Director of Public Prosecutions v Draper
[2025] VCC 205
•4 March 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT LATROBE VALLEY AND MELBOURNE CRIMINAL JURISDICTION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
CR 24-01510
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| BRODIE DRAPER |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE |
WHERE HELD: | Latrobe Valley and Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 20 February 2025 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 4 March 2025 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Draper |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 205 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW - SENTENCE
Catchwords: Traffick in drug of dependence, possess drug of dependence, knowingly deal with proceeds of crime, rolled up charge; possess prohibited weapon w/o exemption/approval, w/o approval store unauthorised explosive, contravene condition of bail, fail comply with direction to assist – plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: s6AAA Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited:Bugmy V R (2013) 302 ALR 192
Sentence: Imprisonment, Total effective sentence of 3 years and 1 month, Non-parole period of 1 year and 9 months, Forfeiture and Disposal Orders.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr A. Grant | Office of Public Prosecutions, Ms I. Anticev |
For the Accused | Mr R. Bhattacharya | Ms J. Kennedy, Leanne Warren & Associates |
HIS HONOUR:
1Brodie Draper, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in a drug of dependence, one charge of possession of a drug of dependence, and one charge of knowingly deal with the proceeds of crime. In addition, you pleaded guilty to four related summary offences: a rolled-up charge of possessing prohibited weapons, one charge of store unauthorised explosives, and a rolled-up charge of contravening bail conditions, and one charge of failing to comply with a direction to assist.
2The facts of your offending are set out in Exhibit A, the amended prosecution opening. I was informed by your counsel that I could treat that document as an agreed statement of fact. I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence and sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein.
3Very briefly stated, on 7 December 2023 police executed search warrants at three properties connected to you. Cannabis, methylamphetamine, 1,4 Butanediol, two knuckledusters, a flick knife, $1,290 in cash, and five fireworks were discovered and seized. Two mobile phones were also seized. You refused a police request for the passcodes to these phones. However, ultimately analysis of the phones by the police demonstrated you contacting two persons that bail provisions prohibited you from contacting. The phones also contained evidence of your trafficking methylamphetamine.
4Police investigations established that you held 15 bottles of 1,4 Butanediol totalling 7,261 grams for an associate. In total you possessed 65.6 grams of cannabis, 7.3 kilograms of 1,4 Butanediol, and 23 grams of methylamphetamine.
5You admitted a criminal record of some 19 pages in length. You have a number of road traffic convictions. You received a community corrections order in August 2015 for offences of contravene family violence intervention order, unlawful assault, recklessly cause injury, and contravene bail conditions.
6In May 2016 you received another community corrections order for serious traffic offences and offences of commit indictable offence whilst on bail, possess methylamphetamine, and contravene family violence intervention order.
7In August 2016 you were imprisoned for drive whilst disqualified, contravening bail conditions, committing indictable offence on bail, dangerous driving, and failing to stop a vehicle on request.
8On the same day you were imprisoned for breach of CCO orders, handling stolen goods, and possession of methylamphetamine.
9In 2018 you were sentenced to yet another community corrections order for driving offences and possessing methylamphetamine.
10On 16 October 2020 you were fined for offences including possession and use of methylamphetamine.
11On 2 December 2020, yet again you were sentenced to a community corrections order for offending that included trafficking cannabis, possessing GHB, and possession of methylamphetamine. You breached that community corrections order.
12On 3 June 2022 you were sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment for offending that included theft, possess cannabis, possess methylamphetamine, possess 1,4 Butanediol, burglary, and trafficking in methamphetamine.
13Your personal history is set out in Exhibit 1, your counsel's submissions on the plea, and Exhibit 3, the report of psychologist, Jeffrey Cummins.
14You were born in New South Wales in January 1998. Your parents separated when you were six years old. You were sent to boarding school where you experienced trauma that you do not wish to discuss.
15You started using cannabis when you were 11. You left school at age 14 and moved to Victoria.
16At age 16 you trained in warehousing and distribution and worked for Toll for about four years. At 16 you fathered your first child.
17At 20 you started using heroin and methylamphetamine.
18At 21, your father was murdered by your stepmother.
19At age 22, you sustained a serious workplace injury and the use of strong painkillers escalated your drug use. Your involvement with the justice system commenced.
20At age 27 a serious motor car injury saw you hospitalised for a month and subsequently you have existed on TAC payments, then a Disability Support Pension.
