Director of Public Prosecutions v Gough

[2024] VCC 900

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-23-02062

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

HAYDEN GOUGH

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	17 June 2024
DATE OF SENTENCE:	17 June 2024
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Gough
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2024] VCC 900

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:Plea - sentencing

Catchwords:          Home invasion - intentionally causing injury - damaging property

Legislation Cited: 

Cases Cited:

Sentence:6 years' imprisonment, non-parole period 3 years and 2 months

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr M. Cookson	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms A. Beech	Gallant Law

HIS HONOUR: 

1Hayden Gough, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of home invasion, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.

2You have also pleaded guilty to an offence of intentionally causing injury, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for ten years, and to a rolled-up charge of damaging property, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for ten years.

3You have admitted a prior criminal history which I note contains, amongst other prior convictions, a conviction in May 2017 for aggravated burglary and intentionally damaging property on that occasion, and offences of criminal damage in March 2019 and making a threat to kill in November 2022.

4The only term of imprisonment you have served previously was for the offending which included aggravated burglary in May 2017 when you served an aggregate period of 31 days' imprisonment.  I suspect, and indeed the sentence indicates, that the 31 days was the time served up to the time of the sentencing order.

5The prosecution has tendered and relied upon a summary of prosecution opening dated 14 June 2024, and that has been read to the court.  I am not going to repeat the detail of it; suffice to say that this was a revenge attack upon your female victim.  It involved going there armed with a meat cleaver and with a co-offender carrying a firearm.  It was designed to threaten and intimidate your female victim. 

6There was a seven-year-old child present at the house.  That fact was drawn to your attention by your female victim as you entered the property.  You were not deterred by that, although it is not suggested that you were aware prior to your attending the premises that there would be a child present.   

7You persisted with your attack upon your female victim, wielding the meat cleaver and causing some injuries which included a ten-centimetre laceration to the left side of her neck.  That is depicted in a photograph that was drawn to my attention during the course of the opening.  It shows an injury which clearly could have resulted in a much more serious charge.  It could easily have led to the death of the victim.  Fortunately for her and for you it did not.

8The damage caused during the course of the home invasion involved damage to items valued at more than $11,000 within the home, plus some significant damage to the female victim's motor vehicle, including a smashed windscreen and damage to the tyres.

9There is no victim impact statement.

10Your counsel provided me with a number of documents at the time of the sentence indication, which I have identified this morning,. 

11Firstly, the outline of submissions dated 21 April 2024 which this morning has been supplemented by further submissions by your counsel, principally related to the annexure to those submissions also dated 21 April 2024, drawing my attention to comparable cases. 

12Exhibit 2 at the plea hearing, which had been previously presented to me, is a report from psychologist Jeffrey Cummins dated 26 March 2024.  That report provided me with information about your background and there is no challenge to the content of the report in that respect.  It shows that you had an unremarkable upbringing.  You have a sister.  You did not do well at school.  You were expelled from one school and went to another alternative school.  You were asked to leave that school because of your disruptive behaviour. 

13Your father was a carpenter, and in more recent times you followed him into carpentry.  It is clear that you have made significant progress with carpentry and that progress is supported by two letters from your employer, ARKit, which show that you have become a valued employee and that you have the potential to pursue that as a long-term career.

14All of that is relied upon in support of the submission that you have at least a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation.

15The mental health examination shows nothing remarkable except that from the age of 17 or 18 you became heavily involved in the misuse of drugs, cannabis and methamphetamine in particular, along with Xanax.

16It seems that your use of those drugs, in particular, methamphetamine, has been a blight on your life since your late teens and has been a significant factor in your prior criminal history.  It was no doubt a very significant factor in this offending, which arose out of a relationship with somebody who was also associated with the drug trade.

17Your future will depend very much on your capacity to overcome your drug misuse.  You are likely to lead a very unhappy life unless you are able to do so.

18I am impressed by the efforts that you have made to face that issue since you have been in custody.  I note the content of your lengthy letter to me, although I discourage letters from persons accused of crime to the court.  I find there is some genuine ring about the content of the letter which suggests that not only are you genuinely remorseful, but that you have a present intention of continuing your rehabilitation from the heavy drug use.

19The offending was serious.  Home invasions of the kind that you engaged in are very much to be discouraged and it seems to me that you are at least at serious risk, unless you are able to beat your drug habit, of a continued downhill spiral.  You could lose your potential career and are likely to be in and out of prison.

20You have the support of your family.  You have the support of your partner.  I am encouraged by that to think that you may have a reasonably bright future if you can sustain the efforts that you are presently making to rehabilitate yourself. 

21Despite the fact that I gave a sentence indication, which was that the sentence that I proposed was one of six years and six months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and six months, you have had the courage to plead guilty to this offending in the face of that indication.  I accept that you are presently strongly motivated to rehabilitate yourself, to settle down to a fulfilling life with your partner and to pursue your carpentry apprenticeship through to qualification as a carpenter.  You should be encouraged by a non-parole period which enables you to apply for parole at a reasonably early opportunity.

22Having considered the matter, I am able to reduce somewhat the period of the sentence that I originally had in mind, to moderate the head sentence and the non-parole period to reflect mature consideration of the authorities that are referred to by your counsel and to take into account the materials with which I have been provided.

23It is necessary to punish you adequately for your offending.  The offending was serious.  The intentionally causing injury offence, as I have already indicated, could have resulted in a much more serious injury than occurred and could have landed you with a much more serious charge.  To wield a weapon such as a meat cleaver, aiming at the head and other parts of the body, was a very serious example of the offence of intentionally causing injury.

24You must also be deterred from committing further offending of this kind.  You have a tendency towards an angry response.  That is dealt with by Mr Cummins and it seems you are addressing that.  It is also necessary to impose a sentence that gives adequate value to the sentencing principle of general deterrence.

25The public will be best protected if you can be rehabilitated, and I give you credit for the efforts that you have made so far and your expressions of intent communicated both by yourself and through your counsel.

26Doing the best I can to marry all of those considerations, I sentence you as follows:

27On Charge 1 of home invasion, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of four years.

28On Charge 2 of intentionally causing injury, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of two years and nine months.

29On Charge 3 of damaging property, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 12 months.

30The sentence of four years' imprisonment on Charge 1 is the base sentence.  I order that 18 months of the sentence on Charge 2 and six months of the sentence on Charge 3 be served cumulatively upon the sentence of four years that I have imposed on Charge 1.

31That makes a total effective sentence of six years' imprisonment

32I order that you serve a period of three years and two months before you are eligible for parole.

33But for your pleas of guilty, I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for eight years with a non-parole period of five years and six months.

34I make the forfeiture order in relation to the gun magazine.

35I declare 350 days as pre-sentence detention as time to be reckoned as served on the sentence that I have imposed upon you and deducted administratively from the time you will actually have to serve.

36Are there any other orders, counsel, that I need to make?

37MR COOKSON:  Nothing from me.

38MS BEECH:  No thank you, Your Honour.

39HIS HONOUR:  Thank you for your assistance.

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