Director of Public Prosecutions v Guy

[2022] VCC 1494

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised
Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT SHEPPARTON

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Case No. CR-20-01828

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

KRISTY LEANNE GUY

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE
WHERE HELD:	Shepparton
DATE OF HEARING:	2 September 2022
DATE OF SENTENCE:	2 September 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Guy
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 1494

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:
Catchwords:  
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:  Adjourned undertaking of 18 months.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr J Singh	Mr S Kaiser
For the Accused	Mr M Habib	Mr L Docherty

HIS HONOUR:

1Kristy Guy, you have pleaded guilty to:

(i)One charge of make threat to kill.

2The facts of your offending are set out in Exhibit A, the prosecution opening, and I was informed this morning by your counsel that I can treat that document as an agreed statement of fact.  I incorporate that into these reasons for sentence and sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein.

3

Very briefly stated, on 14 March 2020 you were living with your victim in

Perryman Street Borung.  Your once intimate relationship had turned cold.  Your victim told you to move out of the home, you abused him.  He tape-recorded you threatening to kill him and chop him up in little pieces.

4Police interviewed you the following day and you told the police you were alcohol and cannabis affected the previous day and that you had failed to take your bipolar medication.  You admitted you swore at your victim and said threatening to chop him into little pieces is how you argued at the time.  You said you might have said it, but you would never do it.

5You have admitted a criminal record.  In 2017 you received a six-month bond without conviction for assault with an instrument.  In 2008 you received a 12-month good behaviour bond without conviction for possessing cannabis and using threatening words.  Exhibit B was provided to me today and is the police summary in relation to that offence.  It was a condition of that bond that you continue to engage with Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative for mental health issues. 

6You are now 43 years of age being born in May 1979.  You were born in Bendigo where you now live.  Your mother is aboriginal, your father was murdered when you were four leaving your mother unable to cope.  You and your younger brother went into foster care where you remained throughout your childhood and youth. 

7You are clearly intelligent, you completed Year 12 at school and started a law degree at Deakin University.  You left that after two years and completed apprenticeships in baking and being a chef.  You worked for 15 years in Castlemaine, first as a slaughterman, which is perhaps where you picked up the idea of chopping things up into little pieces, and as a dispatch worker. 

8You have been unemployed and in receipt of social welfare payments since 2014.  You have had two significant personal relationships; the first for five years until your fiancé contracted cancer and died in 2014, that is the time you ceased employment it seems to me.

9You became involved with your victim in 2015.  You moved in with him, however, this clearly was not a match made in heaven.  Physical violence, controlling behaviour, threats and police interventions marred your relationship.  Your prior criminal history arises from interactions with Mr Freck.

10Police obtained an intervention order against Mr Freck in 2020, the narrative of that application gives the reader the tone of your relationship.  The police wrote: 

'The aggrieved family member and respondent have been in a de facto relationship for approximately five years.  On Sunday, 1 March 2020 police were called to a family violence incident where assaults had occurred, and the respondent had locked the aggrieved family member out of the house.  On the police arrival, police spoke to the aggrieved family member', that is you, 'and a statement was obtained.  The AFM stated that a verbal argument had occurred after the respondent started yelling at her about watching the television.  The aggrieved family member stated that the respondent pushed her off her chair causing her an injury to her knee.  The respondent has then damaged a plate in the kitchen by throwing it against the cupboard.  The aggrieved family member stated she threw a bottle that hit the wall.  The respondent then picked up that bottle and threw it at the aggrieved family member, which hit her in the face.  The respondent then threw another bottle of dishwashing liquid at the aggrieved family member, which hit her in the chest.  The respondent has then pushed the aggrieved family member over before the AFM has then left the house and called police.  Police have arrested the respondent and conveyed him to the Inglewood police station to be interviewed.  In the interview, the respondent admitted to assaulting the aggrieved family member by pushing her over twice, and he also admitted to throwing two bottles at her.  The respondent stated that the aggrieved family member had called him a rock spider and that he was that angry he wanted to kill the aggrieved family member and bash her head in.  Police hold concerns for the safety of the aggrieved family member'.

11It appears from your history that you gave as good as you got.  You have an underlying bipolar disorder first diagnosed when you were 23 years of age.  You have depression and anxiety.  In  2013 you were diagnosed with Crohn's disease.  You have serious problems with your knee and ankle and are undergoing assessment at the moment for a lymphomic cancer, which apparently you have.

12You take a number of medications, have been receiving counselling and see a psychologist for the last two years.  You have abused cannabis since you were 15.  You were an alcoholic for 20  years.  Of recent times, you have ceased drinking because of your health issues, and you have reduced your cannabis use. 

13You have had this matter hanging over your head for two years, the stress and uncertainty as to your future has weighed heavily upon you emotionally.  You were charged in March 2020, you offered to plead to this charge in May 2020.  The prosecution persisted with a charge of arson until September 2022, and thus the matter resolved.  I take that delay into account in sentencing you, and particularly as you have demonstrated some rehabilitation in the ensuing two years.

14I accept that in these circumstances that your plea is one made in the earliest opportunity, you are therefore entitled to a significant reduction to the sentence I would otherwise impose for your offending.  The value of that plea is increased because it has facilitated the course of justice in the time of Covid-19 which has damaged our legal system.

15Your behaviour was totally unacceptable; however, it must be seen as a by-product of a toxic and dangerous personal relationship.  Your underlying medical and mental health issues make you an unsuitable vehicle for the expression general deterrence.  The steps you have taken to address your issues mean that I do not believe you represent a danger to the community.

16You have moved back to Bendigo, you are close to your brother and your mother, you have a carer, and you have been offence free since early 2020 when you were involved in a shoplifting incident significantly relating to your abuse of alcohol. 

17Your prior history is limited and arises entirely from your relationship with Mr Freck.  That relationship is over, and so hopefully is your offending. 

18A conviction of itself represents a punishment, you have not been previously convicted, however, the seriousness of your conduct and the brief but relevant antecedent history mandate this court impose a conviction. 

19On the one charge of threat to kill, you are convicted and released on a bond to be of good behaviour for 18 months.  If you breach that bond, you will be brought back before me and I have to re-sentence you and all options would be open, so you do not want that to happen. 

20Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act, can I indicate that but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a community corrections order with significant unpaid community work.

21Your client is somewhere where she can sign this bond, she is in your instructor's office, is she? 

22MR HABIB:  Yes, Your Honour, I'll email your Associate the email that the undertaking should be sent to and that will be done this morning.

23HIS HONOUR:  Well, we'll send it to her, have her sign and she can return it back.  Ms Guy, do you understand what I have said about the effect of that bond?

24OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

25HIS HONOUR:  You've had them before.  If you breach the bond, you come back to see me for re-sentencing and you don't want to do that, you follow?

26OFFENDER:  Yes, I do.

27HIS HONOUR:  You don't have to come back to court unless you're called upon to do so, and that will only happen if you get yourself in strife, all right.

28OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

29HIS HONOUR:  All right.  So, I'll send that over to you this morning.  Sign it and get it back, please.

30OFFENDER:  Thank you.

31MR HABIB:  As the court pleases.

32HIS HONOUR:  All right, I'll terminate the links.

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