Director of Public Prosecutions v Fulton

[2021] VCC 290

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 20-01291

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JUSTIN FULTON

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE CANNON
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	19 February 2021
DATE OF SENTENCE:	18 March 2021
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Fulton
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2021] VCC 290

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:             Sentence – Pleas of guilty – Aggravated burglary – Recklessly cause serious injury - Contravention family violence protection act intending harm or fear – Conduct endangering persons – Carjacking – Relevant criminal history - Brutal attack on vulnerable victim – Significant and ongoing impact of injuries on victim – Violation of sanctity of home in contravention of court orders – Offending occurred in highly drug affected state – Poly-substance abuse history – History of mental illness including depression – Significant struggles with drug and mental health issues

Sentence:Convicted and sentenced to Total Effective Sentence of 5 years and 8 months’ imprisonment with non-parole period 3 years’ imprisonment – 322 days’ imprisonment declared as having already been served – s.6AAA Sentencing Act 1991 – Ancillary order Licence disqualification and cancellation

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms M. Cookson	Solicitor for Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr M. McGrath	Gallant Law

HER HONOUR: 

1Justin John Fulton, you have pleaded guilty to the following offences, aggravated burglary, recklessly causing serious injury, contravene family violence protection act intending harm or fear, reckless conduct endangering serious injury and carjacking.

2Aggravated burglary has a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment, recklessly causing serious injury and carjacking each have a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment and the remaining two offences each have a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.  In sentencing you I must take into account the maximum penalties as these reflect the seriousness with which Parliament regards the offences.

3You were 34 years old at the time that the offences were committed, and living at a unit in country Victoria. 

4During late 2018, an incident of family violence took place between you and your father, Bruce Fulton, resulting in the police taking out an Intervention Order naming your father as the affected family member.  The Intervention Order was limited to not committing family violence.

5About three weeks later, you arrived at your parents' residence which was also in country Victoria and a further verbal and physical confrontation took place between you and your parents.  The police attended and you were removed from the property.

6On 4th September 2018, following a court hearing in relation to this incident a full Family Violence Intervention Order was put in place.  Following this,
Bruce Fulton did not have any contact with you but your mother,
Barbara Fulton maintained contact through occasional phone calls and visits.

7During December 2018, the Fultons bought you the unit to which I have previously referred, and you moved in.

8During November 2019, you stopped paying rent to your parents for the unit and started making further allegations through text messages about
Bruce Fulton to Barbara Fulton, causing her concern about you.

9On the 20  March 2020, Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court (LVMC) issued an Interim Family Violence Intervention Order naming you as the respondent and Mr Bruce Fulton as the protected person.  The conditions of the Interim Intervention Order were set out in the Crown opening and I will not repeat each one of them but they are incorporated into my sentencing remarks.  Essentially, they forbade you from committing family violence against any protected person or damaging their property or coming within five metres of a protected person or 200 metres of where they lived, worked or attended for other purposes.

10On the 22 March 2020, you were served a copy of this order by a police officer and the conditions were explained to you. 

11By March/April 2020, the text messages that your mother was receiving from you were so overwhelming that she decided to cut contact with you . 

12The first victim in this matter is your mother, who was 64 years of age at the time of the offending. 

13The second Victim in this matter is Brayden Pratt-Thomas who was 20 years of age at the time of the offending.  The second Victim and you were not known to each other.

14On Wednesday 29 April 2020 at about 1 pm, First Constable Matthew Sargent was working watchhouse duties at the Morwell Police Station when he received a phone call from you.  You were sounding irritated and aggressive.  You wanted to know why police were wanting to speak with you about an alleged sexual assault against your son.  During that phone call you said to
Mr Sargent that it was your father who had sexually assaulted your son and told him 'You need to fix this or I will'.

15Mr Sargent asked you whether your father had been charged and then explained the process of an investigation.  You then hung up.  I pause here to say that your former partner had made such an allegation against your father.  It had been investigated by police previously and police had determined that there was no basis for charging your father.  At about the time that you said this about your father to the police officer, you were labouring under drug induced psychosis and were having some other thoughts of a bizarre nature.

