Director of Public Prosecutions v Constantinidis

[2014] VCC 2256

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -13-01562

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SUE CONSTANTINIDIS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	25 October 2013, 28 August 2014, 31 October 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:	17 December 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Constantinidis
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 2256

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms L. Spitale
For the Accused	Ms H. Bale

HIS HONOUR: 

1Sue Constantinidis, you can stay seated for the time being.  You pleaded guilty to an indictment charging you with armed robbery.  The armed robbery occurred on 8 July 2011.  You participated with two other offenders in that offence.   You were the driver of the getaway vehicle, but were party to a plan which involved robbing your victims, who were, to your knowledge, intellectually disabled.   It was a serious offence which would ordinarily require a significant term of imprisonment. 

2You have also admitted a number of prior convictions and court appearances.  Fortunately nothing for offences this serious as that for which you appear before me now.  But you have a chequered history to say the least, albeit that your last court appearance was in 2007. 

3The prosecution relied upon a summary of prosecution opening.  I note that I sentenced each of the two co-offenders.  Ms Yuksel received a sentence which, on one view, now that I am better informed, was unduly light.  Had I dealt with all three of you together, I think I would have formed a different view about the sentence that was appropriate in her case.  Mr  Yanni, I have sentenced to time served.   He received a more significant sentence, and one that is perhaps more akin to that which is appropriate for the offending conduct. 

4I note that it is said that you somewhat minimised your involvement in the matter, describing your participation as "just the driver".  Well, the driver plays an essential role and you cannot escape full responsibility for the offending conduct.   Albeit that I accept that you were not aware of the weapon that was used and the manner in which it was used and to that extent, you were not a participant in that aspect of the offending conduct. 

5Turning to matters personal to you.  Your counsel has relied upon a number of reports, some of which are now moderately old, but nevertheless, they give me some insight into your previous life.  A helpful report from Mr Joblin, dated 27 September 2013, and in particular a number of other reports relating to your physical ailments, which are not inconsiderable.  And I have also been provided, more recently, with a report from Northern Health, dated 24 August 2014, and the medical conditions that are referred to there, raise the question for me whether you were up to doing any community work, were I persuaded that ultimately that was an appropriate disposition in your case. 

6It seems that the Department of Corrections have work which they think they can provide to you and have assessed you as being suitable for a Community Corrections Order, with the conditions that you complete unpaid community work, that you participate in treatment and rehabilitation for drug abuse or dependency and for mental health issues.  I think that that is something you have discussed with Corrections and that you see some benefit in the order encompassing both of those further conditions. 

7I think that it will be difficult for you to complete a Community Corrections Order, given your other commitments.  Your 13 year old son will need your attention and a good deal of attention.  You have a significant responsibility there and a good deal of effort will need to be made by you to make up for lost time.  So I suspect that your priorities should be in that direction.  I am persuaded that in this case, exceptional circumstances exist and that I should take into account your family circumstances, in particularly the welfare of your son.  The degree to which that benefits him will depend very much upon your willingness to work hard to be a good mother to him.

8I am persuaded that, even though this was a serious offence, in particular, having regard to the way in which I dealt with your co-offenders, I can deal with you by way of a Community Corrections Order, without any custodial component, and without a very significant period of unpaid community work.

9The sentence, I am conscious is objectively far too lenient for what you did.  However, the offence occurred three and a half years ago and you have been out of trouble since then.  I am persuaded that the community will benefit more from promoting your rehabilitation or your continued rehabilitation and the efforts you have made, than imposing an unduly harsh sentence upon you, with a custodial component.  The community will ultimately benefit, I hope, from allowing you to be a mother to your 13 year old son during a very important part of his development.  His future may well rest in your hands, in terms of leading a productive and honest life.

10There are supports offered to you, take them.  You have made progress, keep it up.  I am, in those circumstances, prepared to make a Community Corrections Order with a condition that you complete 100 hours of unpaid community work, as well as the other conditions that I have already indicated. 

11I think that supervision should be included as well, even though that is not specifically referred to in the report, and I am going to impose a judicial monitoring condition.  I would like to see you again in three months' time and find out how you are going.  So I am going to bring you back on a date in three months and you must be here at the appointed time, all right? 

