Director of Public Prosecutions v Callaghan (a pseudonym)
[2020] VCC 1591
•2 October 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| V |
| SONIA CALLAGHAN (A PSEUDONYM) |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE D. SEXTON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF PLEA HEARING: | 2 October 2020 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 2 October 2020 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Callaghan (a pseudonym) | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 1591 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Attempted Aggravated Carjacking
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited:Bugmy v R (2013) 249 CLR 571; Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212
Sentence: 242 days’ imprisonment
18-month Community Correction Order
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr D O'Doherty | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Offender | Ms J Prior | Law and Advocacy Centre for Women |
HIS HONOUR:
Introduction
1 Sonia Callaghan,[1] you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted aggravated carjacking, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.
[1] A pseudonym.
2 You have also admitted your criminal record.
Offending
3 The circumstances of your offending were set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening Upon Plea dated 25 September 2020 (Exhibit A), which was read out at your plea hearing. That document sets out the factual basis upon which you will be sentenced.
4 Your offending can be briefly summarised.
5 On 5 February 2019, you were aged 30 and had no fixed address. At approximately 12.15am on that date, you drove your Toyota Hilux utility into the driveway of a property in Honeysuckle Close, Mildura. You stopped near the entrance of the garage, got out of the vehicle and paced around briefly, before lifting the roller door and driving the vehicle into the garage. You then walked to the rear of this property, but then left at 12.26am.
6 Just under two hours later, at 2.15am, you attended at another address in Mildura. Your victim in this matter, Bianca Pollard,[2] lived at this property with her partner, Daniel Innes,[3] and his brother, Michael,[4] as well as her children.
[2] A pseudonym.
[3] A pseudonym.
[4] A pseudonym.
7 When you attended at Ms Pollard’s property, she was seated in the driver’s seat of her vehicle, a black Holden Commodore SV6 sedan, which was parked in the carport. She was listening to music.
8 You approached the car where Ms Pollard was located, whilst wearing a motorbike helmet and gardening gloves. Ms Pollard wound down her window partially, but kept the door locked. You were eating an icy-pole and offered Ms Pollard one, which she declined.
9 When Daniel Innes, who had seen you from where he was seated in the loungeroom, came out and asked you “Who the fuck are you?”, you told him that your motorbike had been stolen from up the road and that you had heard music and had come into the property to see. Mr Innes then went back inside.
10 You then pulled out a black-handled knife and said to Ms Pollard “I’m going to ask you politely to get out of the car”, and you held the knife so that Ms Pollard could see it. You then said to her “Get out of the fucking car”.
11 Ms Pollard used the car horn to get Mr Innes’s attention. He jumped through the loungeroom window and ran over to the car, telling you that you could have the car but asked that you let Ms Pollard out. Ms Pollard exited the car and ran into her house. Shortly after she called 000.
12 Mr Innes armed himself with a child’s scooter and used that to hit you over the head. You then got into the car and sat in the driver’s seat and started looking for the car key which, unbeknown to you, had been thrown into the rear of the car by Ms Pollard before exiting. Mr Innes smashed the driver’s side window with the scooter and again hit you with it.
13 Upon entering the house, Ms Pollard woke Mr Innes’ brother, Michael, who armed himself with a kitchen knife and went outside to the car, giving the kitchen knife to Daniel Innes.
14 Police, who had been called by Ms Pollard, arrived some minutes later, locating you seated in the driver’s seat still wearing the motorbike helmet and gardening gloves. I have viewed the police footage of the scene upon their arrival. It would be fair to describe that scene as extremely chaotic. There was, from my observation, a degree of verbal aggression by the males who were then present at the property. It was also clear to me that Ms Pollard, your victim, was visibly and noticeably distressed. When police arrived, Daniel Innes was at the front of the vehicle, armed with the black-handled kitchen knife. In the footwell of the front passenger seat, police located the black-handled knife that you had used to threaten Ms Pollard.
15 You were arrested in an agitated state and, after attending at Mildura Hospital due to injuries sustained during the offence, you were subsequently taken to Mildura Police Station and interviewed. Some of the details of that interview are set out at paragraph 17 of the Prosecution Summary of Opening Upon Plea which was tendered at your plea hearing today. In relation to the allegations, you essentially denied any wrongdoing. You denied intending to steal the car or making demands of Ms Pollard, and you denied being armed with a knife during the incident.
