Director of Public Prosecutions v Conlan
[2024] VCC 964
•26 June 2024
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-23-02029
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DANIEL CONLAN |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE MARICH | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 29 February 2024, 9 May 2024 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 26 June 2024 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Conlan | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2024] VCC 964 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence
Catchwords: Catchwords – Make threat to kill, intentionally damage property, aggravated burglary, causing injury intentionally – stood over mother and threatened to kill – beat father on the floor of his home - serious example of the offence of causing injury intentionally and of aggravated burglary - offending against backdrop of Family Violence Intervention Orders - lasting impact upon parents - pleas entered at the earliest opportunity - affected by psychiatric state at the time – belief that was god - Verdins 1-4 – moral culpability, punishment and denunciation reduced – support of The Bridge Centre
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991, Crimes Act 1958
Cases Cited:R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269, 271
Sentence: 18 Months’ imprisonment, followed by a community corrections order of two years duration.
6AAA - if the matter had gone to trial and resulted in guilty verdicts, a longer sentence would have been imposed.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms Downey | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms Temperley |
HER HONOUR:
Introduction
1Daniel Conlan, you have pleaded guilty to an indictment containing:
· two charges of make threat to kill, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years’ imprisonment;
· one charge of intentionally damage property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment;
·
one charge of aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of
25 years’ imprisonment; and
· one charge of causing injury intentionally, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
2The circumstances in which you came to commit those offences are contained in the Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea dated 20 February 2024, which was Exhibit A in your plea in mitigation of penalty. The prosecution also relied on:
· Victim Impact Statement of Corinna Conlan dated 21 March 2023 (Exhibit B) – we will check that date;
· Victim Impact Statement of Luke Conlan dated 21 March 2023 (Exhibit C).
3I have also received an extended presentence assessment report dated 1 April 2024 (Exhibit D).
4In addition to the matters developed in oral argument, your counsel relied on:
· defence outline of submissions on plea dated 26 February 2024 (Exhibit 1);
· psychological assessment report of Ms Gina Cidoni dated 26 November 2023 (Exhibit 2);
· MHARS report by Bendigo Health dated 3 January 2023 (Exhibit 3);
· remand report from Corrections Victoria dated 23 February 2024 (Exhibit 4);
· bundle of CISP reports (Exhibit 5);
· neuropsychological report of Dr Loretta Evans dated 19 April 2024 (Exhibit 6);
·
further plea submissions in relation to the applicability of Verdins dated
5 May 2024 (Exhibit 7);
· Forensicare materials of Justice Health, Department of Justice and Community Safety dated 21 March 2024 (Exhibit 8).
5Since the conclusion of the plea in mitigation of penalty, I have had the assistance of Further Plea Submissions from your counsel, which I will now receive and mark as Exhibit 9; and Prosecution’s Response to Further Plea Submissions, which I will now receive and mark as Exhibit E.
6I have taken all exhibited matters into account in determining the appropriate sentences in your case, in addition to the evidence given and the matters developed in oral argument.
Circumstances of offending
7The victims of your offending are your parents, Luke Conlan and Corinna Conlan, who reside at an address in Wilson Street, in Gunbower. At the time of your offending, you were 28 years of age, and residing at an address in Main Street, in Gunbower. Your offending occurs against a backdrop of Family Violence Intervention Orders, with your parents as protected persons, and with you as respondent, with the first having been made in May 2020. On 17 July 2020, a Family Violence Final Intervention Order was granted by the Echuca Magistrates’ Court, with your father as the protected person, including a condition that you could not go within 200 metres of your father’s home address whilst affected by drugs or alcohol. This Order expired in July 2021. In November 2021 at the Echuca Magistrates’ Court, an Intervention Order was granted naming your parents as protected persons, with conditions including that you could not commit acts of family violence, and not damage property belonging to your parents. This Intervention Order expired on 29 November 2022, a month prior to your commission of these offences.
8On 28 December 2022 at approximately 2.00 pm, your mother Corinna Conlan was at her home, sitting on a chair in the garden. You entered the garden through the gate and asked your mother how she was going. The prosecution alleges that you approached her and stood over her, putting your face up close to hers. You then screamed at her stating 'I am god you know' and 'when I was 12, I prayed to the gangster gods, and they blessed me so now I’m going to be in a gang and we’re going to come back and kill you.' The final words are the subject matter of your Charge 1, make threat to kill.
