Director of Public Prosecutions v Djordjic
[2017] VCC 2046
•30 October 2017
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTIONCR-17-01061
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| VLADIMIR DJORDJIC |
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| JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE CAMPTON |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 5 October 2017 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 30 October 2017 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Djordjic |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2017] VCC 2046 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Trafficking in a drug of dependence in a large commercial quantity (cocaine & methamphetamine); possessing unregistered handgun; knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime; possessing prohibited weapons
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited: Gregory (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2017] VSCA 151; DPP v Dalgliesh [2017] HCA 41
Sentence:19 and a half years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 and a half years
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| APPEARANCES: For the Director of Public | Counsel | Solicitors |
| Prosecutions | Mr J. Shaw | |
| For the Accused | Mr I. Hill QC Ms B. Franjic |
Charges
1Vladimir Djordjic, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, cocaine, in large commercial quantity, between 25 August 2015 and 1 November 2015, and one rolled-up charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, methamphetamine and cocaine, in a large commercial quantity, on 19 October 2015. The maximum penalty for these offences is life imprisonment and a fine of 5000 penalty units.
2You have also pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing an unregistered general category handgun, for which the maximum penalty is seven years' imprisonment and a fine of 600 penalty units; one rolled-up count of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal, for which the maximum penalty is 20 years' imprisonment; and a rolled-up summary charge of possessing prohibited weapons, being two knuckle duster tasers, without exemption or approval. The maximum penalty for this crime is two years' imprisonment and 240 penalty units.
Circumstances of offending
3The circumstances of your offending are set out in full in the prosecution opening, which will be annexed to this sentence. With respect to Charge 1, of trafficking in a drug of dependence in a large commercial quantity in August 2015, you were identified as being the supplier of cocaine to a drug trafficking syndicate operated by Julian Gallin and others. The syndicate operated from a unit in St Kilda, where police had installed an optical device and a listening device.
4Between 25 August 2015 and 1 November 2015, you made six visits to the unit to deliver cocaine and collect payments for cocaine that you had previously delivered. These visits were captured on the surveillance devices. During these visits, you were recorded having conversations with Gallin about supplying him with cocaine, the quantity of previous and future supplies of cocaine, the price structure of supplying half and whole kilograms, your drug trafficking business, and methods of physically hiding quantities of cash by various means, including in vehicles.
5You were captured on surveillance:
·handing Gallin a packet containing cocaine mixed with other substances;
·receiving money from him for the supply of cocaine; and
·retrieving a blue freezer bag from the boot of your car, taking it into the unit, and placing it on the table. The bag contained one kilo of cocaine mixed with another substance.
The quantity of cocaine that you supplied to Gallin between 25 August 2015 and 1 November was 1.5 kilograms, mixed with another substance. Gallin paid you $365,000 for the cocaine. Conversations between you proved that the price was $240,000 per kilogram and $125 for half a kilogram.
6Charge 3 is a rolled up charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, methamphetamine and cocaine, in a large commercial quantity. In October 2016 the police again installed an optical and listening device at a unit you leased in Payne Street, Caulfield North. On several occasions in October 2016, you were captured by the optical device putting on latex gloves and handling plastic bags containing cocaine and envelopes containing amounts of cash.
7On 19 October 2016, police executed a search warrant at the Payne Street unit. During that search, they located 1.94 kilograms of cocaine mixed with another substance, and 2 kilograms of methamphetamine mixed with another substance. On 22 November 2016, the owner of the unit discovered a further 14 bags at the premises, containing cocaine mixed with another substance, with a total weight of 389 grams. The total weight of the cocaine seized from the Payne Street unit was 2.3 kilograms, with 1.396 kilograms of the cocaine having a purity of 92 per cent or higher, and 1.981 kilo of methamphetamine, having a purity of 82 per cent.
8Charge 4, of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal, relates to the fact that during the search of the Payne Street unit, the police found $2,784,490 in cash. Most of the cash was hidden in a storage cavity in the floor under the bed in the bedroom. The notes were bundled together according to their denomination.
9On 9 December 2016, the police found a further amount of money at a storage unit in Ringwood, leased by you. The money was found hidden in a hydraulic storage compartment in a Toyota HiAce van, stored in the unit. There was an identical compartment in another Toyota HiAce van owed by you. The total amount of money found at the Payne Street unit and the storage unit was $3,744,440, being the proceeds of your drug trafficking business.
10Charge 2, possession of an unregistered general category handgun, arose from the fact that when the police searched the hidden storage compartment in the Hiace van, they also found a black semiautomatic pistol in working order, with the serial number erased, and numerous rounds of 9 millimetre ammunition. The summary charge, of possessing prohibited weapons, relates to the finding of knuckle duster tasers in that same hidden storage compartment. One of them was actually found in a grey Mazda on 19 October 2016.
