Director of Public Prosecutions v Hogan

[2023] VCC 1538

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

Case No. CR-22-00043

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

CHRISTINE HOGAN

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE ELLIS
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	15 August 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 August 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hogan
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1538

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:              one charge of theft- plea of guilty- in the course of employment- breach of trust-no prior criminal history-limited remorse-very good prospect of rehabilitation;

Legislation Cited:      Criminal Procedure Act 2009, Crimes Act 1958;

Cases Cited:DPP v Chapman [2016] VCC 231; DPP v Wilson [2016] VCC 89; DPP v Scott [2017] VCC 1907, DPP v Ritchie [2017] VCC 780, DPP v Hosking [2018] VCC 1192, DPP v Moeller [2018] VCC 248, DPP v Kashani [2019] VCC 1669; R v Galletta [2007] VSCA 177; DPP v Truong [2004] VSCA 172; R v Racky [2003] VSCA 196; R v Rivkin [2004] NSWCCA 7 [410], Boulton v The Queen [2014] 46 VR 308;

Sentence:                  Community Correction Order for a period of two and a half years

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms S. Tatas	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr G. Chipkin	Robinson Gill Lawyers

HER HONOUR:

1Christine Hogan, on 8 August 2023, after receiving submissions at an earlier hearing, I granted your application for a sentence indication. I indicated that, should you plead guilty to one charge of theft, then pursuant to section 207(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 I would impose a sentence of a specified type, that being a non-custodial sentence with no immediate term of imprisonment. You then pleaded guilty later that day on arraignment.

2Ms Hogan, you have now pleaded guilty to one charge of theft contrary to section 74 of the Crimes Act 1958, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment. This is a course of conduct charge.

Circumstances of Offending

3The circumstances of your offending were set out in a document of Agreed Facts dated 7 August 2023, tendered on the Plea as Exhibit A.

4The offending took place over the span of some five years, between 14 March 2012 and 14 March 2017, when you were aged between 57 and 62 years and employed by a family friend, Phillip Nam.

5Mr Nam owned and operated a business contracting out to real estate agents to erect signs. You began working for him in 2009 undertaking bookkeeping duties. You remained in his employ for approximately eight years.

6In essence, your offending consisted of you either overstating or falsifying expense entries in Mr Nam's accounts, understating the amount of money coming into his account, recording unjustified funds transfers to another bank or transferring money via internet banking from Mr Nam's Commonwealth Bank Goalsaver account, directly into your personal National Australia Bank ('NAB') account.

7By way of background, you first met Mr Nam through your husband, Gary Hogan almost 30 years ago. At that time your husband was working as a real estate agent for Barry Plant Real Estate in Doncaster East. Through his work your husband became acquainted with Mr Nam and they soon became friends. During this period you and your husband would regularly socialise with Mr Nam.

8Meanwhile, you were operating your own book-keeping business in which you were contracted by various businesses and clients. In around 2009, you began working for the complainant and were initially employed to complete the billing and taxation component of his business which saw you sending out invoices to clients and preparing quarterly business statements.

9Initially, you agreed to work between 10 to 12 hours per month, at an agreed rate of approximately $25 per hour, which was in line with the hours worked by his former bookkeeper, Leanne Highmore. There was no formal arrangement for the employment and you did not have a formal contract with Mr Nam, apart from the initial arrangement.

10In the beginning, you recorded business transactions using the 'QuickBooks' accounting software. At this stage Mr Nam did not monitor his bank account balances.

11Some time later, once you had gained the trust of Mr Nam, you were given access to his bank accounts. Having been provided with the username and login details you had complete access to the complainant's finances. Mr. Nam was not computer literate, worked long hours himself and did not have time to transfer money between his bank accounts. You were only authorised to use his bank account for business purposes.

12Over time the work you completed for Mr Nam evolved, including but not limited to, ensuring clients were paying their accounts, recording business transactions, sending out monthly statements and managing daily banking transactions, organising payments to suppliers and external service providers and organising and paying wages, superannuation and WorkCover for employees. It was your responsibility to debit your own pay from the bank account of the complainant as you were the only person doing these tasks for the business.

13You communicated with Mr Nam either via telephone or email. You did not work from the complainant's factory. Occasionally, Mr Nam would drop work off to your home.

14In time Mr Nam's presence in your social life grew. He would be at your house frequently, attended your families' functions, such as engagement parties, weddings and christenings.

