completed a certificate III as an Advanced Stable Hand.  You studied

horse therapy and you and your partner bought a house together.  However, it was quite clear, particularly through the evidence of your aunt,

Leading Senior Constable Carol Williams, that this was a difficult relationship for you.  He was a controlling and abusive man, and it is my view for what it is worth that this relationship has left its mark on you.

77      After that relationship ended in 2020, you formed another brief relationship which ended swiftly.  You also went through a period of homelessness as following the separation, your house was rented out.  You and your daughters lived in a caravan on your mother's property for some time. 

78      

You kept working and in August 2020 began a three-month contract at

Sale Hospital in the medical records department; however, you have not worked since.  You met Mr Ripper in March 2020 and almost immediately began living with him in the rented house at Golden Beach.  It seems that you were very happy with him.

79      

In a letter which you wrote to the court, you said when you met Mr Ripper that you had finally, 'met a man who loved me, who I loved, a man who loves my kids and wants to look after me and take care of us'.  You said you were blinded by your love for him.  Apparently you found it very difficult after

Mr Ripper was remanded in custody and simply wanted him back with you.  As a result, you took the actions that you did in relation to compiling false statutory declarations.  You stated in your letter, 'I did this because I love him and needed him home'.    

80      Your aunt, Carol Williams, as I have said, is a Leading Senior Constable at the Dandenong police complex and wrote a reference and gave evidence on the plea.  In that reference, she said she believed that at the time of this offending, you were craving for someone to love you and the kids.  She said that you stated many times that you were besotted with Mr Ripper. 

81      

You essentially have prior convictions only for driving offences which I regard as irrelevant to the sentencing exercise before me.  You apparently have

two outstanding assault charges.  In any event, after Mr Ripper was remanded, you could not afford to continue renting the house; your own home was also rented out and you and your children had to go back to living in the caravan.  However, in April 2021 you were able to move back to your home and you sought some counselling. 

82      However, it appears that you have sunk into some sort of depression in the aftermath of being charged and waiting to be dealt with.  I had you assessed for a community corrections order and you were found to be unsuitable because you engaged poorly with the assessing officer.  However, what I found very useful was the Mental Health Community Correction Screening Program report.  You told him that your mental state had deteriorated; that you are anxious, ruminating, sleepless, undergoing panic attacks and were undergoing passive suicidal ideation, which is when the thought crosses your mind although you have never done anything about it. 

83      You said you want to connect with a psychologist.  You were described as displaying depressive and anxious symptomology and presented as very isolated. 

84      

In the circumstances, it is my view that you should be dealt with by way of a

Community Corrections Order, not by a combination as was submitted by the prosecution as being the appropriate response.  In my view, the material reveals that ordinarily you had been a hard-working and productive woman.  You have been the subject of a long-term abusive relationship which ended not long before you met Mr Ripper.  I accept that you have developed a psychological response to the abuse that you suffered at the hands of your former partner, making you feel helpless and dependent.  It is quite clear that the state you are now in is very different to the impression I got of ordinarily a much more energetic hard-working woman. 

85      

The offending, in my view, arose out of your great dependency on

Mr Ripper for emotional happiness.  That I find is directly linked to the response you suffered from the relationship with the father of your daughters.

86      

In sentencing you I take into account your early plea of guilty, your particular cooperation with police, and I accept you are remorseful for your offending and in particular, for involving your children in this offending.  I accept, as I have said, that you carried out offending which was not characteristic of you; indeed, it was out of character and arose due to your infatuation with

Mr Ripper. 

87      It is my view that you are unlikely to re-offend.  I was also concerned that placing you in prison, for no matter how brief a term, could have a very adverse on you psychologically.  You appear to be in a difficult psychological position, which would then make your capacity to serve a community correction order all the more difficult.  In other words, I am concerned that if I did place you in gaol, I would set up a vicious cycle of depression, mood disorder and inability, leading possibly to further dependence on drug use and more stints in gaol, this from a woman who at the age of 45 has only one prior conviction apart from this offending.

88      I therefore am going to place you on a Community Corrections Order.  You must understand, and I am sure you do now, how serious this offending is.  Offending such as subornation of perjury undermines the justice system and the administration of it, and is always regarded extremely seriously.  Ordinarily persons can only expect a stern response from the courts, which very often involves the imposition of a term of imprisonment.  That is not happening to you, Ms Butler, but you very much need to dwell on how close you have come.

