Director of Public Prosecutions v Hackett

[2019] VCC 714

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 18-02566

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

KAISHA HACKETT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	21 May 2019
DATE OF SENTENCE:	21 May 2019
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hackett
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 714

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr S. Devlin	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr F. Brimfield	Michael J Gleeson & Associates

HIS HONOUR:

1Kaisha Hackett, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempt to pervert the course of justice.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.  You also pleaded guilty to two uplifted matters of breach of intervention order.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of two years.

2The breaches in this situation, in my view, are trivial.  However, in these circumstances, I will simply give you seven days on each and make it concurrent, and will not refer to them again.  They simply involve phone calls from the gaol to your ex-partner - phone calls which, if he wanted to, he could have refused to accept.  The main difficulty is the pervert the course.

3At the time of the offending, you were 38 years of age and were the former partner of a Mr Karavoulis.  Mr Karavoulis had a family violence intervention order against you, and as I understand it, you had one against Mr Karavoulis.

4In any event, you were in custody in March of last year, and you called
Mr Karavoulis from the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Ravenhall.  You said to him, "I need you to drop some of the charges, babe", and he said he would talk to them so they could get it done.  And you also said you needed help to get bail on Wednesday.

5At that time, you were facing charges relating to him.  I am unaware of the end result of all that, other than that you apparently were found guilty. 
And obviously, the phone call was a breach as was a subsequent phone call.

6The history of it was that police obtained the Arunta calls from Corrections Victoria.  You were interviewed, basically conceded that it what you said, and were charged.  You have now done 258 days in custody.

7You have pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity.  I accept that you must get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.  Remorse is probably fairly problematic.  You do have a number of prior convictions but they all would appear to be for fighting with the police, and I suspect you are no stranger to capsicum spray by the look of that prior history.

8The circumstances are, though, that you are now 39.  I read the report of
Mr Ball which was tendered on your behalf, and you do have a lot of personal difficulties to confront, including alcohol abuse from a very young age and a fairly, if I may say so, paranoid perception of the world.  Indeed, at your age, with the - and I direct that that report remain on file.  At your age, with that report and the basis of it, it is surprising that your criminal history is not even worse than it is.

9As Mr Ball points out, you suffer crushingly low self-esteem.  There are dependent and borderline personality features.  You have been sexually abused as a child, physically abused as an adult, and have always struggled in this world.

10However, when I look at all this, the circumstances are that objectively 258 days is enough for this.  The Crown agree that that is the appropriate disposition. 
I see no reason to really take it any further. 

11The prospects of your rehabilitation have to be problematic.  The risk of you reoffending in this way is probably very low.  Maybe high in other respects, but there is not much anyone can do about that.

12Accordingly, on the charge of attempt to pervert, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 258 days. 

13I grant that 258 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

14I say that pursuant to s.6AAA, but for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to be imprisoned for 12 months.

15MR DEVLIN:  As Your Honour pleases.

16MR BRIMFIELD:  May it please Your Honour.

17HIS HONOUR:  And PSD of 258?

18COUNSEL:  Yes, Your Honour. 

19HIS HONOUR:  I will make the report Exhibit 1.

20MR BRIMFIELD:  Thank you. 

21HIS HONOUR:  So then it remains on the file.  Saves me having to read out great chunks of it.  All right.

22So that is it.  You will have to go back to the police station to be released, though.  You cannot come out of the dock.

23OFFENDER:  Thank you very much. 

24HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Stay out of strife.  All right. 

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