15In or around the year leading up to the discovery of the offending, Mr Nam began to realise that certain bookkeeping tasks were not being completed on time, namely, paying employees' superannuation, the provision of employee pay slips and the provision of employee group certificates.

16At this stage the complainant was frequently contacting you, often when he was at suppliers' premises as there would be insufficient funds in his account to make business payments. In response, you would tell Mr Nam that his accounts were behind and that you would then transfer money in between his accounts. This included transferring money from Mr Nam's retirement fund into his business account. This confused the complainant as his workload had not decreased.

17In August 2016, the Australian Taxation Office ('ATO') contacted Mr Nam. He was advised that the 'Summary Statement for Contractors' had not been submitted for the periods 2014 to 2016. As a result the ATO were threating to fine him unless they were completed. When Mr Nam questioned you as to why these were not prepared you told him that you had completed the documents but would do them again.

18The ATO continued to contact Mr Nam, informing him that the statements were yet to be submitted. Eventually, around April or May 2017, Mr Nam received a $900 fine from the ATO for failing to lodge the statements. After making further enquires Mr Nam discovered that the reason for the infringement was because you had not followed the appropriate procedures. Eventually the complainant asked his accountant to liaise with the ATO.

19On around 27 June 2017, Mr Nam decided that he should, in his words, 'part company' with you. This conversation occurred over the phone. During this call the complainant asked you how much money he had in his bank account and you told him $9,000. Mr. Nam thought that this must have been incorrect, expecting that there would be much more money in his account. Mr Nam then re‑engaged Ms Highmore to assist with his bookkeeping.

Discovery of Offending

20On 28 June 2017 the complainant called his bank to enquire about his recent banking activity. He was informed that a payment of $1,463 was made to you on 27 June 2017 and that there were multiple payments made into the same bank account in your name. Finding this odd and excessive, further enquires were made and more unusual transactions were discovered of bank transfers into a NAB account in your name.

21Immediately after the discoveries Mr Nam contacted you via telephone and arranged for you to meet. You met in early July 2017 and he raised that a significant amount of money had been transferred from his bank account into your account. You apologised immediately and seemed, in his words, 'freaked out'. Your first response was that you had not charged Mr Nam for work for a long time. Mr Nam asked you to tell him if you were taking money from his account. In response you told him that you would write out an account for him. The complainant was confused by this response.

22Mr Nam asked you what the transfers were for. You explained to him that the payment consisted of $350 per month for your employment, plus an additional amount for completing the quarterly BAS statements. In reality you transferred a significantly greater amount than $350 per month.

23The next day Mr Nam went to the Commonwealth Bank and made additional enquiries into all bank transfers into accounts with your name. He also tasked Ms Highmore to search through his bank account and line up all transactions with the QuickBooks accounting software.

24It was discovered that you had been making transfers into your bank account under the guise of making payment to Mr Nam's business suppliers and external service providers.

25After making these enquires, Mr Nam called you with an initial estimate of monetary figures that you had transferred into your account. He believed that there was approximately $16,000 worth of funds that were unaccounted for. You told him: 'I didn't think I had taken that much'. You then arranged to meet with Mr Nam in person at a cafe in Kew.

26Some time prior to the meeting Ms Highmore contacted Mr Nam and advised him that she had estimated that there were considerable funds unaccounted for and that you had transferred approximately $50,000 in the past 12 to 14 months.

27Around 7 July 2017 you and Mr Nam met at the café in Kew as planned. You were crying and apologetic. You told Mr Nam that you were completely responsible, stating that your husband, Gary, was completely unaware of what you had done. At this stage you told Mr Nam you would sell your jewellery and cash in your superannuation to pay him back.

28Mr Nam gave you an estimated figure of the amount that you owed him at the time, whilst noting that he was still working through his financial accounts and it could very possibly be more. You did not dispute or query the estimate. You offered to pay the complainant between $1,000 to $2,000 per month in order to repay the amount that was taken. You even suggested that you would get another job to pay the money back sooner. At this point Mr Nam had already reported the matter to police and you were informed that he had done so. You pleaded with Mr Nam not to report the matter. Evidently, it was too late.

29About two days after this meeting you made a payment of $1,000 into his bank account, as he had requested your most recent transfer from his account of $1,463 be returned. About two weeks later you paid a further $1,500 into his bank account.