9Your mother told you to get out, and you left the residence. She called Triple 0 to request police attendance, and in that call, she told the Triple 0 attendant that you had been drinking, and that she needed another Intervention Order against you.
10Police officers attended the premises at approximately 3.15 pm and spoke to your mother, and at the time, no Family Violence Intervention Order was sought.
11The following day, at approximately midday, you again attended your parents’ home.
12You were carrying 12 bottles of beer, and sat outside in the barbeque area. Your mother was at home and saw you arrive, and she has told police that on multiple occasions she went out and asked you to leave due to your behaviour the previous day. You refused to leave, and sat drinking alcohol for several hours.
13You left the property at approximately 4.00 pm, returning at about 5.30 pm, at which time you walked through the side gate and to a fridge to get another beer. Your mother saw you through the kitchen window; your father Luke Conlan was outside and asked you to leave as you were intoxicated, which you did.
14At approximately 8.30 pm, your mother went to bed; you reattended the address and banged on the door at approximately 9.00 pm. Your father answered the door and told you to leave, and went to push the door shut, however, you pushed the door open and entered the home. An argument occurred, and your father yelled at you to leave, and he was able to shut and lock the front door.
15You smashed the window adjacent to the front door, and used your hands and body to push the glass through and climbed into the lounge room through the window, knocking over the television. In the process of your entry, you sustained a laceration to your left forearm from the broken glass, and you left blood on the window frame and blind.
16Your action is the offending referable to your Charge 2, of intentionally damage property; and your entry into the home is the offending the subject of Charge 3, of aggravated burglary, in that you entered your parents’ home as a trespasser, with intent to assault a person therein, and at the time of entry, you knew that the person was then so present.
17Your mother heard the yelling and glass smashing, but remained in her bedroom, as she was very frightened. She then heard your father scream out for help.
18You grabbed your father and threw him to the ground, and he hit a table on the way down. You then yelled at your father 'I’m going to kill you, you bastard. I’m gunna kill ya'. This is the offending the subject of your Charge 4, of make threat to kill.
19Your father got up off the ground, and picked up a metal statue of a magpie and attempted to hit you in self-defence; it is then alleged that you moved towards a location where knives were located, whilst your mother screamed at you 'don’t, don’t, please. Don’t kill dad, please don’t.' You then grabbed the magpie statue from your father, and you threw your father onto the ground, where he lay in a foetal position. You stood over him, whilst he yelled for help, and held his arms up in front of him for protection.
20You then punched him at least four or five times to the head using your fists, causing a large, jagged laceration to the left side of his head requiring 13 staples, a linear laceration to the right side of his scalp requiring 3 staples, bruising to his right temple, cuts to his forehead and an acute nasal bone fracture to his nose, which caused bleeding. This is the offending referable to your Charge 5, of causing injury intentionally.
21You yelled 'don’t worry mum, I’m here to protect you' and screamed at your father 'don’t you touch her'. Your mother grabbed a pepper grinder that was on the kitchen table and began hitting you with it; meanwhile, your father crawled out and threw his telephone to your mother, and instructed her to call Triple 0.
22You picked up the house phone and called Triple 0. I understand that on the floor of the kitchen were pools of blood from your father’s head, and from the laceration to your arm.
23Your mother ran outside to the front of the house and began calling out for help, and she raised a neighbour. Your father managed to get away from you and walked outside, and pressed a tea towel to his head to stop the bleeding. You followed him outside, and stood at the front of the property. The neighbour told your parents to get inside her house. She later told police that you were screaming, yelling out that you were god and that god had told you to 'strike everyone down'. Your neighbour, using firm language, told you to go away. She provided first aid to your father for his injuries, and called Triple 0 and requested an ambulance.
24You ran down the street towards your home, and you were observed by a person on the way, hitting yourself in the head, and talking to yourself erratically. She walked out onto her front porch, and you ran towards her and fell into the garden bed next to her, and began to rock back and forth.
25She told you to calm down, and you showed her the laceration on your forearm, telling her that you had cut an artery. She told you to go home, get cleaned up and go to bed. You then ran to your home.
