Director of Public Prosecutions v Haddad
[2020] VCC 2094
•9 June 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 19-02484
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| AMBER HADDAD |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 5 June 2020 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 9 June 2020 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Haddad |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 2094 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr C. McConaghy | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Mr D. Sala | SLKQ Lawyers |
HER HONOUR:
1Amber Haddad, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of aggravated burglary, two charges of intentionally damaging property and one charge of common assault. The facts underlying your offending are as follows:
2There were two victims in this matter, Jacqueline Rundle, Julie Baucher and in fact, Julie Baucher's two children, Hayley and Tyler. You had previously lived with Jacqueline Rundle, who is a former partner of your father.
3About three to four weeks before the offending, you were told to leave the house by Ms Rundle and before moving you had left your Proton car that was parked on the front lawn of the property.
4Jacqueline Rundle made many attempts to have you come and collect the car, but you did not respond to them. Ultimately, she organised for the car to be towed away from the address because it was unroadworthy and unregistered.
5Again, despite numerous messages to you that she was having the car removed or that it was removed was messaged to you, but you made no response.
6On 9 May 2019 at about 7 pm, Ms Rundle visited Julie Baucher at her house in Walls Road, where Hayley and Tyler Baucher, Ms Julie Baucher's children, were also present. Tyler Baucher was playing a video game in his room and Hayley Baucher was watching TV.
7Earlier that day you asked Jacqueline Rundle's brother, Jason, to drive you to Ballan Road, where the home of Jacqueline Rundle was situated, so you could check on your car, telling him it had been taken away.
8You arrived at the property between 11.30 and midnight. Once getting there, you told Jason Rundle to pop the boot, then got out of his car, went to the boot and started walking to the Ballan property.
9A neighbour saw a woman with what looked like a tomahawk in one of her hands approach the front door of the Ballan Road property, saw that woman banging on the front door and heard her screaming something about a car.
10Jason Rundle then heard the sound of glass smashing and you then returned to the car, put something in the boot and got back inside, and once getting in the car said, 'I got the bitch back.' You then told Jason Rundle to drive to Julie Baucher's house.
11Charge 3 on the indictment, damaging property, relates to the smashing of the front window of Jacqueline Rundle's address. Jason Rundle then drove to Julie Baucher's house and parked nearby and he stayed in the car while you got out and retrieved something from the boot.
12He then heard the sound of glass breaking after which he saw you run back to the car, put something heavy in the boot and re-enter. After getting into the car, you said, 'Start the fucking car, let's go home.'
13On the way home, Jason Rundle stopped the car near Highpoint Shopping Centre to use the toilet and whilst there, he saw you getting something out of the boot and bury it in barriers on the side of the road. He did not see what that was. The two of you then returned to his house.
14On 9 May 2019, Jacqueline Rundle walked from her house to the Walls Road and got there at about seven to 7.30 pm. Sometime later, she was speaking on a mobile phone to her stepdaughter.
15At the same time, Ms Baucher recalled that she, at that stage, was putting out some household bins for collection. A split-second later, she saw you come through the front door which had been left open, brandishing two tomahawk axes. You walked directly past Ms Baucher towards Jacqueline Rundle, yelling, 'Where's my car?'
16In fear for her life, Jacqueline Rundle ran down a hallway to the end bedroom which belonged to Hayley Baucher, shut it and sat up against the closed door. She told her stepdaughter, to whom she was still on the phone, to call the police and then she and the stepdaughter rang 000.
17While Jacqueline Rundle was hiding in the bedroom, you banged on the door, tried to get in and smashed the handle off the door. You were also yelling and calling Jacqueline Rundle, 'a coward.'
18You then ran back up to the hallway towards Julie Baucher and started yelling in her face, 'Where's my fucking car?' at which stage you were still in possession of the tomahawks.
19Your actions in entering Ms Baucher's house underlie Charge 1 on the indictment, aggravated burglary. Your actions against Ms Rundle and then Ms Baucher underlie Charge 4 and 5 on the indictment, common law assault.
20Hayley Baucher also saw you come into their house holding the two tomahawks and she said her mother then grabbed her by the arm and the two of them escaped through the front door, running down to neighbours and then calling 000.
21Tyler Baucher heard you yelling at Jacqueline Baucher and he heard you chasing Jacqueline Rundle down the hall into Hayley Baucher's bedroom. He left his bedroom once the screaming stopped and saw you in the front yard of the house, but not in possession of the tomahawks. You said to him, 'Go ask her where's my car?'
22You then left the property after picking up a rock from the front law and throwing it through the kitchen window of the house, causing it to break, which actions underlie Charge 2 on the indictment, damaging property.
23You were arrested by police at your home and during a record of interview you admitted going into Julie Baucher's house via the front door, agreed that Jacqueline Rundle had run down the hall and locked herself in a room.