30Some time later you met with Mr Nam again, still trying to convince him of your proposal to pay him back. At this stage Mr Nam had calculated that the amount owing was in the realm of $100,000. He told you he wanted the entire figure back in one lump sum payment. He also told you that he wanted two watches that he had previously gifted you, returned. These were returned on 26 July 2017.

31It was later discovered that on 16 and 17 July 2017 you made 12 changes to the complainant's QuickBooks business records in what can only be seen as an attempt to cover your tracks.

32Although Mr Nam first complained to police in July 2017, police executed a search warrant on your home a year later on 13 July 2018. During this search, police discovered four pay slip receipts highlighting that you were purportedly being paid $25 per hour.

33A search warrant was also executed on your bank accounts. A forensic accountant examined your accounts and statements, as well as those owned by Mr Nam, and identified a series of thefts committed by you during your period of employment.

34You were interviewed by police on 13 July 2018. You provided an account that you received pay commensurate with the work that you had undertaken for Mr Nam and that all the funds you transferred into your bank account were on the direction of the complainant. You told police that you would reimburse the majority of the funds to him in cash in an attempt to evade tax. You told police that there were numerous 'computer issues'.

35Further examination of your bank account shows that no such cash withdrawals were ever made to purportedly repay the complainant.

Procedural History

36You were charged with this offending on 6 December 2020. A contested committal hearing took place over two days in November 2021 and January 2022. The matter was set down for trial on 8 August 2023. On that day you sought a sentence indication. The following day you accepted the court's indication that the ultimate penalty would not involve one of immediate imprisonment but bearing in mind that a wholly suspended sentence is available given the date of the offending. You have not spent any time in custody for this offending.

Prior Criminal History

37You have no prior criminal history.

Victim Impact

38Mr Nam has provided a victim impact statement which was tendered on the plea as Exhibit B. Mr Nam read aloud his statement in court. Needless to say, it is very evident that Mr Nam has been profoundly affected by the gross breach of trust that he had placed in you, both personally and financially. Not only has he lost a significant amount of money, which he had intended to use for his retirement, but he feels hurt by the betrayal of the friendship he thought he had with you. Mr Nam expresses how he has lost years off his retirement and that as a result of your offending he has had to work for an additional 18 months.

39Mr Nam expressed how your offending left a 'large gap in his life', given the significant role you and your husband played in his life for many years. He now feels that the 'whole relationship with you was false' and he has struggled to come to terms with the offending.

40I take into account the impact that your offending has had on Mr. Nam.

Personal Circumstances

41You are now aged 68 years old. You were born in Calcutta, India, where you lived for your first 11 years with your parents and four siblings. You described your upbringing as a 'positive experience', spending each Sunday at church with your family. Your father was a strict disciplinarian and would discipline you and your siblings if you ever misbehaved. Your family was in the business of running hotels, in particular the Great Eastern Hotel in Calcutta, and you were well cared for.

42Between the ages of five to 11 you were sent to a boarding school at the Loretto Convent in Darjeeling with your older sister and would only go home to your family for holidays. Your two younger siblings attended a local school in Calcutta.

43You and your family migrated to Australia in 1966 when you were 11 years old, due to concerns about the nationalisation of private businesses. Your family initially moved in Sydney, however, eventually settled in Melbourne in 1967 after your parents found employment managing a hotel in St Kilda.

44You excelled academically at school; you were house captain during your senior years and an avid debater competing in the Victorian debating team in 1969 and 1970.

45After school you received a scholarship to study a Diploma of Education at La Trobe University, which you did not complete. Instead, you decided to pursue a career in hotel management and undertook an internship at a hotel on Exhibition Street in Melbourne. You continued working in this field until the late 1990s.

46You met your husband, Gary, at La Trobe University in 1971. You were friends long before you began dating and eventually married in 1977. Together, you have two children who are now in their 30s. Your pregnancy with your eldest was difficult and resulted in an emergency C-section. This was a traumatic experience. Following the birth of your second child you fell into post-natal depression and were admitted to the Grey Sisters Mother and Child Care Centre where you stayed for three weeks.

47In 2000, you undertook training in QuickBooks and the MYOB software. Once you completed this training you began to work as a bookkeeper for various businesses and clients.

48You have worked for your longest client, Ms Pauline McKinnon and her late husband, since 2000. Ms McKinnon provided a character reference, highlighting your work ethic when working with her over the past 20 or so years. Although your counsel has referred to extra curial punishment, given that you have lost your employment and your professional reputation will inevitably be tainted, this does not appear to have eventuated in the case of Ms McKinnon.

