Director of Public Prosecutions v Djukich

[2019] VCC 1208

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 18-01970

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

LANCE DJUKICH

---

JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:	29 July 2019
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 August 2019
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Djukich
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 1208

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---

Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

---

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. O'Doherty	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr S. Peterson	Stephen Peterson Lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1The reason that this matter has been called on is that on 30 July of this year, I sentenced Mr Djukich to period of imprisonment of five and a half years
with a minimum term of three and a half years, with pre-sentence
detention of 449 days.  I declared a s.6AAA of seven and half years with a
five.

2It came to my attention sometime after the event that in fact the recording equipment had failed; my sentencing remarks had not been written out and were delivered essentially in an ex tempore form. 

3I am advised that neither side have any intention of taking the matter elsewhere but it seems to me that for the purposes of the record, there should be some indication as to the reasons for my sentence that may apply, for example, to the parole board.  I will direct that all the exhibits remain on the court file, which will solve that problem. 

4The circumstances were that Mr Djukich was 38 years of age at the time of the offending, had a very significant criminal history, he had already done 90 days during the course of that pre-sentence detention for other matters and I took that into account in a Renzella way.  He appeared in Koori Court, being of Aboriginal descent, and I indicated that he impressed me with the way he was able to do that.

5Remorse, I now accept, was appropriate, that he must of course also get, and did get, the utilitarian benefit of it. 

6A very brief summary of the offending is that in a scenario or drugs, the accused went to a house nearby to where he lived and went into a bungalow of the back where a Mr Irvine was asleep.  He struck Mr Irvine to the head with the blunt end of a tomahawk, causing a laceration and a fracture.

7A woman in the house then endeavoured to grapple with him, he had with him a box cutter and in the end, he slashed at her with that and cut her fingers.  The circumstances of it were that it was a violent offence, albeit the ultimate injuries not being at the high end of serious. 

8As I indicated, he had significant prior convictions.  It was not disputed that a significant gaol sentence was inevitable, and I then took matters into account on his behalf when assessing that sentence. 

9Obviously, I took into account the fact of his upbringing, which is a very, very unfortunate one; he is Aboriginal and, as I indicated, I do not have to go into the detail in this process.  The decision of Bugmy  took on real significance in this sentencing process. 

10He expresses a genuine desire to rehabilitate.  Again, I indicated that that is really up to him but I accept that, for the present purposes, that
desire was genuine.  The prospects of him reoffending in a general way objectively will have to be regarded as high and that is a matter I took into account.

11He had a - as I have indicated - very dysfunctional childhood, there was alcoholism and violence, he was subject to and witness to.  He has had five children with whom he now has no contact.  The mother of most of those children has had a very dysfunctional relationship with and they are essentially controlled by DHS. 

12The burglary was the intention of stealing, not assaulting, and I took that into account.  And it is the situation where he did have a period of time some years ago when he did not offend, when he was in fact looking after a child and he hopes that, in terms of his prospects of rehabilitation, that may be able to be achieved again.  That has got nothing to do with me, of course, and as I think I indicated, it is a matter for the authorities at a later time.

13That, in very simple terms is the sentence.  As I said, I am not going to try and repeat what I said because it is not written down and I think the gist of it, in all these circumstances, is sufficient.  All right, thank you for that. 

‑ ‑ ‑