21The illegal drugs have been a consistent part of your adult life and featured in your past criminal offending. Since your remand in custody on 7 December 2023, you have attempted to rid yourself of your drug dependency. You claim now to be drug free. Drug screens provided subsequent to your plea and referred to this morning confirm your drug free status in March 2024 and February of this year.
22You have completed drug rehabilitation courses and work in the prison kitchen, and you attend the gym to maintain your physical condition. You have been able to maintain contact with two of your children and use them as a motivation to change your life.
23Participation certificates tendered evidence your participation in harm reduction program modules whilst in custody.
24Mr Cummins reports that you suffer from complex PTSD and probably a borderline personality disorder. He states that this will make your time in custody more onerous for you than for someone without your issues. He further claimed that 'imprisonment is already significantly adversely affecting his mental health', and that you would 'experience further deterioration in your currently compromised level of motivation to rehabilitate himself the longer he remains in custody'.
25These quoted assertions do not sit with paragraph 14 to 18 of your counsel's submissions. Indeed, they contradict them. I prefer your counsel's submissions to Mr Cummins' advocacy on your behalf. I can only hope that your resolution to live drug free persists, and that you do turn your life around.
26Your prior criminal record does not inspire optimism. Your prospects of rehabilitation are extremely dependent on your dealing with your drug use. The Corrections officer who assessed your suitability for a community corrections order reported that you have expressed a desire to remain drug free but said 'The assessor has significant concerns regarding his ability to remain substance free once released'.
27I take into account in sentencing you your troubled and disrupted childhood. The principles set out in Bugmy's[1] case have general application to you.
[1]Bugmy V R (2013) 302 ALR 192
28I also take into account your pleas of guilty. You spared the community the cost of a criminal trial and have accepted responsibility for your actions. You are entitled to a reduction to the sentence I would otherwise impose to reflect your pleas of guilty.
29I take into account the efforts you have made to rid yourself of your drug dependence since you have been in custody. Your future depends on you doing so. I accept and take into account your mental health issues, that is the PTSD, and your time in custody will be more onerous for you because of those issues.
30Your crimes were serious criminal offences. You have relevant prior convictions, and you have not learnt from your previous imprisonment for drug trafficking. Principles of general deterrence, specific deterrence, denunciation of your conduct, and just punishment, dictate that nothing but a term of imprisonment is appropriate in your case.
31Although your trafficking was motivated by a desire to fund your own drug habit and you were not a high-level drug dealer, you were found with a significant quantity of multiple illicit drugs and a not insubstantial sum of cash, 23 grams of methylamphetamine at $350 a gram, which was the price you were charging, equates to over $8,000.
32Your counsel urged the court impose a combination of time served and a community corrections order. Your crimes, in my view, are too serious for such a disposition. I have reduced the term of imprisonment I propose to impose to reflect the matters in mitigation to which I have referred, however, nothing but a term of imprisonment is appropriate in your case.
33Drug dealers deal in the misery that has ruined so many lives, including your own.
34On all charges you are convicted.
35On Charge 1, trafficking methylamphetamine, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for two years.
36On Charge 2, trafficking in 1,4 Butanediol, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for one year.
37On Charge 3, possess cannabis, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for six months.
38On Charge 4, dealing with proceeds of crime, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for six months.
39On the related summary offences, Charge 8, possession of prohibited weapons, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for two months.
40On Charge 11, storing explosives, you are fined $100.
41On Charge 15, contravening bail conditions, you are sentenced to two months' imprisonment.
42On Charge 17, failure to comply with directions to assist, you are sentenced to two months' imprisonment.
43Having regard to principles of totality and cumulation, I order that six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 2 and three months of the sentence of Charge 4 be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 1, which I declare to be the base sentence. I order that the sentences imposed on the summary Charges 15 and 17 be served cumulatively upon the indictable Charge 1. That is an effective term of imprisonment of three years and one month.
44I order that you serve one year and nine months of that sentence before being eligible for parole.
45Can someone tell me what the updated PSD is?
46MR GRANT: Yes, Your Honour, 453 days or one year two months and
25 days, not counting today.47HIS HONOUR: Yes. I declare 453 days, not counting today, have already been served of that sentence by way of PSD.
48I make the forfeiture and disposal orders sought by the prosecution.
49Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991[2], I indicate that but for your plea of guilty I would have imposed an effective term of imprisonment of six years with a non-parole period of four.
[2]s6AAA Sentencing Act 1991
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