49From 2014 to 2018, your 92-year-old mother-in-law came to live with you and your husband and you took on responsibilities caring for her. She was frail and suffered from dementia. She ultimately passed away in 2018. You reportedly spent hours looking after her and attending upon her.

50You enjoy a good relationship with both of your sons and now with your grandchildren. Your youngest son currently lives in Dubai with his family and you have been unable to visit him or to meet your youngest grandchild due to restrictions on your ability to travel overseas as a result of your bail conditions. Your family remains supportive and they have prepared character references attesting to your hardworking and loyal nature. You are described as a loving and dedicated wife, extraordinary mother, grandmother and friend. Your husband speaks of your hard work, integrity and your long-standing good reputation in the community. Ms McKinnon considers you to be a person of impeccable character, professional integrity and she describes you as intelligent, reliable and diligent with exceptional ethical standards.

51Another friend, Ms March, describes you as an honest and kind-hearted person who has been instrumental in starting up the Deep Creek Childcare Centre, heavily involved as a manager of your child's sports teams when they were younger and having held many responsibilities within local clubs. It is apparent from Ms March's reference that she is unaware that you have pleaded guilty to these charges and indeed refers to the toll your alleged offending has had on you. But the reality is that it is a consequence entirely of your own making. Nevertheless, I take into account that you have been a contributing member of the community and have worked hard to raise a loving and happy family.

52Your counsel, Mr Chipkin submitted that you have been diagnosed by a psychologist with symptoms consistent with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although your counsel anticipated that a comprehensive psychological report might be provided to explore the basis for a submission that principles in R v Verdins[1] might be enlivened, no such submission was ultimately made and no reports have been tendered regarding your psychological state. I therefore do not take this matter into account other than to note that your referees also referred you having experienced significant difficulties associated with these proceedings.

[1] [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 240.

Nature and Gravity of Offending

53Your offending here involved a gross breach of trust. You committed this theft in the course of your employment, systematically and repetitively, over a long period. You were in a position of trust which you exploited by means of regular and deliberate acts of dishonesty. There was a degree of planning involved and ultimately you derived significant financial benefit. Your offending warrants the court's condemnation and it is important that the sentence that I impose deter you, and others who may be inclined to act in a similar way.

54Mr Chipkin has submitted that many of the transactions you made were a genuine reimbursement for legitimate work performed by you outside the scope of the monthly retainer. Your counsel submits that whilst you were working for Mr Nam you felt that your responsibilities to him and the overtime you were putting in had become more onerous and oppressive. It was submitted that Mr Nam would call and text you at all hours and that he would turn up to your house unannounced and uninvited. In a character reference written by your husband it is alleged that Mr Nam would be at your house 'five to six times per week…on the pretext that he would be dropping off work for Christine'. In your husband's words, Mr Nam's presence was 'unwelcome and relentless'.

55By your plea of guilty, however, you accept that you did indeed steal a considerable amount of money from Mr Nam, money to which you may have felt entitled by virtue of the volume and frequency of work you were performing, but rather than discuss your concerns as to whether you were being adequately reimbursed for your time and work, you chose to take matters into your own hands and abuse the trust placed in you.

56Of course, it can be difficult when someone is employed by a friend with whom they regularly socialise, to know where the boundaries lie. Your counsel submits that you found yourself unable to say no to further work given the friendship that you both had with Mr Nam, that this in turn caused you to place significant pressure upon yourself to fulfil all that was required of you, whether this was what Mr Nam had intended or not. In any case, this does not in any way excuse your conduct.

57Your counsel has explained that the money was essentially used to pay credit cards and mortgage repayments. You have repaid only a very small amount of what is owed to Mr Nam and I understand that you have reached an agreement for a payment plan. The court takes into account efforts made to repay the money. Your counsel submits that you have been unable to make further payments due to much of your money being tied up in your home, which is currently subject to a restraining order.

Delay

58The offending occurred between March 2012 and March 2017. It was not detected until mid-2017 and you were not charged until December 2020. It is unclear why there was such a delay other than that the investigative process took some time. I accept that these proceedings have, in effect, been hanging over your head for some time since you were first interviewed. I note, however, that some of the delay is partly attributable to you electing to contest the charges. During the five-year period since you were interviewed you have not re-offended and I take this into account.

Plea of Guilty

59I take into account your plea of guilty. This was not a plea of guilty entered at an early stage. As I have said, the matter proceeded with a contested committal and it was only upon indication from the court, on the eve of the trial, that you entered a plea of guilty.

