Director of Public Prosecutions v Harrison

[2013] VCC 781

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Case No. CR-12-02214

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JADE CODY HARRISON

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	9 April 2013
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Harrison
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2013] VCC 781

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  
Catchwords:            
Legislation Cited:    
Cases Cited:            
Sentence:                

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Ms C. Foot	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms N. Giorgianni

HER HONOUR:

1       Jade Cody Harrison, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of armed robbery and one charge of attempted armed robbery.  The facts underlying this offending are as follows. 

2       At around 3.30 am on the morning of 1 July 2012 you and some other young men were standing around the shops in Langwarrin when you approached a couple, Stephanie Lester and David Wardle, and asked for a cigarette.  Mr Wardle gave you one, you took it back to your friend and they walked away.  About an hour and a half later you and your group were in the same area when you saw this couple walk past back you and you went up and asked for another cigarette, Mr Wardle telling you he had already given you his last one.

3       You then produced a tyre iron and asked Mr Wardle what was in his pockets.  He took out his wallet, which you snatched from his hand and when he asked for it back and asked why you were robbing him you said "What are you going to do about it?"  You then asked Mr Wardle and Ms Lester whether they had mobile phones.  Ms Lester took her Apply iPhone from her pocket and held it in her hand.  You held out her wallet for her to take it back but as she did this you snatched her iPhone from her hand.  Your actions in this regard underlie Charge 1, armed robbery.  You then ran back to your group of friends, you got into a car and left.

4       On 1 August 2012 you admitted to a drug and alcohol counsellor that you had committed this offence and later that day, with the counsellor, spoke on the telephone to Frankston police admitting committing the armed robbery.  At about 11.30 pm on 9 August 2012 you telephoned friends saying you were bored asking them to pick you up from your home in Cranbourne.  You all decided to go and visit another friend in East Bentleigh. 

5       On the way you realised you were lost and decided to pull over and asked for directions.  A taxi driver, Harpreet Singh, had pulled into a Braeside car wash to clean his car when you approached him and asked him to drive you to Bentleigh.  He said he could not and you pulled up your shirt sleeve to show a knife that as concealed there.  This relates to a summary offence: carrying a controlled weapon which was uplifted for hearing in this court and for which you pleaded guilty.  You then demanded Mr Singh give you his wallet and phone but he refused and you pulled the knife out and pointed it at him saying "Give me everything, I will kill you".  Mr Singh grabbed a nearby bucket of water and threw it over you before running to a nearby service station.  Your actions in relation to Mr Singh underlie Charge 2 on the indictment, attempted armed robbery.

6       

You ran back to your friend's car but the registration number was taken by

Mr Singh who passed it to Victoria police.  They found the car owner who told police what you had done.  You were arrested on 15 August 2012 and gave no comment answers to a record of interview in relation to the attempted armed robbery.

7       I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are 21 years old and have been in custody since your arrest mostly at the Melbourne Remand Centre where you have been housed in a protection unit apparently due to a drug debt.  Indeed your counsel informed me that your time there, which has been your first experience of adult custody, has been very difficult.

8       You are the only child of your parents, their relationship ending soon after your birth and you having no contact with your father at all until quite recently when your former partner located him through Facebook leading to two telephone calls between you and he whilst you were on remand.  He then came to court on the plea hearing which is the first time you had seen him.  You hope to have further contact with him once you are released from gaol.

9       Your mother had substance abuse issues and could not care for you and from about the age of three months you were raised by your grandmother, Else Harrison.  You have three half siblings on your mother's side, all with different fathers, an older brother, Nathan, and two younger siblings, Darcy and Jess.  You are of aboriginal descent.  When you were growing up your grandmother moved around a great deal and you attended numerous primary schools and high schools, leaving school partway through Year 10 when you were 16. 

10      

You continued to have a relationship with your mother at one stage going to live with her in your late teens but this soon broke down.  You told

Warren Gardner, the Adult Court Advice Service for Southern Youth Justice, whose report dated 11 December 2012 was tendered on the plea, that you have a good relationship with her as long as the two of you do not live together.  Your grandmother, mother and biological father, whom you had just met, attended the plea hearing on 17 December 2012 along with your then girlfriend and her mother. 

11      You started drinking alcohol when you were 12 and continued this on a casual basis until you were 16 at which time you left home.  Apart from a short period of living with your mother you spent the rest of the time staying in a couch surfing existence with friends and acquaintances.  You were introduced to ice by your peer group when you were 16 and swiftly developed an addiction to it, telling Mr Gardner you had been using it for about five years straight until you were arrested.  Over that time you had about ten or 11 jobs which were mostly short labouring stints except for one job where you worked at a water treatment plant in Carrum for six months.

