Director of Public Prosecutions v Craige

[2017] VCC 550

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -17-00452

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

NATHAN CRAIGE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	10 May 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Craige
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 550

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr P. Bourke
For the Accused	Mr D. Robertson

Pages 1 - 6

 

 

HIS HONOUR: 

1Nathan Craige, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, one charge of affray, one charge of recklessly causing injury and one charge of threat to kill.  Those crimes carry maximum penalties of five years, five years, ten years and ten years respectively.  You have also pleaded guilty to a number of uplifted summary matters, some of which only carry monetary penalties.  There are charges of drive whilst suspended, drive vehicle causing loss of traction, use unregistered vehicle, commit indictable offence on bail, unlawful assault, offensive manner, and the charges of loss of traction and unregistered do not carry gaol.  Accordingly on Charges 16, 17 and 23, you are simply convicted and discharged.  I will be giving an aggregate sentence on the rest.

2Firstly pursuant to s.464 of the Crimes Act, I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  That order having been made, I must advise you that should you refuse to provide same, police may use reasonable force to take it from you.  That order is made and handed down.

3You are still only 22, Mr Craige, and were 21 at the time this offending occurred.  I understand that there is what appear to be a number of matters still pending in the Magistrates' Court and there is nothing I can do about that.  The matter resolved and you get the benefit of that.  From the letter that you have sent, I sentence on the basis that there is appropriate remorse and you must also of course get the utilitarian benefit.  Your prior convictions are mainly for driving offences as in some respects so are these and you have never been, as I understand it, incarcerated before.  You have now been on remand for some 279 days.

4I am told from the Bar table that this offending occurred in the context of very heavy use of methylamphetamine and looking at the behaviour, I have no reason to doubt that.  However, that simply places it in a context.  It offers no excuse.

5I am not going to summarise the summary matters.  They are just mostly driving whilst you were not allowed to and driving badly.  The most significant charges are of course the indictable ones.

6On 14 March 2016 at 11 o'clock in the morning, one Luke Campbell was standing on a street in Traralgon.  He saw a blue Commodore drive passed with a person known to him as Ashley Eyles in the driver's seat.  Twenty minutes later, a silver Mazda driven by you with Eyles in the passenger seat came through the intersection.  There was another person in the back.  You drove the car onto the nature strip and all three of you got out.  You and Eyles were holding metal poles or pipes.  The third male appeared to be holding a wooden bat.  You and Eyles both struck Campbell with the weapons before the three of you returned to the car and drove off with you driving.

7Mr Campbell commenced to walk along the street, you drove your vehicle at him but he stepped aside and avoided being hit.  As you came to the intersection of Breed and Moore Streets, you again drove your vehicle over the kerb and attempted to strike him.  He once more managed to avoid being hit.  You then screeched the tyres as you did a U-turn as he walked along.  The vehicle struck him and was pinned between the fence and the car as it continued on its path.  He said that he felt intense pain in his left arm.  He went to Woolworths were ultimately a taxi was found for him and he was taken to the hospital.

8At the hospital, he was diagnosed as having a fracture of the left ulna and under general anaesthetic, that was reduce and fixed by means of a metal plate and screws.  He had some ongoing physiotherapy but the injury would appear to have settled.  I am really unaware and always will be I think as to what this was all really about.  Mr Campbell has not really proffered an explanation.  You have not proffered an explanation and one can really only guess as was indicated during the course of the plea that you are very lucky you are not in a different jurisdiction for what you did on that day.

9However, it is the one incident and there must be significant concurrency between the sentence that I must impose.

10On 18 April, that is about a month or so later, at approximately 10.45 in the morning, again one Andrew Hollier drove into McDonalds restaurant with his family.  As he was there, he observed you exit the drive-thru lane in a Holden Commodore.  You then drove that vehicle behind his, took a metal pole from inside the vehicle and brandished it through the driver's side window.  You attempted to strike the rear of his vehicle but missed.  You performed a burn out in your vehicle and drove approximately 20 metres before stopping.  You then yelled to Hollier, "I'll slit your throat" and made a gesture drawing your hand across your throat.  You then yelled out, "I'll slit your throat," again before driving off.  I do not know if there were kids in the car or not, but I suspect deeply that there might have been.  In any event, that gives rise to a serious example of a threat to kill.

11You then, when police came to find you, you could not be found.  I am told, and it does not really affect my sentencing, other than in the sense that it may be matters that are cumulative unless I otherwise order and I take that into account.  You did not appear, warrants were issued and ultimately you were found in South Australia and extradited, as I understand it. From what I can gather from the plea, you were with your father who was extradited too.  You have been in custody since you were brought back and as I have said, you have now resolved the matter and have pleaded guilty.

12The offending was obviously serious and calls for the application of general and specific deterrence, denunciation and appropriate punishment.  A significant gaol sentence is inevitable.  The real concern that I have for you, Mr Craige, is your still very young age.  It is a pretty dreadful situation for a 21 year old to find themselves in committing offences of this seriousness.  As I have said, I accept that this is all ice related.

13You are or have been working as a fencing contractor in the past and I am told from the Bar table that you can get that employment back.

14Insofar as your personal circumstances are concerned, you have very little family support and I gather from what I am being told that your father may well be in a similar situation.  You have written a letter to me, or someone has written it for you, in which you point out that you have lost your job, your house and most importantly to you, access to your son.  You expressed remorse in that letter and I accept it.

15In this situation, upon your ultimate release, you should be able to work and you have been apparently doing courses within the gaol and do have some qualifications.  It is a situation where really the only thing you have got going for you is your age and accordingly I simply sentence on that basis.  The prospects of your rehabilitation are up to you.  If you do not get off drugs, reoffending is almost inevitable and I think if you drive motor vehicles like that when under the influence of ice, you will one day get very, very heavy sentence indeed.

16In any event, taking those matters into account as best I can, on Charge 1, 12 months.  On Charge 2, 12 months.  On Charge 3, that is the reckless injury of pinning a man against a fence with a motor vehicle, 30 months.  On Charge 4, 12 months.  I direct that three months of Charge 1, three months of Charge 2, and six months of Charge 4 be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 3.  That gives a total effective head sentence on the indictment of 40 months.

17On the summary matters, as I have indicated, some I have convicted and discharged.  On the balance, an aggregate sentence of six months.  That will be concurrent with the indictment charges.  In all this situation, bearing in mind your age, I direct that you serve a minimum term of two years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.  I direct that 279 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.  Insofar as s.6AAA is concerned, I tell you that but for your plea of guilty, you would have been sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of five years with a minimum term of three and a half.

18Any problem with that?

19MR BOURKE:  I am just not certain of the maths, Your Honour, I am sorry.

20HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

21MR BOURKE:  Three months of Charge 1 and Charge 2.

22HIS HONOUR:  Sorry, it is 42 months.

23MR BOURKE:  Yes.

24HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I have got you.  Sorry, you are dead right.  Three years six months on the head, two years three months as a minimum.  Do you agree with that?

25MR ROBERTSON:  Yes, Your Honour.

26HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Double check that.  That is just my arithmetic.  All right?

27MR BOURKE:  Yes, 42 months.

28MR ROBERTSON:  Section 6AAA, Your Honour, was five with?

29HIS HONOUR:  Five with three and a half.  No other orders I have to make?  I have made the forfeitures and everything?

30MR BOURKE:  Yes, thank you, Your Honour.

31HIS HONOUR:  All right, you can take him out, thank you.

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