Director of Public Prosecutions v Goldson
[2014] VCC 606
•1 May 2014
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No.
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ROBERT GOLDSON |
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JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Montgomery | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 1 May 2014 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Goldson | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2014] VCC 606 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr S. Ballek | |
| For the Accused | Mr R. Backwell |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Robert Goldson, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of recklessly cause injury.
2 The facts of the case are contained in Exhibit 1, the Prosecution summary.
3 Those facts are not disputed by the defence, I will not repeat them. Any reader of these reasons can refer to the exhibit which will be on the court file. They place the sentence in its factual context.
4 In summary this was a serious attack on your partner Sara Graham, with a sword. Prior to the attack you had been using the synthetic drug cannabis as well as drinking.
5 You have admitted your criminal history which includes a conviction for unlawful assault on 12 February 2008 at the Sunshine Magistrates Court where you were convicted and fined $750 and at the Melbourne Supreme Court on 16 December 2009 charged with recklessly cause serious injury for which you were gaoled for a period of three and a half years with a non-parole period of two and a half years. Your criminal history contains other convictions for dishonesty, road traffic offences and a drug offence.
6 The prosecution submitted that I should impose an immediate custodial sentence. The range proffered at the first hearing was withdrawn in accordance with a recent ruling of the High Court, and I take no account of it.
7 The matter first came before me on 1 November 2013. Mr Backwell on your behalf tendered a number of reports and referred me to the case of Crown v. Martin (2007) V.S.C.A. 291.
8 Mr Backwell submitted that I should in mitigation consider: (1) your plea of guilty presented at committal after negotiation; (2) the remorse you expressed to Dr Walton; (3) your mental state at the time of the offending, and; (4) that you have good prospects of rehabilitation.
9 He submitted I should consider imposing a Community Corrections Order.
10 Reports were tendered firstly from Lester Walton, dated 10 October 2013, consultant psychiatrist, a person whose reports are often tendered in these courts, and a psychiatrist of impeccable history. He set out your background and your history, he said you had little in the way of formal psychiatric history. There was an admission at the Sunshine Hospital Psychiatric Unit for six days which he referred to, and follow-up psychiatric attendances upon Dr Akinbiyi who has also provided reports. He said he observed nothing to suggest there were any current psychotic phenomena.
11 In his opinion he said you were affected by chronic mood disturbance and you were properly described as a substance-dependent person. He said that it appeared highly likely that you were in the grips of an acute paranoid psychosis at the time of your offending.
12 You were diagnosed with a drug induced psychosis in the aftermath of the offending and he concurred with that diagnosis. He said it was highly probable that you were deprived of the capacity to reason with a moderate degree of sense and composure about the wrongfulness of your acts, but did not have a formal defence of mental impairment available to you because the disturbed mental functioning was not caused by a recognised disease of the mind legally.
13 His view was that the mental disturbance was relevant to the offending. He said the high priority was your drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
14 He said from a clinical perspective, great weight would need not be placed on specific deterrence.
15 He said that when you are in the grips of an acute psychotic breakdown, then that is a different proposition for you.
16 A report was tendered from Dr Akinbiyi dated 10 October 2013 who is your treating psychiatrist. He set out your past medical history and your other history. He set out the programs and medication that you are on. Under the heading "Impression" he said you had drug induced psychosis, mixed anxiety and depressive disorders in partial remission.
17 He reviewed on 28 August 2013, and your mood had improved with increased dosage of anti-depressants. On a test he administered to you, he diagnosed moderate psychological distress.
18 He said your prognosis was guarded due to drug use, poor pre-morbid functioning, and poor social support.
19 A report was tendered from Isis dated 9 October 2013. It reviewed your history and the support that it was providing to you. There is also a report from Mercy Mental Health. In addition, there was an extensive report from the North-Western Mental Health Service.
20 Upon hearing of the plea I adjourned the matter further to today to obtain progress reports in relation to your rehabilitation.
21 Further reports were tendered from Dr Akinbiyi dated 29 April 2014, and he said that you continued to see him regularly and you are compliant with the medication and treatment regime.
22 A report from Isis dated 29 April 2014 says you continue to attend most of your counselling sessions in a positive and engaging manner, and you reported not using synthetic cannabis and reducing your alcohol intake.
23 There was also a further report from Mercy Health dated 20 February 2014. You are no longer a case management client of Mercy Mental Health, however it said you complied with all the treatment directors. You reported to them your abstinence from illicit substances, and the writer of the report, Bethany Knight, a registered psychiatric nurse, said, "We have no evidence to the contrary." She said you are highly motivated for change, and working hard to maintain employment and live as a family unit.
24 I was told you are now working three to four days per week for a company called Probiotic Pharma Pty Ltd at the rate of $22 per hour. You work there as a machine operator, and have been doing so from around 16 December 2013.
25 Sara Graham, the victim in this matter, tendered through your counsel, a reference. Upon my request she agreed to enter the witness box.
26 The two young children you have with her were present in court today. She said she had resumed living with you in December 2013 and that the family lives in a rental property in Altona. She said you had known each other for about six or seven years, it had been an on and off relationship.
27 In relation to the offending here she believed it was not you and attributed your behaviour to the use of synthetic cannabis.
28 She was positive as to your desire to change your life. She said she had not observed any signs of you using drugs. She said you have moderated your drinking, and she was confident you would not reoffend.
29 Sentencing Principles
30 General deterrence is obviously an important sentencing consideration here. "General deterrence" means the community expects the courts to send a message to men not to attack women, and if they do, they will suffer serious consequences.
