Director of Public Prosecutions v Harrison
[2016] VCC 1290
•29 August 2016
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-16-00762
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| SCOTT HARRISON |
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JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Grant | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 18 July 2016 and 29 August 2016 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 29 August 2016 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Harrison | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2016] VCC 1290 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms G. Overend | OPP |
| For the Accused | Mr W. Barker | Dribbin & Brown Criminal Lawyers |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Scott Harrison, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of prohibited person possessing a firearm, one charge of causing injury recklessly and one summary charge of unlicensed driving. The maximum penalty for each offence is:
· Prohibited person possessing firearm - 10 years' imprisonment;
· Causing injury recklessly - 5 years' imprisonment; and
· Unlicensed driving - 25 penalty units or 3 months' imprisonment.
2 I have heard a summary of the offending. It is not my intention to repeat the whole summary. It is Exhibit A in these proceedings.
3 Briefly, the victim in this matter is Mr Spencer who, at the time of the offending, was in a relationship with your sister. On 24 January 2016 at approximately 5.20 am, you drove your car to Mr Spencer’s residential address in Mernda. You were an unlicensed driver. Mr Spencer heard a vehicle in his driveway and walked out of his garage to see who it was. You drove the car towards Mr Spencer with the headlights pointing directly at him. He could not see who was in the car. After moving to the driver’s side of the car, he recognised you as the driver. You asked him, “Where is my sister?” and Mr Spencer replied, “I dunno. She went home. Are you going to sort out what you owe me?” Mr Spencer believed you had stolen from him and owed him money. You replied, “I don’t owe you shit.” Mr Spencer said, “We have to sort something out”. He then reached into the car to try and take the keys out of the ignition. However, you reversed the car backwards three metres, took a sawn off .22 bolt action rifle from the driver side compartment and fired a shot towards Mr Spencer, hitting him to the right side of the knee. The bullet exited through the rear of his right knee.
4 You were arrested on 5 February 2016 and a search warrant was executed at your home. Police located the sawn-off .22 bolt action rifle, three .22 cartridges in a magazine clip attached to the firearm and a single cartridge in a bag. The firearm was capable of discharge.
5 This is serious offending. You were in possession of a firearm as a prohibited person. You had been in possession of that firearm and associated ammunition since November of the previous year. It was a sawn-off firearm. You told the police that you went to Mr Spencer’s house to confront him. On your way to his home you stopped your vehicle and took the sawn-off firearm out of the boot of the car. It was loaded. You put it in the compartment in the driver’s side door so it was easily accessible. When you fired at Mr Spencer you were aware that you would probably injure him.
6 In this case general deterrence is a significant sentencing consideration, as are the principles of just punishment and denunciation.
7 You come before the court with a lengthy criminal history. You have been a persistent offender for over 20 years and you have relevant prior convictions for offences against the person. You received sentences of detention as a younger man. You have received community corrections orders, an intensive corrections order, suspended sentences and imprisonment orders. In 2003 you appeared twice in the County Court for serious offences. The only positive comment that can be made about your history is that there have been times during your troubled life when you have managed to stop offending. There are gaps in your court history for the following periods: October 1996 to early 1999; late 2005 to early 2009; July 2009 to mid-2012; and August 2013 to early 2016.
8 Given this history, specific deterrence and protection of the community are relevant sentencing considerations.
9 I now move to those matters raised in mitigation. The first relates to your background.
10 You are 34 years old. You have 14 siblings, 11 brothers and 3 sisters. Eight of the children are from the relationship between your father, Steve Harrison, and your mother, Wendy Harrison. You are the second eldest child. Your mother and father separated some years ago and formed new relationships with other people.
11 Your Aboriginal heritage comes from your father, Steve Harrison. He has struggled throughout his life with drug and alcohol abuse. He has been imprisoned many times. He was in custody when you appeared before me on 18 July.
12 Your mother, who attended the hearing in the Koori Court on 18 July and again today, also struggled in the past with drug abuse and gambling problems.
13 A 2011 report from Mr Warren Simmons, consulting psychologist, was tendered into evidence. You admitted to him that you had not had “the best upbringing.” This assessment would seem to understate the problems within your family.
14 You were raised in a family where both your parents were abusing drugs. Your father was involved in criminal offending and spent periods of time in custody. Your mother had gambling problems and there were times when you and your older brother took on the responsibility of looking after your younger brothers and sisters. The relationship between your father and mother was described as volatile with incidents of family violence.
15 The family moved regularly and this effected the stability of your schooling; you are not well educated having left school during Year 10.
16 You also told Mr Simmons that you were introduced to cannabis by an uncle when you were 10 years old and introduced to amphetamines by your father when you were 13 years old. By the age of 17 you were also drinking heavily.
17 This background discloses a life of hardship and disadvantage and your sentence should be moderated accordingly.
18 There are other matters in mitigation.
19 You entered an early plea of guilty. Your plea of guilty is indicative of remorse and has saved the victim from the trauma of giving evidence. Your plea has also avoided the costs involved in a criminal trial. You will be given credit for all these matters.
20 On 6 April 2016 you appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on a consolidation of a large number of unrelated offences. You were sentenced to a total effective sentence of 9 months' imprisonment. The magistrate declared 62 days pre-sentence detention. This covered the period of your remand on these charges. Your release date is 4 November 2016. I take this matter into account in determining an appropriate sentence for the charges before me.
