Director of Public Prosecutions v Garang

[2012] VCC 1072

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SIMON GARANG
GARANG GARANG

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	6 June 2012
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Garang
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 1072

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Catchwords:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Crown	Mr N.J. Goodfellow
For the Accused	Ms A. Hurst

HER HONOUR:

1       Garang Simon Garang, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of armed robbery, one charge of recklessly causing serious injury and one charge of recklessly causing injury.  The facts underlying your offending are as follows.  The charge of armed robbery occurred on 4 March 2010 when the victim in this matter, Bavesh Selanki, was returning home after work, catching a train from the city and getting off at the West Footscray station.

2       As he was walking along Geelong Road you and your co-offender Matthew Kufaro approached him.  You asked Mr Selanki where he was going.  He asked you what was the problem.  You said "What do you have?" and Mr Selanki said he had nothing.  You then pulled out a knife which was silver with a blade of about approximately 18 centimetres in length and held it to his stomach, telling Mr Selanki you were going to "go through everything that you have".

3       You then took an Apple iPhone from Mr Selanki's pockets, asked him if he had any money and to pull out his wallet.  Mr Selanki gave you his wallet which contained 100 Indian rupees, saying "Please don't take them, they are placed there because of an Indian ritual".  You returned the wallet after Mr Kufaro told you not to take the money.  You told him to keep walking and not look back.  Mr Selanki returned home and called the police.  Mr Kufaro, your co-accused, gave a statement to police on 29 March 2011 to the effect that you had committed the offence and he provided details of the incident.

4       Charge 2, causing serious injury recklessly, occurred on 13 March when the victim in this matter, Reeda Shehani, was at home with his girlfriend in Ascot Vale.  He received a phone call from his friend Daniel Naiwar at about 8 to 9 p.m., he asking Mr Shehani to meet him downstairs because he was having trouble with "this African cunt", which he in fact was referring to you.

5       Mr Shehani went downstairs and met Mr Naiwar, and the two of them went to the car park where they were to meet you.  You were then present with Juan Malencon and your brother David Garang.  You and Mr Naiwar argued in Arabic about Mr Naiwar returning a computer to you, and whilst arguing Mr Shehani began to move away and was punched in the face by one of the other two men, which caused him to fall backwards and feel dazed for a couple of seconds.  He then saw a fight break out between Mr Naiwar and you, and ran towards Mr Naiwar followed by the other two men.  Mr Shehani and the other two men exchanged blows.

6       You then ran towards Union Road with Mr Shehani chasing you, and he saw that you were carrying what seemed to be a metal pole.  You raised this above your head and Mr Shehani raised his left arm to protect himself.  You then struck him on the arm with the weapon causing a large cut to that arm.  Mr Shehani wrapped his arm in a shirt to stop the bleeding and ran with Mr Naiwar to Epsom Road, where they came across a number of security guards who called police and an ambulance.

7       Mr Shehani was taken to the emergency department at the Royal Hospital at 10 p.m. where he was found to have suffered a laceration to his right cheek, a laceration to the left elbow, a fracture of the ulnar bone, a fracture of the left olecranon, and a compound fracture to the left ulna.  These are all fractures of the arm.

8       Charge 3, recklessly causing injury, occurred on 13 April 2011, that is a month later, at about 6.45 p.m. when the victim John Roth was walking along Ascot Street to the Coles supermarket in Epsom Road.  He saw two African males walking towards him, and as they passed you called him a "white headed bald cunt".  The victim said "What's your problem, I'm just going to the shops".  You then approached Mr Roth who said "What's the problem, I'm white and you're black".

9       You then approached Mr Roth and pulled a weapon from your pocket, then hit Mr Roth to the left side of the face with it, causing him to bleed.  You swung the weapon a further three or four times but Mr Roth was able to block the swings, and started trying to punch him.  Mr Roth grabbed the bottom of your jacket and pulled it over your head, then pushed the back of your head, which allowed him to put his knee on your back and force you to the ground.

