Director of Public Prosecutions v Holland

[2016] VCC 1058

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

AT WODONGA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-15-02000

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TROY ANTHONY HOLLAND

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE HOGAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	6 July 2016
DATE OF SENTENCE:	18 July 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Holland
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 1058

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  SENTENCE

Catchwords:              Pleas of guilty to one charge of causing injury intentionally – female victim had been in a relationship with defendant – defendant had lengthy criminal history which included violent offending against female partners and multiple breaches of intervention orders – defendant had long term drug abuse issues.

Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:                  TES 5 years imprisonment with NPP of 3 and a half years’.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A J Moore	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms D Price	Kerry Clancy

Pages 1 - 15

 

 

HER HONOUR: 

1Troy Anthony Holland, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of intentionally causing injury, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment. 

2The circumstances of your offending are outlined in the revised Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea (Exhibit A). The offence occurred on 29 August 2015 and your victim was Danielle Barton, who was aged 28 years, that is, ten years younger than yourself. You had originally met your victim in 2013 and had had a casual relationship for a few weeks before you were incarcerated for a period of 15 months. You were released from custody in February 2015 and, not long after that you bumped into Ms Barton in Wodonga.  She had had no contact with you whilst you had been in custody, but thought you had “cleaned (yourself) up a bit” and the two of you recommenced a casual relationship.  However, shortly after Easter 2015, Ms Barton ended the relationship as you had started accusing her of "crazy shit, like sleeping with (her) dad". 

3In July 2015, after Ms Barton had moved from Woodend to stay with her sister in Wodonga, she received a call from you and, over the next three weeks, the two of you, again, had a casual relationship. However, Ms Barton again brought an end to the relationship because you had become increasingly abusive. Despite this, you continued to contact Ms Barton and, even though she told you not to attend the residence where she was staying with her sister, you would show up and bang on the door until her sister threatened to call police. 

4On the evening before the offence, you rang Ms Barton and, notwithstanding that she told you not to attend her sister's residence, you turned up at about 9.30 pm. She sat outside with you and smoked a cigarette.  She says you were, "talking crazy stuff" and she noticed that you had been playing with what she thought was a screwdriver, but which was actually a leather awl. Ms Barton eventually phoned a taxi for you and told you not to come back. 

5On Saturday, 29 August 2015, you repeatedly phoned Ms Barton but she ignored your calls until she got back to her sister's house at approximately 7.30 pm.  She answered this call because she feared that, otherwise, you might just show up and she told you that she was busy feeding her two sons, aged six years and three years, and hung up on you. 

6Soon afterwards, you arrived at the residence where Ms Barton was alone with her children. You banged on the door and, for about 30 minutes, continued to yell for her to answer. Finally, you told her to come to the door and just give you a cigarette and you would go away. Ms Barton opened the door sufficiently to pass you a cigarette and lighter. You took these and then grabbed her by the shirt and pulled her out through the door onto the landing and punched her several times to the head, causing her to fall to the ground.  You held her to the ground.  She was screaming at you to stop as she had her children there. 

7Ms Barton attempted to punch you and you then pulled out the awl and stabbed her multiple times to her neck, shoulder and torso.  She was yelling, "Please help me" and you were shouting "I'll fucking kill you, slut".  Ms Barton's six‑year‑old son came out hysterically yelling for you to leave his mum alone and you told him to “Fuck off”, so he ran back into the house. It became apparent that a neighbour was watching you and had moved to his front fence to see what was happening.  You suddenly stopped attacking Ms Barton and fled, by jumping over a side fence.

8Ms Barton was in excruciating pain and had difficulty breathing.  An ambulance arrived and she was taken to Albury hospital, where puncture marks were observed at the bottom of her neck, and at the level of the left second rib and left fourth rib.  Photographs also show other puncture marks to her upper left arm, left breast and left torso. Medical staff observed decreased air entry to the left side of her chest and scans suggested the partial collapse of her left lung.  Ms Barton was administered morphine, antibiotics and anti‑tetanus toxoid and her wounds were cleaned and dressed. Dr Kamalanathan, who treated her, stated that she was fortunate not to have sustained serious harm or injury.

9After running from the scene, you went to the residence of one Leanne D'Arcy.  You told her that you'd done "something stupid".  She asked you to leave.  You asked her to call a taxi, which she did, and you left soon afterwards, dropping the awl on the ground near a pond in Ms D'Arcy's yard.  You then went to the residence of one Troy Simpson and told him "I've stabbed her" and elaborated that this had been to her upper body and chest.  Mr Simpson stated that you said, "I can't believe I did that" and kept repeating yourself and appeared substance‑affected.  Mr Simpson said that he would permit you to stay the night to clear your head, but you should hand yourself into police the following day.

10You left Mr Simpson's house the following day. On 1 September 2015, you were intercepted by police and arrested.  You told police that you had fled and failed to hand yourself in because you were scared and did not want to go back to gaol.  You denied being substance or alcohol‑affected at the time of offending. In a record of interview you claimed that yourself and Ms Barton were in a "half-pie de facto" relationship and admitted grabbing and stabbing her and forcing her to the ground, stating that the offending happened "in a moment of madness".

