Director of Public Prosecutions v Coward-Royal
[2024] VCC 1478
•19 September 2024
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT WODONGA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 24-00963
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DONNA COWARD-ROYAL |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE M.P. BOURKE |
WHERE HELD: | Wodonga |
DATE OF HEARING: | 17 September 2024 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 19 September 2024 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Coward-Royal |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2024] VCC 1478 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr F. Cameron | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Mr J. Connolly |
HIS HONOUR:
1Donna Coward-Royal, you are to be sentenced for one charge of arson. The maximum sentence is 15 years' imprisonment.
2You pleaded guilty before me on 17 September. When intercepted by police on the night of 8 September 2023, and soon after you lit the fire, you voluntarily confessed. You made detailed admissions in the record of interview which followed. Committal went by hand-up brief on 4 July 2024, after which you entered a plea of guilty. The matter was then listed for plea hearing in this court at the Wodonga circuit sittings.
3You receive the benefit of your plea of guilty and that high level of cooperation in the proceedings. Your early plea and cooperation accepts responsibility, has facilitated the interests of justice and expresses remorse. I find that you are remorseful.
4At your plea hearing, Mr Cameron for the Crown tendered a written Crown opening. Mr Connolly for you tendered the forensic psychological report of Sandra Cokorilo dated 16 September 2024, the letter dated
17 September 2024 of Sasha East at the Australian Community Support Organisation ACSO and a report dated 11 June 2022 of prison psychiatrist Dr Michael Mazzolino of Forensicare.5The circumstances of your offence are set out in the tendered Crown opening, which is Exhibit A. I am also informed by matters put on your behalf not challenged by the Crown.
6In September 2023 you were living at Fitzroy Street, Wodonga in an outsourced housing program managed under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS. You had lived there for six years. Since May of 2023 you had received a number of breach notices because of its poor state. On 31 August you lit two small fires within the house and you were evicted. On 8 and 9 September you were homeless and seem to be staying, at least sometimes, at the premises. Shortly after midnight and therefore on the 9th, you lit two fires there. The house caught fire and has been destroyed. After lighting the fire, you went next door and warned the residents to leave. There were children there. The police attended and spoke to you nearby. You told them that you were the fire lighter. The fire fully engulfed the premises but was extinguished before spreading to other properties. The loss is put at $245,000, the pre-existing house value. There is no application for compensation.
7When intercepted by police, you appeared injured to them, but there is no further evidence about that.
8At police interview, part of your explanation was that you had felt for some time, I quote,
“a dark hex”, “darkness”, “dark energy”, within the house.
9There has been some delay to the proceedings in this court, to investigate a mental impairment defence on your behalf. I shall return to the question of your mental health.
10On 9 September, you were remanded after interview. After 360 - sorry 326 days, you were granted bail. You now live in Ballarat in accommodation and with the support of ACSO, under its outreach support program, ReStart.
11There are victim impact statements tendered.
12You are a 49 year old woman, now living in that supported situation I have described. You were raised in a large family with a number of half-brothers and sisters, given two stepfathers. You did not know your natural father and have met him only once, unsuccessfully, when 18. Your childhood was marked by a poor and emotionally abusive relationship with your mother. You have no real relationship with her now. You were in residential care between 11 and 15 years and made a ward of State at 12 or 13. There was time with a stepfather at 15. Both of your stepfathers treated you well.
13Unsurprisingly, schooling was not successful and you left during Year 8. There has been little employment since.
14Your first significant relationship was at 16, when you had a child. That ran for almost 20 years. It featured abuse, mutual drug use, homelessness and periods of you as a sex worker. Your children were removed for a period because of your drug use. There have been two other, much shorter relationships. You have three sons aged from 18 to 33 to your first relationship and another son aged 14. He is with his grandmother. One of your sons, a sister and three close friends are supportive of you. You also point to your present ACSO caseworker.
15Your life in the setting described has been badly affected by alcohol and drugs. You began drinking at 14. That became particularly problematic in the five years leading to this offending, with daily heavy consumption. There has also been serious drug abuse with, for example, daily intravenous use of morphine and amphetamine in your 20s and 30s. You use GHB, the drug GHB, from 2023. You were using drugs and drinking when you committed this. You have not used drugs since receiving bail in August of this year. Forensic psychologist Sandra Cokorilo described your drug and alcohol use as, in a significant way, self-medication.
16You have also suffered poor mental health. There have been diagnoses and treatment for depression. There was suicide ideation and then two attempts at taking your life in 2003. There was admission to psychiatric hospital in late August. Some of the context for this was loss of custody of your child and social isolation. In recent years, there have also been diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder. Until recent times, your mental health has not been treated in any consistent way. Sandra Cokorilo reports depressive disorder and a drug and alcohol disorder. You present, she states, with maladjusted personality traits caused by your early life difficulties and those since.
