Director of Public Prosecutions v Cornford
[2017] VCC 873
•28 June 2017
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-16-02115
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| PETER JOHN CORNFORD |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE LAWSON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATES OF HEARING: | 3 March and 20 June 2017 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 28 June 2017 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Cornford | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2017] VCC 873 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW – SENTENCING
Catchwords: Multiple counts of theft from employer – obtaining financial advantage by deception – imposition of a jail term to be immediately served
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms S. Pillai | John Cain, Solicitor for Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Dr T. Alexander (Plea) Mr H. Kirimof (Sentence) | P. Henenberg Lawyers |
HER HONOUR:
1 Peter John Cornford, you have pleaded guilty to 13 charges of theft and one charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception.
2 The offences are serious, and that is reflected in the maximum penalty that is prescribed by law in respect of both the theft and obtain financial advantage by deception charges, and that is, ten years' imprisonment.
3 I shall proceed to sentence you on the basis of the summary of prosecution opening that was read at the plea hearing and is marked as an exhibit.
4 At the time of offending, you were employed as the financial controller with the Dandenong-based company, Metal Work Pneumatic Australia Pty Ltd, which I will call “Metal Work”. This company is a subsidiary company and the headquarters are located in Italy.
5 Your position was one of great responsibility. Your duties included paying creditors and salaries, ensuring adherence to statutory tax and regulatory body requirements, supervising and recording the financial obligations of the company, recording all transactions, reconciling all major balance item sheets on a monthly basis, preparing financial statements and the annual tax return.
6 Over the period of about five years, between 23 March 2011 and 20 May 2016, you misappropriated a total of $1,512,704.85.
7 In 2012, you became involved in an international online scam initiated from an online dating site targeting Australians. At the request of a person known as Narelle Panagiotidis, you sent approximately $900,000.00 to various Australians who were also duped and being used as money mules as part of the scheme. Over the period of offending, you retained approximately $600,000 of the stolen moneys for your own personal use.
8 The charges are broken down into years, and the amounts for each charge are set out in the attached schedules. They are the attachments that were attached to the indictment and they will be included in these reasons.
9 Charge 6 relates to obtaining financial advantage by deception, and that involves you dishonestly obtaining for yourself a financial advantage, namely the evasion of a debt owed to Metal Work by you. You created false entries in the financial recording system for Metal Work to falsely represent that repayments were made by you in respect to a motor vehicle that was made available by the company for your own personal use.
10 Charges 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 14 relate to stolen funds that were transferred into your personal bank accounts, and five additional transactions including four transfers to various travel agencies, and one transfer in respect to golf club membership fees.
11 Charges 3, 5, 9, 11 and 13 relate to stolen funds that were transferred into accounts other than your personal bank accounts.
12 Charges 7 and 10 relate to cheques only. Both charges refer to cashed cheques, each in the sum of $1000.00, which were purported to be for petty cash but used for your own purpose.
13 All of the Charges 1 to 10, with the exception of Charge 6, have been split into calendar years and chronological periods to create 13 between date charges.
14 I will now turn to the circumstances of the offending. Both you and the managing director, Anthony Thompson, were the only employees authorised to carry out bank transactions at Metal Work. During the period of the offending, you were a signatory on the company’s bank account together with Mr Thompson. Being a signatory to the company account enabled you to sign cheques on your own and to disburse funds.
15 You used creative and fraudulent accounting methods to hide payments. You started by appearing to pay a legitimate creditor. The principal method you employed was to use a supplier name, Cash Purchases. A fictitious supplier invoice would then be created, and several big payments would be made to various persons, and journals would be adjusted to clear the credit. You created false documents including invoices and manipulated figures to hide the moneys withdrawn from Metal Work accounts. Other methods employed by you to hide payments included specific advances to yourself hidden in various balance sheet items or expenses, cashing petty cash cheques, and paying yourself unauthorised bonuses.
16 On occasion, you would split amounts requested to be paid by the scammer, Narelle, into smaller amounts. For example, $40,000 split into four payments of $10,000. The prosecution said that you did this to avoid detection.
17 Your offending was discovered when, in May 2016, police began investigating large sums of money being transferred into various bank accounts in the name of Paul Ballantyne, who then sent the money overseas. A significant proportion of the funds going into the Ballantyne accounts were coming from “Metal Work Australia Panagiotidis”.
18 Ballantyne had been duped by a person whom he knew as Susan Mears, whom he had met online. Susan Mears maintained she was an art dealer living in Dubai. She asked Ballantyne for moneys for various personal reasons, and also asked him to accept money into his account that was purported to be from art sales. She would then ask for the moneys to be forwarded to her and others, including fictitious clients and suppliers in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and other countries.
19 Inquiries made by police revealed that some of the persons depositing moneys into the Ballantyne accounts, including you, were part of the international scam.
20 You made 64 payments into Paul Ballantyne’s bank accounts. The total sum of stolen funds transferred into those various accounts was $808,304.53.
21 On 23 May 2016, police telephoned Metal Work Pneumatic Australia in Dandenong but was told by Deidre Lupton, the data entry and accounts employee, that there was no person connected with the company called Panagiotidis. Ms Lupton advised you about the police enquiring and you told her that she should have put the call through to you.