16At approximately 3 pm, Bruce Fulton was in the back paddock of his property when he saw a white ute in the driveway that he did not recognize.  
He assumed it was a delivery and sent a text to his wife, who was in the house, asking who was in the car.

17Barbara Fulton was in the family room of their house and looked up to see you striding around the side of the house with a piece of wood in your hand.

18She could tell that you were very angry. She has no memory of what occurred next .

19Bruce Fulton then heard a bang but did not think anything of it.

20As his wife did not respond to his text message, Bruce Fulton tried to telephone her five times.  There was no response so Bruce Fulton went back to the house.  When he arrived, he found the glass sliding door of the family room at the back of the house had been smashed and his wife was lying on the couch with her hair red with blood.  His wife's glasses and phone were on the floor as well as a large amount of blood, clumps of hair and a chunk of firewood which gives rise to Charge 1, aggravated burglary and Charge 2, recklessly causing serious injury.

21Barbara Fulton was drifting in and out of consciousness.

22When Bruce Fulton asked his wife what had happened she was 'groggy' and unable to answer.

23At approximately 3.30 pm, Bruce Fulton called 000  and then checked his CCTV.  He saw you in the white ute, and saw you trying to open the front screen door of the house but being unable to do so.  He then saw you leave the front door of the property and later, leave the property.

24Your attendance at the property was in breach of the terms of the Family Violence Intervention Order, giving rise to Charge 3, (Breach of the intervention order- harm or fear.)

25Police and an ambulance attended the crime scene and your mother was taken to hospital.

26At approximately 5.15 pm, Barbara Fulton arrived at the La Trobe Regional Hospital where she was treated by Dr Hieu Tran for a 8-10cm laceration over her left forehead, extensive acute craniofacial and skull base factures namely fractures of the left eye socket as well as fractures of the nasal bones, bilateral frontal bruising consistent with extra-curial bleeding and small intercranial contusing x2, as well as tenderness.

27The injuries demonstrated that the assault upon the victim consisted of multiple blows to the head, at least one of which was to her left forehead with the piece of wood.

28At approximately 9 pm, Barbara Fulton was transported to the Alfred Hospital for further treatment due to medical concern regarding the severity of her injuries.

29On 11 May 2020, the victim was discharged from the Alfred Hospital.

30I come now to what is described as the second incident of offending before me.  
At approximately 3.12 pm, on the day of the offending to which I have just referred, after leaving your parents' home, you attended Traralgon police station but it was closed due to coronavirus restrictions.

31You then drove to the Sale Police Station, entering the foyer at about 3.43 however, you didn't go to the counter. 

32At 3.46 pm, you left and got into your HiLux utility and drove towards Melbourne. 

33Between Morwell and Moe, you were observed by another motorist on the Princes Freeway swerving all over the road and overtaking vehicles in the emergency lane.  A witness, Ms Wright had her cruise control set on 110 kph and estimated that you were doing between 140 — 150 kilometres an hour when you ‘flew’ past her.  Ms Wright called '000' to report your dangerous driving and observed you drive into the emergency lane before taking the freeway exit onto John Field Drive, Newborough.  This give rise to Charge 4, Reckless conduct endangering serious injury.

34At approximately 4.30 pm, Brayden Pratt-Thomas had picked up his 2009 Nissan Navara from panel beaters and was on his way to Newborough to visit family.

35While Mr Pratt-Thomas was stationary, filling his car up with fuel at the BP Petrol Station in Gunn's Gully, you drove your car straight across in front of his vehicle, effectively blocking his exit path from the petrol station.

36You got out of your car and went over to the second victim's car.  
You asked him where the police station was.  When he told you, you reached in and grabbed him by the right shoulder and tugged on his shirt trying to get him out of his vehicle.  This gives rise to Charge 5, carjacking.

37You then told Mr Pratt-Thomas to 'grab anything else (he) needed' from his car.  Mr Pratt-Thomas took a speaker and got out of his car.  You then threw your own car keys at the second victim, telling him to take your car but
Mr Pratt-Thomas threw your car keys back into the footwell of his vehicle.