21 You consented to having the charges heard in the Koori Court. In doing so you agreed to participate in a process that involves appearing before elders from the Koori community. The process is described as a “sentencing conversation.” The Court of Appeal in Victoria has recognised that the "sentencing conversation" in the Koori Court is designed to further the reformation of an Aboriginal offender.[1] Participation in the process is not easy. Indeed, it is challenging and your active participation in the process is a factor that mitigates punishment.
[1] See The Queen v Steelie Morgan [2010] VSCA 14 at page 11.
22 It was obvious to me from the way you participated in the process that you were sorry for what you had done and that you do have some insight into the problems in your life that you need to address. Indeed, a letter from Galliamble Men’s Recovery Program indicates that you successfully completed their program on 24 March 2013. It appears that the catalyst for your drug relapse was the removal of your children from your care in late 2014. You again made contact with Galliamble whilst undergoing your current sentence and that agency is willing to take you back into their program.
23 I give you credit for your participation in the Koori Court process. However, I also note that you have had the benefit in the past of an appearance in the Magistrates’ Koori Court.
24 Your history, the escalation in your offending and your drug abuse problems make me guarded about your prospects of rehabilitation. However, your constructive participation in the County Koori Court process and your ability at times in the past to stop offending does give some cause for hope. If you were willing to follow through on what you said in court, namely engaging appropriately with support services and remaining drug free, your prospects of rehabilitation would be greatly enhanced.
25 This is not an easy sentencing exercise. The offending is serious and an appropriate term of imprisonment must be imposed. On the other hand this is the type of case where the various objectives of sentencing can be achieved by the imposition of a combined imprisonment order and community corrections order (CCO). One obvious advantage of such a sentence would be the possibility of you entering the Wulgunggo Ngalu Learning Place under your CCO. Wulgunggo Ngalu is a facility for Aboriginal offenders operated by Corrections Victoria. It is located 12 kilometres from Yarram in Central Gippsland. The facility provides Koori men on community corrections orders with an opportunity to engage in activities to help them address their offending behaviour. Participation in the program is voluntary and involves the offender living at the facility for 3 to 6 months. There are three program areas that must be completed: the community corrections order itself; education and living skills; and engagement with cultural identity. You would clearly benefit from participation in the program and you have indicated your willingness to participate in that program. It is only available on a community corrections order. It is not available for offenders on parole.
26 I have had you assessed as to your suitability to participate in a community corrections order with entry into the Wulgunggo Ngalu program. At the moment you are suitable. However, as you are not eligible for immediate release, a re-assessment will be required at the time of your release. You indicated to those conducting the assessment that if a referral to Wulgunggo Ngalu is unsuccessful for some reason at that time, you would return to Galliamble Men’s Recovery Centre before returning to live with your mother in Whittlesea. Your mother has stabilised her life and been drug free for 7 years. This is to her credit. She is prepared to support you upon your release.
27 Will you please stand, Mr Harrison.
28 On the two charges on the indictment you are convicted and sentenced to an aggregate period of imprisonment of 15 months with an 18-month community corrections order to commence upon your release from prison. Two months of the sentence of imprisonment is to be served concurrently with the sentence you are presently undertaking.
29 On the summary charge you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for one month to be served concurrently with the sentence on the charges on the indictment.
30 The community corrections order has the following conditions attached. You will be under supervision for the period of the order. You are to participate in treatment and rehabilitation including testing for drug use or dependency. You are to participate in programs to reduce re-offending - I pause here to confirm the recommendation made in the sentencing conversation that you should participate in the Wulgunggo Ngalu Program as part of this condition. And finally, that you complete 200 hours of community work. I also order that your participation in the treatment and rehabilitation conditions be credited towards the ordered hours of community work.
31 Ordinarily you would be required to report to the Greensborough Community Corrections Centre upon your release from custody but if, as anticipated, you move from custody to Wulgunggo Ngalu, different arrangements will be made.
32 Had you pleaded not guilty and been found guilty after trial, you would have been sentenced to an aggregate imprisonment term of 3 years with a 2 year minimum before being eligible for release on parole.
33 I make the disposal and forfeiture orders sought by the prosecution.
34 You can be seated now. Are there any other matters?
35 MS OVEREND: No, Your Honour.
36 HIS HONOUR: No, thank you. The prisoner will need to sign the community corrections order.
37 MR BARKER: Would Your Honour mind if I approach the dock while - to help Mr Harrison understand the order?
38 HIS HONOUR: Yes, certainly.
39 So Mr Harrison, you're now going to be given the community corrections order forms.
40 (Community corrections order signed and acknowledged.)
41 So Mr Harrison, you understand what's happened?
42 OFFENDER: Yeah.
43 HIS HONOUR: Yes, so a 15 months sentence, two months of the sentence is concurrent, you've got about two months to run, a little bit over. So you'll serve about 13 months then you'll be released into the Wulgunggo Ngalu program providing you are suitable after an assessment at that time. If for some reason you are not suitable then you will need to go to Galliamble.
44 OFFENDER: Yep.
45 HIS HONOUR: Yes, you understand all of that? All right, yes, thank you.
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