22 On 27 May 2016, police received a National Australia Bank trace report that showed a payment made by Metal Work Pneumatic Australia to Ballantyne. This bank document had a handwritten note below the typed information that read, “Metal Work Pneumatic Australia Pty Ltd”.
23 The informant telephoned the company again and asked to speak with the managing director. He was out of the office, so the police sent an email requesting that the managing director contact police in relation to payments made by the company to Paul Ballantyne.
24 Ms Lupton mentioned that email to you, and you immediately became agitated and directed that she forward the email to you. She refused to do so initially, but you were insistent, so she did send the email to you. You told her that you did not want the email sent to the managing director.
25 You then phoned the informant to ask why police were inquiring about the payments to Paul Ballantyne. You stated that you had made payments to Ballantyne, and you told the informant they were for investments in art work. You told police Narelle Panagiotidis was your business associate. You stated that the owners of the company and the Managing Director did not know about those payments, and did not know Narelle Panagiotidis. You then agreed to attend the Somerville Police Station where you would talk with the informant.
26 You were cautioned and had a conversation with the informant. You told police that you had met Narelle Panagiotidis on an online dating site approximately four years earlier. You had never personally met, but had a relationship. You said it was not a romantic relationship. You believed that you were investing money with her for the company, and had sent about $500,000. You told police most of the communications with Narelle Panagiotidis were via email and text, and that you had deleted most of those messages, as you did not want your wife to see those messages. You allowed police to access your email account to view the emails and provided your password and phone number so police could have unrestricted access to your email.
27 A formal record of interview was then conducted on 27 May 2016, during which you made “no comment”. Following that interview, you telephoned Anthony Thompson, the managing director, and resigned immediately. On 30 May 2016, you requested leave of absence.
28 Further investigations conducted by the company revealed that you had started stealing tens of thousands of dollars from your employer from March 2011 for your own personal use, and that you had transferred stolen funds directly into your personal CUA bank account. You were never authorised to transfer or invest company moneys. You received no documentation or confirmation relating to any purchases or sales.
29 Investigations revealed in late 2011 that you met a female purporting to be “Narelle Panagiotidis” through the adult dating site called Adult Match Maker. You were communicating predominately via email and text with occasional phone calls, but you never met, despite Narelle constantly telling you she was returning to Australia. She sent photos to you that purported to be of her and those photos depicted a young, attractive girl aged in her early 20s. She told you that she was currently on business in Dubai and that she lived in Adelaide.
30 She falsely told you that her father, Leo Panagiotidis, owned a company called European Marble Moorabbin. She offered you an investment opportunity to buy marble which she would source and sell through her father’s business, and she told you she could earn 100 per cent return on the money that was invested. You stole money from Metal Work and transferred those moneys to a bank account belonging to Leo Panagiotidis.
31 Unknown to you, Narelle was at this time also in the process of scamming Leo Panagiotidis who actually owned European Marble. He had met this female, who called herself Narelle Welsh through an online dating site. She told him she was from Queensland and travelled to the UK and Dubai. She said she had been arrested and her passport has been confiscated. She told Mr Panagiotidis she was going to change her name to Narelle Panagiotidis because she felt like his relative. She told him that she had a friend called Peter who would help her out financially to return to Australia. Mr Panagiotidis then agreed that Peter could transfer the money into his account and he would send it to her.
32 The overseas scammers continued the same scam with other Australians including Estrelita Alexander, Anita Pinguet and Craig Meyers. All of those persons had met the scammers, who were using different names, through various online dating sites. They were all convinced that they were in a relationship with some person overseas who wanted money to return to Australia. They all sent their own money until it ran out, and then they were asked to receive money into their bank accounts, to then forward it onto persons predominately in South Africa. Unknown to each of those persons, the money they received was from you, and you were stealing it from Metal Work.
33 You transferred company funds as follows:
(i) Leontis Panagiotidis, $16,375.00;
(ii) Anna Pinguet, $5,650.00;
(iii) Donna Fischer, $8,387.00;
(iv) Estrelita Alexander, $11,800.00;
(v) Craig Meyers, $48,621.00;
(vi) Paul Ballantyne, $808,304.53; and
(vii) Dr Jacqueline Flynn, $55,500.00.
34 Narelle had been asking you for money for a variety of reasons, including medical bills, legal bills, hair extensions, accommodation, living expenses and travel. You were also stealing thousands of dollars at a time from Metal Work, which you were transferring directly into your personal bank account for personal use.
35 Before you were further interviewed by police on 7 September 2016, you provided a comprehensive statement, signed and dated 7 September 2016, in which you admitted thefts from Metal Work.
36 You gave detail about how you met Narelle Panagiotidis through the adult website, Adult Match Maker, and you gave an explanation as to how you came to be transferring the various moneys that she requested, and that is as set out in paragraph [35] of the summary of prosecution opening.