38You then drove Mr Pratt-Thomas's car out of the service station, clipping your own car with the second victim's vehicle as you did so.

39Mr Pratt-Thomas then went into the service station and telephoned the police .

40At 10.43 pm, a number of police officers attended your unit but you were not there.

41On Thursday 30 April 2020 at approximately 7 am, First Constable Elizabeth Forge was performing watchhouse duties at the Dandenong Police Station when you presented telling her that you had 'an argument with (your) mother the night before' and had 'borrowed a car to get to Dandenong from Morwell'.  On checking the police database Forge ascertained that you were wanted for aggravated burglary and carjacking.  She then contacted Morwell Police Station and placed you under arrest .  

42At approximately 8 am, police members at Morwell Police Station were advised that you were in custody at the Dandenong Police Station .

43At about 10.30 am, police members from Morwell Police Station arrived at the Dandenong Police Station- they found the second victim's vehicle in the car park.  The vehicle has since been returned to
Mr Pratt-Thomas.

44At 2.35 pm, a record of interview was conducted with you.  During that record of interview you said, amongst other things, that you would plead not guilty to aggravated burglary and carjacking, that you just got tired of five years of your mother's lies about your father and your son and you went there in a ute that you had hired from Budget Rental to get them both but you only found her and just to teach her a lesson and she deserved it and you hit a rage that you have never had before and you tried to get help from the police but they were shut.

45You said that you knew that your dad would not be there and that ‘Paedo’, as you referred to your father, might have been in there somewhere hiding, that you were not there long and there was an intervention order in place so you knew you could not touch him and the intervention is not in place yet, you said, so it did not matter.  You said you went to get your mum and did not want to get her too bad but she deserved it and 'You can't do that to people and end of story.'  You also said that you did not want to talk about it.

46You further told police that you didn’t get her that good, two punches in the fucking stomach and it knocked her to the ground and you left.  You had broken in through the glass door with the log that you had picked up from the firewood at the back door and 'end of story.'

47You said you did not go there with any weapons and you lost it at her lies your paedophile father, as you referred to him, and you said maybe she is a paedophile too- that your mother had a little head wound and it was nothing much, just two punches to the head, that you were not going to feel sorry for her for what she did and you said 'She can go to fuckin' hell.'

48You also said that they had fucked your life and that they could go to fucking hell and ‘he is a paedophile and fucking rapes children and fucking molests his grandson, which is my son.  Same as you guys are probably going to charge me with too, I hear, sick and you guys made me a suspect in that case after the six months.  I taught my son never to lie, you know that, yes, so if he told his mum the truth, then that was it.’

49You said that you had gone to get help as your mother needed an ambulance but Traralgon was shut and no one answered at Sale, which was strange.

50You said that you just borrowed the car and gave the guy's keys back to him and that you are happy to pay for the car to get back to him.  He just needed a car which is why you are not pleading guilty to it, a reference to the carjacking.

51That if it was you on the CCTV, then it was.  If it was not, it was not.  You said it was obviously you, that you threw the log from three metres away and it hit your mother in the stomach, hit her twice.  She fell to the ground and you checked to see if she was still breathing and left to get help as you did not have a phone and she probably did not need help as that paedo was there hiding somewhere.

52You said that you just told the man to get out of the car and you had never held a weapon in your life and did not have a box cutter or Stanley knife with you and you did not even punch him and you would like to see all the cameras you had told him 'I promise I'll make it up to you, mate,' and left with this car and that was it.  No threats, no violence, no weapons.  Obviously that last passage again was a reference to the carjacking.

53At 3.16 pm, a record of interview was continued with you for the purposes of the taking of a DNA sample.

54You were then remanded in custody.