60Nevertheless, your plea of guilty demonstrates a willingness to facilitate the course of justice and is of considerable utilitarian value. You have spared the community and witnesses the time and expense of having to give evidence at trial.

61Furthermore, your plea has an added value given that it was entered during a period in which the court is still facing a backlog of trials. As the Court of Appeal articulated in Worboyes v The Queen,[2]  your plea is worthy of greater weight in mitigation than a similar plea entered at a time when the community and courts are not afflicted by the pandemic's effects. As a result, your plea should result in a perceptible amelioration of sentence.

[2] [2021] VSCA 169.

62However, I am not convinced that you are overly remorseful for your offending, rather, for the situation in which you now find yourself. Perhaps this is a product of your late plea of guilty and a reluctance to accept responsibility for your actions. Indeed, your character referees, who I note all prepared references at a time when you had not yet entered a plea of guilty, each speak of the impact the legal proceedings have had on you. They carry a theme of identifying you as a victim of some sort of injustice, pointing to the supposedly excessive demands of Mr Nam and the chaotic nature of his paperwork. In fact, your character references seem to unfairly point to Mr Nam placing pressure on you and noting the power dynamic and relationship imbalance.

63On the one hand the disbelief that you could offend in this way is consistent with the high regard in which you are held by your family and friends. On the other, it speaks of your own reticence to admit that you have committed a significant theft. Nevertheless, none of the character referees reflect any expression of remorse made by you. When assessed by corrections you indicated that you took full responsibility for your behaviour stating you had made 'a lot of mistakes', but you were unable to verbalise the reasoning behind your offending.

Prospects of Rehabilitation

64You come before the court, as I have said, with no prior criminal history. Although you have been assessed as a medium risk of reoffending by Corrections, it is not entirely clear why you have been assessed at this level.  As I have said, I am concerned that you have been slow to take full responsibility for your offending and have not really displayed any degree of remorse. However, you have the support of a stable and loving family and given your age and lack of prior criminal history, I consider that your prospects of rehabilitation are very good.

65When sentencing on a course of conduct charge, as is the case here, a court must sentence within the maximum penalty for the charged offence but must also reflect the totality of the offender's conduct. In passing sentence, I take into account that your offending occurred over a lengthy period of time, that it did involve deliberate acts of dishonesty, that your offending was not isolated or opportunistic but involved a degree of planning and repeated conduct with the objective of obtaining substantial sums of money.

Sentencing Purposes & Principles

66There are a number of basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence, namely just punishment, both specific and general deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community. In determining an appropriate sentence, I am required to take into account these objectives as well as various other matters including the gravity of the offending, your culpability, the impact on the victim and your personal circumstances.

67General deterrence looms large in offending of this type. Those who might be inclined to steal from their employer must understand that such conduct will not be tolerated. The importance of general deterrence in white collar crimes was emphasised in DPP (Cth) v Gregory,[3] whereby the court observed:

'Moreover, general deterrence is likely to have a more profound effect in the case of white collar criminals. White collar criminals are likely to be rational, profit seeking individuals who can weigh the benefits of committing a crime against the costs of being caught and punished. Further, white collar criminals are also more likely to be first time offenders who fear the prospect of incarceration.'

[3] [2011] VSCA 145 [53].

68Although you have no prior criminal history, specific deterrence is not an irrelevant consideration here.

69I have also had regard to current sentencing practices. I was referred to a number of County Court and appellate cases during the sentence indication hearing, although self-evidently every case is different. Those cases have been illustrative of the way in which other cases involving similarly large quantities have been dealt with by the courts.[4]

[4] DPP v Chapman [2016] VCC 231; DPP v Wilson [2016] VCC 89; DPP v Scott [2017] VCC 1907, DPP v Ritchie [2017] VCC 780, DPP v Hosking [2018] VCC 1192, DPP v Moeller [2018] VCC 248, DPP v Kashani [2019] VCC 1669; R v Galletta [2007] VSCA 177; DPP v Truong [2004] VSCA 172; R v Racky [2003] VSCA 196.

70The prosecution has submitted that the offending here warrants a custodial sentence having regard to the amount of money involved, the duration of the offending, the volume of the transactions, specifically that this was not a one-off transaction but involved 94 acts of dishonesty. The prosecution also point to the reduced weight to be given to good character in white collar crimes, given that this factor usually is what places the offender in a position whereby he or she is able to commit the offence.[5] It is submitted by the prosecution, however, that a combination sentence would be open.