12      Your criminal history did not start, really, until you left home when you were 16.  Although there was a matter when you were 15 beginning in 2007.  You appeared before the Children's Court many times for driving offences, dishonesty offences such as burglary and theft, charges of recklessly causing injury, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, criminal damage, unlawful assault, armed robbery in 2009, dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, attempted armed robbery, shoplifting, theft of motor vehicle, resisting police, making a threat to kill, criminal damage by fire, that is arson, intentionally destroying and damaging property and along the way have been dealt with extensively by the Youth Justice system. 

13      You have been placed on probation, youth attendance orders, good behaviour bonds and you have breached them all.  In 2010 you were ten sentenced to ten months in a Youth Justice centre on charges of robbery, unlawful assault, theft of motor vehicle and criminal damage by fire.  You have also breached a Youth Parole Order.  In 2011 you first appeared before an adult court being the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on charges on intentionally destroying property and intentionally damage property as well as theft of motor vehicle and you were placed on a six month community-based order with conditions that you undergo programs to reduce offending.  But you failed to comply with that order and you were sentenced to two months imprisonment by the Dandenong Magistrates' Court in September 2011.

14      However on appeal to the Melbourne County Court you were instead placed on a community-based order for 12 months with conditions including unpaid community work, treatment for alcohol and drug addiction and treatment and assessment for medical, psychological or psychiatric problems.  Under this order you also attended the Wagunganaloo Rehabilitation Centre and the Ngwala Willumbong Cooperative which arranged a job in Carrum, which was your most meaningful participation in employment. 

15      You apparently stayed off drugs for some time but then relapsed back into ice use once you were back into the community, that is, once you had left Wagunganaloo.  On both the occasions when you committed the offences that have brought you before this court, you were substance affected.  While in gaol you have continued to be visited by your family and your girlfriend, although that relationship recently ended.  You retain the support of your family which now includes your father.

16      You have had a huge number of chances along the way, Mr Harrison, and you have taken no notice of them at all and you have not taken any advantage of them, at all.  Hence you find yourself sitting in adult gaol.

17      I have received a number of reports which have been compiled since you have been in custody in the Melbourne Remand Centre.  Psychologist David Ball, whose report is dated 12 December 2012 said you impressed as someone with intellectual difficulties and low functioning and he believed you had a substance dependence which was in early full remission in a controlled environment, that is, gaol.  What he means by that is whilst you are in gaol you have come off drugs.

18      He said you presented with a history of "rapid relapse into drug addiction in the community and failure to take advantage of services offered to him".  In other words he said you have got a history of being given chances, of being given orders and then as soon as you are off the order you go back to using ice and offending again.  Psychological testing conducted by Mr Ball on 22 January 2012 showed you have an IQ of 61 which places you very much in the low functioning range. 

19      Dr Rachel Hutchins, a clinical neuro-psychologist working with abias also tested you finding that you function at borderline level across the majority of cognitive domains.  You also apparently suffered a serious head injury when you were five and were diagnosed with ADHD when you were six.  You stayed on medication for this until you were 13.

20      She said you had cognitive difficulties which meant you had impaired ability to think or to make calm and rational choices or to exercise appropriate judgment.  You have memory difficulties, demonstrated impulsivity during the testing and she stated:

"He demonstrated difficulty with self monitoring and correct errors for committing them.  There's cognitive difficulties making him susceptible to responding automatically to aspects of the environment or others without first considering the consequences of his actions or the most appropriate way to respond.  In addition he may not independently recognise when he's made a poor judgment or responded inappropriately.  These difficulties would be exacerbated when under the influence of alcohol or substances."

21      In other words she said you make decisions very quickly and often not on very sound grounds and that the likelihood of you making poor choices goes up when you are either drunk or under the influence of drugs. 

22      

You do, however, have the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of your conduct she found.  She said you showed extreme symptoms of anxiety and distress in the gaol environment.  Metropolitan Remand Youth Work,

Celia Whelan, told Mr Gardner that whilst in the MRC you have been of good behaviour and participated well in activities and attending Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.  Mr Gardner believed that you were at risk in gaol setting because you are small, you look about 15 or 16 and indeed you have a number of difficulties there which I will refer to later. 