26At approximately 10.30 pm that evening, you ran to the home of another person, and showed him the laceration to your arm, and you were driven to the Echuca Hospital.
27Meanwhile, at 9.50 pm, police and paramedics attended the home of your parents’ neighbour, and your parents were both transported to the Echuca Hospital.
28Medical staff from the Echuca Emergency Department contacted the Echuca police station to tell them that you were in attendance, and that you were being aggressive with staff members.
29At 11.44 pm, police attended the Emergency Department, and you were arrested and cautioned in relation to the aggravated burglary.
30Police remained with you at the hospital while you received stitches to the laceration on your left arm. You were then taken to the Echuca police station, where you told police that you had not slept in three days, and presented as agitated and erratic. You were also observed still to be intoxicated, so were permitted to sleep before taking part in an interview.
31At 12.13 am on 30 December 2022, police attended your parents’ house, and processed the crime scene, and took photographs of the scene and blood trail. Forensic samples were obtained from blood left around the smashed window and on the wall cabinet inside the hallway, leading to the kitchen, and other items were seized.
32Later that day, police attended the Echuca Hospital, and photographs were taken of your father’s injuries.
33On 30 December 2022 at 2.45 pm, you participated in a Record of Interview with police, at which time you admitted to attending your parents' address three times that day. You told police that on the third attendance, there was an argument between yourself and your father, where you were told to go home, and that he had closed the door and locked it. You denied threatening to kill your father but admitted threatening to bash him.
34You admitted punching the window twice, and smashing the window through, and you told police that you were trying to get your mother outside, and you were waiting for her to get outside, and that she was in effect afraid, and that you had told her not to have a fit, that you were only there because of her, and you wanted your father out of the house. You admitted pushing him to the ground, and punching him to the head, and that when your father had told you to leave, and then closed the door, you had gotten angry and wanted to get back inside with your mother, and then you smashed the window.
35When asked why you assaulted your father, you told police 'cos I’ve always wanted to punch him, so many times'. You admitted punching your father 'a few times'. When shown photographs of your father and his lacerations, you accepted that they had been caused by your knuckle going through his head, and said 'wow, sorry, dad'.
36You told police that you were affected by drugs of dependence at the time of the incident, that is, under the effect of marijuana, and you did have ice three days before that. You denied being under the influence of ice at the time though, telling police you were 'a bit drunk'. You told police that you being angry caused a stupid incident that really should not have happened.
37When asked about the threat to kill the subject of Charge 1, you said 'if that’s what I’ve said, that’s what I’ve said, cos everyone uses the kill word all the fucken time'.
Effect on the victims
38I have described the injuries that you caused your father by your commission of your Charge 5, causing injury intentionally.
39In this case, I also have the benefit of Victim Impact Statements from each of your parents, and they have spoken eloquently about the effect of your behaviour upon them. It is difficult to do justice to their description of the effect of your behaviour upon them without reading from those statements, which is what I propose to do. Your mother, Corinna Conlan, told me:
I feel my relationship with Luke has changed since this assault. I feel distance now, we have lost affection towards each other, and I feel this has been because we are so stresse[d]. …
I feel angry and sad about what Daniel has done towards Luke and I. I feel like I am grieving. My anger comes from years of trying to help Daniel and I would never have expected that he would do that. The grief comes from a knot in my stomach where I feel like crying all the time. I miss him and I think about him every day but I have lost him, lost my son. Our relationship of mother and son can never go back to where it was after what he did, I have lost him. …
My sleeping patterns are all over the place. I stay up late and sleep in. I’m exhausted all day from thinking. … I have nightmares all the time of the incident of Daniel in general. … My anxiety is [sky] high. …
I have lost motivation for housework and only do what must be done. I used to love going into town shopping but now I hate it. I hate being around people and scared who I will run in too [sic]. I feel too scared to leave the house alone in case I run into him.
40Your father, Luke Conlan, told me:
It hurts me to think of the things I used to do with my son. We would go fishing and hunting. Now he has done this to me. He is my son, and this hurts so much. …
I’m not sleeping, I have sleeping tablets to help me go to sleep. If I hear any bangs, I am alert and scared, worried he is back and breaking in through a window. I feel I have no protection. …
I feel anxious all the time. I’m always looking over my shoulder. I have had to access services for support and counselling. I haven’t had anyone to talk to. My moods have changed. I used to be calm but now I snap out of frustration.
