Director of Public Prosecutions v Douglas
[2024] VCC 1566
•9 October 2024
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
KOORI COURT DIVISION
CR 24-00395
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| RAYMOND DOUGLAS |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE JOHNS |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 30 August 2024 and 7 October 2024 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 9 October 2024 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Douglas |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2024] VCC 1566 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL
Catchwords: Armed Robbery-serious – Koori Court - Application of Bugmy principles – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – no priors – remorse-plea of guilty.
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act1991 (Vic).
Cases Cited:Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571; Akoka v The Queen [2017] VSCA 214.
Sentence:2 Year Community Correction Order; s 6 AAA-18 months' gaol combined 12 month CCO.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms V. Hoskin | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Mr D. De Witt | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
1Raymond Douglas, you are a 24-year-old Wotjobaluk man who has pleaded guilty before me in the Koori Court jurisdiction to a single charge of armed robbery. Armed robbery carries a maximum of 25 years' imprisonment.
2You have no criminal history which is significant given your disrupted, deprived and dysfunctional childhood, due to your exposure to trauma, instability and negative influences in your family life, and by that I am referring to your father.
Circumstances of offending
3The circumstances of your offending are set out in the Prosecution Plea Opening.[1] That summary forms part of these reasons for sentence. I am not going to summarise the matters in the same detail but that does not diminish the seriousness of your offence. It was a a terrifying example of armed robbery in the street.
[1] Exhibit A.
4During the incident, you separated your victim from his partner in the street, running up in front of them, pulling out a stanley knife. You held it to the chest of your victim, demanding that he hand over a very expensive bag, it was valued in the thousands of dollars, and you said, 'I'm not afraid to slice faces', whilst holding the blade up to him.
5He handed over his bag which had Apple AirPods in it, which are a valuable items, plus rosary beads, house keys and some other items. He handed it over because he believed he was going to be stabbed if he did not comply. You made further demands for his necklace; a silvercoloured Cuban-link necklace and he handed it to you. He was able to then run off with his partner, contacted Triple 0 and the AirPods were able to be traced.
6Police tried to apprehend you, but you ran off and dropped the bag which was later recovered.
7Police caught up with you on 20 December and you were arrested and interviewed and made a no comment interview.
Gravity of Offending
8The incident was a serious matter, terrifying for the victim and for any person in that position. It is the stuff of nightmares, being accosted by someone who is wielding a knife and threatening consequences, as you did. I am satisfied that you are rightfully ashamed of your conduct and remorseful and that came through in the sentencing conversation.
9You have had a difficult life which is significant and I have placed significant weight in deciding what to do with you on the basis of your absence of prior history and your efforts at rehabilitation during a period of deferral.
10It should be understood by you, and I am sure you do understand, that ordinarily people who commit this type of offence, even as a first-time offender, ordinarily go to gaol at your age. I will be placing you on a Community Corrections Order for reasons that I will come to, but it is an order that contains punitive aspects to it and one that I am satisfied meets the requirements of general deterrence and denunciation, and specific deterrence in your case. I will say more about that in due course.
Personal Circumstances
11Your personal circumstances are also set out in materials before me, the excellent written submissions of Mr De Witt,[2] and also Carla Lechner's report.[3]. I have also gleaned sufficient information about your character and your antecedents from the sentencing conversation, particularly from your sisters’ involvement in it, who were both impressive in their participation in that conversation. I also have regard to the letters provided by Emma Neal and Gregg Dinah from Bunjilwarra, Mr Cornell from VAHS, and the CISP Reports that I have, which have all given me an understanding of you as an individual.
[2] Exhibit 1.
[3] Exhibit 2.
12Your parents separated when you were three. You are part of a sibship of three, your sisters are older than you and as I have mentioned, they both travelled from South Australia where they reside, to participate in the sentencing conversation. As I stated at the time, that was significant and it remains significant, and they were impressive witnesses. They gave me a great insight into you but also into your family circumstances, and in particular, an insight into the dynamics between you and your father. I am not going to seek to unravel and delve into that in great detail in these sentencing remarks, but I do accept that that the dynamics of the troubled relationship probably played some role in you for the first time engaging in serious criminal offending.