89      

I am going to make this an aggregate disposition.  In my view, the offending all arises out of the same set of circumstances.  The order will last for

18 months.  You are to undertake 120 hours of unpaid community work.  You are to attend for treatment and rehabilitation for mental health.  You are to attend for treatment and rehabilitation via programs which reduce

re-offending.

90      I am going to order supervision and I am going to order judicial monitoring.  What that means is you will come back before me in about three months' time, Ms Butler, and I will receive a report from Corrections about how you have been complying with the order.  I will also be anxious to see how you are travelling on the order, if I can put it that way, Ms Butler.   

91      I hope you realise when you have heard me outline your work history and your education history, just how much you had achieved, and that this position of inactivity and sadness that you are in, is not the person it would seem you usually are.  One of the aims of placing you on this order, which is also a punishment for the offending, is to see you get back to that; to develop some internal fortitude and to not feel so bereft and helpless without a male figure in your life looking after you. 

92      I can only place you on the order with your permission, so I need to outline what the conditions of the order are, in addition to the special conditions I have just read out. 

93      You must report to Community Corrections within two working days of the making of this order; that is by Tuesday of next week because Easter is intervening.  Whilst on the order you must not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment.  What that means is not that you have to commit an offence while you are on the order for which you are gaoled, but commit any offence for which theoretically at law you could be gaoled.  So, if you knock off a box of matches, that is theft and theoretically you could be gaoled for that.

94      

If you breach the order, you will be brought back in front of me and I will

re-sentence you on the order.  I have not got a lot of choices left but gaol if you do not make this order work, Ms Butler. 

95      You may not leave Victoria while you are on the order without the permission of the community correction office.  You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change.  You must not attend upon Community Corrections under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  You must receive and report visits from and report to Community Corrections as directed.  You must obey all lawful directions of the Community Correction Office.

96      Rather than ordering any programs reducing re-offending, I am going to take that out and I am going to instead put in treatment for drug and alcohol use.  The materials show that you seem to have an increasing dependence upon this as a way of coping with how you are feeling, and it seems to be appropriate that you have some treatment for that. 

97      Are you prepared to enter this order, Ms Butler?  Good.  We will just get the paperwork ready.  I am now going to turn to you, Darryl Heathcote. 

98      You are now aged 57.  You reported to psychologist Dr Aaron Cunningham, whose report was tendered on the plea, a happy childhood involving no abuse, but that you were seen as the black sheep of the family.

99      Your parents separated when you were about 25.  You yourself left school after Form 2, now known as Year 8, and undertook many menial short-term jobs in the intervening years.  The longest lasted for two years.

100     You returned to Morwell eight or 9 years ago to care for your father, who was very ill and who then died several years ago.

101     Since 1993 you have been on the Disability Support Pension for varying serious mental health problems.  You were in a relationship for 23 years and this ended six to seven years ago.  You have three sons from that relationship, aged between 15 and 23; the youngest of them lives with you.  You also have two older sons in their 30s from a previous relationship.

102     You had drug problems with amphetamines and then ice in your youth.  You did not undertake any drug use when you were caring for your father, but once he died you slipped back into intermittent drug use. 

103     You also have had a problem with alcohol, describing yourself as an alcoholic and stating that your father was also an alcoholic.  It appears from what you have said you now drink about 10 drinks in one sitting about once a fortnight. 

104     

You seem to have developed a paranoid condition.  You live in constant fear of home invasion.  You are paranoid about being violently attacked.  This causes you sleeplessness and enormous anxiety.  You told

Mr Cunningham that you believe that your behaviour was stupid and that you had simply wanted to help others. 

105     Dr Cunningham believed that you presented as a somewhat lonely man would often drink alcohol and use drugs in order to please others.  He said that he believed that you had involved yourself in this offending - you were cutting wood with Mr Ripper on a regular basis throughout this time, basically to assist your friends without thinking it through. 

106     

You have got a reasonably long prior criminal history beginning in 1983, a lot of it fairly minor offending involving tampering with a

motor vehicle, theft from a motor vehicle and driving offences.  You have been dealt with for burglary and theft.  You have been dealt with for

criminal damage and in November 1997 received three years' imprisonment from the Melbourne County Court for burglary and recklessly causing serious injury. 