37 You made full admissions about transferring moneys to yourself as well as to the person known as Narelle, and you said that you took an advance $35,000 directly to a travel agent for an overseas holiday to London in 2013, and in September 2015, you went on another holiday to London, taking an advance $25,000. You also took an advance of approximately $5,000 to travel to New Zealand. Then you transferred approximately $70,000 between March 2012 and May 2016 into your own bank accounts at ANZ and CUA. You told police you created some false invoices in order to increase the amount of the invoice so that you could pay the original amount and keep the difference. You estimated that that amount was about $50,000. You took about $185,000 for personal money, and directed most of that money from your personal accounts to your credit cards.
38 You made full admissions about not having authority to transfer the moneys. You admitted responsibility for the creation of the false invoices. You told police that you were extremely ashamed of your actions and extremely sorry to Metal Work for your actions.
39 A second interview was conducted on 7 September 2016, during which time you gave police full details of your offending and made numerous admissions, as set out in paragraphs [37] to [54] of the opening.
40 Your admissions included that some of the money was used by you personally, that you stole the money and did not have a legitimate reason for receiving these payments, that you bought a 2012 Calais and said you took money from the company as a loan, agreeing that you did not have the company’s permission and you said to police you had used the money for living expenses. You told the police that you advanced money for holidays for two trips to Europe and New Zealand without having permission, and that you also spent money on golf memberships and money on women that you met on dating sites, dining, buying them clothing and accommodation in Torquay, the Dandenongs, and the city. You also paid some of your elderly mother’s bills. You were unable to give any explanation for your offending. You were very apologetic for the grief that you caused to Metal Work.
41 The impact of your offending. Your offending has impacted greatly, both on the company and the concerned individuals, and that was evidenced by the victim impact statement declared by the managing director, Anthony Thompson, dated 2 March 2017, that was read to the court.
42 Your offending caused massive stress to the company at all levels and created instability. Mr Thompson has suffered individually from your actions. He suffered increased stress and anxiety associated with the increased workload by reason of the exposure of your fraudulent acts. He was left to manage the fallout and he speaks of his upset at your gross breach of trust, betrayal and manipulation. Your actions have impacted on the company’s success and have necessitated the company incurring costs of investigating the defalcation that has been a big burden for a small company to bear. Further, morale in the company was severely impacted.
43 Mr Cornford, your offending is a serious example of the crime of theft and represents a serious and gross breach of trust by a trusted employee. As financial controller of Metal Work, you were entrusted with a large degree of responsibility for the management of the company's financial responsibilities.
44 You have misappropriated a significant amount of money, $1,512,704.85.
45 The offending involved planning and was a systematic fraud through the creation of false invoices, and manipulation of company documentation to conceal your actions. The deception spanned a substantial period of time, in excess of five years.
46 You used a large portion of the moneys, estimated at $500,000, to fund your own lifestyle, including paying off substantial credit card debts, overseas travel, and you also purchased a car for your wife, and deployed the moneys for golf, car repairs, curtains and carpets and payment of bills and other expenses relating to your lifestyle that you had compartmentalised and kept secret from your wife, namely, the money spent on women that you had met on the dating sites and money spent dining with them, buying them clothing, paying for accommodation. Approximately one million dollars was remitted at the bequest of the person known to you as Narelle Panagiotidis and your offending only ceased once it was detected in May 2016.
47 Insofar as Charge 6 is concerned, that involves you exploiting your position to acquire a company vehicle for just over $20,000, for which you were to repay by way of ten monthly payments of $2,000. You made only one monthly payment of $1,000 and falsified company records to make it appear that you had made the other payments when you did not.
48 I will turn now to the issue of moral culpability. During the plea hearing, I heard evidence from Mr Jeffrey Cummins, consultant forensic psychologist, Dr Lester Walton, consultant forensic psychiatrist, and Dr John Cronin, clinical psychiatrist. There was also other material from mental health clinicians that detailed your treatment, both before and following your arrest on these charges. The consensus of their expressed opinion is that you have a borderline personality disorder.
49 Dr Lester Walton and Mr Jeffrey Cummins further state that you suffer from major depressive disorder and that the two conditions were running concurrently at the time of the offending.
50 Dr Walton, whose evidence I accept, considered that you present with a moderate presentation of a severe diagnosis. He stated that you were not cognitively impaired, however the diagnosis manifests itself in problems with containing impulsivity. You understand the difference between right and wrong, but you may have put aside that judgement foolishly or hastily because of your psychiatric condition. Impaired judgement is consistent with your condition, and you are at risk of exercising poor judgement at any stage of your condition.
51 Dr John Cronin, clinical psychiatrist, stated in his evidence that he considered that you suffered an adjustment disorder, but conceded that the symptoms relied upon to reach the diagnosis of major depressive disorder are the same, and essentially he agreed with Dr Lester Walton’s evidence.
52 Dr Fiona Toal, consultant psychiatrist, Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, assessed you at the request of the court on 3 March 2017. She agrees that you fulfil the criteria for borderline personality disorder. She said that there was nothing in your presentation to indicate that you had impaired mental functioning to a significant degree, and there was no description of impaired functioning at work.
53 Dr Walton and Mr Cummins both agreed that that can occur; that is, that there can be impairment in mental functioning given your diagnosis, notwithstanding you appeared to be functioning appropriately at work.