55Mr Fulton your offending, especially, the aggravated burglary and recklessly cause serious injury, is most serious and is deserving of a punishment which is just in all of the circumstances.  Your conduct must be firmly denounced.  Although it appears that you were in a somewhat psychotic state induced by drug use, you knew very well that you were not to go near your parents due to the orders in place.  Rather than observing these orders, you violated the sanctity of their home where they were entitled to feel safe and you brutally attacked your mother.  She was vulnerable due to the fact that she was alone, was a good deal older and more physically fragile than you, and was your loving mother, unlikely to do anything to harm you in a bid to save herself from harm.  She sustained injuries of a most concerning nature.  She and you are most fortunate that she was able to survive the attack.  As the opening and her victim impact statement reveal, the impact of some of her injuries are ongoing.  I understand that it is now accepted that this matter was resolved on the basis that an aggravating feature of your offending is the fact that you entered the premises with a weapon, namely a piece of wood which you struck your mother with on at least one occasion.

56Consistent with you being in a highly drug affected state, your behaviour in some respects was bizarre insofar as your attempts to speak to police were concerned after the attack.  Also, the carjacking was strange and at a fairly low level, although, no doubt, you were frightening enough for the second victim to surrender his car to you.  I understand that you committed the carjacking in circumstances where you believed that your own car had a GPS tracker on it.

57In relation to the reckless conduct endangering charge, it is most alarming that you drove in the way that you did, exposing other road users to such danger.

58The victim impact statements make for sad reading.  It is evident that your parents still love you very much and each of them say that when you are not affected by drugs you are a different and good person.  However, your mother also spoke of the significant impact of your conduct upon her.  She said that she had suffered a number of fractures to her head and face requiring small plates to be inserted and that she still does not have full flexibility in part of her face and mouth.  She has had to receive ongoing treatment in respect of her injuries.  She is optimistic that these things will resolve.  She suffered brain bleeds which meant that she could not drive for a time and this meant that for about six months she was unable to enjoy her pastimes of swimming and yoga.  However, she acknowledged that COVID-19 also impacted on these pursuits.  She no longer rides horses for fear she will further injure her head and tends to move around more cautiously nowadays, although she said that this is probably a good thing.

59She said that the greatest impact on her was the hurt she felt that you, her son, had caused her this harm.  She said that your actions had rocked the family and she was very worried about their welfare.  She said that her sadness was overwhelming at times as she knew the truly good side of you, that when you were not affected by drugs, you were a considerate and compassionate person, with tremendous ability in the workplace and on the football field.  She said that you had so much potential to be a positively contributing member of society.  She said that she believed you had resorted to drugs to deal with anxiety and depression, and spoke of your efforts to overcome drug addiction in the past with varying degrees of success.  
She said that you had sought help for mental health issues but that there was such a lacking in resources that there was little sustained support, especially through COVID-19.  She said that she hoped that any sentence which I imposed served to address rehabilitation and not merely to punish you.  She also said that she believed that you truly wanted to rehabilitate; that you had told her that you would never hurt her.  She said that she believed you but did not understand that powerful impact that drugs had upon you.

60Your father said that due to your declining mental health and drug issues, he had been increasingly concerned about the prospect of you attending their rural property, which was rather remote from other houses.  As a result of your offending, he has become anxious and feels unsafe in his own home.  He said that your unfounded beliefs in respect of your son had driven you to the point of becoming totally unbalanced about him.  He said that he had installed a number of security measures due to his concern about your mental instability leading to the offending.  He also spoke of the help you had sought in the past to address your mental health and drug issues but said that your return to drug use had caused you to behave in a psychotic and irrational manner.  

He was critical of the level of support provided to you by the local mental health system and of your ability to mask your symptoms when speaking to treaters over the telephone.  He said that when not affected by drugs or associated mental health issues you were a good person and had many great qualities but, sadly, he had not seen this side of you for a good while.  He said that he hoped that you would receive the level of care and support that you needed in order to rehabilitate.

61Mr Fulton, these are the very real effects that your offending has had upon your parents.  I take these into account, while noting that their wishes in respect of you do not dictate the sentence that I impose but are relevant to the level of impact upon them.

62In sentencing you, I take into account your criminal history which has a good deal of relevance to the matters now before me: your history is as follows.

63In August 2012, in the Magistrates' Court, you received a without conviction community corrections order in respect of one charge of intentionally causing injury, make threat to kill and unlawful assault. I was told that the victim of these offences was your brother.