24You agreed you had smashed the door handle, that you had thrown rocks through a window. You made no comment about carrying anything and denied owning any tomahawks or axes. You denied entering the property with the tomahawks in your hand and said that you went to the house to scare Jacqueline Rundle but had no intention of hurting anyone.
25No victim impact statements were compiled or tendered on the plea hearing. The matter was settled at committal mention on 10 December 2019. You also pleaded guilty to a summary charge of failing to appear on bail and that related to the first committal mention in this matter on 8 August 2019 when you failed to appear.
26You were arrested on 28 October 2019 and remanded in custody and were bailed on 3 February 2020. This means that you have 89 days of pre-sentence detention.
27I now turn to your personal circumstances. You are 43 years of age. You currently reside with a woman who has been extremely supportive to you all your life and who you regard as your real mother, and your sister.
28You grew up in difficult circumstances. Your mother left when you were very young, and you were raised by your father. You now believe, looking back, that your mother suffered some sort of mental illness.
29Your father re-partnered with the woman with whom you now live, but had been in relationship with Jacqueline Rundle.
30You completed school. You did very well otherwise in your life, but a particularly difficult scenario for you was that in 2003 you married, and you had a daughter. The relationship was apparently an abusive and controlling one, insofar as your former husband was concerned.
31In 2013, after you had separated, and at which time you had custody of your daughter who went on weekend and half-holiday access to her father, your daughter failed to return from access with her father and you later discovered that he had left the country with your daughter and she now lives in Iraq. You had reasonable contact with her, but she does not wish to return to Australia and I am satisfied this has been an enormous grief for you. Indeed, I am satisfied, having regard to the psychological material that was tendered on your behalf during the plea that you have been seeking psychological help from Sandra Gaunt who wrote a report dated 29 May 2020.
32The effect of that was that until you were arrested in relation to this matter, you never sought psychological condition, for what I am satisfied was longstanding grief and trauma over the loss of your daughter.
33You are not a person who has problems with drugs. You are not a person who has problems with alcohol. You have an extremely impressive work history which was outlined to me by your counsel, beginning from 1995 and continuing right up, on a very regular basis, to 2013.
34You have worked in customer accounts and payroll, you have worked as a machine operator, you have worked in data entry, you have held jobs for many years at a time and it is interesting that since 2013, you have worked, but not on the regular basis that you had previously. Given that that was the year that your daughter was taken away by her father, this is not surprising.
35Your current situation is that you have a Jim's Mowing franchise business and you are also applying for a traffic controlling job.
36This sort of offending of course, is extremely serious. Normally people who enter other people's homes in the aggressive manner that you did, can only expect to be dealt with very severely by the courts and by way of a term of imprisonment.
37However, as I have said, I am satisfied that there has been long-standing grief and whilst there were other problems outlined by Ms Gaunt in her report, she talked about a difficult childhood characterised by residential instability, physical, verbal and emotional abuse by your birth mother, being the victim of assault by someone else when you were a child and in particular, leading up to the time of this offending, what Ms Gaunt described as ongoing frustration and grief regarding her father's relationship with his partner, that being Ms Baucher.
38In any event, you were ultimately diagnosed as suffering complex post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder. They are serious and very distressing psychological conditions.
39As I have said, in my view, whilst not providing any sort of excuse for your offending, they do provide very much an explanation for it.
40In those circumstances it is my view that the time you were held in custody is a sufficient custodial response to your offending, and you have been found suitable for placement on a community corrections order, and it is my decision to deal with you by way of what is called a combination disposition; that is one which consists of both gaol and the service of a community corrections order.
41You were described as polite and forthcoming with information by the assessing Corrections officer. It is noted that you repeated to the Corrections officer what you instructed to Mr Sala, which is that that car was of particular value to you. It has sentimental value regarding your daughter.
42That being so, one wonders why you did not go around and collect the car and sort things out sooner than you did, but nevertheless, again in my view, that plays into the sort of psychological constellation that underlies your offending.
43In all the circumstances I am sentencing you on an aggregate term to 89 days - yes sorry?
44MR SALA: I made an error, Your Honour, it was 98. That was my fault.
45HER HONOUR: I thought it was.
46MR SALA: Yes, Your Honour's right.
47HER HONOUR: It was 98 in the - stand up sorry - thank you Mr Sala.
48MR SALA: Thank Your Honour, apologise.
49HER HONOUR: No, that is all right.
50MR MCCONAGHY: (Indistinct).
51HER HONOUR: Pardon?
52MR MCCONAGHY: Yes, Your Honour, I can confirm that, I have been texting with my friend. It is 98 days.
53HER HONOUR: Okay, so we are even now. I was late and you got the PSD wrong. Excellent.
