Director of Public Prosecutions v Cochrane

[2018] VCC 487

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

AT MILDURA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 17-02243

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TYSON COCHRANE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE M.P. BOURKE
WHERE HELD:	Mildura
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	2 February 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Cochrane
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 487

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. O'Doherty
For the Accused	Mr C. Morgan

HIS HONOUR: 

1Tyson Cochrane, you are to be sentenced for one charge of intentionally causing injury.  The maximum sentence is 10 years' imprisonment. 

2You pleaded guilty before me on 31 January.  When interviewed by police on
10 September 2016, you made false denials.  However, the matter resolved at committal on 2 November 2017.  It ran by hand-up brief and you pleaded guilty to this offence.   Prior to this, there was a question as to what injury you had caused your victim, Craig Humphries.  It became clear that he had suffered more serious injuries, including a head fracture in a tree-falling accident some days before your assault on him.  Accordingly, more serious offences initially charged, were withdrawn. 

3You receive the benefit of your plea of guilty and  cooperation that short history of the proceeding shows.  Your plea has facilitated the interest of justice.  I accept that you are remorseful.

4At your plea hearing, which also ran on 31 January, Mr O'Doherty for the Crown tendered a written prosecution opening and photographs of the scene of offending and injury suffered by Craig Humphries.  Mr Morgan, for you, tendered a forensic psychological report of Dr Mirabel McConchie dated 27 January 2018. 

5The circumstances of your offence are set out in the tendered  Crown opening, which is Exhibit A.  It was necessary to amend that to reflect clarification of what injury was caused,  as I have earlier explained.

6Craig Humphries is your mother's partner.  At time of offending on 9 September 2016, he was 46; you were 26.  Your older brother Khyle, lived with him and your mother at premises in Mildura.

7On that day about 11 am, your brother and Craig Humphries had a dispute.  There was a minor scuffle.  Your brother went to your home nearby and complained.  At about 11.30 am, you, two brothers and another man came to the home.  Mr Morgan stated on your behalf that you did not intend physical assault.  However, upon approach to Humphries in the front yard, you quickly lost control and, without warning, punched him to  the head.  He went down, apparently unconscious, further striking his head on the side of the house.  You continued to punch him to the head and face.  You and the others left.

8Craig Humphries was taken to hospital.  The amended Crown opening states his injuries at paragraph 16 in this way: 

9"Three sutures to the eyelid." 

10"Three sutures to the ear." 

11"Two staples to the scalp."

12Those laceration kind injuries make up the injury caused.  It is upon that basis that you are to be sentenced.

13You stated to the psychologist, Dr McConchie, that you had no grievance with Craig Humphries and "quite like him."  I accept that you were using ice amphetamine at this time and were affected by that on this day.  

14Craig Humphries was offered the opportunity to make a victim impact statement but declined.  You no longer have a relationship with him or your mother. 

15You are now a 27-year-old man awaiting this sentence in remand custody.  You are not employed and have no fixed residence. 

16You are the victim of an impoverished and damaging early life.  You are the second eldest of 17 siblings and were raised mainly in Berri, South Australia, and then Mildura.  School was not successful and you left at 16.  There has been little employment since.  You began using alcohol and drugs in teenage and became a heavy user of ice amphetamine during your 20s.

17You have four children, the eldest of whom you do not see.  You have frequent contact with the youngest three.  The relationship with their mother ended in late-2016 because of your drug use.  Your ex-partner seems to remain supportive of you and attended court on 31 January.

18You presented to Dr McConchie as a distressed man who presently sees little value in his life.  You are also remorseful about your drug use and the impact of it upon your family.  You want change.  Dr McConchie diagnoses major depressive disorder and stimulant use disorder. 

19Your criminal record states a number of court appearances between March 2008, which was a Children's Court matter,  and June 2015.  Offences of violence are prominent.  You have received two sentences of immediate imprisonment.  You have breached orders in the community.

20This was a brutal, utterly undeserved attack upon an older, less physically strong man.  Its lack of justification or real explanation reflects disposition to quick violence and little anger control.  The effect of drug use upon you gives little, really no mitigation.  You have relevant prior convictions.  Such circumstances make relevant sentencing considerations of deterrence, moral culpability, denunciation of what you did and proportionate punishment.  As conceded by Mr Morgan,  and by you, a sentence of imprisonment is necessary.

21However I also take into account matters that may moderate that sentence and, I feel,  legitimately cause sympathy for your situation.  They include the following. 

22Your plea of guilty;  there is in it a sense of your acceptance of the consequences of what you did.  Your early life and background  has been particularly deprived.  You and your family suffered social isolation and exclusion.  It is not surprising that you began using drugs early and that has been a big part of your decline.  You seem also to have responded to life's treatment of you by a developing psychology of anger and violent response.  Dr McConchie's report raises aspects of this.  In your own interests and that of the community, you need to change this.   Prospects of rehabilitation cannot be seen as high.  Presently, your life lacks stability and support.  I have formed the view that compliance with a community corrections order after leaving prison would be difficult.  For example, you are effectively homeless.  However I am also persuaded that you have come to a point in your life where you want change.  You recognise that you are the cause of your relationship ending.  One hopes that restoring and maintaining your relationship with your children will be a strong motivation to reform from drug use upon release.  It will be up to you.

23After considering what I see to be relevant matters, I sentence you as follows.  Stand up please.  On one charge of intentionally causing injury, you are sentenced to eight months' imprisonment.  Under s.18 I declare - is it two or three days?

24MR O'DOHERTY:  Two, Your Honour.

25HIS HONOUR:  Two days of pre-sentence detention.  Had you not pleaded guilty, I would have imposed a sentence of 18 months with a minimum term of 12 months.  And might I add as to the arithmetic of that, we live in a time in which parole is no certainty.  I think you would have had real difficulty in getting parole.  All right, are there other matters?  Take a seat.

26OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

27HIS HONOUR:  I wish you the best when you get out of prison, Mr Cochrane.  I fear the consequences if you do not reform.  All right, you can be taken into custody now.

28MR MORGAN:  Be excused, Your Honour?

29HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you Mr Morgan.

30MR MORGAN:  Thank you.

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