23      Significantly in my view you told Mr Gardner you did not properly appreciate the opportunities you have been given by Juvenile Justice in the past and you said that Juvenile Justice was "heaps nicer" than Community Corrections whom you came into contact with when you were on the community-based order.

24      You turned 21 in December 2012 whilst in remand and this means you are no longer eligible for placement in the Youth Justice Centre or for being dealt with by Juvenile Justice so you have blown that, Mr Harrison, it is gone now.  You have simply got too old.

25      Your offending was very serious and the last time you appeared before me I made the comment that you have offended so much in the same way and breached so many non-custodial orders that you have really reached the stage where all the court is going to be worried now is protecting the community from you.  Every time you go out you do harm to another human being.

26      My first reaction to your offending was simply to deal with you by way of a sentence of imprisonment.  Mr Ball believed that adult prison was not going to be helpful or appropriate for your rehabilitation and he believed that options other than adult prison should be considered, such as a community corrections order with the supervision, support and monitoring and structured treatment that it offers.

27      Dr Hutchins believed that you struggled with aspects of the prison system and indeed I have been informed that you have struggled.  You have problems with behaving impulsively if provoked by others.  You have problems with making errors or breaking prison rules without being aware that you have done this.  She regarded the impact of the prison environment on your mood, that is the extremely severe symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress that she saw as being of significant concern.

28      She thought it was very important that you receive treatment for your issues with mood and anxiety and she said you told her that you got significant benefits from your previous involvement with the Wagunganaloo Learning Program so that a return there could assist you in providing the supported transition back into the community which she strongly believes you need.   Your counsel told me that you can return to the Wagunganaloo Learning Program and it would seem that that would be both to your benefit and to the community generally.

29      After anxious consideration I have decided that overall the best way of dealing with you for the community's benefit is to sentence you to term of imprisonment for three months and then release you on a community corrections order.  It seems to me that your difficult and unhappy experience in adult prison may make you more receptive to taking the advantage of the opportunities offered to you by a community corrections order and has been the case in the past.

30      Certainly it is my view that in the long run a sentence of imprisonment is not going to help you deal with the problems that have led to your offending in the first place and the best way to address these issues and at the same time protect the community from your offending in the future is to place you on a community corrections order.

31      I have had you assessed for an order and you have been found suitable.  Obviously the community corrections officer was very concerned about your failure to abide by the orders in the past.  I accept that the offending that has brought you here before this court was impulsive and somewhat in line with your intellectual difficulties.  I accept that it was of brief duration, was at the lower end of the scale insofar as such offences are concerned but it was very serious offending, Mr Harrison. 

32      The victim impact statements from the those you offended against make it clear you really had a big impact upon them.  They do not feel safe on the streets, their lives do not feel as enjoyable, they are scared going out.  You subjected them to a very nasty experience indeed,  for no reason at all.  They were simply people going about their ordinary business and they do not deserve to have someone behaving like a punk, as you were, going up and threatening them with tyre levers and knives and threat to kill, it was appalling and disgraceful behaviour.

33 You are no longer, as I have said, to be placed in a Youth Justice Centre but you are still a young offender for the purpose of the Sentencing Act so that rehabilitation has a larger role to play in the sentencing exercise before me.

34      I am anxious to take advantage of the fact that you find adult prison uncomfortable and difficult and that you have been made to appreciate that you have wasted opportunities in the past.  I note that in relation to the armed robbery you confessed to what you did to your drug and alcohol counsellor, which is to your advantage and you further went on to confess to police.  The actions of the taxi driver in relation to charge 2 led you to swiftly abandon your attempted armed robbery of him. 

35      Further, as I have said, you have intellectual difficulties which is part of the overall mix of mitigatory factors that have led me to the view that a term of imprisonment is not particularly appropriate in your case.  You entered a plea of guilty in relation to both charges at an early stage.  Because of those factors I have decided to take the course that I have.

36      I am going to place you on a community corrections order for two years.  I absolutely stress to you, Mr Harrison, that this is your last chance.  If you breach this community corrections order you will come straight back in front of me and I will not hesitate to send you to gaol.

37      You have a long history of violent and dishonest offending and it means that unless you change your ways and abide by the conditions of the community corrections order and truly attend to the drug problems what you have then you are going to face a future where you are going to spend years and years in gaol. 

38      What this means is its is crunch time for you, Mr Harrison.  You have got to make a decision about whether you want to straighten out your life or not.  Your prior convictions are so bad that if you muck this up, if you offend in the future no court is going to be interested in doing anything other than sending you to gaol.  Have you got that clear?