17Given your life history, your criminal record is relatively light and now quite old. There are court appearances between 2003 and 2012, commonly for shop theft and deception with cards. There is a gap of five years between 2007 and 2012. A property damage offence in 2005 resulted in a fine. I find that it was not arson. You have not been sentenced to immediately serve imprisonment.
18Your situation at the time of offending was dire. You were discharged from the psychiatric admission I have described only eight days prior. You were heavily abusing drugs and alcohol. You were homeless. After being remanded, you spent four weeks in a psychiatric unit. Ironically, perhaps that imprisonment helped to stabilise your mental health. Prison psychiatrist Dr Mazzolino refrains from a clear or conclusive diagnosis but reports your treatment in prison and psychiatric medications. He states your mental health to be very stable.
19At the end of his report, he recommends on release, I quote,
'She engage with (a) a new general practitioner that she has been referred to, (b) a psychologist, referral to be made by a general practitioner and (c) a drug and alcohol worker, referral to be made by Donna calling Directline.'
20Ms Cokorilo states in her report, I quote,
'Considering the chronicity of Ms Coward-Royal's psychopathology, substance misuse and maladjustment, she would likely benefit from a period of, at least initially, intensive support and supervision, to promote rehabilitation and reduce her risk of recidivism.'
21Arson is a very serious and dangerous offence. Here, other properties and people were placed at risk and there was very considerable loss. You had lit fires at the premises before. The objectively viewed circumstances of your offending make relevant sentencing considerations and purposes of moral culpability, deterrence, condemnation of the offence and proportionate of punishment. Those circumstances make relevant both specific and general deterrence aimed at the community's protection.
22A common sentence for the offence of arson is a substantial period of imprisonment. However, in your case, there are important moderating factors. They should go to reduce the length of sentence that is compared to what the objective circumstances may be seen to require and also impact upon the manner in which the sentence should be served. Those factors include the following matters.
231. Your early plea and cooperation. I find that you are remorseful.
242. Your personal history and circumstances, including at the time of offending. The Verdins principles related to reduced moral culpability were not pressed. However, the difficulties of your life and your mental health and situation at and leading to the offence remain important. Some indirect connection is provided by the forensic psychologist Sandra Cokorilo. She states at paragraph 78 of her report, I quote,
'Executive dysfunction caused by depression can make it hard to focus, pay attention, remember things, manage time, organise, plan and prioritise tasks and follow directions, amongst other things. It also impairs inhibition and problem solving, thereby altering cognition and behaviour by impairing impulse control and decision-making and ability to rationalise and consider alternative responses. These deficits are inferred to have contributed to Ms Coward-Royal's relapse into substance abuse, which in turn resulted in delusions which motivated the offending.'
25I find that your situation, including your mental health dysfunction, was an important context to your offence. It is also an important personal context to my sentence. I see this as a case which properly invokes the discretion of mercy.
263. It is particularly important that your mental health and situation has stabilised, with the help of the ReStart program under ACSO. Prospects for rehabilitation should not be discounted. A test for you will be continued rehabilitation from drug and alcohol abuse and that you embrace ongoing treatment for your mental health.
27I am persuaded that the right sentence is that of a combination of imprisonment, but that already served, and a community corrections order which supports your rehabilitation and mental health treatment. You are found suitable for that. I sentence you as follows:
28On one charge of arson, imprisonment for 326 days. However, under s18 of the Sentencing Act, I declare 326 days as already served. I also impose a community corrections order of 18 months' duration. The usual terms apply. The additional conditions are that you be under supervision, that there be assessment and treatment for drug dependence, that there be assessment and treatment for mental health, that you participate in programs or a program or programs specific to this offending. Just excuse me. Would you mind handing up a copy of the community corrections assessment report, if you've got it?
29MR CAMERON: I've only got it electronically. I haven't printed out a copy of it, Your Honour.
30HIS HONOUR: If it can be printed out, please? I just want ‑ ‑ ‑
31MR CAMERON: Mr Andrews is printing it out now.
32HIS HONOUR: I just wanted to add one thing.
33MR CAMERON: Okay.
34HIS HONOUR: What's happened? Is that happening? Yes and I'll come back to that. Under s6 - s6AAA, I would have imposed a sentence of 18 months, with a community corrections order on release, but I recognise there's a restriction to the period of time of imprisonment combined with such an order, but there is a relevant section or provision in s44 which allows some accommodation of the period of remand in order to achieve that - to address that. Now, what's happening? Now, there's a disposal order.
35MR CAMERON: Yes, a disposal order for the cigarette lighter and clothes ‑ ‑ ‑
36HIS HONOUR: Yes.