10      You called over the second male who was with you, who started pushing Mr Roth, during which time you got your jacket off, got away from Mr Roth, and Mr Roth got to his feet and ran away, whilst you and your friend in the opposite direction.  Mr Roth still had your jacket which contained an ATM card in your name.  Police were called.  Mr Roth was taken to the emergency department of the Royal Melbourne Hospital and found to be suffering a laceration to his left cheek and a reported loss of consciousness.

11      You were arrested on 21 April 2011 at your home and taken to the Footscray Police Station where you were interviewed, you denying the armed robbery in relation to Charge 2, admitting you had hit Mr Naiwar with handcuffs, and in relation to Charge 3, said the jacket and ATM were yours and that Mr Roth had been racist towards you and that you assaulted him as a result of that.

12      You entered a plea to these charges on 17 April 2012 following a contested committal.  You have remained in custody since your arrest on 21 April and have now spent 413 days in custody.  I note the maximum penalty for armed robbery is 25 years' imprisonment, the maximum penalty for recklessly causing serious injury is 15 years' imprisonment, and the maximum penalty for recklessly causing injury is five years' imprisonment.

13      I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are now 20 years of age.  You were born in Southern Sudan. You are one of 12 siblings.

14      You told consultant clinical psychologist Warwick Brewer whose report dated 26 November 2011 was tendered on the plea, that you had grown up in difficult circumstances in the war in Sudan.  Eventually you and two brothers were able to escape as refugees to Cairo where you apparently lived with an aunt.  During that time you described to both Dr Brewer and psychiatrist Dr Danny Sullivan - whose report dated 30 January 2012 was tendered on the plea - enormous difficulties, the local people in Egypt being extremely hostile to Southern Sudanese refugees, and you and your brother David at one stage being the subject of a horrific attack by a group of adult males waving machetes.  Both of you apparently have scars as a consequence of the incident.

15      I was greatly assisted during the plea by a letter from Chantelle Higgs who has known you since she met you in late 2009.  Ms Higgs was then working as a case manager supporting young people in Melbourne's inner west to reconnect with education, training and employment.  She was working with a state-funded youth transition support initiative when she first became involved with you.

16      Fortunately for you, Ms Higgs, who is currently employed as the refugee youth development coordinator at the Ecumenical Migration Centre, which is part of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, continued involvement with you when the funding for the initial program ran out.  Indeed, her involvement with you and your brothers has been personal and intense from my reading of her letter, to the point that at one stage when you became homeless she took you in to live with her for a while, and is also the godmother to your brother's child.

17      In any event, according to Ms Higgs your ultimate arrival in Australia in June 2009 began what was a very difficult time for you.  You were then aged 15.  You arrived, as I have said, with your older and younger brother.  Your parents remain in Sudan along with many of your siblings.  You were in the care of an older woman from your extended family, but in about September or October of that year the relationship fell apart, and you and your brother found yourselves homeless, spending several nights in a park, before going to live in a garage in Sunshine West which was owned by an older Sudanese lady known to you boys from Egypt.  At this stage you had been attending Westall Language School for only about three or four months.

18      The Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minor Program administered by the Department of Human Services then became involved, and it assisted you and your brother David to enrol in Sunshine College.  A public housing property was found for you in Ascot Vale through the New Hope Foundation which is an organisation which assists refugees in settling in this country, and eventually you, your brother David and your younger brother Maquash were reunited and lived in this house.

19      You had been enrolled at the time that Ms Higgs met you at Sunshine College, but because of your housing problems had been attending on an irregular basis.  It was found that you have very low literacy levels for someone your age, probably because your education has been interrupted so much.  Ms Higgs said that you remained committed to the idea of studying once your housing was stabilised, and numerous attempts were made by those assisting you to enrol you at a number of local high schools as well as alternative educational venues.

20      However, that was unsuccessful because of none of these organisations felt that they could give you the assistance you required.  This of course meant that you were not getting any education and you had very little to do.  Ms Higgs stated, "With little to do and few supports Garang became increasingly disengaged, involved with other very disengaged young men and he increasingly came in contact with the police."