11You are presently aged 38 years, having been born on 11 November 1976. In a plea on your behalf by Ms Price, the court was told that you had a happy childhood in a stable home, in which your mother was the primary carer and your father was an interstate truck driver.  You had a close relationship with your father and enjoyed accompanying him in his truck

12You attended school until the middle of Year 8, but, by approximately age 13, you had begun to use cannabis and engage in antisocial behaviour.  You experimented with a number of drugs.  From your late teens, you led a life of abusing illicit drugs, mainly amphetamine, for a period of ten years.  In the last six years, you have changed to using methylamphetamine and had apparently been using it heavily in the weeks leading up to the offence.

13After leaving school, apart from sporadic unskilled jobs, it would be appear that you have led a self‑indulgent and criminal existence.   You had a history of unstable relationships with multiple different partners.  You have five children to three different women.  You appear to have been an irresponsible, largely absent father, who has not provided any significant physical, financial or emotional care to any of your children.  A report tendered on your behalf from a psychiatrist, Dr Deacon (Exhibit 1) who saw you on 26 February this year, states, "He doesn't have contact with his children, including one who was adopted out". However, your counsel stated that, recently, you have had some telephone contact with your son Jake, who is 16 years old and has been reared by your mother.

14You come before the Court with a significant criminal history dating back to 1994.  You have a host of prior convictions, both in New South Wales and Victoria, primarily for dishonesty offences such as burglary and theft, and wilfully damaging property and violent offending, as well as driving offences. Of particular concern is that you have committed assaults on former de facto partners (and, in one case, the father of one of your de facto partners).  Your former partners and your own mother have taken out intervention orders against you.  Your criminal history shows that on many occasions you have contravened intervention orders in relation to those people by behaviour such as stalking, using a carriage service to menace, actual assaults or threats to assault or kill.

15Since 2002, you appear to have breached intervention orders or apprehended domestic violence orders on some ten occasions.  The breaches and associated menacing conduct or assaults have related to your former partner, Shannon Weisner, who is the mother of three of your five children; another partner, Karly Senior, and your mother Cheryl Holland, who has tried to provide a secure and stable upbringing for your son Jake, whom you fathered by another partner, Heather. Not only do you have a problem with substance abuse, but you appear to have scant regard for woman and have manifested a bullying, cowardly attitude towards those women supposedly nearest and dearest to you. Indeed, in your record of interview you spoke disparagingly of the victim of this offending, Ms Barton, whom you claimed to love, referring to her as “just a slut”,  a “queer fucking dog”, “a “fucking weird bitch” and a “fucking lying bitch”.   

16Dr Deacon's report, dated 7 April 2016, details a history that you had no formal psychiatric history but had experienced adverse “episodes” in response to heavy methamphetamine use.  In 2010, you were transported by ambulance and police guard to hospital and observed for two days prior to discharge and remand in prison. Another similar episode occurred in 2013 where you did not sleep for a few weeks and felt your environment was “unreal”.  You also had a history of multiple episodes of police arrests in response to you "going off" whilst using methamphetamine, but you tended to calm down fairly promptly.

17Dr Deacon also took a history that you had used copious amounts of methamphetamine in the months following your release from custody in 2015, despite knowing of your past adverse reactions to the drug.  Dr Deacon recorded: 

"He appears to have experienced another similar psychotic episode marked by paranoid, referential delusions, auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations.  It is in the context of experiencing these psychotic symptoms that he developed poorly understood and ill‑founded suspicions that Danielle Barton was conspiring against him.  He appears to have been unwell for at least a few weeks prior to the offence, but possibly longer.  His insight into his mental health problems was likely almost entirely absent".

18Dr Deacon went on to record your history: 

"He appears to have become overwhelmed by paranoid feelings when he arrived at the house where the offence occurred.  He acutely developed a sense of Danielle Barton being involved in a conspiracy as he felt she acted ‘weirdly’ when she opened the door.  It was at this point that he seems to have impulsively assaulted Danielle Barton.  He said he stopped stabbing her when he observed her reaction.  He appears to have promptly recognised the seriousness of his actions as he ran away".

19Dr Deacon went on to note that you subsequently promptly recovered and had not been afflicted with residual psychotic symptoms and had not required psychiatric intervention in custody.  He considered that your history was suggestive of prominent transient methamphetamine‑related psychotic symptoms but these had promptly resolved.  He noted that, although you demonstrated some insight into your problem with methamphetamine, you have presumably acquired such insight in the past, but elected to use methamphetamine again following your release from custody.  He considered that, ideally, you required prolonged drug rehabilitation in the community, but your capacity to engage in such a program is untested and likely to be poor and that you are obviously at risk of drug relapse and experiencing amphetamine‑related psychosis. He considered that your criminal history and attitude towards engaging in illegal activities strongly correlates with an antisocial personality.