Impact on Victim
16 Your victim in this matter, Ms Pollard, declined to make a Victim Impact Statement. However, it can be reasonably assumed that at the very least she would have found this incident and your behaviour to be extremely frightening.
Procedural Chronology
17 You were arrested at the scene on 5 February 2019 and remanded in custody. On 30 May 2019, at a committal mention, you pleaded guilty and the matter proceeded by way of a straight hand-up procedure to this Court.
18 Subsequent to this date, following a change of legal representation it seems, at a subsequent directions hearing in July 2019 you indicated that the matter would be contested at trial, notwithstanding your earlier indications in the Magistrates’ Court and, on 13 August 2019 at a further directions hearing, the matter was adjourned for trial in the circuit commencing on 10 March 2020 in the County Court at Mildura.
19 On 4 October 2019, after spending 242 days on remand, you were granted bail with various conditions including reporting to police.
20 Like all criminal trials in Victoria, earlier this year your trial was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in the suspension of all jury trials until further notice. The matter was accepted into the emergency case-management protocol earlier this year and, following a sentence indication before me on 26 May 2020, this matter resolved to a plea of guilty on 3 June 2020. You were arraigned and entered your plea of guilty before me on 4 June 2020.
Nature and Gravity of the Offence
21 The offence to which you have pleaded guilty is a serious crime, as reflected in the statutory maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment. You approached your victim wearing a motorbike helmet and wearing thick gardening gloves, which must in those circumstances have constituted a concerning and frightening, if not somewhat bizarre, sight. Whilst armed with an offensive weapon, in this case a knife, you behaved in a threatening manner towards your female victim, who was simply sitting inside her car outside her property at night. Your actions towards Ms Pollard essentially involved a threat of force in order to attempt to steal the vehicle. As is often said, a person’s motor vehicle is a substantial asset, the loss of which can have considerable adverse consequences to the owner. The gravity of your conduct is accentuated by virtue of your offending occurring in a domestic setting in the middle of the night, essentially on a defenceless and therefore vulnerable victim.
22 However, I accept that this incident was relatively short-lived. Your interaction with Ms Pollard was limited and, initially at least, amicable. No physical injuries were sustained by Ms Pollard, and no property damage occurred as a result of your behaviour.
23 In all the circumstances, I am of the view that whilst the crime of attempted aggravated carjacking is a serious offence, this is not the most serious example of such an offence.
Personal Circumstances
24 A large body of mitigatory material was tendered at your plea hearing, and many of the details of your personal history are set out in considerable detail in those documents.
25 By way of brief summary, you were born in Mildura. Your parents separated when you were a baby and you were initially raised in your mother’s care. You subsequently resided with your grandparents before being placed into foster care, and later becoming a Ward of the State at the age of 14 or 15. You have one brother, two half-brothers and two half-sisters. In relation to the decision to remove you from your mother’s care, you have reported that you do not know why this happened, but you have reported that your mother’s partner was physically violent to both her and the children. It appears that all of your remaining siblings continued to reside with your mother, notwithstanding your removal. You have reported that your mother had a history of drug and alcohol use.
26 After being made a Ward of the State in your early teenage years, you have reported unstable and inappropriate short-term foster care placements. You have reported being sexually abused on multiple occasions by a neighbour and another male, and that these incidents were reported to the police. For a period in your mid-teens you found yourself caring for your 13 year old brother after your mother kicked him out of home, before he moved on to other housing.
27 I accept in all the circumstances that you have endured what has been described as a fractured childhood marred by family violence and abuse, and you have endured multiple instances of physical and sexual abuse as a young person. You have endured the instability that comes from residing at various foster homes. I was informed that, by your teenage years, you were intermittently living on the streets, with an understandably heightened risk appreciation in relation to your own personal safety.
28 You have been educated to partway through Year 9 level, and since leaving school amidst homelessness issues you have been employed in a range of manual labouring jobs, including house painting, labouring and landscaping.
29 You have reported living for approximately four years in Queensland from your early twenties, initially following your mother and brother when they had moved to Queensland. You lived in Bowen and worked in a service station but returned to Melbourne some four years later so that you could live closer to your grandparents.