21      I note that you have a prior criminal history.  However, it is not particularly extensive.  In 2010 you were placed on probation for theft of a motor vehicle unlicensed driving, theft from a shop, use of cannabis, unlawful assault and intentionally damaging property.  Then in November 2010 you were placed on another probation for similar offending and ordered to participate in trauma counselling.

22      I was informed by the prosecutor that you have also been dealt with by the courts in relation to a charge of intentionally causing injury, theft, using abusive words and receiving stolen goods, for which you received a suspended sentence in August of last year, and on 7 August 2010 you were also placed on probation on charges of using indecent language, shoplifting and other street offences.  You thus do have one prior criminal conviction for an offence of violence which is concerning.

23      However, turning to Ms Higgs' very helpful letter to the court, unsurprisingly as a result of your inability to be taken in by an educational organisation, you having a great deal of time on your hands, you associating with friends who are no good for you, if I can put it that way, you also started using cannabis every day.

24      Ms Higgs states, "In my opinion this substance misuse was a type of self-medicating in an attempt to deal with his hypervigilance, sense of grief of trauma at being separated from his parents in a new environment where he was almost culturally and linguistically incapacitated."

25      The hypervigilance, of course, it would seem comes from the years that you spent in the Sudan and in Cairo where you were subjected to a great deal of violence and racial attacks, and it is quite clear from the examinations carried out upon you both by Dr Brewer and Dr Sullivan that you have continued to suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder since those days, which is not at all uncommon with many African youth from the Sudan region who emigrate to this country, and of course whilst you are in this country, in Australia, there were problems in the family, you have experienced homelessness, and your post-traumatic stress disorder continued on untreated.

26      In May 2010 he was still not accepted into any school or TAFE and emigration documents were retranslated to reveal that your birth date was in fact 1990 rather than 1992, which meant that you went from being eligible for assistance under the Unaccompanied Humanitarian Minor Program because you were effectively too old.

27      By this stage you were entrenched in the juvenile justice system via the offending that I have already outlined.  In July 2010 Ms Higgs notes that you were assessed by a clinical psychologist attached to the Children's Court Clinic, who for the first time said that the way you presented was consistent with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

28      Around this time, that is mid-2010, you came into conflict with your brother who was attempting to play a father role which you did not accept.  Eventually there was a physical fight between the two of you, and David took out an intervention order, and you were again homeless.  You spent some weeks couch surfing, living in crisis accommodation, and it was at this time in about August 2010 that Ms Higgs, who had been trying desperately to get you somewhere to live, ended up taking you home to reside with your sister and you.  She described you at this time as "perhaps one of the most vulnerable young people that I had worked with".

29      You lived with Ms Higgs until April 2011, during which time you were employed casually on a full-time basis for a few months at a factory in Brooklyn, and your offending and drug use seemed to stop.  The work however dried up just before Christmas 2011 and you returned to using cannabis heavily.  In early April 2011, by which time you had been out of work for some months and increased your cannabis use, problems arose in the living arrangement with Ms Higgs and you again became homeless, although she kept contact with you.

30      It was during this time unfortunately that you developed a considerable ice habit.  I am quoting Ms Higgs because I think this absolutely summarises what it seems happed.  "This compounded his mental health issues, in particular the hypervigilance that makes Garang perceive everybody as a threat.  Consequently he misreads very basic physical and facial cues, and construes them as a very real and imminent physical threat.  I also believe that this substance compounded his paranoia and delusions because he repeatedly spoke of being followed and observed during this time."

31      It was around this time that you committed this offending, that is at a time when you were homeless, where you were using a large amount of cannabis and a large amount of ice, and according to Ms Higgs in terms of what she saw of you, becoming incredibly paranoid about people looking at you and following you, and you generally feeling that you were under attack.

32      It is of some significance, in my view, that this fairly violent period of time involving an armed robbery and two assaults, one of them very serious, occurred, when you had nowhere to live and when you were using far too much in the way of drugs.  You yourself seemed to have a good awareness of what you were doing at that time.  You described to Dr Sullivan the feeling that your brain was being "cooked" at that time.  You spoke with quite a lot of insight into the effect that drugs were having on your mental state around the time of this offending.