107     

There is a quite a bit of further offending, largely involving driving offending over the next years to 2005.  Then there is an 11-year gap in your offending which would seem to be indicative of a stability in your relationship.  In 2018 you appeared at Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court on charges involving contravention of a family violence order and theft.  In September 2017 you were dealt with for unlicensed driving and driving whilst disqualified.  In 2018 there was a second contravention of a family violence intervention order.  There was another charge in 2018: threat to kill and persistent contravention of a family violence order.  Then in March 2019 you were placed on a

Community Correction Order for offending involving drink driving,

unlicensed driving, burglary, and theft, and possessing a prohibited weapon without exemption or approval.  This offending appears to have taken place in the aftermath of your relationship ending and your father dying.

108     Fortunately for you, you have become involved with an organisation called Within Australia.  I received a report from Abbey Hunan, who is a support worker who sees you most days.  She takes you to appointments, she takes you shopping and she said that she has helped you connect with your children and grandchildren, and that she believes you have improved immensely in that time.  She is also assisting you in making an NDIS application.  Within Australia is an organisation which cares for persons with long-term serious mental health disorders, which you appear to have. 

109     

Testing by Dr Cunningham revealed a learning verbal disorder, which may well have got in the way of your studies at school.  The Mental Health

Community Correction Screen Program report noted that you have had

mental health involvement since 2000 according to your record, although there have been no psychiatric admissions.  It is believed that you have developed psychotic symptoms as a result of drug use, particularly ice use.  There is a note that you are also engaging with counsellors at the

Latrobe Community Health Service for your alcohol and drug use. 

110     

You believe that you were placed on the Disability Support Pension because of paranoid schizophrenia.  That condition appears to not have been confirmed, at least in recent times, but it seems that you have a very

high ranging anxiety which you find debilitating and certainly it seems you have been assessed as suitable for involvement by Within Australia to assist you.  As I have said, that is an organisation engaged in the support of persons with long-term serious mental health problems.  Anxiety, paranoia and depression appear to be part of the constellation of mental health problems from which you suffer.

111     You were extremely cooperative with police.  You expressed remorse and described your actions as stupid.  You have not offended since.  You have sought very appropriate mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation support.  I had you assessed for a Community Corrections Order, for which you have been found suitable.  You pleaded guilty at an early stage.  As I have said, you have expressed remorse.  I find your role in this offending to be minor.  I accept Dr Cunningham's view that the loneliness of your position - you have no relationship with any of your siblings, you lack social supports and have a dependence on others for friendship which can lead you to make poor decisions, had a big part to play in this exercise. 

112     

I am satisfied that at least some of your social needs are being met by

Within Australia as well as the other services to which I have referred. 

113     I also note in relation to the charge of perjury that you mentioned there was some pressure placed upon you to do what you did.  Indeed, Ms Butler herself told police this.  Given your psychological makeup, I accept that there is some diminution of culpability in your case.  I also accept that the statement was written out for you and that you barely read what was contained in it. 

114     

Before I can place you on a community correction order, Mr Heathcote, I have to outline the conditions to you.  Again, they are that you must report to the office of Corrections within two working days of the making of this order; that is by Tuesday of next week.  The order will last for 12 months.  Whilst you are on the order, you must not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment.  You must not leave Victoria without the consent of the

Corrections office.  You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change.  You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections office as directed.  You must not attend upon the Community Corrections office under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  You must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections office. 

115     

I am going to order that you undertake 50 hours of unpaid community work.  You are to receive assessment and treatment, both for mental health difficulties and for substance abuse; that is, drugs and alcohol.  You will also be placed on judicial monitoring.  Are you prepared to enter that order,

Mr Heathcote?

116     OFFENDER HEATHCOTE:  Yes, Your Honour.

117     

HER HONOUR:  All right.  I need a judicial monitoring date, each for

Ms Butler and for - actually, I do not think I need - no, I am not going to put judicial monitoring with Mr Heathcote, I will just do it with Ms Butler.  I just need a date for her.  We will not have judicial monitoring on Mr Heathcote.  We will make it 9.30 am on 3 August, I will be seeing you, Ms Butler, all right?

I do not need to s6AAA declarations in relation to either Ms Butler or

Mr Heathcote because the orders are less than two years.  I think that is all I need to refer to.  I also formally make the forfeiture and disposal orders sought by the Crown.  I am going to leave the Bench so that my associates can explain to you, Ms Butler and Mr Heathcote, how you go about getting the corrections orders to you so that you can sign them.  I thank counsel for their assistance.  Is there anything else I need to refer to?

118     MS BURNETT:  No Your Honour, nothing further.

119     HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  We will stand down until 2.15 pm.

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