Director of Public Prosecutions v Dixon

[2023] VCC 980

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

 Suitable for Publication

AT SHEPPARTON

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 22-00775

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JARRAN DIXON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE
WHERE HELD:	Shepparton
DATE OF HEARING:	9 June 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	9 June 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Dixon
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 980

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW SENTENCE

Catchwords:  Sentencing – pervert the course of justice

Legislation Cited:  6AAA Sentencing Act 1991

Cases Cited:  

Sentence:Imprisonment – total effective sentence 1 day. Community Correction Order – 30 months, unpaid community work, supervision, treatment, and rehabilitation for drug abuse.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr J. Singh	Mr. S. Kaiser, Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr T. Battersby	Ms. K. Werner, VLA Shepparton

HIS HONOUR:

1Jarran Dixon, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to pervert the course of the justice.  The facts of that offending are set out in Exhibit A, the summary of prosecution opening.  Your counsel told me I could treat that document as an agreed summary or statement of fact, and I sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein and I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence.

2I do not propose then to tax the facts at any length.  In very brief summary from you intimidated and stood over a prisoner at the behest of a friend in order to try and have him withdraw his statement against your friend in relation to serious crimes that your friend had committed.  You were successful, you terrorised the bloke and he signed a withdrawal statement in front of some prison officers.

3Your co–accused pleaded guilty to the same charge and, as you know, I sentenced him on that charge to three years' imprisonment and that was the sort of the sentence that you were looking at until I received the material that I have before me today.

4I adjourned your plea when it became apparent that you had gained a residential place in Odyssey House.  It was clear that it was in the community's interest and your interest that you could take steps to get rid of the scourge of drug abuse.  You did your time at Odyssey until, unfortunately, you had to leave the program because of breach of a rule involving sexual contact, but you did not leave it there.  You went on and got yourself admitted to Windana and completed a program there, as Exhibit 4 sets out.

5You held senior roles with that community.  You were a duty worker; you were described as a trusted peer and a buddy to new residents.  You have challenged your own behaviours and you have been receptive to learning about new behaviours.  You have been involved in setting up a website to help counsel young offenders and try and prevent them going down the road you went down and, as the prosecutor said, I took the time to look at that website and I was impressed by what I saw.

6Perhaps doing this job for too long I was somewhat cynical about whether this was an attempt simply to get the best result for yourself from the situation you found yourself in, but I accept that you are genuine in the steps you have taken to rehabilitate yourself and I understand that it is very difficult to beat the scourge of a drug addiction, but it appears you have.

7Normally I would have no hesitation in imposing a custodial sentence, and a lengthy one, for this offending, it strikes at everything the court system is all about, but I am not going to do so for the reasons I have discussed with your counsel and with the prosecutor this morning.

8Up until the prosecutor conceded the time served and a community correction order would meet the purposes of sentencing in your case, I was contemplating imposing a short period of imprisonment and a community correction order thereafter, but it is well known that gaols can often undo the good work towards rehabilitation that prisoners have put in before they go and I genuinely believe that there would be a real risk of undoing the good work that you have done for the last effectively two years.

9Accordingly, I am going to convict you in respect of one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

10I will sentence you to one day imprisonment which I will declare as already been served and then release you on a community correction order for a term of 30 months.  I have had you assessed, and you have been found suitable for such a disposition.  The order, as I say, will run for 30 months.

11In that 30 months you are to perform 250 hours of unpaid community work, 60 hours of any courses you do can count against that unpaid community work because I will order that you be under supervision and that you undergo treatment and rehabilitation in relation to drug abuse.  That will continue to promote and support where you are now hopefully and making sure that you do not go back because the moment you start using methamphetamine again, you will start committing offences and you will be back before the courts.

12You have on one view been extremely fortunate to escape a lengthy term of imprisonment for this offence, it was bad offending, it was of a serious nature.  However, it is in your interest, but more importantly in the interests of the community, that you rid yourself of drug addiction and stop committing crimes.

13So, you have got 30 months now where you will be on this order.  You have done them before and you have had mixed success in the way you have performed them but you need to understand this; if you breach this order you will come back before me, or some other judge of this court, and you will then be resentenced and that would involve putting you back in custody and that would be easy if you had reoffended because then you would have blown your own good work by the time you came back.  So, I understand you are prepared to undergo such an order.  All right.

14Well, you are to report to the Shepperton Community Correction Centre within two workings days.  So, by Tuesday you have got to have reported to them, they will be expecting you.   Monday is a holiday so Wednesday but go on Tuesday anyway.  Get it over and done with and start the process.

15I thought about imposing judicial monitoring, but it is not recommended.  You will be under supervision; they will be monitoring what you do, and they will breach you if you do not comply and then you will be brought back before me.  So, I will have that order prepared and taken down to you to sign.

16I indicate that pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act but for your plea of guilty, in this case I would have imposed a term of imprisonment of four years with a non–parole period of two and a half years.

17Are there any other orders required, Mr Singh?

18MR SINGH:  No thank you, Your Honour.

19HIS HONOUR:  Where are you living now?

20OFFENDER:  I am living with my ex–partner and my children in Kialla.

21HIS HONOUR:  All right.

22OFFENDER:  As my barrister Tom Battersby said before, I'm trying to get a job but trying – to be honest, Your Honour, I want to try and get away from Shepparton even though my children are here.

23HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

24OFFENDER:  It's just not a very good place for me.

25HIS HONOUR:  You know too many people here, do you not?

26OFFENDER:  Yeah, yeah and it just makes it really uncomfortable, like I don't even – to be honest I don't even like going to the supermarket and stuff like that.

27HIS HONOUR:  If you run into somebody, your old mate.

28OFFENDER:  Yeah, yeah.

29HIS HONOUR:  Well peer group pressure, as you would know, is one of the biggest things that can bring you undone.  Well, good luck.

30OFFENDER:  Thank you very much.

31HIS HONOUR:  Thank you for your assistance, Mr Singh.

32MR SINGH:  Always a pleasure, Your Honour.

33HIS HONOUR:  All right, you can leave the dock.  Do not forget to report and I will adjourn now until 11 o'clock.

34MR BATTERSBY:  As Your Honour pleases.

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