39      PRISONER:  Yes, Your Honour.

40      HER HONOUR:  If you breach this order, if you do not do what they say, if you commit another offence, if you start using drugs again you will breach the CCO and you will come in front of me.  I will have my sentencing remarks, I will not forget you.  You breach the order I will re-sentence you on this armed robbery and I will send you to gaol for years.  All right?  Not months, years.  Have you got it?

41      PRISONER:  Yes, Your Honour.

42      HER HONOUR:  I can promise you, you will be looking at a minimum of 18 months to two years in gaol if you much this order up.  Adult gaol and possibly more because if you offend you will have a further sentence on top of that.  You can decide if you want to go back to gaol, which you hate so much or you can pull your finger out and do something about the ice problem.

43      You have clearly had a pretty reasonable upbringing despite the problems.  You did not start offending until you left your grandmother's.  You have got lots of family support.  I see kids come in here and they have got no-one.  You have got lots of family support.  You have had lots and lots of chances. 

44      You have caused so much damage and harm along the way.  You have frightened people, you have made their lives less safe.  People who have never done anything to hurt you.  You have made lots of people's lives a lot more miserable than they need to have been.  How would you feel if someone held up your grandmother the way you held up the people you have?  How would you like it if someone pulled a tire lever on your grandmother?

45      PRISONER:  I would not like it at all.

46      HER HONOUR:  No you would not like it.  Or someone did that to your sister or your mum.

47      PRISONER:  No I wouldn't.

48      HER HONOUR:  No.  Can you imagine how upset they would be afterwards.  Can you imagine your grandmother feeling "look, I can't go down the shops anymore, I'm too scared.  In case some young punk and marauds me" the way you did that to them.

49      PRISONER:  Yes.

50      HER HONOUR:  Can you imagine what it would be like?  That is exactly what you have done.  You have done it over and over and over.  You have hurt people.  You have made their lives sadder.  They have had problems with fear and security that they never had before you came into their lives.  You have just done nothing but cause destruction.  All because of this stupid drug.

51      All right, I am going to sentence you to three months imprisonment on Charge 1 and Charge 1 and I am going to order on each of the case at the end of that three months you are to be released on a community corrections order for two years.

52      Now I am just telling you: anything happens, anything at all, bring your toothbrush, I will put you in gaol.  You do not turn up, you do not keep appointments, you do not attend to your drug problem, you decide Wagunganaloo is just, you know, because they are nice and they are not going to make you stay there you are just going to head off with your mates - just understand that a few nice days with your mates but at the end of it is gaol.

53      This is your absolute last chance and I have to say I thought and thought and thought about it.  When I saw you last time I left the Bench and thought, no, he is going in.  Why should the community put up with this?  The only reason I am doing this is because it is to the community's benefit that you mend your ways.  If you start knocking around with any of these idiot mates who are using ice, again, it is straight to gaol and you are looking at a long, long serve in front of me. 

54      This is what; your fourth, fifth appearance on robbery, armed robbery, theft with violence type of problems?  Not interested, Mr Harrison. This is it, end of the line. Absolutely end of the line.  Like I said I will have all these sentencing remarks in front of me.  You put a toenail out line, you are back in front of me and you will be going to gaol. I could not make it any clearer.

55      All right now I cannot place you on a community corrections order.  You can stand you-up, please sir.  I cannot place you on a community corrections order without your consent.  I need to explain to you the fundamental core conditions that apply.

56      I declare that the three months has already been served by way of pre-sentence - what is his pre-sentence detention to date?

57      MS GIORGIANNI:  115 days, Your Honour.

58      HER HONOUR:  All right. So it is three months and I declare that has been served by way of pre-sentence detention.  Fundamental conditions, that you must report to the community corrections centre within two clear working days having being placed on this order.  That is by Friday, the address of it will be placed on the form that you will be given.

59      Second, you must not, whilst on this order, commit any offence whether inside or outside of Victoria and I mean if you knock off a box of matches, Mr Harrison, that is offending.  Nothing, nothing.  Using ice is offending so nothing.  Anything like that you will have breached the order.  Third, you must report to and receive visits from the community corrections officer.  Fourth, you must abide by the lawful directions of the community corrections officer.  Fifth, if there is any change of address or employment you must inform the community corrections officer within 48 hours.  Sixth, you may not leave Victoria without the permission of the community corrections officer.  Have you got that?