37MR CAMERON: ‑ ‑ ‑ that were worn by the accused that evening.
38HIS HONOUR: Good, can I have that please? Thank you. I impose no condition for alcohol - for treatment of alcohol abuse, which may seem surprising, because it's played a significant detrimental role in your situation and life. The reason for that is stated in the suitability report and I'll just quote that now:
'Although Ms Royal acknowledges a history of problematic alcohol consumption, an alcohol abuse or dependency condition is respectfully not recommended if, subject to a drug treatment condition, Ms Royal would be referred to support services that could assist, if alcohol treatment were required.'
39Now, is there anything else I need to say or do?
40MR CAMERON: No Your Honour, that's all.
41HIS HONOUR: All right. So you've - it looks to me, Ms Coward-Royal - that you've - that you've arrived in a good space, one that - and I'm speaking of ACSO, of course and the people that support you within that program. I think it's up to you to really embrace it ‑ ‑ ‑
42OFFENDER: Yeah.
43HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ and I suspect it would really - that an important part of that process is, you let those people know when you feel it might be slipping ‑ ‑ ‑
44OFFENDER: Yeah ‑ ‑ ‑
45HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ because something can be - because something ‑ ‑ ‑
46OFFENDER: ‑ ‑ ‑ and thank you.
47HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ something can be done then, but if you let it go, it's a lot harder to help. All right, well, we'll turn everybody off now.
48OFFENDER: Thank you so much.
49HIS HONOUR: No, I've got - sorry, I've got to put the community correction to you formally. I'll do that now. There's only one copy of this order, thankfully. Now, I've got to do this formally and I'll do it now, it won't take long. It's an 18 month order. The usual terms are, that you don't commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned. You must comply with the regulation that says you can't attend any program or appointment affected by alcohol, or drugs ‑ ‑ ‑
50OFFENDER: Yeah.
51HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ or in possession of illegal drugs. You must receive - report to and receive visits from community corrections. You must report to the relevant community correction centre, it's at Ballarat, at 22 Camp Street, within two days of the order starting, that means of today. You must let them know within two days of a change of address or job. You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so. You must obey all of community corrections instructions and directions, those lawful instructions and directions. The additional conditions are that you be under supervision, that you undergo assessment and treatment for drug abuse and that you undergo mental health assessment and treatment as directed and that you participate in programs specifically addressing factors in this offending. Now, do you understand that?
52OFFENDER: I do and thank you.
53HIS HONOUR: And do you agree to it?
54OFFENDER: I do.
55HIS HONOUR: Now, we'll be sent - what happens now, Mr Cameron? It will be sent to where she is and - or what?
56MR CAMERON: Well, it may well be that it's - it could be emailed to Ms Gianpetro the support worker.
57HIS HONOUR: Is that all right with you, Ms Gianpetro?
58MS GIANPETRO: It is, Your Honour.
59HIS HONOUR: All right. Well, I'll sign - no, I'll ‑ ‑ ‑
60MR CAMERON: We might need to get - if we haven't got Ms Gianpetro's email - we do?
61HIS HONOUR: We've got it and we can be ‑ ‑ ‑
62MR CAMERON: No, we'll need to get that. We'll need to get that from
Ms Gianpetro before the link's finished.63HIS HONOUR: All right, well, I'll leave whilst that happens. It can be sent. You need to sign it, all right? Not you, Ms Gianpetro.
64MS GIANPETRO: Alternatively, alternatively, Your Honour, it can go straight to community correctional services and they can support Donna sign and commence before ‑ ‑ ‑
65HIS HONOUR: All right, well, all right, when you attend there over the next two days.
66MR CAMERON: That would make sense.
67HIS HONOUR: I'd go tomorrow, if I were you.
68OFFENDER: Yeah, I have an appointment for 2 o'clock.
69HIS HONOUR: Good, all right and you can sign - you can sign it there.
70MR CAMERON: And then hopefully it can be signed then. Yes Your Honour.
71HIS HONOUR: All right. Thank you, good luck with it.
72OFFENDER: Thank you.
73HIS HONOUR: Good.
74OFFENDER: And thank you very much.
75HIS HONOUR: All right. Now, that's it for the circuit I think, isn't it?
76MR CAMERON: That concludes all matters for the circuit.
77HIS HONOUR: All right, thank for your assistance ‑ ‑ ‑
78MR CAMERON: Thank you, Your Honour.
79HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ and pass on my thanks to Mr Andrews as well ‑ ‑ ‑
80MR CAMERON: I will.
81HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ and we'll see you later today.
82MR CAMERON: Thank you, Your Honour.
83HIS HONOUR: Thank you.
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