31 Specific deterrence, that is, to try to stop you from offending, is also relevant because of your criminal history. I am on record in similar cases of men attacking women in expressing my abhorrence of this type of behaviour, and I do so again. Your behaviour here was dangerous and appalling. You could easily have killed Ms Graham in the state you were in.
32 I have considered the principles enunciated in the case of Martin and in particular from Paragraph 19 onwards.
33 Dr Walton's report is important in the consideration of the submission made by Mr Backwell concerning that case.
34 Ms Graham here in her evidence said that although you had used synthetic cannabis prior to this event, it had not affected you in the way that it did here.
35 I find that your moral culpability is reduced by reason of this psychotic state, as there is no evidence that you had an awareness that your use of synthetic cannabis might trigger a psychotic reaction.
36 Your behaviour here was bizarre and inexplicable.
37 That lessening of moral culpability is not of such a degree that in itself would lead to a non-custodial disposition.
38 What is determinative of the sentence I have decided to impose are your efforts at rehabilitation, and in particular: (1) your continuance of the medical treatment; (2) your abstinence from dugs; (3) you now have a job; (4) your plea of guilty which is an acknowledgement of responsibility by you and saves the court the expense and trauma of a trial, and; (5) the evidence of Ms Graham.
39 As I said, Ms Graham resumed living with you in December 2013 and there have been no problems. She spoke in a positive term of a family relationship. She is confident you will not reoffend.
40 Often the courts are faced with these types of witnesses, however she appeared to me to be a level-headed realistic and sensible person, fully aware of the consequences of her decision to rejoin you. She did not seem to me to be blindly supporting you for any other type of reason.
41 Weighing all that up I decided to order a Community Corrections Report. You were assessed as having a low risk of reoffending, and you were assessed as suitable for a Community Corrections Order.
42 Weighing up all those matters as best I can and taking into account the submissions of both the prosecution and the defence, I have decided to place you on a Community Corrections Order.
43 That is a decision I have not lightly taken. Your actions here as I have described, were dangerous and appalling. You have a relevant criminal history and those two factors weigh heavily on my mind.
44 However in my view the community is best served and the sentencing principles I have to take into account by your continued rehabilitation, so I will place you on a Community Corrections Order.
45 Initially I was not minded to impose a work condition but I have decided, considering the seriousness of the offending, I will.
46 My hesitance about imposing a work condition was that you will be exposed when you are doing community work to people with similar problems such as yourself, that is, problems with drugs. You may well be offered temptation while you are doing community work from other people, hopefully not, but it is not beyond the realms of fancy to suggest that you might be. That is something you have got to work out for yourself. That is going to occur whether you were doing a Community Corrections work period or out in normal society.
47 You must refrain from using drugs.
48 I am also going to heavily judicially monitor you, that is, you are going to come back to this court every three months for the next two years, which is the term of the order, and I am going to be told what is going on.
49 HIS HONOUR: Mr Backwell, I certainly would be greatly assisted if he was represented and if Ms Graham came.
50 MR BACKWELL: I understand that, Your Honour. I don't know what Victoria Legal Aid says about representation for judicial monitoring, but I shall convey that to my instructors.
51 HIS HONOUR: The Crown's position is they do not come unless there is a reason to come, but I am interested in hearing from Ms Graham because it is easy for him to come along and say, "Yeah, things are going well."
52 MR BACKWELL: Yes, I understand that.
53 HIS HONOUR: So, you understand that, Mr Goldson, I am going to set a date for you to come back in July, I won't actually be here, I will be on circuit in Ballarat but we will be on video link, and I would like Ms Graham to come along with you to tell me how things are going; I am more interested in her view than yours, and corrections will provide a report. The other conditions are that there will be 200 hours of unpaid work, there will be a treatment and rehabilitation condition, a supervising condition. The treatment and rehabilitation condition will be for assessment and treatment including testing in relations to drugs and alcohol, and there is a mental health assessment and treatment to be ordered as well.
54 Do you understand all that, are you prepared to sign such an order?
55 PRISONER: I am.
56 HIS HONOUR: So the order is for two years Community Corrections Order with conviction commencing today, you must attend the Werribee Community Corrections Services at 87 Synnot Street, Werribee, within two clear working days from the commencement of the order. You cannot commit any other offence. You must comply with any obligations required, and receive visits from corrections, report to them, notify change of address - Mr Backwell will go through this with you - you can't leave Victoria without permission, obey all lawful instructions and directions from the Secretary of the Department of Corrections; 200 hours unpaid work over two years, supervision of a Community Corrections Officer for a period of two years; assessment and treatment including testing for drug abuse or dependency is directed, similarly for alcohol; must undergo mental health assessment and treatment but not limited to mental health, psychological, neuro-psychological and psychiatric treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the Regional Manager.
57 "You must attend for judicial review on 24 July at 9.30 at the Melbourne County Court and thereafter every three months, and I will set dates as I go along unless I direct otherwise.
58 HIS HONOUR: Mr Backwell, if you could take that up to your client.
59 MR BACKWELL: Yes, sir.
60 HIS HONOUR: I don't think I do a 6AAA, is that what you are looking at?
61 MR BACKWELL: There is no need for that, Your Honour.
62 MR BALLEK: No, with conviction, obviously, this order.
63 HIS HONOUR: Yes, clearly. Mr Goldson, I believe I am entitled to make the order I just did on the material in front of me, but you must understand, you cannot reoffend. Do you understand that?
64 PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
65 HIS HONOUR: And in particular, Ms Graham is placing a lot of trust in you, trust that many others wouldn't after what you did. You have two young children to look after, you have a job, and as long as you stay drug free and control your alcohol drinking, there is really no reason why any of this should occur again.
PRISONER REMOVED
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