13Your home life growing up was not stable. There was a lot of travel, a lot of moving around, Darwin, Sydney, and other places. There were periods of time when your father was in custody and your older sister would care for you. Your father was involved in the criminal justice system and because of his conduct, drug use and associations with other criminals, that exposed you to negative influences growing up.
14You also experienced a different form of trauma during your childhood years which I will not go into, but is contained in the materials provided to me, which I accept has also impacted upon you significantly.
15Your mother passed away in 2015 which had a significant impact upon you. You had already commenced alcohol abuse prior to that as a teenager, but that problem increased markedly I am told and I accept, after your mother's passing.
16Schooling was disrupted due to constant relocation around Victoria, but also Sydney and Darwin. You commenced high school at Braybrook Secondary College, transferring to St Josephs, and left school after completing Year 10.
17You do not have a strong employment history. You have also battled some health issues, including irritable bowel syndrome, which is touched on in the outline of submissions by Mr De Witt, but also in the reports and particularly references made to it in both the Bunjilwarra letters and Mr Cornell's letter.
Other Sentencing Considerations
18You were 23 at the time of the offending and are now 24. It is a significant matter, particularly in light of what I have mentioned about noting the absence of criminal history. There is a report before me from Ms Lechner, amongst other relevant matters here which diagnose you with suffering from PTSD or complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is a matter I accept. This has relevance in the sentencing exercise before me, and I accord it weight based upon the impact that that condition in connection with other matters personal to you, such as your background, your absence of history, and your bowel condition, would make the experience of custody harsher than it would for another individual who does not suffer from complex PTSD.
Remorse
19You pleaded guilty at an early stage. I am satisfied that the plea of guilty is reflective of remorse. You are also entitled to mitigation due to your participation in the sentencing conversation. You are not someone who struck me as being a big talker, so sometimes that can be more difficult, but you also had your sisters there and their contribution was not only impressive, but very informative for the court and a good example of how the sentencing conversation can better inform the court than a general list process.
20So you are entitled to mitigation for your participation and particularly your expressions of remorse during that sentencing conversation and I attribute that mitigation when assessing the appropriate sentence.
21You also spent some time in Bunjilwarra between early June and the end of July, that is of course residential rehabilitation, and you are entitled to mitigation in the form of Akoka for that brief period.[4] It is also indicative of your willingness to address substance use issues.
[4]Akoka v The Queen [2017] VSCA 214.
Prospects of Rehabilitation
22You have been on CISP bail for a lengthy period of time and I am satisfied that during the period of deferral of sentence, but also prior to that, you have taken significant steps towards rehabilitation. Rehabilitation for you primarily means addressing substance use issues, including alcohol abuse, but also in achieving some stability in relation to housing, personal circumstances, your health and gainful employment. These are goals that you will have to set yourself for.
23I was also impressed that prior to the offending you had attended Bunjilwarra in the middle of last year, and that indicates to the court that you had identified those substance use issues at an earlier point in time and were endeavouring to do something about it, so all of that means that you have good prospects of rehabilitation.
24You did fairly well in the deferral of sentence and I have mentioned the CISP reports which I have taken into account, but also the letter from Mr Cornell and the Bunjilwarra reports that are before me.
25In more recent times, very recently, there has been an inability to attend – I will not say inability – there has been a lack of commitment to attending appointments that are required. Part of this is understood in the sense that some of these commitments arose during a difficult time, a time where there was some sorry business, I was told.
26But in particular this week there has been lateness, and you might think, 'well it's only 10 minutes late for the sentence or 15 minutes'. There was also a difficulty with your attendance on Monday. You are going to be embarking on a Community Corrections Order and I want to make it very clear that it is expected that you attend appointments, you attend them when required, and you follow directions of Corrections. You do what is asked of you.
27As I have mentioned, I have had regard to the importance of general deterrence and what one would normally expect from a serious offence such as the one before me.