64On 8 January 2019 in the Magistrates' Court you were convicted of one charge each of recklessly causing injury, intentionally damaging property, contravening a family violence intervention order and unlawful assault.  
Again, you received a 12 month community corrections order; the order had mental health and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation conditions attached as well as conditions for offending behaviour and unpaid community work.  I understand that the victim of this offending was your father and related to two separate incidents in August and September 2018.  This is especially concerning.  An extract from the report of Ms Naomi Campbell, psychologist, dated 18 February this year reveals the following in relation to the circumstances of these matters:

'In August 2018, Mr Fulton was being driven by his parents to Latrobe Regional Hospital.  It is unclear whether he was being taken there due to his mental state.  He reportedly grabbed his father around the neck while he was driving, ripped his shirt, and punched him to head, back and hands over 10 times.  His father sustained facial swelling and required medical attention. …..He was reportedly sedated due to his erratic behaviour and participated in a mental health assessment before being admitted to the Flynn Unit (Adult Mental Health Ward).

'In September 2018, Mr Fulton attended his parents' house and reportedly threw his father to the ground, causing him to hit his head, and then strangled him, stopping him from breathing.  According to witness statements, his father sustained a bruised face, and his ear was split open. ….Mr Fulton's explanation for this assault was that he was angry at his father.'

65Your counsel submitted that in respect of the offending against your brother there was not a physical power imbalance but in respect of your father, there was.  Having had regard to the assault upon your brother, according to the report of Ms Campbell, it was a savage attack which left him with 'numerous facial injuries'.

66In terms of your mental health history, I was told that you were diagnosed with depression in 2016, shortly after you were told of the allegation against your father in respect of your son.

67I understand from Ms Campbell's report that you were also diagnosed with social anxiety at this time.  It was around the time of your 2018 offending that you had your first admission to a psychiatric ward but you were released the following day.  You attended the emergency department of the Latrobe Regional Hospital on 31 August 2018.  I was told that the assaults upon your father were perpetrated in the context of your drug fuelled belief that he had offended against your son, and that after the August 2018 offending, you were so unwell that you injured yourself when you tried to jump out of a moving car.

68I understand that your GP prescribed an antidepressant (Fluoxetine) in 2019, however you ceased taking it after not feeling any improvement. I understand that you were also prescribed Olanzapine and Diazepam.

69Your mental health began deteriorating further in December 2019. According to Ms Campbell:

'This decompensation was concurrent with his self-report of a drug induced psychosis on New Years' Eve in December 2019.  He reported excessive methamphetamine use and described having disrupted sleep, "paranoid thoughts" and not being able to leave the motel.  Collateral information indicates that he sent strange text messages to family members that were "crazy... he seemed to be going nuts".'

70I understand that there are summary proceedings arising from this conduct which have been remitted to the Magistrates' Court.

71I was told that you suffered another psychotic episode resulting in a psychiatric admission on 25 March 2020, so one month before the offending before me.  You reported to Ms Campbell that you had  been 'abstinent from any illicit substances for two months prior to this admission, however described experiencing increased paranoia, such as thinking "people were after me…I thought my dad was getting people to attack me", auditory hallucinations (i.e., voices), and visual hallucinations (e.g., seeing "vivid" images, such as people coming into his bedroom). He reported being unable to sleep for "weeks".' 

72Your medical records from this admission indicated that you were paranoid, agitated, and had persecutory delusions and fears that people wanted to kill you.  I quote from Ms Campbell's report:

'Mr Fulton reportedly contacted the police, and upon their arrival he described "kicking the police car" due to having "delusions in my head". He was admitted to hospital and spent three days in the psychiatric hospital where he was commenced on antipsychotic treatment (Olanzapine 20 mg nocte, and Paliperidone 150g), before being released on an involuntary treatment order.  Prior to the current charges, he stated "I took myself off the Olanzapine because it was making me gain weight", in contravention of his treatment order.'

73As at this time, you were entertaining paranoid and bizarre thoughts with no grounding in reality.  It is most unfortunate that you were released into the community only three days later.  This was the subject of a subsequent complaint by your father, quite understandably.