12Now those are the broad conditions.  You probably have already explained to you the other core conditions of a Community Corrections Order.  You may well be aware of them already.  The most important is that you stay out of trouble.  If you commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during the period of the order, which will be for two years, you will be in breach of the order and you will be brought back to this court and you are up for three months imprisonment for the breach.  Any sentence that is appropriate for the offence that put you in breach, and of course you will be up for re-sentencing on these matters, and you may leave the court with no alternative other than to impose a term of imprisonment and the consequences which would flow from that are too horrific to contemplate, I would hope, from your point of view.  So there is a deal resting on your willingness and ability to comply with the order, all right?

13You will of course also have to meet the conditions of the order and if you fail to keep appointments without reasonable excuse, that will put you in breach.  If you fail to complete the period of 100 hours of community work, that would put you in breach and if you fail to comply with directions that draw you to the other conditions to do with drug and alcohol dependency and mental health issues, that too will put you in breach.  It is not necessarily going to be easy for you.  Are you willing to consent to an order in those terms? 

14I will have the order drawn up and you will have the opportunity of considering it with your counsel.  Thank you. 

15

The judicial monitoring appointment will be on 17 March next year at

10 am, before me.  So you will have to be here then. 

16I am going to ask Ms Bale to accompany Mr Travers to you through the order, to make sure that you understand what you are signing.  If you are satisfied with it, sign it and the order will be made. 

17MS BALE:  As Your Honour pleases.    

18MS SPITALE:  Your Honour, could I just raise one issue?

19HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

20MS SPITALE:  There was an application for disposal, in relation to the hammer, and that was provided to the court back in October, I think, last year, when the plea first commenced. 

21HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  I would have thought that I would have made that order in respect of Ms Yuksel and - - -

22MS SPITALE:  Yes, I - - -

23HIS HONOUR:  But I will make it again if I have to.

24MS SPITALE:  Thank you, Your Honour.

25HIS HONOUR:  I would imagine the hammer has already been disposed of, has it, or not?  Perhaps it is still an exhibit. 

26MS SPITALE:  It is all pending until the matters are finalised. 

27HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  All right, well - - -

28MS SPITALE:  So thank you for that. 

29HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I take it there is no objection to that?

30MS BALE:  No objection, Your Honour. 

31HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I will make the Disposal Order.  Do I have a draft?

32MS SPITALE:  Yes, Your Honour.

33HIS HONOUR:  I do, yes.  It will be in the file there somewhere, yes.  Yes, I see, yes.  I will sign that and let you have it. 

34MS SPITALE:  As Your Honour pleases.

35MS BALE:  Thank you, Sir, we've been through that - - -

36HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

37MS BALE:  Each component of that order and Ms Constantinidis has signed it where require. 

38HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you.  Thank you. 

39Ms Constantinidis, there is one other thing I just want to say.  I failed in my remarks a few minutes ago, in dealing with the prosecution case, to make mention of the victim impact statements.  You will no doubt have read those.  One may imagine that your conduct, along with your co-offenders, will have had a very significant emotional effect on your victims.  This sentence ordinarily would be regarded by any right thinking person, as wholly inadequate to do justice by the victims.  I hope you appreciate the impact that your conduct had upon your victims and that that will stay with you for a significant period of time, as it will with your victims. 

40It is not always easy in cases like this to draw the right balance, and I am not at all certain that it is possible to do justice by the victims with an order like this, but I have to balance all of the sentencing considerations and they have, on this occasion, fallen in favour of rehabilitation, rather than denunciation, punishment and general deterrence, to the extent that I would ordinarily regard those as being significant sentencing considerations. 

41You have been assessed as low risk or re-offending.  I hope that assessment is correct.  For that reason I would treat individual deterrence as being lower on the list than I would ordinarily treat it, having regard to your previous convictions and court appearances. 

42I am, in those circumstances, prepared to make the order that you have just signed and I have signed that order.  It is for two years.  Your first appointment will be within two clear working days of today.  You must keep that appointment, otherwise you will be in breach straightaway.  And I will make the Disposal Order in the terms of the draft, which I have signed.  And you should appreciate that, had it not been for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to two and a half years imprisonment and a non-parole period of 18 months.

43That just gives you a flavour of what might be in store for you if you are in breach of this order, and that you give the court no choice other than to make a custodial order. 

44

All right.  Well those orders are now in place.  Are there any other orders

I need make? 

45MS SPITALE:  No, Your Honour.

46MS BALE:  No. 

47

HIS HONOUR:  All right, you may leave the dock.  And Ms Constantinidis,

I mean this in the nicest possible way, I hope we do not meet again. 

48OFFENDER:  Thank you, Your Honour.   

49HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Well I will leave the Bench shortly. 

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