54 However, both Dr Walton and Dr Cronin stated that at all relevant times, you knew that what you were doing was wrong, and I have taken that into account.
55 The consensus of medical opinion is that your condition may mean that a term of imprisonment will weigh more heavily upon you than it would on a person of normal health.
56 Further, there is a serious risk that a term of imprisonment will have significant adverse effects on your mental health. In particular, both Mr Cummins and Dr Walton agreed that because of your condition, the risk of suicide is high and there is a significant prospect that your psychiatric condition will be aggravated by imprisonment.
57 Dr Walton said psychiatrically, both your borderline personality disorder and the features of major depression will fluctuate, according to what is happening, with periods of suicidal ideation. There is a risk in a setting where treatment is withdrawn or reduced, that that will lead to further disturbed behaviour, particularly suicidal ideation. Further gaol will disrupt your condition given that you will no longer be able to undertake the dialectical behaviour therapy program.
58 Currently, you have been attending Dr John Cronin at the Victoria clinic once a week and are attending dialectical behaviour therapy sessions.
59 Dr Toal considered that you were currently receiving the recommended treatment for borderline personality disorder via your treating specialists and that you were responding well to treatment.
60 You are currently on a number of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications that Dr John Cronin detailed in his evidence. You told Dr Toal that you feel that the medications have helped to improve stability in your mood. However, she noted that the other features of borderline personality disorder persist, such as your chronic suicidal ideation.
61 Dr Toal agrees that it is likely that your condition would render your incarceration somewhat more burdensome than a person of normal health. She said people with your condition struggle with feelings of depression, anxiety and hopelessness, and these understandably may be exacerbated within prison. She agrees that people with your diagnosis are recognised to be more vulnerable to completed suicide. The rate of suicide is estimated to be approximately 50 times higher than the general population.
62 She indicated that your history shows several risk factors, including a previous episode of deliberate self-poisoning, a history of impulsivity and a possible previous diagnosis of major depressive disorder. She emphasised that it is necessary that you be referred to psychiatric services within the prison in the event that you receive a custodial sentence, so that your mental state can be monitored.
63 She stated if there is an aggravation in your condition, you will require a referral to the appropriate services within the prison. She states prisoners identified with borderline personality disorder or a history of significant depression and suicidal ideation are managed via referral to psychiatric services within the prison. She thereafter identified the services that are available within the prison system to accommodate somebody who suffers from your diagnosed conditions.
64 Overall, having regard to the totality of the evidence, I consider that each of the six principles enunciated in Verdins, Buckley and Vo[1] are enlivened. I note that the prosecutor at the plea hearing agreed with this conclusion.
[1](2007) 16 VR 269 [32].
65 Therefore, I have been persuaded that there is a link between your mental condition and the offending and your moral culpability is lessened. I have further moderated the need to emphasise both general and specific deterrence.
66 I accept that a term of imprisonment will likely result in a termination of your current treatment regime which may mean that your condition may become worse in custody. I accept that you will face a greater burden in custody because of your mental condition and that your mental health may be adversely affected.
67 All the medical material and the evidence that was given by the doctors will be provided to the correctional authorities to assist them with your assessment upon reception into prison.
68 In sentencing you, I must impose just punishment, and on behalf of the community, formally denounce your behaviour.
69 Dr Alexander, on your behalf, submitted that a term of imprisonment is an appropriate disposition and urged the court to impose a head sentence, however, taking into account factors put in mitigation that the court moderate the length of the non-parole period.
70 In his written submissions, he put as an alternative, that the court may consider a Community Correction Order with imprisonment in accordance with s.44 of the Sentencing Act1991 (Vic). Given the gravity of the offending, I do not consider that this is an available option, and nothing short of an immediate term of imprisonment to be served is appropriate.
71 In formulating the appropriate sentence, I have had regard to the matters put in mitigation. You are a 61 year old married man. Your wife, Lenore, and children have been present during the plea hearing. There are three children, Meagan, aged 27, who works full time in finance property management and who lives independently, Sean, aged 25, who works part time as a croupier at Crown Casino and part time at Coles, and Mitchell, aged 20, who suffers with a mild intellectual disability and mild autism. He is on the disability support pension and currently undertaking an educational skills program at TAFE.
72 I accept your wife, Lenore's evidence, that Mitchell does require a lot of ongoing support. He is independent in activities of daily living but requires active management of his financial affairs and general supervision. You are close to him and have been involved with his care.
73 You have two older sisters, one of whom you are in a close relationship with, but the other you are estranged from. Your elderly widowed mother is in her 90s and she is currently a resident at an aged care facility. She has dementia.
74 Your family background is generally unremarkable. Your parents were both very hardworking. Your father worked in road construction and later in stores, and your mother worked also as a shop assistant. You struggled a bit at school but nonetheless, you were able to complete ultimately a tertiary orientation program at Secondary Technical College in 1975. You later went on to complete a Business Degree at Caulfield Institute of Technology. In May 1985, you graduated with a Bachelor of Business Accounting, aged 30.