[5] R v Rivkin [2004] NSWCCA 7 [410].

71Your counsel, Mr Chipkin, submitted that a community correction order is within range having regard to your age, good character, strong work history, your stable family network and your prospects of rehabilitation.

72Upon hearing submissions at the sentence indication hearing, I indicated that I would be prepared to impose a sentence not involving immediate imprisonment and I indicated that I would hear further submissions as to whether a community corrections order ought be imposed or a wholly suspended sentence.

73The starting point is that the law says that a court must always regard imprisonment as a disposition of last resort and may consider, even in cases of serious offences, that a community correction order is a punitive disposition which is capable of addressing all relevant sentencing considerations. As the Court of Appeal noted in Boulton v The Queen,[6] a community correction order may be suitable even in cases of relatively serious offences which might previously have attracted a median term of imprisonment.

[6] Boulton v The Queen [2014] 46 VR 308.

74You have been assessed for suitability for a community correction order. According to the report prepared by Corrections, you are suitable.  Given that you have been assessed as a medium risk of reoffending, it is recommended that a supervision be included as part of the order so that Corrections can monitor your progress against the conditions of the order. A Mental Health and Response Service Assessment was conducted by registered nurse, Gregory Lane. He recommended that ongoing assessment or treatment of your mental health be made a condition of any community correction order.

75I have given this matter careful consideration. In particular, I have taken into account the considerable delay between your offending and sentencing. As I have said, whilst some of the delay has occurred since your arrest, there was a significant period of time, namely three and a half years, between when your offending was first reported to the police and the date on which you were charged. Had there not been such a delay, it may have been the case that an immediate term of imprisonment would have been imposed.

76Whilst this type of offending would ordinarily warrant a term of imprisonment, the fact that you have reached the age of 68 without any prior criminal history, the fact that you have until now been a contributing member of society, that you have the support of your family, your hard work over many years and ultimately your plea of guilty, I have come to the conclusion that a suitably tailored community correction order is appropriate in this case. This will have both a punitive and rehabilitative element.

Sentence

77Ms Hogan, on Charge 1, the charge of theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a community correction order for a period of two and a half years.

78There will be a number of conditions, including supervision, treatment and you will need to perform unpaid community work.

·     You are required to perform 300 hours of unpaid community work;

·     You are to be under the supervision of a Community Corrections officer for a period of 18 months;

·     You must undergo mental health treatment and rehabilitation as directed by Corrections.

79Additionally, there are a number of core conditions of a community correction order and I will go through those now.

·     You must not commit any other offence punishable by imprisonment during the next two and a half years;

·     You must comply with any and all obligations or requirements;

·     You must report to and receive visits from Corrections;

·     You must report to your nearest designated Community Corrections centre, which I believe is Box Hill, within two clear working days from today.  I strongly recommend that you do so as soon as you leave court today;

·     You must let a Community Corrections officer know within two working days of a change of address or job;

·     You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission;

·     You must obey all lawful instructions from Corrections.  And as I have said, these are all mandatory core conditions that attach to any community correction order.

80Now, Ms Hogan, you are going to be asked whether or not you agree to abide by those conditions before such an order can be put in place and you are going to be asked then to sign a document acknowledging that you understand what the conditions of the community corrections order are and that you agree to abide by those conditions. 

81I also need to let you know, Ms Hogan, that if you do not comply with the community correction order conditions, if you were to commit further offences, for instance, if you were to not comply with the work condition or the conditions in relation to supervision or treatment and rehabilitation, then it is possible that Corrections will prepare what is called a breach of your community correction order and the matter may be brought back before me.  Indeed, if you were to commit any further offences or not comply with the terms of the community correction order, I would anticipate that the matter will come back before me and I would therefore re-sentence you in relation to this charge of theft and possibly in relation to the breach itself.

Ancillary Orders

82I note that there is an application for compensation, that you consent to the application and it has been agreed between the parties that you will reimburse Mr Nam the full amount of $112,366.70.  This has been agreed to be paid in four equal instalments with the first payment due on 15 September 2023.

Section 6AAA

83I also indicate that pursuant to section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to nine months' imprisonment to be served immediately. So just to be clear; that is the sentence that you would have received had you pleaded not guilty and taken the matter to trial and then ultimately been found guilty.

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