33      You have been in gaol since April 2011.  Your time has not been easy.  Within the first few weeks one of the other inmates poured boiling hot water all over you, and you were then removed for your own safety to the Charlotte Management Unit of Port Phillip Prison.  This may have been done for your protection but it means that your time in gaol has been extremely difficult.  You are in a lockdown situation for 23 out of 24 days.  Because of your literacy problems, because of your poor education, you have been unable to participate in any educational programs and have been apparently spending most of your time in front of the TV.

34      You have been regularly visited, fortunately, by Ms Higgs and by your brother's wife.  You have had regular telephone contact with your brother David and happily it seems that relations between you have resolved.  David himself has gone on to do quite well.  He is married.  He has a child, David Junior.  He and his wife were present in court during the plea.

35      Most fortunately Jesuit Social Services became involved, and I very much commend the Jesuit Social Services initiative which is a program called the African Visitation and Mentoring Program.  I received a report from Jesuit Social Services describing this as a program which "provides mentoring support to people from an African background who have been imprisoned in Victoria.  Mentors commence visiting the participants during custody or recently after release with the aim of developing a supportive relationship that encourages the participant's transition into community".

36      You have been visited by your mentor, Mr Majok Chier Aguer, on a regular basis at Port Phillip since October 2011.  Mr Aguer described these visits as very positive, said that you had engaged well with him and that he would like to support you long-term, and indeed Mr Aguer also attended court during the plea.  In addition to this program Jesuit Social Services also has a range of what it describes as "other pre and post-release support services for which Mr Garang is eligible" and I cannot say how pleased I am that Jesuit Social Services have become involved with you.

37      It is also an issue, it would seem, that you, having been assessed by a neuropsychologist and a psychiatrist, have some sort of intellectual problems, that is it appears you have got some learning problems, and it was submitted that I should consider getting Disability Services involved by ordering a justice plan.  I am going to do this but a bit reluctantly.  The reason I am doing this, Mr Garang, is this.  What the reports say is that you have had so much trauma - do you understand the word "trauma"?

PRISONER:  Yes.

HER HONOUR:  All right.  What do you think trauma means?

PRISONER:  Trauma, when somebody suffers from something.

HER HONOUR:

38      It means you have had so many difficult things happen to you, the things that happened in Cairo, the fleeing from the Sudan, the problems you have had in Australia, that it is thought that is weighing on you so much that in fact you have probably got a higher IQ, a higher intelligence than testing showed, and you have been suffering from a condition called post-traumatic stress disorder for many, many years, and it seems to me that is the absolute number one aspect in your life that has to be attended to.

39      So I am very reluctant to have you classified as a client of Intellectual Disability Services when we are not sure.  So what I am going to do is I am going to look at a justice plan but I would like to see - and I am pleased that Jesuit Social Services are involved.  I am very pleased that Ms Higgs is present in court.  I think just to cover everything I will order a justice plan, but I want the psychological matters attended to first, and I want that stressed via Jesuit Social Services if they can be an advocate, via perhaps Ms Higgs if she can be an advocate.  This is extremely important.

40      It was agreed between prosecution and defence that it was appropriate that I deal with you by way of declaring the time you have served in prison, which is 413 days, as sufficient response to the charge of armed robbery, and that in relation to each of the remaining charges I should have you assessed for a Community Corrections Order which I have done, and it seems you did a very good job, Mr Garang, because you have been found assessed as suitable for placement on a Community Corrections Order.

41      One of the reasons - just going back to I was saying about the intelligence problem - that there does not seem to be a match up is that you have not been in Australia all that long but you have managed to pick up pretty good English.  It seems to me, if you are a person who has got problems with intellectual brain functioning - I do not know how well I would speak African after that amount of time or Sudanese if I was in your position.  So it seems like you have done a really good job on this.  You should be very proud of yourself about that, Mr Garang.