75 When you were aged 26, in 1982, you met your wife, Lenore. You have been married and not separated ever since. She is now fully aware of the offending and remains supportive of you.
76 From her evidence, I am satisfied that your imprisonment will cause disruption to your household and will place a great deal of responsibility upon her shoulders. I am not satisfied that hardship in the sense required by law as spelt out in the decision of Markovic[2] has been made out. Nonetheless, I am satisfied that by reason of your particular family circumstances that that will place an additional increased burden upon you by reason of your anxiety being exacerbated through concern about the effect of your imprisonment upon your family members. I have taken it into account as being another factor that will make imprisonment more burdensome for you.
[2]Markovic v The Queen; Pantelic v The Queen [2010] VSCA 105 [15].
77 I have had regard to your age and the fact that you are person who has otherwise led a blame free life until you committed this offending. It will be your first time in jail and I have taken that into account.
78 I have also taken into account your early plea of guilty, entered at the earliest opportunity at the committal mention. There is real utility in your plea. You have spared the State the expense and inconvenience of a trial. You have facilitated justice and your sentence will be discounted accordingly.
79 I have taken into account your cooperation with the police, furnishing them with two statements and the extensive admissions contained in your formal records of interview.
80 I am satisfied that the plea of guilty does demonstrate genuine remorse. I have had regard to the letter of apology that you prepared and provided to the court to be provided to Mr Anthony Thompson. I accept that you are now truly sorry for the pain, anguish and financial burden that you have caused him, his employees and other persons associated with Metal Work.
81 Dr Alexander submitted that you have suffered two forms of extra curial punishment, namely your personal bankruptcy and the loss of future employment prospects. It is a fact that as a consequence of your offending, that you have lost your ability to practise as an accountant and upon your conviction, you will lose your CPA membership with associated loss of future employment. You have also been declared bankrupt.
82 Loss of employment can be a mitigatory circumstance. However, your offending is the cause of your loss of future employment prospects and your bankruptcy.
83
In this regard, I have been guided by the approach of the Court of Appeal in
R v Talia.[3] The Court of Appeal in that case said that disqualification from a profession is a form of extra-curial punishment, and that a sentencing judge is entitled to give it weight as a mitigating circumstance, but is not obliged to do so. Whether or not to give it weight as a mitigating circumstance depends on the nexus or proximity between the offending conduct and the offender's employment.
[3][2009] VSCA 260.
84 There, the court stated that there appeared to be a distinct difference between a disqualification resulting from criminal conduct in the course of employment from which the person is disqualified, and criminal conduct remote from that employment but having that consequence. In the latter class of case, there might be a considerably stronger argument in favour of the incidental loss of employment being treated as a circumstance of mitigation.
85 The court gave examples of circumstances where there is disqualification resulting from criminal conduct in the course of employment for which the person is disqualified, which may form a weaker argument for mitigation and they were a teacher who molests a student and is denied a returning to the teaching profession, a legal practitioner who misuses trust moneys and is precluded from practice, and a real estate agent who lost his licence arising from an offence against a client. I consider your case is akin to those three examples, and therefore, I have treated your loss of future employment and also your bankruptcy as an incident of this criminal offending, and I have only given it some regard that is, limited weight in mitigation.
86 Having regard to your compliance with your medication and also group therapy following your arrest, as well as the benefits you have received from treatment and your expressions of genuine remorse, I consider that you now do exhibit appropriate insight into your offending behaviour. You acknowledge that what you did was wrong and I consider it is unlikely that you will reoffend in the same nature in the future.
87 Overall, I consider that you do have good prospects for rehabilitation.
88 In sentencing you, I must have regard to the gravity of the offending, which I consider to be objectively serious. I have also had regard to the mitigating factors that have been highlighted, and the impact of your serious mental health conditions.
89 I have had regard to the principle of totality and proportionality.
90 I now propose to state the formal orders of the court and I just ask that you please stand.
91 Charge 1, which is theft. You will be convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
92 Charge 2, theft. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
93 Charge 3, theft. Convicted and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment.
94 Charge 4, theft. Convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
95 Charge 5, theft. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
96 Charge 6, obtain financial advantage by deception. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
97 Charge 7, theft. Convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment.
98 Charge 8, theft. Convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
99 Charge 9, theft. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
100 Charge 10, theft. Convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment.
101 Charge 11, theft. Convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
102 Charge 12, theft. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
103 Charge 13, theft. Convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
104 Charge 14, theft. Convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment.
105 Charge 13 will be the base sentence. That is two years. I make the following orders for cumulation.
106 Three months of the sentences imposed in respect to Charges 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12 and 14, and six months of the sentences imposed in respect of 4, 8 and 11 are ordered to be cumulative upon each other and upon the sentence imposed on Charge 13. That makes a total effective sentence of five years and six months' imprisonment, and I fix a non-parole period of three years' imprisonment.
107 I make the following declaration pursuant to s.6AAA. But for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a term of imprisonment of eight years to serve six years’ imprisonment.
108 I make the forensic sample order pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act1958. Having regard to the seriousness of the circumstances of the offending, I consider that the granting of the order is in the public interest, and I note that it was consented to.