I suffered a head injury where I had staples on my left and right side of my head. … I had bruises all over my face and a blood nose. I suffered a concussion. The pain and the headaches, it just won’t go away. If I bend over, I get dizzy. … The pain has never gone away and the headaches will not stop.
I see my wife in pain and her moods changing since this. I can tell she is having bad nightmares as well. It hurts to see my wife going through this.
41Your offending has had lasting impact upon your parents, and has left them with a legacy of trauma, as well as the physical effects that you have caused your father.
Plea of guilty and timing; remorse
42
You were charged following your interview and were remanded into custody. On 11 January 2023, at the filing hearing of the charges, you were granted bail, with conditions including compliance with the CISP program, and I have been provided with a series of reports from your CISP supervisor. The matter proceeded through a series of committal mentions, with your bail revoked at committal mention on
20 September 2023.
43On 29 November 2023, at committal mention, your matter resolved by way of straight hand up brief, and you indicated your intention to plead guilty to the charges which have proceeded before me. I take into account in significant mitigation of penalty your pleas of guilty, which were entered at the earliest opportunity, and their utilitarian benefit, in that you have saved your parents and the other civilian witnesses the time and energy associated with giving evidence and answering questions in court. You have also saved the court and the community the time and expense of a trial.
44I also find that your plea is indicative of some remorse, reflected in the cooperation that you showed in your interview with police. You have since expressed a desire to repair the damage done to your family relationships, though I note that you have no intention of contacting your parents, which is their wish. I also mitigate penalty on the basis of this remorse.
Personal circumstances
45You were 28 years of age at the time of your offending and are now 30. You are the eldest of three children born to your parents, and you were raised in Kyneton. You consider that your parents brought you up well, but you had some difficulties in childhood due to your observations of what you described as being your parents' excessive alcohol use and verbal abuse. You have had no contact with your parents since your offending.
46You left home at the age of 25 following the imposition of a Family Violence Intervention Order protecting your parents, and you moved nearby into a unit in Gunbower.
47You attended Gunbower Primary School, then Echuca Secondary College where you completed Year 12. You consider that you performed well academically, and you were never the subject of any discipline by either school.
48Your first employment was on a dairy farm, and you later successfully completed a Butchery Apprenticeship in Gunbower. You worked as a butcher for approximately 15 years, but your most recent job ended around May 2023 when your employer unfortunately passed away.
49Once you are released from the sentence that I am obliged to impose, you have a job offer at a duck farm in Kerang, which apparently includes accommodation provided by the farm.
50At the age of 13, I understand you suffered injuries to your leg and hip while playing football, and you had pins inserted in your hip, and the injuries resolved without complication, but were aggravated recently when you began weightlifting.
51In 2023, you were involved in a motorcycle accident, leading to fractured ribs and a fractured collar bone.
52I am sorry to note that you experienced sexual abuse between the ages of 10 and 12 by an older person.
53You started consuming alcohol at a relatively young age, and you continued to drink until after your commission of these offences.
54At the time of your offending, you had no prior criminal history, but there is a subsequent offence which led to you being remanded into custody in September 2023. At the time of your offending, though there was a difficult history in respect of your recent relationship with your parents, you were for the purposes of this exercise a man without prior convictions, and I mitigate sentence on the basis of your good character.
55You started using cannabis during your mid-teenage years, and this continued until your arrest, when you were remanded into custody. You also used MDMA recreationally. You started consuming methylamphetamine at the age of 22, which started with recreational usage, but it escalated to a more frequent habit, with you using the drug three times a week for a three month period, which apparently occurred in the context of you working in an abattoir where others also used the drug.
56Whilst under the influence of methylamphetamine, as you told Gina Cidoni, psychologist, you encountered auditory hallucinations, and heard voices, and you saw shadowy figures, which you consider contributed to your paranoia. In 2019, well prior to the commission of these or in fact any other criminal offence, you had contact with Bendigo Hospital for auditory hallucinations and paranoia.