30 In about 2010/2011 you commenced a significant intimate relationship with Aileen,[5] who had an 11 year old son from a previous relationship. This relationship, which you have reported as being both violent and toxic, lasted for some nine years. During the relationship, you experienced prolonged physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse and psychological abuse throughout the relationship.
[5] A pseudonym.
31 You have reported a history of smoking cannabis from the age of 15 until a couple of years ago. You have also reported commencing use of stimulants in the form of methamphetamine approximately one year prior to the offending.
32 You have a limited criminal history, appearing at the Mildura Magistrates’ Court on two occasions, in June 2016, where you received a without-conviction Good Behaviour Bond for criminal damage and April 2017, where you received a without-conviction 12-month Community Correction Order for offences including contravene Family Violence Intervention Order, criminal damage and unlawful assault. You subsequently completed the Community Correction Order, which had conditions including treatment and rehabilitation regarding alcohol abuse, mental health assessment and treatment, and offending behaviour programs.
33 You have reported that in the months leading up to the offence your partner and stepson went to live elsewhere, and you essentially became homeless. Your use of Ice escalated in this context, and you have described feeling increasingly fearful for your safety and feeling paranoid.
34 As I have indicated, you spent 242 days in custody before being granted bail in this matter in October 2019. I was informed that the 242 days spent at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre was very traumatic for you, given your gender identity and underlying complex trauma-related issues. I have no doubt that this was the case and that, as a result, the sentencing purpose of specific deterrence has already been significantly affected in this case. I have considered a number of certificates and documents in relation to your progress with regards to courses and other therapeutic endeavours whilst in custody, and I am satisfied that whilst that period of time was no doubt very traumatic for you, you have used your time in custody productively in that regard.
35 Significantly, in March 2019, you self-referred to an outreach social worker from the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre, Witt Gorrie, now an outreach social worker with an organisation known as Flat Out, a community organisation supporting criminalised people. At the time, the intervention from Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre provided specialist social work and counselling support to transgender and gender-diverse people who have been incarcerated in Victorian prisons. You identify as a transgender Aboriginal man. Since connecting with this service, you have obtained assistance in relation to your physical and mental health care needs, in particular you have accessed appropriate specialist transgender healthcare providers.
36 Upon being granted bail and with the case coordination assistance provided by Katherine Ogilvie, social worker with the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, you established yourself in the Geelong area with the support of various agencies. Sadly, after an initial period of stability, you experienced an increase in family violence in the home where you had been living with your long-term partner and stepson. In particular, you were the victim of a stabbing incident at the hands of your ex-partner in February 2020. That occurred in the context of a rapid decline in the relationship with your partner.
37 In February 2020, therefore, you relocated to Mildura, where you have remained residing with your grandparents. Your grandparents are elderly and you assist them with their daily support needs.
38 Significantly, in the context of your previous cycle of problematic behaviour including drug use and ultimately offending behaviour, your mental state has significantly stabilised since moving to Mildura. You have been accessing supports in relation to your physical and mental health needs. You have received consistent healthcare from your GP, Dr Prakash Shetty, at the Merbein Medical Centre for mental health treatment oversight, as well as transgender healthcare. You are currently in receipt of Aripiprazole, an antipsychotic drug which is used to treat Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder.
39 This morning at your plea, a number of documents were tendered in relation to your recent progress in Mildura. A report from Witt Gorrie, now working with the organisation Flat Out, was tendered. That document confirmed that since relocating to Mildura, you have connected with a new general practitioner in Mildura. You have also connected with a gender-affirmative therapist, Teresa Ballard, through your community health specialist transgender and gender-diverse health service. Through the organisation known as Your Community Health, you have also connected to additional general practitioners and transgender peer navigators who are able to assist you in achieving your goals of accessing gender-affirmative surgery in the future. You have articulated plans to start your own handyman business, specialising in landscaping, yard work and lawnmower repairs, while continuing to reside with and care for your grandparents. I also had regard to a letter from Teresa Ballard from Your Community Health. Ms Ballard has been able to provide you with telephone sessions given the COVID-19 restrictions. According to Ms Ballard, the counselling work so far has focused on trauma, anxiety and depression and gender issues. It has been identified that the palpable impact of the cumulative traumas on your physical, mental and emotional health needs to be addressed.
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I also received and considered a detailed letter from Catherine Ogilvie, social worker from the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, dated 25 September 2020, which also referred to various aspects of your ongoing progress.