109 In respect to the compensation order, I note that application had been made for a compensation order in the sum of $1,512,704.85, and that matter is to be the subject of discussions between the parties, and if agreement cannot be reached in respect to that matter, then the parties have liberty to apply.
110 The only thing I need to tell you is in relation to the taking of a forensic sample, Mr Cornford, is that at some stage you will be asked to provide a sample. You are given a cotton bud to put in your mouth to scrape on the side of your mouth. Provided you do that, that should satisfy the order. But if you do not cooperate and you do not consent to the taking of a mouth scraping under supervision by an authorised member of the police force, then that sample can be taken by way of a blood sample, and police may use reasonable force to enable that forensic procedure to be conducted.
111 That completes the sentence. Has everybody got the sentence clear? Yes. All right. Now, has Mr Cornford bought with him his medications?
112 MS PILLAI: Yes.
113 HER HONOUR: All right. He can be taken by Corrections downstairs. Thank you. I will make a notation in the return of prisoners about all the issues that I have highlighted in my sentencing remarks, all right? Thank you.
114 All right, you can take him downstairs. Thank you. We can adjourn.
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Schedule A – Charge 1: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 23/03/2011 $ 2,638.11 814-282; 010448392 2 1/04/2011 $ 3,351.65 814-282; 010448392 3 14/04/2011 $ 8,707.60 063-894; 010091118 4 28/04/2011 $ 2,896.97 814-282; 010448392 5 29/04/2011 $ 5,293.25 814-282; 010448392 6 6/05/2011 $ 7,447.46 814-282; 010448392 7 1/07/2011 $ 3,060.00 182-222; 216101162 8 5/07/2011 $ 2,722.48 814-282; 010448392 9 28/07/2011 $ 2,182.22 814-282; 010448392 10 5/08/2011 $ 2,401.99 814-282; 010448392 11 9/09/2011 $ 3,782.71 814-282; 010448392 12 21/09/2011 $ 2,328.14 814-282; 010448392 13 7/10/2011 $ 3,930.90 814-282; 010448392 14 28/10/2011 $ 4,644.34 814-282; 010448392 15 10/11/2011 $ 4,517.22 814-282;010448392 16 5/12/2011 $ 2,867.02 814-282; 010448392 17 6/12/2011 $ 3,576.38 814-282; 010448392 18 21/12/2011 $ 3,000.00 013-494; 905757251 19 22/12/2011 $ 2,873.87 814-282; 010448392
Schedule B – Charge 2: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 9/01/2012 $ 2,867.02 814-282; 010448392 2 2/02/2012 $ 1,262.54 814-282; 010448392 .3 10/02/2012 $ 2,803.74 814-282; 010448392 4 15/02/2012 $ 1,262.54 814-282; 010448392 5 23/02/2012 $ 6,706.85 814-282; 010448392 6 2/03/2012 $ 4,047.63 814-282; 010448392 7 6/03/2012 $ 5,759.42 814-282; 010448392 8 14/03/2012 $ 3,529.72 814-282; 010448392 9 20/04/2012 $ 1,285.08 814-282; 010448392 10 8/05/2012 $ 5,643.14 814-282; 010448392 11 18/05/2012 $ 4,812.69 814-282; 010448392 12 26/07/2012 $ 4,742.20 814-282; 010448392 13 10/08/2012 $ 4,950.08 814-282; 010448392 14 5/10/2012 $ 4,300.00 814-282; 010448392 15 13/11/2012 $ 6,923.04 814-282; 010448392 16 15/11/2012 $ 4,930.00 063-894; 010091118 17 14/12/2012 $ 9,165.45 814-282; 010448392
Schedule C – Charge 3: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 31/07/2012 $ 1,575.00 013-483; 517884427 2 14/08/2012 $ 11,000.00 013-483; 517884427 3 24/09/2012 $ 3,800.00 013-483; 517884427 4 14/11/2012 $ 2,000.00 306-063; 0847551 5 15/11/2012 $ 300.00 306-063; 0847551 6 6/12/2012 $ 2,200.00 306-063; 0847551 7 21/12/2012 $ 1,150.00 306-063; 0847551
