Director of Public Prosecutions v Hansen

[2021] VCC 614

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 20-01827

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TREVOR HANSEN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	14 May 2021
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hansen
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2021] VCC 614

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr P. Triandos	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr J. Mortley	HBH Legal

HIS HONOUR: 

1Trevor Lee Hansen, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of common assault and one charge of damaging property.  Those crimes carry a maximum penalty of five years and 10 years respectively.  You also pleaded guilty to an uplifted summary charge of possession of controlled weapon without lawful excuse.  That carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment. 

2In these circumstances, I simply on that charge impose a period of 30 days' imprisonment to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed on the indictment. 

3At the time of all this, you were 22 years of age and you had only been released from gaol on 29 January 2020.  As your counsel tells me from the Bar table, when you entered gaol, you were in a relationship with Ms Crofts and when you came out you were not and Mr Tonta, who you understood to be a 'give up' was living with her.  So understandably, you became upset about that.

4In any event, you way or another met up with Crofts and were in a vehicle.  You then went to her doctor's appointment in Heywood and went to the Heywood cemetery where a friend's grave was visited and then she went to the Amcal Chemist in Percy Street in Portland to obtain prescription medications. 

5When she returned to the vehicle, a Mr Pumper was seated in the back with a Mr Halt and you were in the front passenger seat.  You became agitated.  As she entered the vehicle, you waved a bladed implement at her, putting her in fear and demanded she drive to find Tonta.  That is Charge 1 of assault and controlled weapon. 

6She drove to her address in Kobo Creek Road.  On arrival, she stopped at the gate and you all get out of the vehicle.  You held the bladed implement and walked towards Mr Tonta who was cutting wood.  You yelled, 'I'm going to stab you, dog', putting him in fear.  How much fear he was in remains debatable because he then grabbed a chainsaw, started it and started walking towards you.  You and the other two men quite understandably ran back to the vehicle, got in and told Crofts to drive away. 

7She drove back to the Gordon Hotel in Portland where you were staying.  After you and the others left the vehicle and you had been sitting in the passenger's seat, she noticed the word 'dog' scribed on the front dashboard.  That was not there before you got in. 

8I suspect from my observations that probably related to Mr Tonta and that was your colloquial description of his character.  I note that gives rise to the second charge of damaging property.  I note that there are no victim impact statements in this matter and I would not have expected there to be any. 

9In any event, you have pleaded guilty to it.  They are offences of a relatively serious nature.  I am fully aware that this matter was resolved and you pleaded to a settled indictment.  It came before this court on much more serious charges and very, very sensibly in my view, the Crown and your counsel arranged a resolution which fits within the milieu in which all this took place.

10As I say, you pleaded guilty to a settled indictment.  You have the benefit of that.  Obviously, utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.  I would assume that remorse is somewhat problematic but you have pleaded guilty so I will give you some benefit for that. 

11You do have an extensive criminal history.  You have been locked up before for violence and I hope you do not get locked up again.  Your priors are for violence and dishonesty and do not help you in this situation like this.  As I said, these crimes that you have now pleaded guilty to are not as serious in any way, shape or form as the ones you were originally indicted upon but there still has to be an element of punishment and there has still has to be an aspect of general and specific deterrence. 

12You have now served 83 days in custody on these matters.  You have been on bail for 12 months on strict reporting conditions.  And I understand from the very helpful submissions filed on your behalf by your counsel that you have been making endeavours to find employment and basically trying to keep yourself out of trouble.  All those things go very much to your credit and it is to be hoped are a precursor of a rehabilitation - matters of rehabilitation are totally up to you.  Your risk of reoffending, I suspect, depends entirely upon your use or otherwise of methylamphetamine.  You do not drink alcohol.

13Whilst last in custody, you completed a number of courses which is a comfort to me in some respects.  You began using methylamphetamine from the age of 15 and you were able to stop using that when you were remanded for these matters and you instruct your counsel and there is nothing to suggest otherwise that whilst you have been on bail you have not used.

14You have moved to Horsham.  You see that is a positive influence.  You do not know the drug dealers in that area and you do not associate with users.  You are looking for employment.  You are on Newstart payments and your future goals are to 'get a missus, buy a house and have a kid'.  All laudable goals and I hope that you can make it and a place to settle in the country town - you have got a better chance than you would have if you were trying to do that in the city.

15I do not think I need to take matters any further.  They are not the most outrageous of all offending that I have ever seen.  Mr Tonta would have been in grave difficulty if he had gone much further with the chainsaw but that is an entirely different matter and I daresay you will be more careful who you assault in the future if you ever do. 

16In any event, taking all those matters into account and the very helpful submissions on your behalf as well as the matters contained within the Crown's summary, it is a situation where the Crown agrees that a matter of time served is an appropriate sentence and accordingly, that is what I will do.

17Accordingly, on the three charges on the indictment, you are sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 83 days in aggregate.  On the uplifted matter, 30 days concurrent, making a total effective sentence overall of 83 days. 

18I direct that 83 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence and to appease Mr Triandos, I say that but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for a period of 120 days.

19MR TRIANDOS:  Your Honour pleases.

20HIS HONOUR:  Nothing else I need to do, gents?

21COUNSEL:  No, Your Honour.  

22HIS HONOUR:  He wants something.  You better ask him?

23ACCUSED:  I just didn't understand that last bit about the hundred and twenty-something days.

24HIS HONOUR:  If you fought it out and got convicted of these matters, I would have given you 120 days. 

25ACCUSED:  Oh yeah.

26HIS HONOUR:  If you fought out the other matters and got convicted by a jury you would have got about five years.

27ACCUSED:  Yeah, normal ‑ ‑ ‑ 

28HIS HONOUR:  So thank him afterwards, all right?  And thank the prosecutor as you are going out.  All right.

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