60      PRISONER:  Yes, Your Honour.

61      HER HONOUR:  All right.  Special conditions.  I an going to order that you perform 200 hours of unpaid community work.  I am going to order that you attend for assessment and treatment for drug and alcohol problems.  I am going to order that you receive programs designed to reduce re-offending.  I am going to order that you attend and receive assessment for psychological difficulties.  Now can I order that as a condition that you - because I want you to go straight to Wagunganaloo as well.  You are to reside at the Wagunganaloo Rehabilitation Centre.

62      PRISONER:  Do I have to stay there today or do I go on Friday?

63      HER HONOUR:  Pretty much as soon as you can, yes.  The family lives down in that area?

64      PRISONER:  My Nan lives in Moe.

65      HER HONOUR:  Pardon?

66      PRISONER:  Moe, near - - -

67      HER HONOUR:  All right, that's fine.  Wagunganaloo's in Gippsland, that will not cause you too much trouble, will it?

68      PRISONER:  No.

69      HER HONOUR:  All right and you are going to be living at Nan's?

70      PRISONER:  Until I got to Wagunganaloo, yeah.

71      HER HONOUR:  Good.  So are to reside at Wagunganaloo until directed.  You are to go right through their program.

72      PRISONER:  Yes.

73      HER HONOUR:  I am quite sure your family is sick to death.  You must be so tired of coming to court for him?

74      PRISONER:  Yeah.

75      HER HONOUR:  It makes so much difference having them here.  They have shown so much loyalty to you.  If the court knows that someone in front of them has got a family that makes a big difference.  So they have trooped along, making all this effort - how many times must they have been to court?  Dozens I would say.

76      PRISONER:  Yeah.

77      HER HONOUR:  You know, grow up.  Stop being such a nuisance.  Pull yourself together and having you in gaol, poor old Nan has to just pop along.  You know it is awful what you do to other people the way you live.  All because of ice.  All right now is there any other conditions I can put in?  I think that is the lot.  Yes, you will be under the supervision of the community corrections order and I will be ordering a report every three months from the Office of Corrections so that I can keep an eye on how you are going.  All right?

78      PRISONER:  Yep.

79      HER HONOUR:  Every three months I will get a report from the Office of Corrections saying "we're over Mr Harrison, he's going nothing".  All right?

80      PRISONER:  Yep.

81      HER HONOUR:  Got it?

82      PRISONER:  Yeah, I got it.

83      HER HONOUR:  So there will no "Beauty, I won't be seeing her for a while".  I will be keeping tabs on you.  Big Brother has entered your life; have you got it?

84      PRISONER:  Yes, Your Honour.

85      HER HONOUR:  I will also order that as part of the judicial supervision you are to appear before me at the end of one year so we can have a little chat about how you are going.  You and I have had a lot of contact, Mr Harrison, and I am waiting to send you back to gaol, let me tell you.  Absolutely waiting.  The happy old days of Juvenile Justice giving you another chance are over.  You much up - and you decide one night you cannot cope anymore: "bad luck, I can't do it, I've got to have some ice, I don't care, back I go to court", once you have come down off the big high and here you are standing at the back of the court, Mr Harrison - have a think about that because that is what will happen.  Have you got it very clear?

86      PRISONER:  It goes through my head every day.

87      HER HONOUR:  Pardon?

88      PRISONER:  It goes through my head every day.

89      HER HONOUR:  What goes through your head every day?

90      PRISONER:  Seeing my family go down and that cos of me.

91      HER HONOUR:  Yes, yes.  You are thinking about - you know how sometimes you get out and it is all hard and one night you decide "I can't stand it anymore, where's my old mates - - -

92      PRISONER:  I've learned my lesson, Your Honour.

93      HER HONOUR:  - - - get me some - "  You have learned your lesson?  We will see.  I have yet to be convinced.  It is very easy to say "I've learned my lesson" and you are sitting in gaol and you hate it.  We will see.  I will believe you have learnt your lesson when I hear reports saying "Gosh, Jade's a changed boy.  He never uses ice, he's good to his Nan, he's got a job, he's stayed out of trouble".  That is when I will believe you have learnt your lesson.  You have got a long way to go. 