74On 2 April last year you attended the local community mental health service and on 14 April last year you agreed to continue with depot injection of Paliperidone 150 mg.

75On that day, the community treatment order was revoked.

76On 15 April last year, two weeks before the offending for which I now sentence you, your father called the mental health service expressing his concern that you were suicidal and he spoke of your bizarre delusional beliefs that the AFP were after you and that your 90 year old grandmother who lived in a nursing home, had ordered a hitman to kill you.

77On 20 April 2020 you called your local mental health service and expressed anxiety about being admitted to the hospital psychiatric unit, and on 28 April you telephoned your mental health service saying that you did not need their involvement and would prefer to see your GP.  You left a message with the service the following day, which was the day of your offending saying that you did not want to talk to your treating team or be involved with the service.

78When you were remanded into custody, your treating psychiatrist at the Ravenhall Correctional Centre indicated their clinical impression was that you had a psychotic illness (with a differential diagnosis of delusional disorder or drug induced psychotic disorder).

79You reported to Ms Campbell that the custodial mental health team had resumed your regular Olanzapine medication (5 mg mane, 10 mg nocte), and Paliperidone injection (150 mg, monthly).  You described the Paliperidone 'helping a lot'.  You were also commenced on the antidepressant Escitalopram (10 mg, daily) in May 2020. 

80On a psychiatric review in May 2020, you reportedly denied any persecutory delusions, and you were less preoccupied about your father.  You reported an improvement in depressive symptoms.

81You told Ms Campbell that you had been advised that if you returned to the community, you would go back onto an involuntary treatment order.  
I understand that you are accepting of this and the need to take appropriate medication.

82Sadly, you have contemplated suicide in the past with the most recent ideation being in March 2020.

83I understand that you have been 'knocked out' a few times when playing football, but you have never had any examination or testing in relation to this, which is something that ought be explored in the not too distant future in my view, especially given all that is currently known about the potential for long lasting harm from such injury.

84It is not submitted that you were suffering any impairment of mental functioning at the time of the offending which would give rise to Verdins considerations.  Mr McGrath said, most properly, that he was unable to make such a submission due to the opinion of Ms Campbell that you were taking such a volume of drugs at the relevant time that it was impossible to say if there was underlying psychiatric illness of some kind.  In such circumstances, there is nothing that reduces your moral culpability, but your mental state at the relevant time is a relevant circumstance that leading to the offending you were clearly unwell and labouring under psychosis.  Steps had been taken to deal with these symptoms but clearly this did not suffice to control your violent and bizarre behaviour on the day of the offending.

85In terms of your drug and alcohol history, you began consuming alcohol socially as a teenager when you were 15 or 16.  When you were 17 or 18 you commenced regularly binge drinking.  You reported that your consumption of alcohol became a problem approximately four years ago when you were aged 30, due to being unable to see your son at about that time.  You began consuming over 20 drinks, that is bourbon, daily, on alternate weeks when off work. 

86You have a history of polysubstance use, regularly using cannabis with friends in high school from the age of 16, consuming up to seven grams a week.  
The frequency of your use increased to one gram daily from the age of 19, and you continued this use until recently, apparently stopping only three months before your arrest for the offences now before me.  As an adolescent you also experimented with LSD and ecstasy.

87You began smoking amphetamine (speed) and methamphetamine (ice) now and then on a monthly basis, about three years ago when you were 31. 
You told Ms Campbell that you would use approximately one gram (10 points) at each sitting.  Your use steadily increased and you began to have
"ice benders", using up to an "8 ball" (3.5 g) of methamphetamine over the course of three days, and also admitted to regular concurrent use of one gram of amphetamine (speed).

88In the lead up to the offending now before me, you used 3.5 grams of methylamphetamine for ten days straight.  You were also regularly using one gram of amphetamine.

89I was told that at the time of the offending you had not been sleeping regularly and had thoughts of self-harm and of harming your father.  You had the deluded belief that your father had sent some people after you.  You had used drugs that morning, in the context of a daily intake of 3.5 grams of methamphetamine per day for the preceding nine days.

