Director of Public Prosecutions v Egan

[2016] VCC 1761

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 16-01433

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ALEXANDER EGAN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MULLALY
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	23 September and 4 November 2016
DATE OF SENTENCE:	22 November 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Egan
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 1761

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. Hannan	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms J. Munster	Victoria Legal Aid

HIS HONOUR: 

1Alexander Egan, you had been in a chaotic volatile relationship with the victim for approximately three years.  You and she were involved in using amphetamines.  Despite the problems in the relationship the two of you had a daughter now aged just over one.

2In April of 2016 you and the victim separated again.  An intervention order had been taken out in February of 2016.  When you separated you were upset and unsure of her motives. 

3On the evening of 21 April 2016 she told you by text that she was having a quiet night at home with her daughters.  You were not sure.  You rode your bike by the house to check things and saw her using drugs intravenously and being intimate with a friend of yours who you had in recent times provided housing to.

4You lost your temper, got in the open window to confront the male.  He took off and you became aggressive towards your ex-girlfriend pushing her to the ground.  Your violence continued as you took her phone, pushed her again outside and damaged her car by punching a window.  You confessed to the police later that evening.

5You have maintained that attitude of recognising your foolishness.  Your plea of guilty was swift and exhibited your remorse.  To your credit you have well and truly moved on and I will shortly detail the factors that establish that you have excellent prospects of complete reform.  However before dealing with matters relating to you I need to emphasise that getting into a house in breach of an intervention order and behaving violently is serious offending.

6The victim was entitled to feel safe in her home.  Angry, rejected men must understand they cannot resort to violence.  If they do ordinarily the punishment will involve imprisonment.  That said, yours is not the most serious example of these crimes.  In saying you have moved on from this relationship I add that the most important fact of all is the following; that you have taken
full-time custody and care of your daughter.  Your ex-partner recognises her own difficulties and that you have a better capacity to parent the child at the moment.

7As part of your changed attitude you have moved from Shepparton to Melbourne.  You now reside with your sister and have close contact with your mother.  You benefitted from a loving upbringing and now again you have good supports.  It is pretty straightforward, Mr Egan, do not let them down again.  The letters from those members of your family that I read were very helpful in establishing for me that you have changed and have now dedicated yourself to responsible care of your daughter.

8The balance to be found is ensuring you are punished and deterrence both to you and generally is adequately expressed and yet at the same time ensuring that your rehabilitation is facilitated.  That matter of your rehabilitation is tied up with your responsibility as a parent which are very significant responsibilities indeed. 

9In my mind the balance is best achieved by a community corrections order that can simultaneously punish, deter and rehabilitate.  You have made significant advances in your reform but they need to be consolidated.  Thus I expect that you will continue with the counselling and behaviour programs that you have embarked upon and are currently engaged in.  Hopefully they can be dovetailed to what the community corrections have in mind for you.

10I have determined that the just and appropriate sentence in all the circumstances is a community corrections order with programs involving unpaid work, supervision, drug treatment, mental health, programs to deal with your anxiety problems and programs to reduce your reoffending.  The unpaid work will punish you and must be done without fail.  The mercy shown, in particular about the relatively few hours that I am asking of you in the circumstances of your parenting, but the mercy shown in this sentence will not be repeated if you falter, if you get back on drugs, if you commit offences and do not do the work and other programs required. 

11You have prior criminal convictions, you have gone through a community corrections order before without problems, I expect it again, but with your prior matters and this matter should you falter there will be little choice left to me other than term of imprisonment.  The penalty that I have imposed is not a soft penalty as I think you will discover.

12So the sentence I impose is an aggregate sentence for all matters being the matters on the indictment which was aggravated burglary and then what happened inside, the recklessly cause injury and the other matter of the criminal damage and the theft of the phone together with the transferred matter from the Magistrates' Court or the summary offence of contravening the family violence intervention order.

13The aggregate penalty is that you be convicted and placed on a community corrections order for two years.  As I said there will be the programs that I outlined that you will have to do unpaid work of 100 hours.  That has been moderated significantly to deal with your personal circumstances.

14You will be under supervision for drug treatment, mental health programs to deal with anxiety and programs to reduce your reoffending.  A document will be produced and once that is produced if you sign it it will bring the matter to an end.

15Had you pleaded not guilty to these offences and been found guilty of them, I would have imposed a penalty of 12 months' imprisonment together with a community corrections order.

16Is there anything further required?  Were there other orders that you sought, I cannot remember?

17MR HANNAN:  Either can I, Your Honour, I apologise.

18HIS HONOUR:  My problem for delaying this or deferring it in some way but I had a bit on my plate.  Were there any?

19MR HANNAN:  I don’t think there were, Your Honour.

20HIS HONOUR:  My staff will - I do not have any documentation that I can put my hands on.

21MR HANNAN:  I would have handed it up so no, there mustn't be.

22HIS HONOUR:  Very kind, thank you.  So we will just produce that order and if you can come out of the dock now so you are behind your barrister when the document is signed.

23So, Mr Egan, it goes for two years from today 22 November 2016 to 21 November 2018 so mandatory conditions that apply to everyone on these orders are the following; the first one is important, you have got to listen; must not commit another offence which you could be imprisoned during the time the order is in force.  So for the next two years you commit any offence that is punishable by imprisonment then you breach the order.  You should consider almost every offence you can think of is punishable by imprisonment even if the magistrate would not do that.

24You must comply with any obligation or requirement under the regulations that relate to these orders.  I am told that means that they will take your photograph at the community corrections or want to, so cooperate with all that.  You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections people.  You must report to the Community Corrections Centre within two clear working days of the order starting.  That will be at the Reservoir Community Corrections Service.  It is in High Street, Reservoir, the details are on the form.  You must let the Community Correction Officer know within two clear working days if you change your address or your job and you must not leave Victoria without getting permission to do so from the Office of Corrections.

25So those last two mean keep them in touch with what you are up to.  You must obey all lawful instructions from the Office of Corrections.  So they apply to everyone those conditions.

26What applies to you in addition to those are you perform 100 hours of unpaid community work over the two years; you must be under the supervision of the Community Corrections people so they just monitor how you are going.  That will mean going along, do not miss the appointments. 

27You must undergo assessment and treatment for drug abuse and dependency to keep that moving along in respect of putting the amphetamines behind you or ice.  You must undergo any mental health assessments and treatment including psychological that they ask you to do.  You must participate in programs or courses to address factors relating to your offending.  So they might have other programs or they might be content with what you are doing with the behaviour program, you work that out with them.

28Sign that and that will bring it to an end.  Get a copy of that.  Is there anything further required?

29MR HANNAN:  No, Your Honour.

30MS MUNSTER:  No, Your Honour.

31HIS HONOUR:  Thank you very much for your assistance in this matter and waiting around and being put off for a day, it just happened to work that way.  Thank you.

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