Director of Public Prosecutions v Edwards

[2014] VCC 1892

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -14-00560

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

WALLY EDWARDS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE GRANT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	2 June 2014, 24 June 2014, 4 August 2014, 22 October 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:	10 November 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Edwards
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 1892

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr. M. Roper	OPP
For the Accused	Ms. A. Beech	VALS

HIS HONOUR:

1Mr Edwards, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of armed robbery.  The maximum penalty for armed robbery is 25 years imprisonment.  The prosecutor presented a summary of your offending.  It is not my intention to repeat that summary.  It was tendered in the Plea hearing as Exhibit A.

2Briefly, you committed the two offences on 7 January, 2014.  At about 9.30 pm on that date you went to the Beer, Wine and Spirits store in Carlton.  You were with Karen Wise.  You both proceeded to select bottles of spirits and load them into your back packs.  The store attendant asked you to return the bottles.  You produced an uncapped syringe from your pocket and said "You don't want to get stuck, do you?"  The attendant who felt nervous and threatened by your behaviour, backed away and you left the store.  The prosecution accepts that Ms Wise was unaware that you produced the syringe.  She has pleaded guilty to a charge of theft.

3Earlier that same night, you went to the Beer, Wine and Spirits store in Flemington and loaded bottles of spirits into your back pack.  Again, you were with Ms Wise.  When stopped at the front door by a security guard you held your hand near you waist and showed the guard that you had three syringes between your fingers.  The guard stepped aside and you left the store.  Again, the prosecutor accepts that Ms Wise was unaware that you had shown the syringes to the guard.  She has pleaded guilty to theft.

4Mr Edwards, you have committed two very serious offences against soft targets.  In offences of this type, general deterrence, punishment and denunciation are all highly relevant sentencing considerations.  I accept that the offending was unsophisticated and unplanned.  You and Ms Wise wore no disguise.  Your intention was to obtain alcohol to swap or sell for heroin.  This explains the offending.  It does not excuse it. 

5You admitted a large number of prior convictions.  They predominantly relate to dishonesty and drug offences.  This current offending represents an escalation in the seriousness of your offending behaviour.  It follows that specific deterrence and protection of the community are also relevant sentencing considerations. 

6There are a number of matters in mitigation.  I deal with each in turn. 

7You entered an early plea of guilty.  In addition, your plea has spared the victims from the trauma and stress associated with giving evidence.  The plea has also saved the expense of a criminal trial.  I am satisfied that you are remorseful.  You will be given appropriate credit for all of these matters.

8Your prior criminal history commences with an appearance in the Children's Court in July 2000 when you were 13 years old.  An appearance in court at that age is almost always indicative of a background of hardship and disadvantage.  The evidence presented on your behalf satisfied me that you have, from a very young age, experienced significant hardship and disadvantage. 

9Your parents are aboriginal.  Your mother was from New South Wales, and your father from Victoria.  They separated when you were very young and you lived with your mother and her family in New South Wales.  A psychological report provided to the court, indicates that your mother was often very angry with you.  Amongst other things, she threatened to place you in a Boy's Home, and made it clear that notwithstanding her background, she was hostile towards aboriginal people.  She was a hard worker, but she was also violent towards you.  When you were about 8 years old, your mother entered into a new relationship.  Your stepfather was a heavy drinker, who was extremely abusive and violent towards you and your mother.

10Whilst living with your mother, you would sometimes travel to Victoria to see your father.  When you were about 12 years old, you moved back to Victoria to live with him.  Your father had been removed from his mother and siblings at a young age and that experience profoundly affected his life.  When you went to live with him, he was struggling with drug and alcohol issues, and you were exposed to his struggles.  The place where you lived was often busy with people coming and going, and you were poorly supervised.  A man who frequently visited your father's house, sexually abused you when you were 14 years old.  It was against this background that you stopped going to school, commenced abusing cannabis and alcohol and started to get into trouble with the law.  Your drug use escalated when your father died when you were 18 years old.

11You have been diagnosed as suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder.  Associate Professor Carroll states in his report, that the disorder stems from:  "The various episodes of severe trauma during his childhood and teenage years."

12You are also opiate dependant, although this is in remission since you have been in custody. 

13I am satisfied that the abuse and trauma that you suffered as a child and young man, should mitigate sentence in this case.  Associate Professor Carroll also says this:  "As Edwards himself reported, his offending is clearly linked to his heroin dependency.  His heroin dependency, in turn is, I believe, largely a consequence of his post traumatic symptoms.  At an early age he has learned that heroin helps to calm the distress associated with his post traumatic symptoms, including the voices, and he has, aside from times when he was in custody, been on a cycle of dependency and associated offending ever since.”

14Mr Edwards, I accept that this is a case where general and specific deterrence should be moderated as sentencing considerations and your moral culpability reduced.  I also accept the need to mitigate sentence because prison will be more onerous for you, than it would be for a person without chronic post- traumatic stress disorder.

15You are still a relatively young man.  I am guarded about your prospects for rehabilitation.  You need support to address your post-traumatic stress and your substance abuse.  Your rehabilitation is dependent on the appropriate supports being provided to you, and on your positive response to those supports.  I will provide a copy of the report of Associate Professor Carroll to the prison authorities to assist their understanding of your psychiatric state.

16Finally, your counsel submitted that an appropriate order would be a sentence of imprisonment, followed by release on a Community Corrections Order.  I was not persuaded by the submission.  Notwithstanding the matters in mitigation, the nature of this offending requires me to impose a term of imprisonment that is commensurate with its seriousness.  Would you please stand. 

17On the first charge, you will be convicted and imprisoned for two years and 3 months. 

18On the second armed robbery, you will also be convicted and imprisoned for two years and three months.  I order that 9 months of the sentence on the second armed robbery be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed on Charge 1.  This makes a total effective sentence of three years imprisonment.  I fix a minimum of 21 months before you will be eligible for release on parole.  I declare that you have served 128 days by way of pre-sentence detention. 

19If you had pleaded not guilty and been found guilty after a trial, the total effective sentence imposed would have been four and a half years, with a minimum term of three years and three months before being eligible for release on parole. 

20Mr Edwards, I also order that you undergo a forensic procedure for the taking of a scraping from your mouth. If you fail to cooperate in the taking of the sample, the authorities may use reasonable force to obtain it. This order is made pursuant to ss.464ZF (2) and 464ZF(2)(A) of the Crimes Act [1958].

21I make the order for the following reasons; the seriousness of the offending, your prior criminal history, the order is in the public interest, and the order is consented to.  I make the disposal order sought by the Crown.  You can be seated there.  Is there anything else, Ms Beech.

22MS BEECH:  Would Your Honour mind  repeating the PSD.  I just missed that.

23HIS HONOUR:  My associate has kindly assisted me to calculate it at 128 days, that is counting today.

24MS BEECH:  That's what I calculated as well, Your Honour.  Thank you.

25HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Thankyou. 

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