Ms Ogilvie informally informed the Court during your plea hearing of your ongoing progress and your plans to hopefully obtain appropriate referrals through the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Sentencing Factors and Principles
41 In formulating an appropriate sentence in your case, I am required to take into consideration various factors. I have already referred to the maximum penalty for your offending and the seriousness of your offending behaviour.
42 I turn now to a consideration of your moral culpability and level of responsibility for the offending. I have considered the neuropsychological report from Dr Linda Borg, dated 13 May 2019 (Exhibit 1). Dr Borg undertook a neuropsychological assessment of you. According to Dr Borg, the most predominant feature of your presentation is a longstanding pattern of psychological instability, including potential abandonment in childhood, exposure to traumatic events, self-harming behaviour, identity issues, co-dependence on others and poor impulse control. You demonstrate cognitive and behaviour deficits, indicating a mild underlying verbal learning inefficiency which is compounded by maladaptive personality traits, both of which appear to have predated your offending behaviour. Dr Borg noted that you had reported potential psychotic features at the time of the offending. In the absence of corroborative medical reports, this report could not be substantiated by Dr Borg. Dr Borg concludes:
“… From a neuropsychological perspective, Ms [Callaghan’s] cognitive inefficiencies are unlikely to have contributed significantly to her offending behaviour. Rather, it is considered her offending reflects underlying personality dysfunction, acute substance use and a desire to support her addiction.”[6]
[6]Dr Linda Borg, Confidential Neuropsychological Report (13 May 2019) Paragraph [34]
43 You were also assessed by consultant forensic psychiatrist, Dr Fiona Best, and I have considered her report dated 21 May 2019 (Exhibit 2). According to Dr Best, you reported being seen by a psychiatrist as an outpatient at the Dame Phyllis Frost Correctional Centre, and had been prescribed a mood stabiliser and antidepressant, you had reported that you had been informed that you were psychotic when first remanded in custody. According to Dr Best, from an assessment of your history and your presentation to her, you satisfy a diagnosis of Substance-Induced Psychotic Disorder, in that at the time of the offence:
“[you] had been using Ice frequently and had also been using illicitly acquired testosterone as [you] wished to transition to being a male. In the months leading up to the alleged offence [you] began to develop persecutory delusions about [your] partner, believing that [your] partner was in danger, and that [your] partner was an imposter. [You] also thought that people were after [you] and [your] partner. [You] also experienced auditory hallucinations of [your] partner screaming … [You] experienced delusions of reference from number plates of cars that [you] believed were messages being sent to [you] ... On the day of the alleged offence, [you] reported [you were] searching for [your] partner (who had left [you]) believing that [you were] in danger, [you] approached the stationary car because the number plate of the car told [you] the driver needed help and also that the driver could give [you] a lift … .
…
There appears to be a link between [your] impaired mental functioning because of [your] psychotic symptoms and the alleged offending, [your] psychosis is likely to have affected [your] capacity to exercise appropriate judgement and make calm decisions and think clearly at the time of the alleged offenses … .”[7]
[7]Dr Fiona Best, Evidentiary Report (21 May 2019), Pages 9-10
As rightly pointed out by the prosecution, an analysis here of your moral culpability and the effect of your reportedly psychotic symptoms at the time of the offending is complicated by virtue of your drug use at the relevant time. The prosecution appropriately drew my attention to the recent Court of Appeal decision of Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212. In that decision, the Court of Appeal articulated as follows as paragraph 61.
“Evidence-based decision-making is, of course, precisely what Verdins both authorises and requires. What the sentencing judge needs is not a diagnostic label but a clear, well-founded expert opinion as to the nature and extent of the offender's impairment of mental functioning and, so far as it can be assessed, of its likely impact on the offender at the time of the offending and/or in the foreseeable future".
Brown's case essentially emphasised the need for rigorous evaluation of the evidence in relation to submissions regarding reduction in moral culpability by virtue of mental impairment.
44 Clearly, there is a degree of complexity in this analysis on account of your admitted drug use in the lead-up to the offending. On the basis of the expert opinions to which I have referred, I am satisfied that your moral culpability for the offending is moderately/somewhat reduced due to your impaired mental functioning on account of your psychotic symptoms at the time of the offending. Any reduction is moderate only in my view, by virtue of the complication in relation to your drug use and the lack of corroboration in relation to a historical account of your reported mental health challenges.