54MR MCCONAGHY: Thanks, Your Honour.
55MR SALA: I know, we try to mix the bad with the ‑ ‑ ‑
56HER HONOUR: I am sure Mr Sala.
57As a result, I am sentencing you to an aggregate term of 98 days which I have declare has already been served by way of pre-sentence detention and I am going to place you on a community corrections order for a period of 18 months.
58Now, before I can do that, I have to gain your consent and I need to outline to you what the conditions are.
59You must report to Community Corrections within two working days of the making of this order, that is by Thursday of this week. While on the Corrections order you must not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment.
60What that means is, if you commit an offence for which theoretically you would go to gaol, like knocking off a box of matches from Woolworths, that theoretically, you can go to gaol for that. That will breach the order. If you breach the order, you will be brought back in front of me and I will re-sentence you on this. Do you understand?
61OFFENDER: Yes, I do, Your Honour.
62HER HONOUR: Yes, no it's really important, Ms Haddad. You must report any change of address or employment within 48 days of the making of that change to Corrections. You may not leave Victoria whilst you are on the order without the permission of Community Corrections office. You must not attend upon the Community Corrections office under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
63You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections office and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections office.
64I am going to order that you undertake treatment and rehabilitation for mental health difficulties. That probably will simply mean if you get on well with Ms Gaunt - are you still seeing her?
65OFFENDER: Ms Gaunt was my lawyer, I am actually seeing ‑ ‑ ‑
66HER HONOUR: I am so sorry.
67OFFENDER: That's okay, I am seeing a psychologist called Natasha something, I can't pronounce her last name.
68HER HONOUR: I beg your pardon. All right, I am sorry. Natasha Jeremiejczyk.
69OFFENDER: Correct.
70HER HONOUR: Yes. So they will probably send you back to her. Is she someone you have been getting on well with?
71OFFENDER: Very well. I didn't actually think that it would help, but like, she's really good, it is working. I see her regularly.
72HER HONOUR: Can I recommend, if you have got a good relationship with that therapist, I would recommend you keep seeing her, rather than going to someone new.
73OFFENDER: I am.
74HER HONOUR: Can I say, this is - just let me note something I am suggesting to you. Sometimes offending, even though it has an horrendous side to it, and I understand it has had an horrendous side, can lead to some good.
75As I think I have said, over and over in my sentencing remarks, you have got a lot of really difficult unresolved issues, that anyone would have trouble coping with, Ms Haddad. Losing your daughter in that way - it is nightmarish to most - to any parent.
76So - and you have obviously had issues with how things were with your birth mother. Now they are two very big issues. You have got one involving your mother, one involving your daughter. In anyone's life, those sorts of people are just fundamental to their lives, and if you have got problematic relations with them, that is going to play havoc with you emotionally. All right?
77You have been diagnosed as I said, with very difficult conditions and it is very much for your own, living a life that is easier for you, going and seeing a psychologist is incredibly important. All right?
78OFFENDER: Yes.
79HER HONOUR: So I am going to ask that you do that. It has also been recommended that you undertake programs that reduce reoffending. Given your prior history, I do not think that is necessary. I mean you have reached the age you have without ever getting in trouble.
80It does seem to me that attending to this enormous grief, both in relation to your mother and your daughter, is incredibly important for you, and I am very comforted by the fact that you are living in a supportive environment, with someone who you have always regarded as a mother figure and your sister. So that is extremely important.
81It has also been recommended that you undergo supervision. Community work is not recommended and it is not actually being undertaken or conducted by Corrections at the moment because of the COVID-19 restrictions, so I am not going to order that.
82It seems to me, however, fundamental that you keep seeing the psychologist that you are. So that is going to be the special condition. I am not going to order supervision.
83I am also not going to order judicial monitoring which I often do. It seems to me you are ordinarily a very law-abiding person. All right?
84OFFENDER: Thank you, Your Honour.
85HER HONOUR: I am sure you can go back to that again. All right? So that - the special condition is that you undergo treatment and rehabilitation for mental health difficulties, all right?
86OFFENDER: Thank you.
87HER HONOUR: Thank you Ms Haddad. Is there anything else? Pursuant - no I don't need - I do - pursuant to s.6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to 18 months' imprisonment and order that you serve a minimum term of nine months. All right? Thank you very much. Now, is there anything else that I need to attend to Mr McConaghy?
88MR MCCONAGHY: No, Your Honour.
89HER HONOUR: That is all right. Thank you very much, and I am so sorry again Ms Haddad, for keeping your waiting as I did.
90OFFENDER: That's okay.
91HER HONOUR: And I wish you all the best, and I thank counsel very much for their assistance in this matter.
92OFFENDER: Thank you.
93HER HONOUR: We will stand down to 11.30. Thank you.
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