Director of Public Prosecutions v Gammon

[2024] VCC 185

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

 Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-23-02094

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JOE GAMMON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE JOHNS
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	27 February 2024
DATE OF SENTENCE:	27 February 2024
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Gammon
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2024] VCC 185

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:             CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence

Catchwords:      Attempt to pervert the course of justice – Plea of guilty - Phone calls whilst in custody importuning another to give false evidence – Arunta calls – a first experience of custody – Plea guilty – Low to mid range

Sentence:          3 months in combination with 18 month CCO

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr T. Crouch	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms N. Giorgianni	Giorgianni & Lang lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1Joe Gammon, you have pleaded guilty to the very serious offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice, which is an offence which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment and that is reflective of the seriousness with which Parliament and the community view this offence. 

2However, there is a broad range of offending which falls within the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.  Your commission of the offence is certainly not at the mid to high range of it, but it does have some very serious aspects, in particular the importuning of your friend to effectively provide false evidence that would assist you in either to get bail, or to address one of the incidents you are facing, or both, and therefore it is a very serious offence.

3The offence is completed with the attempt and that is the nature of attempting to pervert the course of justice.  It does not require one to actually go through with the conduct that is being sought, that would make it more serious.  But nevertheless, the offence is completed once the attempt is made, which is what you did.  Foolishly, you did it whilst the telephone calls were recorded.  As most people know, certainly people that are frequently in custody, telephone calls are recorded and they can be listened to randomly, but they can also be obtained as evidence by the police if an offence is committed on the telephone, which is what you did.

4Perhaps that was reflective of the fact that this was your first experience of custody.  You have been in custody now for in excess of 12 months, probably around about 14 months on my assessment, serving a sentence for 12 months and that sentence has not expired because part of that sentence is a community corrections order which, based on the terms of that order, is designed to address some of the underlying factors which led to your serious offending in that case, which I was told involved stalking another person, contravention of intervention orders, use of a carriage device to menace. 

5Clearly, in relation to that matter, you had a problem, perhaps still have a problem, and it was for the sentencing tribunal in that matter to address and formulate a sentence which would reflect general deterrence, denunciation of your conduct, to deter you, but also to assist you in your rehabilitation.  Your time has been extended in custody because of your serious offending in relation to the matter before me.  I am not going to summarise the facts of the matter anymore than I have.  Exhibit A is the Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea and it forms part of these reasons for sentence and effectively the conversations that are extracted in Exhibit A set out your offending.

6General deterrence and denunciation are very important factors when it comes to this offence.  They are difficult offences to detect on occasions.  Had the person that you were pressuring to give false evidence gone through with it, it may not have been detected because it is not guaranteed that these telephone calls are all listened to or acted upon.  Having said that, your commission of the offence was far more obvious to the authorities given the circumstances that you were in in custody with telephone calls being recorded than it would have been if you were in the community.  But I just make that observation in passing.

7I have had regard to your background and in particular your early life.  I accept what has been said in relation to your teenage parents, the difficulties they had in life and how that was then passed onto you in the sense of disadvantage and some neglect, which then saw you being removed from their care.  Notwithstanding other challenges in your life, that matter in particular gives rise in the court to some consideration of that disadvantage, and also the converse that you have been able to engage in work when you have been substance-free, for substantial periods during your life, and that is very much to your credit given that difficult start you had in life. 

8I also accept what has been said on your behalf in relation to the report of
Ms Cidoni in so far as it relates to your cognitive processing and the cessation of Avanza medication when you were in custody.  I accept that that has played some role in your poor judgment in relation to the offending that is before me.  When I consider; your early plea of guilty, your limited criminal history, your prospects of rehabilitation, that I find are reasonable if you can remain free of substances given that you have a positive work history for one who experienced childhood disadvantage, I am of the view that general deterrence in this case, given the length of time you have been in custody, can be met with a short period of imprisonment in combination with a longer community corrections order that has a punitive aspect to it. 

9I am also of the view that the important sentencing factor of denunciation can be met by imposing the same.  You have had a considerable amount of time, particularly for one who has not experienced custody prior to the sentence you have just served, you have had time to reflect on your foolish and criminal conduct in relation to attempting to pervert the course of justice to be deterred from engaging in such deceptions and deceptive behaviour again, and others should similarly be deterred who would have similar thoughts to offend in the way you have.