45 Furthermore, and in particular, in light of the background details to which I have referred, I am satisfied that your moral culpability is reduced by the well-known High Court Bugmy[8] principles, in relation to your chronically disadvantaged background and complex trauma history.
[8]Bugmy v R (2013) 249 CLR 571
46 Notwithstanding the rather complicated procedural chronology to which I earlier referred, I am satisfied that a sentencing discount is warranted by virtue of your early plea of guilty. As indicated, you pleaded guilty at a committal mention in May 2019. While there clearly was some delay associated with a change of position on your part, concurrent with a change of legal representation, you nevertheless confirmed your plea of guilty in June of this year. No witnesses were cross-examined at committal. A trial with its associated delays, costs, inconvenience and trauma to witnesses has been avoided. Your plea of guilty reflects your acceptance of responsibility and your willingness to facilitate the course of justice. A utilitarian benefit is therefore warranted, particularly given the added complications and delays associated with the COVID-19 environment and its restrictions.
47 To a degree, your plea of guilty is reflective, in my view, of a level of remorse on your part. I note your expression of remorse to the community correction order assessor and your instructions to your counsel this morning on the issue of remorse; that is, that you have reflected upon your behaviour and your offending behaviour weighs heavily on you. According to neuropsychologist, Dr Borg, however, while you appreciated the wrongfulness of your behaviour, your responses “revealed a strong pattern of egocentric responding and external locus of control/blame”.[9] However, in my view a mitigatory allowance on the basis of remorse to some degree is warranted.
[9]Dr Linda Borg, Confidential Neuropsychological Report (13 May 2019) Paragraph [29]
48 You fall to be sentenced as an offender with a minimal criminal history. In my view this is a matter of significance given the disadvantaged and traumatic background to which I have referred. Notwithstanding the obvious challenges in your life, you have largely avoided breaches of the law, which is a matter to your credit. Furthermore, I am satisfied in all the circumstances that your period in custody of 242 days, due to the multitude of personal challenges to which I have referred, has likely served as a significant deterrent for you in relation to the risks of future offending. Indeed, as I have said, I have little doubt that your time in custody would have been particularly onerous for you. Significantly, given your gender-related issues, I am satisfied that any return to custody would be particularly onerous for you, above and beyond the additional burdens associated with the now well-known impacts of COVID-19 in the custodial setting.
49 Given your minimal criminal history, your current life circumstances in Mildura and the wealth of support agencies involved with you, I am satisfied that your prospects of rehabilitation are good, although subject to appropriate specialist interventions remaining in place for some time.
Sentencing Submissions
50 In this matter the prosecution submitted in all the circumstances that a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period was the appropriate disposition. It was submitted on your behalf that in all the circumstances a Community Correction Order, either on its own or in combination with a sentence of imprisonment incorporating time served would appropriately meet all of the relevant sentencing factors and purposes in this case.
51 In my view, the seriousness of your offending does call for a sentence of imprisonment to adequately reflect the sentencing purposes of denunciation of your conduct, specific deterrence, general deterrence and community protection. However, in the particular circumstances of your case, the community can be best protected and your rehabilitation can be best facilitated through you remaining in the community, subject to a Community Correction Order. In imposing the sentence that I am about to impose, I wish to make it clear that I do not, for a minute, wish to detract from the seriousness of your offending or its impact on your victim. Your behaviour was completely unjustifiable and the community rightly expects appropriate punishment.
52 However, here there is, in my view, a powerful constellation of mitigatory factors, the details of which I have already referred to in my reasons for sentence. This is, in my view, a most unusual case. You have a significant background of trauma and disadvantage. You also have complex underlying psychological and gender-related issues. The offending which you engaged in was, in my view, of course serious but also somewhat bizarre, amidst what appears to have been a psychotic disturbance albeit with an illicit drug overlay. You experienced extremely arduous circumstances on remand in relation to your gender-related issues. You have, since being granted bail, both complied with bail conditions but engaged in comprehensive, sustained and significant rehabilitation. In my view, in all the circumstances the community will be best protected by maintenance of the status quo, that is you remaining in the community. Indeed, it is my view in the unusual circumstances of this case that to now return you to prison would likely be catastrophic for you.