Personal circumstances
11Moving on to your personal circumstances. They were outlined to the court by your counsel, and further details were contained in a psychological report from Pamela Matthews dated 21 September 2017. You were born in Dandenong on 7 April 1984, and you are 33 years old. You grew up in Mulgrave with your parents and one brother and sister. You had a good and loving childhood, and you retained a good relationship with all the members of your family. However, in 1998, you were diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and your frail physical condition resulted in you being bullied at school, which caused you to fall behind in your studies.
12Despite this, in 2002, after leaving school, you commenced a Bachelor of Arts at Victoria University, and you did well enough to transfer to Monash University. At university, you took up boxing, and by 2003 you were boxing competitively. Between 2002 and 2010, you won two Victorian and two Australian bronze VAVL titles. After obtaining your arts degree in 2004, you undertook a law degree at Victoria University. Once again, you did well, and you transferred to Monash University. You completed your law degree in 2010 and began your practical legal training at the College of Law.
13However, it appears that 2010 was also the start of your downfall. In that year, you began to experiment with MDMA, cocaine and ecstasy. Initially, you used drugs in the company of friends you met through the boxing scene. You then started using on your own, and at the peak of your addiction, you would spend $2000 on cocaine per day, using three to seven grams most days. You also abused steroids and a variety of prescription sleep medication and painkillers.
14In 2010, you broke up with your long-term girlfriend, and you experienced problems coping when your mother suffered a relapse of her schizophrenic illness. You received psychological counselling from Alison Mynard with regard to both these matters, and she diagnosed you with anxiety and depression.
15In 2011, you undertook work experience with a Melbourne criminal law firm. However, due to the fact that you'd been before the Magistrates' Court on a number of criminal charges, you were not kept on after your work experience finished. Your prior convictions are for recklessly cause injury, obtaining property by deception, theft, failing to comply with a Community Corrections order, fraudulently using identification, unlawful assault, and dealing with property being the proceeds of crime. You also have a prior for possession of a weapon without excuse. However, you do not have prior convictions with respect to possessing or trafficking in drugs.
16In 2011, you received a shoulder injury which ended your boxing career and your hopes of taking part in the Olympics. While these matters do not excuse your offending, it was submitted that it was in the context of these negative experiences from 2010 to 2012 that your drug use increased, and that you turned to trafficking to pay for the drugs.
17In her report, Ms Matthews described the period 2010-2012 as not only being acutely stressful for you, but also as resulting in a crushing psychic injury to your carefully constructed self-esteem post the period you suffered from Hodgkin's lymphoma. In her opinion, it was likely you suffered from adjustment disorder with depression and anxiety over the period which led to your initial drug use, as a form of self-medication.
Sentencing remarks
18The factors which are relevant in cases involving the trafficking of drugs include the quantity of the drugs involved, the role of the offender in the trafficking, the reward to be reaped by the offender, the offender's criminal history, and the prospects of rehabilitation, and whether the offender pleaded guilty and the timing of that guilty plea.
19In this case, you trafficked in very large quantities of two different drugs. The quantity of cocaine involved in Charge 1 was 1.5 kilos of cocaine mixed with another substance. The large commercial quantity applicable to cocaine is 1 kilo. The quantity of drugs involved in the rolled-up charge was 2.3 kilos of cocaine and 2 kilos of methamphetamine mixed with another substance. The large commercial quantity applicable to methamphetamine is 1 kilo. This means that with Charge 3, in total you had over four times the large commercial quantity.
20With respect to your role in the trafficking of drugs, you were part of a well-organised, highly professional drug trafficking business. While you did not manufacture or import the drugs, you were at a high level in the hierarchy. Your counsel conceded that you were a high-level executive, and the prosecution did not quibble with that description. The fact that the drugs were of high purity supports this description of your role. You received very large amounts of money for the drugs that you trafficked, and you went to considerable trouble to hide the money in secret compartments in a vehicle and in your home.
21Drugs cause great harm to our community, and the prosecution appropriately sought a gaol sentence, and submitted that the court was bound to have regard to general deterrence, specific deterrence, and the protection of the community. With regard to the range of your sentence on the drug trafficking charges, the prosecutor referred the court to the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in R v Brian Gregory.[1]
[1] [2017] VSCA 151
22This is a case where the offender appealed a sentence of eight years and six months' imprisonment on a charge of trafficking in a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld the Director's submission that current sentencing practices for commercial quantity are unduly compressed for offences at the upper end of seriousness, and do not reflect the inherent gravity of the offending, the impact on the community, or the higher maximum penalty.