10In relation to the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, I sentence you to three months' imprisonment in combination with an 18 months' community corrections order.  I declare that you have served 59 days of
pre-sentence detention in relation to the custodial sentence I have imposed.  As part of the community corrections order, I order that you perform 150 hours of unpaid community work.  As that is the only condition, other than the core conditions, I am imposing on the community corrections order, I am of the view I do not require to obtain a report or an assessment for that order to take effect.

11You will be reporting to Sunshine when you are released, where you are also reporting on your other Community Corrections Order which was imposed in the lower court and which has a number of therapeutic conditions.  So in particular I have not wanted to double-up or overload you in that regard.  Mr Gammon, do you consent to the Community Corrections Order?

12OFFENDER:  Thank you, Your Honour.  Yes, I do.

13HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Well that will be prepared.  Before we adjourn, I will sign it and I might just wait out the back while it is being prepared.  Yes, it might take a few minutes.  Once I sign it, we can adjourn the court then.   Once your counsel has had a look at it and my understanding is it well then get sent to the prison where you can sign it and also your representatives will get a copy of it.  If you have got any queries about it and then when you are released from custody, you will have to report to Sunshine Community Corrections, as you will on your other order.  So I will just wait until that is prepared and then I will sign it and then say a few more things. 

14OFFENDER:  Excuse me ‑ ‑ ‑

15HIS HONOUR:  Sorry?

16OFFENDER:  Sorry, so is that two corrections orders I am doing?  Is that during the one corrections order or is it 18 months and then another 18 months?  Just ‑ ‑ ‑

17HIS HONOUR:  No, it will go at the same time.  It is what we call concurrent.

18OFFENDER:  Okay.

19HIS HONOUR:  So really it is you have got the community corrections order from the other court that you are answerable to, that will start once you are released.

20OFFENDER:  Yes.

21HIS HONOUR:  At the same time, you will have the community corrections order that I have just imposed that you are answerable to me for and that requires 150 hours of community work over 18 months.

22OFFENDER:  18 months.  No worries.

23HIS HONOUR:  So Corrections will know that you have got two orders.

24OFFENDER:  Okay.

25HIS HONOUR:  And they will try and – it will probably take them some time to find you what work you are going to do, but they will give you plenty of time to do that within the 18 months.

26OFFENDER:  Sorry, one more question before you go, Your Honour.  Is that three months on top of what I have already done?

27HIS HONOUR:  No, it is three months less 59 days.

28OFFENDER:  Okay, thank you.  Thank you, Your Honour.

29HIS HONOUR:  Just wait there, Mr Gammon.

30OFFENDER:  Yes.

31(Short adjournment.)

32HIS HONOUR:  All right, Mr Gammon, I am sure it has been explained to you before because you have had community corrections orders before, but I must tell you that if you fail to comply with the conditions of the order, if you breach the order by re-offending or you fail to complete the community work, you can be brought back to me for contravention of the community corrections order and you can be re-sentenced.  All right?

33OFFENDER:  Yes.

34HIS HONOUR:  So I just urge you – I have looked at your record, it is a limited record, but there is some dishonesty in the record at least in the June 22 conviction and your behaviour on this occasion.  I have endeavoured to take the most favourable view that you were under pressure in custody and you had not taken your Avanza and that you were acting in a very foolish manner, but if it is reflective of more than that and a view on your part that you can somehow scam the system, you will keep coming back and you will muck up these orders and your life will not go in the direction that you really want it to so I urge you just to knuckle down, do the therapeutic work on the other order, do all the counselling, attend all your appointments, do the community work on this order that I am imposing and get on with your life because you do have some good prospects.  All right.

35OFFENDER:  Thank you.

36HIS HONOUR:  Anything else?

37MS GIORGIANNI:  Nothing from me, Your Honour.

38HIS HONOUR:  No, no, nothing else, no other orders?   All right.  Good luck, Mr Gammon.

39OFFENDER:  Thanks, Your Honour

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