53 Mr Callaghan, would you please stand. On the charge of attempted aggravated carjacking, you are convicted and sentenced to 242 days’ imprisonment. Pursuant to s18 of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare a period of 242 days has been served by way of pre-sentence detention. Pursuant to s44(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991, I further order that you undergo and complete a Community Correction Order.
54 The length of the order will be 18 months. The mandatory terms or conditions attaching to this and indeed all Community Correction Orders are as follows. You must not commit any other offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time that the order is in force. You must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed by the relevant regulations. You must report to and receive visits from the Secretary or delegate thereof. You must report to the Community Corrections Centre within two clear working days, that is the Community Correctional Centre at Mildura, of the order starting. You must let a Community Correction Officer know within two clear working days of any change of address or employment. You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so. You must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary or a delegate.
55 In addition to those mandatory conditions there are a number of additional conditions which I impose on this order. Notwithstanding the submissions made by your counsel, I am of the view that there is a need for a further punitive component to this order. Accordingly, you will be subject to a condition requiring you to perform 100 hours of unpaid community work over a period of 18 months as directed. You must undergo assessment and treatment, including testing for drug use or dependency as directed by the Regional Manager. You must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment that may include psychological, neuropsychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the Regional Manager.
56 Pursuant to s48CA(2) of the Sentencing Act 1991, I order that 50 hours satisfactorily undertaken in relation to the treatment and rehabilitation condition can be credited as hours of unpaid community work.
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I am also imposing a judicial monitoring condition and I am going to order,
Mr Callaghan, that you reappear at Court for a review of your compliance with the order on 2 February 2021 at 9.30am at the Melbourne County Court.
58 Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a sentence of 2 years’ and 3 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 18 months. I will also make the disposal order that has been sought, it not being opposed by you.
59 Mr Callaghan, in order to impose this penalty on you, you need to consent to the order or agree to the order being made, and the only way that you can do that is if you understand exactly what the order is. There are a number of conditions which I have read out to you and I am going to stand down and give Ms Prior a few minutes to confer with you to make sure that you understand what those conditions mean.
60 There is one other piece of information I need to give you and it is this. If you breach this Community Correction Order you can be dealt with in the County Court for breaching a Court order. You can be punished in relation to the breach and that punishment can include imprisonment, but you can also be resentenced in relation to the offence for which you received the Community Correction Order in the first place. So if you were to breach this order either by committing an offence punishable by jail or not complying with these conditions without any reasonable excuse, in all likelihood you would come back before me and you may be resentenced in relation to the attempted aggravated carjacking, and as I have said to you, I regard the offending as a serious matter. So that is the information I need to give you.
61 What I am going to do now, Mr Callaghan, is stand down and give Ms Prior a chance to speak with you. I will come back in a few moments when I am informed that you are ready and ask if you agree to the order. If you do agree to the order, in normal circumstances I would have you sign that order, but of course you are in Mildura and I am not, and so I will make a note of your verbal consent on the order which I will sign.
62 Mr O'Doherty, are there any issues or any ambiguities or have I missed anything, firstly from the prosecution perspective?
63 MR O'DOHERTY: No, you haven't, Your Honour, and there is nothing further that I believe Your Honour is required to do now.
64 HIS HONOUR: Thank you very much, Mr O'Doherty. Ms Prior, before I stand down temporarily, anything from you?
65 MS PRIOR: No, thank you, Your Honour.
66 HIS HONOUR: All right, I will just stand down for a few minutes. As soon as you tell my tipstaff that you are ready I will come back and finalise the matter. Thank you.
(Short adjournment.)
67 Thank you, Ms Prior, how did you go?
68 MS PRIOR: Thank you, Your Honour. Those conditions have been explained and my client consents to making that order.
69 HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right, thanks. Mr Callaghan, you have heard Ms Prior then. You agree to the making of this order and you agree to comply with it; is that the case?
70 OFFENDER: Yes.
71 HIS HONOUR: All right, thank you. I have signed that order and signed the disposal order as well. Mr Callaghan, my final words to you before concluding. Please continue doing precisely what you have been doing, but more importantly you need to comply closely with the terms of this Community Correction Order. If you are having any difficulties you need to stay in touch with those who are helping you. I have been informed and I understand why you do not want to go back to prison. If you were to be breached the consequences would likely be very significant for you. Do you understand?
72 OFFENDER: (Inaudible.)
73 HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right, thank you. I thank the parties for their assistance today.
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