42      In any event, you were able to talk very positively to the Community Corrections Officer.  You were assessed as a high risk offender.  What that means is because of the problems you have got, they are worried that you will go and attack someone again, all right, but at the same time it was felt that you were very keen to comply with the orders, and it was also said that you were very open the way you discussed this offending, and you admitted when you were talking to the Community Corrections Officer that each time you were under the influence of cannabis and amphetamines, that is ice, and the officer stated "He acknowledged that the influence of ice made him feel 'strong' and thus influenced his violence on each occasion.  He does not believe he would have reacted in this manner if he had not been drug-affected.  He described daily use of both cannabis and amphetamines for a year leading up to his arrest.  He recognises the importance of maintaining a drug-free lifestyle upon release".  It notes that you do not appear to have a problem with alcohol, thank heavens.

43      I am going to place you on a Community Corrections Order for 18 months, all right, but I can only do that if you agree.

HER HONOUR:  Can you stand up please, Mr Garang.  You need to understand what a Community Corrections Order is and what the conditions are, and if you do not understand what I say, you let me know because I really want you to understand this.

(1) The order is going to last for 18 months.  In the next 18 months you must not commit any offending.  You do not hit anyone.  You do not use any drugs.  Using drugs is illegal.  It is against the law.  Hitting people, as you know, assaulting people, being violent with people is against the law.  If you do do those things you will be brought back in front of me for breaching the order.  Do you understand the word "breaching"?

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  It basically means you have not kept to the conditions of the order that is an offence, too.  The next 18 months are going to be very important for you.

(2) You must report to a Community Corrections office within two days of getting out of jail and we will give you a form that shows you which office you go to and what their telephone number is.

(3) You have to report to the Community Corrections office when they tell you and you have to receive visits from them.

(4) You cannot leave Victoria without permission of the Community Corrections office.  This will all be on the form that you are going to get. 

(5) If you change your address or change any employment that you might have you have to tell the Community Corrections office about that within two days of that happening.

The last thing is that you have to obey all the directions of the Community Corrections officer. 

I am going to include some special conditions.  I am going to order that you perform 150 hours of unpaid community work.  So you are going to have to go and do jobs, painting and picking up rubbish and doing all those sorts of things. 

(2) You have to be assessed and treated for drugs.  So you are going to have to go and get counselling about using drugs and you may well be tested to see if you are using drugs.

I am going to order that you be assessed and treated for psychological problems.  So you are going to have to go to a psychologist, too.  I want something done about your post-traumatic stress disorder.    Do you understand what a psychologist is?

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  What do you think it is?

PRISONER:  Someone to talk to.

HER HONOUR:  Yes.  Exactly.  It is going to be hard for you because when you talk to that person, you are going to be talking about a lot of things that you probably did not want to think about again, a lot of the violence that you experienced in Cairo, a lot of the unhappiness about not being with your parents, lots of the difficult things in your life.  The reason that you need to talk about those is that you can get some help about how to deal with those feelings because when you have got those feelings it sounds like that is when you go and use drugs.  Is that right?

PRISONER:  That's right.

HER HONOUR:  Because you feel unhappy and you think drugs will help.  Of course, we all now know drugs make everything worse, do they not?

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  All right.  I am going to order that there be a supervision condition.  I am going to order that you attend Offender Behaviour Programs, all right.  An Offending Behaviour Program is a program that Community Corrections will order which will help you learn how to not get into trouble with the police.  I am going to order a Justice Plan.  I am also going to order that I get a report on how you are going every three months so I can keep an eye on your, Mr Garang.

PRISONER:  All right.  No worries.

HER HONOUR:  Because I am very happy to give people a chance but if I find you are mucking up and not doing what you are supposed to do, I am not going to be very happy.  All right?

PRISONER:  (Indistinct.)

HER HONOUR:  Pardon?

PRISONER:  I said thanks.

HER HONOUR:  That is quite all right.  That is quite all right, Mr Garang.  The best way you can thank me is do what you are supposed to do on this order.  I know you can.  I think you are a person who has got a good future if you can sort this out.  You are very good at getting people to like you.  You have a lot of people here in court with you.  So you are a person who people like.  You have got a good personality.  A lot of people have got terrible personalities, so that is fantastic.  That is a really good start and I think you are a person who could have a job and you could probably go back to school and learn how to read and write better. 