23The Court of Appeal accepted that sentencing practices need to change, and stated that
“there needs to be an appropriate relativity between sentencing standards for each category of seriousness of an offence, and in case of trafficking offences, which have an ascending of seriousness depending on quantity, an appropriate relativity must be maintained between sentencing standards for each quantity-based offence. As the sentence for commercial quantity trafficking increased, sentences for large commercial quantity would have to substantially increase to maintain appropriate sentencing relativities.”
In sentencing you, I am bound to take this decision into account, and I have done so.
24The Court of Appeal decision was made after your offending and plea, and your counsel submitted that as a matter of fairness, I should take this into account. However, it is clear from the recent High Court decision in DPP v Dalgliesh[2] that where current sentencing practices for offences are inadequate, the sentencing court should not adhere to those practices so as to impose a sentence that is clearly inadequate.
[2] [2017] HCA 41
25In sentencing you, I need to balance each factor to impose a sentence that is just in the circumstances. Current sentencing practices are only one factor, and not the controlling factor. In sentencing you, I have also taken into account Ms Matthews' opinion with respect to the factors which contributed to your abuse of drugs and your subsequent offending.
26I have taken into account all the mitigating matters that were referred to by your counsel, which, in summary, were that:
·you had pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for your wrongdoing, both to Ms Matthews and in a letter to the court;
·your work and study history were impressive, given the major setbacks and difficulties in your life;
·you had no prior convictions for matters involving drugs; you had made significant rehabilitative gains in custody, which were evidenced by an number of certificates relating to courses you'd completed while you were in custody;
·you no longer use drugs, which was supported by the negative results from random drug tests; and
·that your overall rehabilitation prospects were positive.
27You have received a discount for your plea of guilty, which saves the expense of a trial, and I accept that your prospects for rehabilitation are positive. In this respect, I have taken into account the references provided on your behalf, including from the head boxing coach at St Kilda Boxing Club; your younger sister; a friend who worked with you at General Motors Holden; your father; and your sister. It is clear from these references that your family and friends are shocked and surprised by your offending. In addition, you communicated your shame and remorse for your offending to them.
28As a result of being convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment on Charge 1, you will become a serious drug offender, and thereby a serious offender. In sentencing you to a term of imprisonment on Charge 3, I must, in determining the length of the sentence, regard the protection of the community as the principal purpose for which the sentence is imposed. In order to achieve that purpose, I may impose a sentence longer than that which is proportionate to the gravity of the offence. The prosecution did not seek a disproportionate sentence, and I do not intend to impose one.
29A term of imprisonment proposed for Charge 3 must, unless otherwise directed by the court, be served cumulatively on other sentences of imprisonment imposed. The prosecution submitted that there should be significant accumulation on the sentences imposed on Charge 3 and Charge 1. Given that these are two discrete instances of trafficking in a drug of dependence, while bearing in mind the principle of totality, I accept that a reasonable amount of accumulation is appropriate. Would you please stand up.
Sentence
30On Charge 1, of trafficking in a drug of dependence, being cocaine, in a large commercial quantity, between 25 August 2015 and 1 November 2015, you are sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. On Charge 3, of trafficking in a drug of dependence, being methamphetamine and cocaine, on 19 October 2016, you are sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. On Charge 2, of possessing an unregistered general category handgun you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment. On Charge 4, of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime with intent to conceal, you are sentenced to six years' imprisonment. On the rolled-up summary charge of possessing a prohibited weapon without exemption or approval, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
31The base sentence is a sentence of 15 years on count 3. I cumulate three years of the sentence of count 1 on count 3, 12 months of the sentence on count 4 on Charge 3, and six months of the sentence on Charge 2 on count 3. This results in a head sentence of 19 years and six months. The non-parole period is 14 years and six months. It will be entered in the records of the court with respect to Charge 3 that you were sentenced for that charge as a serious offender. I make an order declaring you to be a serious drug offender.
32I declare 376 days to be reckoned as already served and noted in the records of the court. But for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to 24 years, to serve 19 years. I grant a disposal order, a forfeiture order, and a forensic sample order, on the basis of the seriousness of your offending and because it is in the interests of the community, and by consent. Yes, you may sit down. Is there anything arising out of the sentence?
33MR SHAW: Just one moment, Your Honour. There's just one matter, Your Honour. In relation to the summary matter, Your Honour sentence Mr Djordjic to six months' imprisonment. I take it from Your Honour's overall sentence that that is entirely concurrent.
34HER HONOUR: Yes.
35MR SHAW: Yes. I don't think Your Honour mentioned that, but is that the case?
36HER HONOUR: It's entirely concurrent.
37MR SHAW: Thank you, Your Honour.
38HER HONOUR: Is there anything else arising from the sentence?
39MS FRANJIC: No, Your Honour.
40MR SHAW: No.
41HER HONOUR: In that case, we'll remove the prisoner, and we'll stand the court down.
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