90Your drug use in no way excuses what you did.  It does help to explain your actions; it is neither a mitigating nor an aggravating factor.  But let me put you on notice Mr Fulton that if you did not know already there is a definite connection between you abusing drugs and committing criminal offences.  Therefore, if in the future, if you choose to take drugs and then commit offences, your decision to take drugs may well be treated as an aggravating factor of any future offending.

91Your significant struggles with drugs and mental health issues which appear to be related to one another, gives me a good deal of concern for your prospects of rehabilitation and protection of the community.

92I take into account your background.  You were 34 at the time of offending and you are now 35.  You have two brothers, one of whom has had contact with you whilst you have been on remand; however, your contact with the other brother prior to remand has been limited.

93You grew up in country Victoria and I understand that were and are well loved by your parents.

94You completed Year 12 but struggled academically; however, you went on to work tirelessly in a number of different fields in various parts of this State and interstate.  You have a very strong work ethic which is a matter to your credit.

95You were in a relationship with the mother of your son but you separated shortly after his birth.  You were regularly seeing your son until 2016 at which time your former partner denied you access.  This was around the time that she accused your father of sexually assaulting your son.

96As I have said these allegations were investigated and no charges were laid.  The Family Court has since granted your parents access to their grandson.

97You have played football at a semi-professional level for various clubs both here and interstate.

98In your favour, you have a very solid work history and although your criminal history is highly relevant and concerning, it is not lengthy and appears to have only commenced fairly recently.  I also note that you have been able to complete two community corrections orders successfully, although it must also be said that neither of these served to stop you from offending on the occasion before me.

99It is also in your favour that this matter resolved without the need for a committal hearing and of course without need for a trial.  In pleading guilty at the stage that you did you have saved the witnesses especially the victims the time and trouble of giving evidence and you have saved the community the time and expense of contested proceedings.  I allow for a significant discount in the sentence that you would otherwise receive because of this.

100In view of the things that you said to Ms Campbell and your preparedness to take responsibility in the cold light of day, as well as a letter of apology which has now been read by your parents and provided to them at their request,
I accept that you are remorseful and have some insight into the seriousness of what you have done.

101I allow for the fact that this is your first time in custody and that this has been a harsh form of custody in view of your experience of restrictions associated with COVID-19 as well as your initial anxiety in respect of the chance of contracting the disease.  I also accept that time in gaol has been and will be harder for you due to symptoms of depression and anxiety that you have been labouring under.

102In all of the relevant circumstances, I assess your prospects of rehabilitation as being fair.  Much will depend on your ability to finally deal with your drug issues and any mental health issues.  I place moderate weight on specific deterrence and protection of the community.  I place strong weight on general deterrence in a bid to deter others from behaving as you have.

103In sentencing you I have applied the principle of totality, bearing in mind also that there were two different principal victims involved and that you committed the first two offences when you were in contravention of a family violence order which gives rise to Charge 3.  Also your offending in respect of
Charge 4 is a separate instance of offending whereby you exposed other road users to danger.  Having said all of this I also accept that your offending occurred over the course of one day and during a fairly confined period.

104Your Counsel accepted that nothing short of a substantial gaol term was warranted in your case.  He submitted that it would be appropriate to impose a non-parole period which would see you eligible for a lengthy parole period.  The prosecution agreed with this approach.

105You are convicted of each of the offences and are sentenced as follows:  Charge 1, three years' imprisonment.  Charge 2, two years' imprisonment.  Charge 3, 12 months' imprisonment.  Charge 4, 12 months' imprisonment.  Charge 5, 18 months' imprisonment.

106All drivers licences are cancelled and you are disqualified from driving for a period of three months from today.

107I direct that 12 months of the sentence on Charge 2, six months of the sentences on Charges 3 and 4 and eight months of the sentence on Charge 5 be served cumulatively with each other and with the sentence on Charge 1, giving a total effective sentence of five years, eight months.  I direct that you serve three years' imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.

108I declare that you have already served 322 days by way of pre-sentence detention.

109If not for your pleas of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of eight years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years.