I am sure, really, once you got to talk to this psychologist and you start feeling a bit better about yourself and you are able to get some of these horrible feelings that you must have had sitting on your chest since you were about 13 years old out, that you actually find your head might start working a bit better and you might enjoy some learning.

The other thing is I notice that you are going to go and live with your brother David.

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  And his wife and baby.

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  You are going to have to be terribly good while you are living with them.  Is your younger brother living with them as well?

PRISONER:  Yes.

HER HONOUR:  So you will be all back together again.

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  I want to say to David's wife that I think you are a saintly woman.  You are just surrounded by men, are you not?

FEMALE SPEAKER:  I'm the only girl.

HER HONOUR:  Pardon?

FEMALE SPEAKER:  I'm the only girl.

HER HONOUR:  The only girl.  So you are going to have to help with the cleaning, all right?

PRISONER:  Yeah.

HER HONOUR:  You have to make your bed in the mornings.  I know all about this.  I have teenage sons.  I know about how you behave.  All right.  It is really important that you get on with David because one of the big problems for you is you end up out on the street which is an awful place to be and that is when you start using drugs and that is when you start offending.  All right.  Nobody wants that to keep happening. 

Now, I cannot order it as an aggregate, I do not think.  I can, can I?

MS HURST:  Only one thing.  I'm a little bit at sea in terms of the Justice Plan.  We'd have to come back for that?

HER HONOUR:  No, no, no.  Community Corrections, this is what it says.  You can have a seat, Mr Garang.

MS HURST:  Because I raised that with him, I went down to the cells.

HER HONOUR:  No, no.  Under a CCO it says, "Recommends Mr Garang be referred to Disability Service for a more targeted support in housing, education, vocational services.  Under a CCO, this would be facilitated if an assessment by Disability Services for a Justice Plan was conducted."  So I think the CCO contains it.  I think they will organise it.

MS HURST:  So it will cover it.  It doesn't have to be a condition.

HER HONOUR:  If I order a Justice Plan, that gets them moving.  You can only have a Justice Plan if you - - -

MS HURST:  I see what you're saying.

HER HONOUR:  So they will have to send him off to Disability Services.

MS HURST:  So he'll have to go to be assessed, yes, to see if he's eligible.

HER HONOUR:  To be assessed and it will all flow from there.

MS HURST:  All right.  That's all.  I was just wondering because normally, you know, you have to come back in 12 weeks or whatever.

HER HONOUR:  Yes, I know.  Apparently this can be done.  As I said, I would rather that was done and that would be a help but, you know, the psychological stuff is the problem.

MS HURST:   Yes, yes.

HER HONOUR:  He has got a really good understanding of English.  I would have thought if he had that ID standard of intelligence, I very much doubt that Mr Garang would have managed as well as he - - -

MS HURST:  We agree as a group that he doesn't - - -

HER HONOUR:  I saw you all nodding away.

MS HURST:  He doesn't impress - he's never impressed upon me that - you know, I've never thought that he was intellectually disabled.

HER HONOUR:  No.

MS HURST:  And I work with a lot of people with intellectual disabilities.

HER HONOUR:  I know you do.  We see so many of them in court and I have never seen anybody - that was why I kept asking Mr Garang, "do you understand this word" and some of the words were reasonably sophisticated.  He had a good idea of them, so I am pretty impressed with that.  Good.  So stand up again, Mr Garang.  Do you consent to being - do you agree to being placed on this order?

PRISONER:  Yes, Your Honour.

HER HONOUR:  Good.  We're going to print it out for you and you have to sign it.

PRISONER:  (Indistinct.)

HER HONOUR:  You have a seat while that is being done.  Thank you.   So in relation to Charge 1, I sentence Mr Garang to 413 days of imprisonment.  I direct that 413 days of that sentence have already been served by way of pre-sentence detention.

In relation to Charges 2 and 3, Mr Garang is placed on a Community Corrections Order for a period of 18 months.  This order will be a conviction unless you have some extraordinarily persuasive argument that it should not be, Ms Hurst?