57In addition to the report I have received from Ms Cidoni, I also have the benefit of a very detailed assessment and analysis by Dr Loretta Evans, Senior Clinical Neuropsychologist. Here I will indicate, as proposed by counsel, that where it comes to evidentiary findings that I must make in sentencing you, which allow and require me to apply principles of law relating to your cognitive and psychological health in this case, I prefer the report of Dr Evans where there is inconsistency between the two reports. It is a very detailed analysis of you, and it allows me to draw from her considerable expertise. Ms Cidoni also provides some assistance to me in understanding your presentation.
58When Ms Cidoni assessed you in November 2023 (after you had been remanded back into custody, and so after you had stopped drinking and using drugs), she observed that you struggled to maintain a coherent conversation and showed avoidant behaviour. With her, you displayed mild paranoid ideation.
59Her assessment of you revealed mild thought disturbances with indications of paranoid ideas. During your assessment, you reported to Ms Cidoni experiencing drug induced psychotic episodes, which to her indicated a link between your substance use and psychotic symptoms.
60Your cognitive functioning, to her, appeared to be significantly compromised due to symptoms which she associated with a psychotic disorder. She also observed symptoms consistent with a major depressive disorder with anxious distress.
61To Ms Cidoni, the presence of methylamphetamine likely exacerbated your aggression and impulsivities; and under the influence of this substance, you become more prone to violent outbursts and irrational behaviour, as evidenced by your threatening actions towards your parents. However, as I understand your account to police, you denied consuming methylamphetamine on the day of offences 2 to 5, and attributed your offending at least in part to not having slept, and consuming alcohol to excess, and the presence of alcohol was observed by your parents and also police once you had been spoken to at Echuca Hospital.
62In respect of the onset of psychiatric symptoms, I have been provided with other material, including from the Mental Health Advice and Response Service of Bendigo Health, which confirms your attendance at the Bendigo Hospital Regional Triage Service in December 2019, where you reported auditory hallucinations, and that others had commented on you becoming unnaturally paranoid. In the opinion of the author of that report, Vivienne Miller, you needed to manage your intake of alcohol and illicit substances.
63Dr Loretta Evans, senior clinical neuropsychologist, assessed you and provided a report dated 19 April 2024. She observed your current medications as being Olanzapine, Celecoxib and paracetamol as required. Dr Evans reviewed your Justice Health file, and noted that on 31 October 2023, after you had been remanded into custody, you were treated in the Erskine Unit at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre, where you alluded to underlying psychotic thought processes 'in mildly disorganised fashion'. On 29 November 2023, you were transferred to Ascot Unit with a provisional diagnosis of first episode psychosis and differential of drug induced psychosis. Later, you continued to present with poor or superficial insight, and remained unsure why you were placed in the Erskine Unit. Whilst in custody, you were assessed for psychiatric review by Dr Gregory Lysenko (senior fellow) on 8 February 2024, and he considered that you had experienced a first episode of affective psychosis in the context of heavy polysubstance use prior to incarceration, but concluded 'given the longevity of [your] symptoms, [you are] more likely to have an enduring psychotic disorder'.
64Dr Evans undertook neuropsychological assessment of you, and concluded that in the context of superficial cooperation, amotivation, and obvious difficulty remaining engaged, as well as the possibility of underlying mild paranoia/perceptual disturbance, testing revealed literacy abilities at Grade 5 level. With the exception of low average visuo-perceptual and constructional skills (i.e., IQ equivalent to 80), your performances on all other cognitive tests of verbal and nonverbal intellect were at the 2nd percentile and approaching mildly intellectually disabled ranges (i.e., IQ equivalent to 70).
65To Dr Evans, there was a concern about the potential of underlying neurodevelopmental disorder along the foetal alcohol spectrum, that may have impacted on your overall cognitive, emotional and social maturation. After 2019, to her, you appeared to have begun to decompensate from a psychiatric perspective, and ongoing compromise to frontal and prefrontal orbito-medical regions of cortex is clearly indicated. You have a lack of insight about your mental illness, as well as to the impact of alcohol/illicit drug abuse on your overall wellbeing and/or criminal actions, together with poor decision-making capabilities/executive dysfunction, and the inability to appropriately regulate your behaviour.