94      PRISONER:  Yes.

95      HER HONOUR:  Like I said, last chance.  The last chance saloon is where you are today.  All right, enough.  Thank you, have a seat, we will prepare the form.  Now there was one other, there was - - -

96      MS FOOT:  It was a 464ZF order, Your Honour.

97      HER HONOUR:  Section 464ZF and I failed to sentence him in relation to the uplifted charge which was possess - - -

98      MS FOOT:  An unlawful weapon.

99      HER HONOUR:  Unlawful weapon.  Yes I will sentence him to seven days imprisonment in relation to that to be served concurrently.

100     MS FOOT:  There was also an order or an application for compensation in relation to the iPhone, Your Honour, the total of $679.

101     HER HONOUR:  Look, I don't see much point.  I don't think Mr Harrison is going to be - - -

102     MS FOOT:  I'm simply making the application so maybe - - -

103     HER HONOUR:  Yes I know.  Poor people, why should they have to fork out $679 because some little punk comes up and knocks off their phone.  Yes I will make the application and when he starts making some money he can start paying them back, $10 per week or something.  It is called being grown up and meeting your responsibilities.

104     MS FOOT:  Your Honour, before Your Honour signs those orders the 464 order is, I believe, the ones that were handed up was for a custodial sentence.

105     HER HONOUR:  Yes, I've noticed that. 

106     MS FOOT:  I will send through amended orders, Your Honour.

107     HER HONOUR:  That's fine.

108     MS FOOT:  Thank you.

109     HER HONOUR:  I am going to order that police be allowed to take a - stand up please, Mr Harrison.  That police take an intimate sample which will be they will swab your mouth.  I need to inform you that if you resist this procedure police are entitled to use reasonable force in obtaining the sample.  All right?  So I will ultimately be signing a form which means you have to attend on a police station to allow them to do that.

110     PRISONER:  Can I please ask a question?

111     HER HONOUR:  I beg your pardon?

112     PRISONER:  Can I just ask you a question?

113     HER HONOUR:  Yes.

114     PRISONER:  With my property with the police - now that I've got sentenced, am I allowed to collect that?

115     HER HONOUR:  What's that?

116     PRISONER:  Am I allowed to collect my property from the police station?

117     HER HONOUR:  What property's that?

118     PRISONER:  They've got my phone and that and my hat - - -

119     HER HONOUR:  You've got a phone but your poor old victim hasn't; is that right? Is it an iPhone?

120     PRISONER:  Yes it is.

121     HER HONOUR:  What about giving them your iPhone?

122     PRISONER:  It's pretty broken.

123     HER HONOUR:  Is it?  Yes all right, you can pick it up.  What else have you got?

124     PRISONER:  No, that's it.

125     HER HONOUR:  That's it.  It's a matter for you.  I mean I can't make orders, you'd need to discuss that with your solicitor.  Not terrific not having a phone; is it?  No.  Have a seat.  Yes, terrific, we'll get you to sign this.  What's the date today?

126     MS FOOT:  The 9th, Your Honour.

127     HER HONOUR:  All right.  Now good luck, Mr Harrison, don't be a foolish boy and make a mistake about this.  All right?  This is a real opportunity for you.

128     PRISONER:  It is, Your Honour, thank you.

129     HER HONOUR:  It's not just going to be - now, it's going to affect years of your life.  You get through this you'll lead a decent life.  You don't you'll be going to gaol.

130     PRISONER:  Yes, I understand.

131     HER HONOUR:  You're right at the crossroads: it's gaol or not.  All right?  Ice means gaol.

132     PRISONER:  Yeah I know that.

133     HER HONOUR:  You now know that?

134     PRISONER:  Yes I do.

135     HER HONOUR:  We'll see.  All right then, thank you very much.  I think that's everything.  I've signed the - I'll wait to receive the other orders.

136     MS FOOT:  Your Honour, just a 6AAA declaration.

137     HER HONOUR:  Pursuant to s.6AAA I declare - no, no, sorry.  You can't talk to him while he's in the dock in the court; all right?  Pursuant to s.6AAA I declare that had Mr Harrison not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced him to a term of imprisonment of three years and ordered that he serve an 18 month minimum term.

138     MS FOOT:  As Your Honour pleases.

139     MS GIORGIANNI:  As Your Honour pleases.

140     HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  You're in the big league now?

141     PRISONER:  Thank you, Your Honour.

142     HER HONOUR:  That's all right.  Just, you know, don't let me see you here again.

143     PRISONER:  You won't.

144     HER HONOUR:  I hope not.  I really hope not.  I hope for your Nan's sake and your family's sake and for your sake that I never see you again, Mr Harrison.

145     PRISONER:  You won't.

146     HER HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you, we will stand down until 10.30

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