MS HURST:  We'd assume a jail term would be with conviction so there is no point in - I could say he's young, prospects in the future but it would all just be a waste of time.

HER HONOUR:  It would not matter.  Even if he did not have that, it would be a waste of time.  The offending is too serious.

MS HURST:  All right.  I won't say any more.

HER HONOUR:  It was mean of me to even give you the opportunity, really.  It raises hope that was never really there. 

MS HURST:  Thank you, Your Honour.

HER HONOUR:  Not at all.  In sentencing Mr Garang, I take into account his plea of guilty, the mitigatory factors that I have outlined, his prospects of rehabilitation.  Pursuant to s.6AAA I declare that had Mr Garang not pleaded guilty, I would have sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of three years and ordered that he serve a minimum of 18 months. 

MR GOODFELLOW:  Sorry, Your Honour.  Just one query.  Does Your Honour propose to make the disposal order and retention orders sought?

HER HONOUR:  Yes, I do propose that.

MR GOODFELLOW:  Just one clarification, Your Honour.  Mr Kufaro wasn't in fact a co-accused in relation to that offending.

HER HONOUR:  Actually, no.  But I know him.

MR GOODFELLOW:  You mentioned him as a co-accused, I just wanted to make sure that - - -

HER HONOUR:  I'm sure he's been in something else that I've had.

MR GOODFELLOW:  Very possibly, Your Honour.

MS HURST:  He has.

HER HONOUR:  Forensic sample.  No.   Mr Garang, you just have to sign that for me.  So there is one here for custody.

MR GOODFELLOW:  No, Your Honour.  They're retention orders and a sample was taken last year in investigating this matter.

HER HONOUR:  All right.  I've got no problem with the retention order.  I was a bit worried about getting a new order off to a bad start but that's fine. 

MR GOODFELLOW:  Thank you, Your Honour.

HER HONOUR:  Is that everything?  Is there anything else that I need to do?

MR GOODFELLOW:  No, Your Honour.

HER HONOUR:  Need to sign the CCO.  We'll get you some copies of this.

MS HURST:  Yes, please.

HER HONOUR:  Can I thank you again also, your report was extremely helpful.  It's always great having a report from somebody who has been very much - who is a skilled person in a professional sense who has also been involved with the offender.  That was enormously helpful.  And such a relief in a case like this.  It is so difficult dealing with gentlemen like Mr Garang who have come from Africa and have had a lot of trouble.  It's really hard.  I will give you your reports back.  I should also note for the purposes of the plea that two of the victims were offered the opportunity to make a victim impact statement and declined.  However, Mr Roth, the victim in the recklessly causing injury incident, talked about feeling unsafe, that he's worried about being attacked again, he's "very angry about being attacked by a black man from a Third World with a knife because I have a white skin."  He says he can't cope with people.  You have upset this man a lot.  He doesn't feel safe anymore.

PRISONER:  I don't feel that it's safe here.  (Indistinct) live in the same area.

HER HONOUR:  Yes.  We talked about that before, okay.  All right.  I think you might have trouble feeling pretty much safe anywhere at the moment.  Also for the record, can I very much commend again the Jesuit Social Services for the initiative the African Visitation and Mentoring Program.  Absolutely wonderful and filling a huge gap in the market, if I can put it that way.   Good luck, Mr Garang.  You will be out of jail very soon.

PRISONER:  All right.  Thanks.

HER HONOUR:  I hope it all goes well.  I hope I never see you again because I know if I do, it will mean it is because you are in trouble.

PRISONER:  All right.

HER HONOUR:  You promise me you will try as hard as you can?

PRISONER:  Yeah, I will.

HER HONOUR:  Do you understand what you are supposed to be doing?

PRISONER:  What's that?

HER HONOUR:  You understand what you're supposed to be doing?

PRISONER:  Yes.  Yes.

HER HONOUR:  Yes.  Good.  All right.  All the best.  Thank you very much.  Thank you for all your assistance.

PRISONER REMOVED

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