66To Dr Evans, it seems likely that at the time of your offending, you were demonstrating either a prodromal phase of an underlying psychotic illness emerging from 2019, or the effect of chronic cannabis usage (in the form of acute psychosis). Hence, your ability to inhibit impulsive or irrational responses, think clearly, make calm choices, or modify your behaviour at the time of your offending, were clearly impeded. Here, I interpolate, that this deterioration has occurred against your low verbal and nonverbal intellect, which approaches mild intellectually disabled ranges, as well as the context of the potential of underlying neurodevelopmental disorder along the foetal alcohol spectrum. Those conditions are chronic, and your psychotic illness has emerged in that context. Whilst it may be drug induced, or it may be organic, you are certainly left, as Dr Evans has observed, with subtle underlying psychiatric symptoms even in the absence of drug and alcohol usage whilst you have been on remand.
67Here, I find there to be a connection between your intellectual functioning, your psychiatric condition at the time of offending, and your commission of these acts, and, as urged on me by each counsel, I mitigate sentence in consequence of the application of Verdins factors 1-4.[1] Certainly, your consumption of methylamphetamine, of significant quantities of alcohol, and your lack of sleep in the days prior to your offending stimulated your psychotic illness. But your capacity to make careful and wise decisions is affected by your intellectual functioning, and once you experienced the onset of psychosis it became very difficult for you to control your behaviour. I view your moral culpability for your offending against this background, that is, your sincere, disordered belief in respect of your Charges 2-5 that your conduct was in protection of your mother, that you were 'God', and that God had told you to 'strike everyone down'. As a result of the connection between your functioning and your offending, I consider that your moral culpability is reduced, and I will accordingly reduce the weight that I attach to the sentencing purposes of punishment and denunciation.
[1] R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269, 271.
68In Dr Evans’ analysis, the predictable structure and repetitive routine of a term of imprisonment, are likely to be supportive of your day-to-day functioning. I agree with Dr Evans that structure and routine are essential, particularly given your reduced insight into your intellectual and mental health (perhaps, in consequence of those very conditions). In my view, your health has a bearing on the kind of sentence that I must impose, and the conditions under which it should be served. This is due to my allowance for your health, where I come to interpret and apply the purposes for which sentence must be imposed, with reduced weight, as I have said, to punishment and denunciation, and I will also moderate the weight to attach to general deterrence given the shortcomings in your intellectual functioning which affects your ability to interpret information and make sound decisions, such as consuming drugs and alcohol which stir up your psychosis, and interpreting whether or not you should approach your parents when you are unwell.
69Dr Evans had serious doubts about your ability to express genuine remorse, regret or shame, from a perspective other than your own. She noted the nature of your repeat offending, your scores on the historical clinical risk management scale, and your egocentric perspective, in concluding that your risk of reoffending is high, particularly if your mental health were to rapidly deteriorate. I accept her opinion, and I am somewhat guarded about your prospects for rehabilitation once you return to the community given your limited insight into your health and the steps that you will need to take to protect yourself against further setback and deterioration. I do consider that your lack of prior convictions and mature age weighs in your favour towards those prospects. I will emphasise rehabilitation in this sentencing exercise, but also community protection, via the residual need for specific deterrence, and some punishment, and some general deterrence.
70Whilst in custody, you have connected with case worker, Amy Howell, of the Bridge Centre. Ms Howell gave evidence at the plea hearing, and I have a very positive view of the services that she is willing and able to provide you. She is able to work with you pre and post release, and her number one priority is organising housing for you, which at the moment is a very high priority as your housing is uncertain. The Bridge Centre, she testified, has relationships with organisations which would allow for you to secure accommodation within a rooming house. She is also able to support you with your attendance at drug and alcohol rehabilitation appointments. I understand that she requires time between the imposition of sentence, and your release, to re-enrol you in Centrelink payments, however once your application is processed, it opens funding pathways, including for housing and other crisis payments. The Bridge Centre is also able to assist with food vouchers and other financial support if you have no income. Once accommodation has been approved, she can and will help you to access a general practitioner. In my view, she is a very positive factor in support of your ability to rehabilitate. She will facilitate services that assist you to reestablish yourself with a safe home, financial support, and those services will remind you to steer clear of drugs and minimise if not stop drinking alcohol. Your ability to rehabilitate will also be improved if you follow the directions of your medical practitioners as to the treatment of your psychological health.