Schedule D – Charge 4: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 2/01/2013 $ 3,000.00 013-494: 905757251 2 6/02/2013 $ 10,063.63 814-282; 010448392 3 8/02/2013 $ 5,000.00 063-894; 010091118 4 8/02/2013 $ 5,306.40 814-282; 010448392 5 11/02/2013 $ 2,500.00 063-894; 010091118 6 27/02/2013 $ 10,666.00 814-282; 010448392 7 14/03/2013 $ 4,809.12 814-282; 010448392 8 27/03/2013 $ 5,754.70 814-282; 010448392 9 8/04/2013 $ 4,939.00 814-282; 010448392 10 10/04/2016 $ 3,984.00 814-282; 010448392 11 17/04/2013 $ 7,833.01 814-282; 010448392 12 17/05/2013 $ 3,029.67 814-282; 010448392 13 27/05/2013 $ 4,442.03 013-494; 501883278 14 31/05/2013 $ 3,278.11 814-282; 010448392 15 12/06/2013 $ 4,714.53 814-282; 010448392 16 13/06/2013 $ 2,000.00 814-282; 010448392 17 18/06/2013 $ 4,776.39 814-282; 010448392 18 5/07/2013 $ 4,776.39 814-282; 010448392 19 24/07/2013 $ 4,325.36 814-282; 010448392 20 4/10/2013 $ 7,129.08 814-282; 010448392 21 11/10/2013 $ 3,203.93 814-282; 010448392 22 6/11/2013 $ 4,431.79 814-282; 010448392 23 20/11/2013 $ 3,014.00 814-282; 010448392 24 3/12/2013 $ 4,517.88 814-282; 010448392 25 19/12/2013 $ 5,470.83 814-282; 010448392 26 20/12/2013 $ 3,000.00 013-494; 905757251
Schedule E – Charge 5: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 11/02/2013 $ 4,880.00 082-867; 137859772 2 18/02/2013 $ 3,507.00 082-867; 137859772 3 21/03/2013 $ 11,800.00 084-917; 150429347 4 7/06/2013 $ 24,000.00 814-282; 031284252 5 2/07/2013 $18,621.00 814-282; 031284252 6 26/07/2013 $ 6,000.00 814-282; 031284252
Schedule F – Charge 7: Theft
No. Date Amount Cheque No. 1 7/01/2014 $1, 000.00 008338 2 13/02/2014 $1, 000.00 008345 3 28/03/2014 $1, 000.00 008346 4 9/05/2014 $1, 000.00 008353 5 3/06/2014 $1, 000.00 008355 6 29/08/2014 $1, 000.00 008361 7 9/10/2014 $1, 000.00 008363 8 1/12/2014 $1, 000.00 008368
Schedule G – Charge 8: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 8/01/2014 $ 2,099.00 013-494; 905757251 2 8/01/2014 $ 3,000.00 013-494; 905757251 3 16/01/2014 $ 5,328.18 814-282; 010448392 4 11/02/2014 $ 4,801.72 814-282; 010448392 5 14/03/2014 $ 5,668.85 814-282; 010448392 6 1/04/2014 $ 2,500.00 013-494; 905757251 7 8/04/2014 $ 4,396.00 013-494; 905757251 8 8/04/2014 $ 2,828.15 814-282; 010448392 9 5/05/2014 $ 5,328.18 814-282; 010448392 10 14/05/2014 $ 4,328.00 013-494; 905757251 11 4/06/2014 $ 5,410.00 013-494; 905757251 12 4/06/2014 $ 4,328.00 814-282; 010448392 13 2/07/2014 $ 4,368.00 013-494; 905757251 14 2/07/2014 $ 4,328.00 814-282; 010448392 15 30/07/2014 $ 9,791.88 013-494; 905757251 16 6/08/2014 $ 4,300.00 013-494; 905757251 17 13/08/2014 $ 5,375.00 013-494; 905757251 18 27/08/2014 $ 4,055.00 013-494; 905757251 19 15/09/2014 $ 1,210.73 814-282; 010448392 20 17/09/2014 $ 4,040.00 013-494; 905757251 21 24/09/2014 $ 4,540.00 013-494; 905757251 22 23/10/2014 $ 9,126.74 013-494; 905757251 23 5/11/2014 $ 3,040.00 013-494; 905757251 24 12/11/2014 $ 4,040.00 013-494; 905757251 25 26/11/2014 $ 2,540.00 013-494; 905757251 26 3/12/2014 $ 3,540.00 013-494; 905757251 27 5/12/2014 $ 6,237.00 814-282; 010448392
Schedule H – Charge 9: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 18/07/2014 $ 11,100.00 033-267; 000446002 2 12/09/2014 $ 8,000.00 033-267; 000446002 3 23/09/2014 $ 7,200.00 033-267; 000446002 4 10/10/2014 $ 7,100.00 033-267; 000446002 5 13/11/2014 $ 9,300.00 033-267; 000446002 6 14/11/2014 $ 9,700.00 033-267; 000446002 7 20/11/2014 $ 8,800.00 033-267; 000446002 8 21/11/2014 $ 4,582.00 033-267; 000446002 9 5/12/2014 $ 9,980.00 033-267; 000446002 10 8/12/2014 $ 2,520.00 033-267; 000446002
Schedule I – Charge 10: Theft
No. Date Amount Cheque No. 1 13/01/2015 $1, 000.00 008373 2 23/02/2015 $1, 000.00 008374 3 26/03/2015 $1, 000.00 008376 4 25/05/2015 $1, 000.00 008381 5 16/07/2015 $1, 000.00 008383 6 12/10/2015 $1, 000.00 008386 7 1/12/2015 $1, 000.00 008387