28Also the need for denunciation on behalf of the community to denounce this conduct. I have had regard to those factors in light of what I have said about your progress during the deferral of sentence, the time spent in Bunjilwarra, your youth, and absence of criminal history, the application of the Bugmy principle, in particular based upon the insights provided to me by your sisters during the sentencing conversation.[5] And when I balance all of those matters, having regard to your prospects of rehabilitation and having had you assessed for a CCO which you have been found suitable, I will sentence you to a Community Correction Order.
[5]Bugmy v The Queen (“Bugmy”) (2013) 249 CLR 571.
Sentence
a.Mr Douglas, on the single charge of armed robbery, you are sentenced to a two year Community Corrections Order with conviction. You have to perform 100 hours of community work pursuant to that order;
b.You are to be assessed for drug treatment as directed;
c.You are to be assessed for alcohol treatment as directed;
d.You are subject to a condition of mental health assessment and treatment, as directed;
e.Subject to supervision; and
f.Fifty hours of treatment conditions can be credited towards those work hours.
29Pursuant to section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act1991 (Vic)[6], were it not for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to 18 months' gaol with a 12 month
non-parole period.[6]Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)
30I think they are the only matters. Just to be clear, the commit offence whilst on bail was withdrawn, wasn't it? Is that right, Ms Hoskin, that was withdrawn at the plea.
31MS HOSKIN: Yes, Your Honour.
32HIS HONOUR: It's my record. I just wanted to make sure I understood that.
33Do you consent to the corrections order, Mr Douglas?
34OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour, I do.
35HIS HONOUR: Yes, good. You will sign it in a moment, we are preparing it now. Mr De Witt can have a look at it first. I will sign it first.
36I just want to re-emphasise that if you breach the order, if you do not comply with the conditions and that includes not having unacceptable absences for counselling, alcohol counselling, drug counselling, mental health counselling, it doesn't matter if you do not think you need it, if you are told to go to it, you will have to attend. If you don't, Corrections can breach you and you will be back before me and I can tell you that I will have in mind your non-attendance on Monday and your lateness today, when I am considering what I'd do if there were breaches for not turning up to appointments.
37You have got to get your head around that and what you need to remind yourself of, is that people do ordinarily go to gaol for this offence, even for a first-time offence. You have been given an opportunity of a community corrections order to serve your sentence in the community, and to be supported in the community in that way, so if it is getting a bit hard, or if you feel like you are not feeling up to going, just keep that in mind.
38It will be explained to you all the requirements of the order but the main thing to understand is, it is not up to you, you do not decide when you turn up and at what time. So if you do breach the order, you would be back before me and then I would have to consider resentencing you, so take this opportunity.
39The supports and the conditions are there to help you through the next stage of your life and put this behind you and never come into a court again, all right.
40Thank you, Mr De Witt. Now the client will need to sign it. You've got a copy of it there?
41MR DE WITT: I do.
42HIS HONOUR: You can approach and if you've got a pen.
43MR DE WITT: Thank you, Your Honour.
44MS HOSKIN: Your Honour, if I just take a moment to raise one other ancillary issue. There is a CISP review still outstanding on 24 October pending what was to occur today.
45HIS HONOUR: Yes.
46MS HOSKIN: Would Your Honour be minded to make an order to vacate that hearing?
47HIS HONOUR: Yes. Well bail ends today, so that is gone. If I need to make an order to vacate it, I will, but bail ends as of today. He has been sentenced and so there is no CISP requirement, you are not on bail today, and there will be no CISP review on the 24th, that will be vacated.
48MS HOSKIN: As Your Honour pleases.
49MR HOLLIS: Mr Hollis from CISP, Your Honour, I'm happy to liaise with Her Honour Avis' chambers and sort that out myself.
50HIS HONOUR: Yes. Just let her know that it is done and dusted. Thank you, Mr Hollis.
51MR HOLLIS: Thank you, Your Honour.
52HIS HONOUR: All right, we will get a copy of that for you, Mr Douglas, and Mr De Witt can explain to you when you have to report, and all the best. I mean this sincerely and in the best way, I hope I don't see you in this court again, certainly not pursuant to my order.
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