Objective gravity of your offending; sentencing submissions
71Mr Conlan, you committed serious criminal offences upon your parents in and around their home, on two terrifying occasions. On the first occasion of your offending, that is, 28 December 2022, you attended on your mother in the garden of her home, stood over her, put your face close to hers, and threatened to kill her.
72The following day, you attended their home on a number of occasions, culminating in a very serious and brutal intrusion into their property, at 9 pm after your mother had gone to bed, after your father had locked the door to you and told you not to come in, where you smashed a window and forced your way in. Your purpose was to confront your father, albeit it was affected by your psychiatric state at the time. Once you were inside their home, you then threatened to kill your father, and beat him on the floor of his home, causing extensive injury to him, while your mother screamed at you to stop. Looking at the objective factors, this is a serious example of aggravated burglary, and it is also a serious example of the offence of causing injury intentionally, having regard to the injuries which resulted, and the fact that the injury was caused to your father in the privacy of his own home. These are ordinarily offences that call for long periods of time in custody.
73Each case turns on its facts, and in your case there are issues personal to you which also attract weight in the balancing exercise, which I have endeavoured to review carefully. Your counsel submitted that in all of the circumstances of the case, I could impose a sentence involving a combination of immediate custody, and a community correction order on your release. Prosecution Counsel agreed with this submission, and this is the order I plan to impose upon you. You have been assessed as suitable for a community correction order.
74Given the connected nature of the offending on Charges 2-5, that is, make threat to kill your father, intentionally damage property, aggravated burglary, and causing injury intentionally, I will convict you of each charge, and impose a single aggregate sentence on all four offences. This sentence is 18 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by a community corrections order of two years duration. On Charge 1, that is make threat to kill your mother, I will convict you and order the same community corrections order of two years’ duration.
75Now Mr Conlan, could you please listen up, because I am just about to explain the conditions to you and then I will ask you whether you agree to that order or not. I cannot impose it on you unless you agree. Mr Conlan, do you understand that I am about to explain those conditions, sir?
76OFFENDER: Yes.
77HER HONOUR: Thank you.
78Your special conditions are supervision by the Office of Corrections, assessment for treatment and rehabilitation for alcohol abuse/dependency (including testing), assessment treatment and rehabilitation for drug abuse/dependency (including testing), mental health treatment and assessment, and programs to reduce offending behaviour.
79So I will just repeat that. It is over two years from the point where you are released from custody. It is assessment and treatment for drug abuse and alcohol abuse, mental health assessment and treatment, and programs to reduce offending behaviour, and supervision. Are you willing to agree to those special conditions, sir?
80OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
81HER HONOUR: Thank you.
82There are also general conditions which will be explained to you by Ms Temperley and also by the Office of Corrections, once you attend on them. They apply to every single order that is made by the court. Those general conditions are that you must attend the Community Corrections Centre to report within two days after being released from custody; you cannot commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned; you must report to and receive visits from the Secretary; you must let a Community Corrections officer know within two clear working days if you change your address or job; you cannot leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the Secretary; and you must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary.
83Mr Conlan, are you willing to agree to that two year community corrections order on your release?
84OFFENDER: Yes I am. Yes.
85HER HONOUR: Thank you, we will make a note that you have agreed. Then Ms Temperley, I am just going to ask you please to take your client through those conditions again once I have adjourned, and so the stress of me being here is gone.
86MS TEMPERLEY: Thank you, Your Honour.
87HER HONOUR: Now having regard to the factual complexity of the matter, I will indicate pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, that if the matter had gone to trial and resulted in guilty verdicts, I would have imposed a longer sentence. By way of comment, because this matter is so fact specific, it is impossible for me to quantify further.
88Ms Downey, I understand that there are no ancillary orders sought?
89MS DOWNEY: Your Honour, I believe there is a disposal order.
90HER HONOUR: Yes.
91MS DOWNEY: In relation to the DNA swabs and the clothing located at the scene.
92HER HONOUR: All right. Any issue with my making the disposal order?
93MS TEMPERLEY: No objection, Your Honour.
94HER HONOUR: I will make that order as requested.
95HER HONOUR: 294 days reckoned as previously served. Thank you very much for that reminder. Thank you, let us adjourn.
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