Schedule J – Charge 11: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 13/01/2015 $ 9,980.00 033-267; 000446002 2 28/01/2015 $ 2,500.00 193-879; 432131311 3 29/01/2015 $ 7,845.00 193-879; 432131311 4 3/02/2015 $ 7,444.00 193-879; 432131311 5 4/02/2015 $ 4,100.00 193-879; 432131311 6 4/02/2015 $ 611.00 193-879; 432131311 7 20/03/2015 $16,500.00 193-879; 432131311 8 14/04/2015 $ 5,665.00 193-879; 432131311 9 14/04/2015 $ 1,335.00 193-879; 432131311 10 21/04/2015 $ 2,500.00 193-879; 432131311 11 5/05/2015 $ 8,500.00 814-282; 50520271 12 14/05/2015 $ 15,088.00 814-282; 50520271 13 15/05/2015 $ 14,000.00 814-282; 50520271 14 22/06/2015 $ 10,000.00 814-282; 50520271 15 30/06/2015 $ 2,354.53 814-282; 50520271 16 1/07/2015 $ 31,700.00 814-282; 50520271 17 8/07/2015 $ 34,000.00 814-282; 50520271 18 23/07/2015 $ 10,200.00 814-282; 50520271 19 8/10/2015 $ 15,000.00 814-282; 50520271 20 13/10/2015 $ 15,000.00 814-282; 50520271 21 14/10/2015 $ 7,000.00 814-282; 50520271 22 16/10/2015 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 23 19/10/2015 $ 9,600.00 733-243; 000663093 24 27/10/2015 $ 14,000.00 733-243; 000663093 25 29/10/2015 $ 16,000.00 733-243; 000663093 26 30/10/2015 $ 32,000.00 733-243; 000663093 27 11/11/2015 $ 5,230.00 733-243; 000663093 28 13/11/2015 $ 6,770.00 733-243; 000663093 29 26/11/2015 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 30 27/11/2015 $ 13,100.00 733-243; 000663093 31 15/12/2015 $ 34,600.00 733-243; 000663093
Schedule K – Charge 12: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 13/03/2015 $ 4,375.60 013-494; 905757251 2 10/04/2015 $ 4,816.60 013 494; 905757251 3 10/04/2015 $ 6,020.75 814-282; 010448392 4 14/04/2015 $ 2,160.30 814-282; 010448392 5 25/05/2015 $ 3,520.60 814-282; 010448392 6 5/06/2015 $ 4,077.00 814-282; 010448392 7 19/06/2015 $ 5,500.00 814-282; 010448392 8 7/07/2015 $ 4,445.47 814-282; 010448392 9 30/07/2015 $ 4,400.75 814-282; 010448392 10 13/08/2015 $ 8,183.17 013 494; 905757251 11 27/08/2015 $ 6,384.60 814-282; 010448392 12 25/09/2015 $ 4,831.48 814-282; 010448392 13 23/10/2015 $ 2,425.00 814-282; 010448392 14 22/12/2015 $ 7,455.00 814-282; 010448392
Schedule L – Charge 13: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 18/01/2016 $ 20,000.00 733-243; 000663093 2 19/01/2016 $ 22,400.00 733-243; 000663093 3 27/01/2016 $ 20,000.00 733-243; 000663093 4 28/01/2016 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 5 29/01/2016 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 6 4/02/2016 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 7 11/02/2016 $ 10,000.00 733-243; 000663093 8 12/02/2016 $ 25,000.00 733-243; 000663093 9 17/02/2016 $ 15,000.00 733-243; 000663093 10 19/02/2016 $ 15,000.00 733-243; 000663093 11 25/02/2016 $ 20,000.00 733-243; 000663093 12 1/03/2016 $ 20,000.00 733-243; 000663093 13 8/03/2016 $ 10,000.00 083-253; 818169953 14 15/03/2016 $ 10,000.00 083-253; 818169953 15 16/03/2016 $ 15,000.00 083-253; 818169953 16 17/03/2016 $ 15,000.00 083-253; 818169953 17 1/04/2016 $ 10,000.00 083-253; 818169953 18 4/04/2016 $ 5,000.00 083-253; 818169953 19 8/04/2016 $ 10,000.00 083-253; 818169953 20 11/04/2016 $ 20,000.00 083-253; 818169953 21 14/04/2016 $ 5,000.00 083-253; 818169953 22 18/04/2016 $ 20,000.00 083-253; 818169953 23 28/04/2016 $ 40,000.00 083-253; 818169953 24 6/05/2016 $ 2,500.00 313-140; 12101258 25 9/05/2016 $ 5,000.00 313-140; 12101256 26 12/05/2016 $ 8,000.00 313-140; 12101253 27 18/05/2016 $ 10,000.00 313-140; 12101253 28 19/05/2016 $ 10,000.00 313-140; 12101253 29 20/05/2016 $ 20,000.00 313-140; 12101253
Schedule M – Charge 14: Theft
No. Date Amount Account No. 1 11/02/2016 $ 10,000.00 814-282; 010448392 2 22/02/2016 $ 3,721.00 013-494; 905757251 3 1/04/2016 $ 12,316.18 814-282; 010448392 4 18/04/2016 $ 5,867.18 814-282; 010448392 5 21/04/2016 $ 21,857.63 013-494 905757251 6 5/05/2016 $ 2,500.00 013-494; 905757251 7 6/05/2016 $ 1,328.18 013-494; 905757251 8 9/05/2016 $ 2,017.56 814-282; 010448392 9 12/05/2016 $ 1,341.58 814-282; 010448392
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