20There is no doubt that you were an abuser of methamphetamine and it would appear that, when interviewed by police three days after the offending, you complained of being a bit dizzy and the interview was suspended for a short time.  It may be that you were still affected to some degree by methamphetamine because, at times during the interview, you rambled on in an addled fashion.  Despite denying to police that you had not taken any drugs on the night of your offending, I accept that you probably were affected, to some extent, by methamphetamine at the time of the offence.

21You mentioned to police that in the day or so leading up to the your offending, you had seen some image of a projector or had a "Kodak moment".  It is possible that in the days prior to the offence you did have some experiences of drug‑induced psychosis. However, although I accept that you were probably hyped-up on methamphetamine at the time of committing this offence, I do not accept that you were in a psychotic state.

22It is a nonsense to say, as you did to the police, that "I accidentally stabbed her"[1] when photographs show something like nine stab wounds on Ms Barton's body and the evidence is that you were threatening to kill her.  Moreover, you specifically told the police that you remembered the night clearly and said "I could say I'm on ice and I can't remember" and say "I'm drug fucked and I need fucking rehab and I can say all that shit, I can't remember this and run that card.  I could play that card".[2] The fact of the matter is that you were able to tell police a great deal of detail about the offence leading up to your offending, including that you had seen Ms Barton the night before and were aggrieved that she had not texted you all day; that you did have possession of the screwdriver or awl; that you were out the front with her and she was on the ground; and that you stabbed her because she had been with you the night before and she didn’t text you all day to ask how you were going or whether you were all right and she had gone, "weird" with you.[3] You were able to recollect that Ms Barton's children were at home with her and that she had been inside, "She said she was bathing the kids or something,  she didn't want to come and see me".[4] You were also able to recollect that her son, Leyland, at some stage had said something to you.  You were able to recall the places that you had gone after you fled from the scene and to tell police that they would have got your shorts from Troy Simpson's place.

[1]Answer to Question 137

[2]Answer to Question 139-142

[3]Answer to Questions 185-189 and 230

[4]Answer to Question 110

23At the first house you attended after the attack, you told Ms D'Arcy that you had done "something stupid" and seemed to have had the presence of mind to drop the awl on the ground near a pond in her yard.  Shortly afterwards, when you went to Troy Simpson's house, he stated that, although you were very agitated and looked to be high on drugs, you told him that you had stabbed her in the upper body and chest area and had stated that you were feeling excited by what had happened but knew your feelings were inappropriate. At Mr Simpson's house, you had a shower and borrowed some clothing. 

24In my view, all of the matters which I have just outlined do not fit with a person who was out of touch with reality or experiencing psychosis at the time of the offending.  I do not accept, as you told Dr Deacon, that as you stood there at Ms Barton's door, you could hear people laughing and thought Ms Barton was "setting (you) up".  I consider that you have embroidered your account to Dr Deacon.  I also consider that you have invented "snapping out of" your state when you observed Ms Barton's response to the stabbing. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you ceased stabbing her because you became aware that you were being observed by a neighbour and this is why you fled from the scene over a side fence.

25It seems to me that you would not accept that Ms Barton did not want a relationship with you.  She told police that over the previous few weeks you had "just been getting angrier and a nightmare" and "just wouldn't go away".[5]  Yet, you told the police that you had been on with her "for years" and she had gone "weird" on you and you were upset that she had not come out on the night of the offence and asked, "How are you going".  You appear to be an immature person, who has a very unhealthy, possessive, controlling and disrespectful attitude towards women.  You had continued to text Ms Barton when she had told you to leave her alone and, indeed, turned up at the place where she was staying on the night of the offence, even though she had told you not to. You remained persistently banging on the door and importuning her for some 30 minutes until you finally lured her to the door, saying that if she would give you a cigarette, you would leave. 

[5]Depositions p. 41

26Your counsel submitted that the court should find, as you told police, that this attack was not planned.  She urged the court to accept that you had the awl with you for self‑defence because you feared violence from a local gang known as "the t‑shirt gang".  There is no evidence of this, other than your own say‑so.  However, even if you did hold such fear, there is no evidence that you were under threat from anyone on this night when you went uninvited to Ms Barton's house and persistently banged on her door demanding her attention for approximately half an hour prior to the attack. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you were in a heightened state of anger because Ms Barton had ignored your text messages all day and, against her express wish, you came to where she was with her children, to bully her if necessary.  Your anger increased as you were kept waiting at the door.  I do not accept that this brutal attack just happened "in a moment of madness", as you told police, because you had gone to Ms Barton's house armed with the awl and continued aggressively importuning her for half an hour and, as soon as she opened the door to give you a cigarette, you grabbed her and committed a frenzied attack upon her.  As I have already stated, nor do I accept that you ceased the assault because you simply “snapped out of it”, but, rather, because you observed that a neighbour from across the street had come to his front fence and had seen what you had done.

27A recording on a telephone of a passer-by, which was conveyed to police reveals that Ms Barton was screaming for you to leave her alone and you were threatening to kill her.  Her six‑year‑old son pleaded for you to leave his mother alone.  If anything, the fact that you were affected by methamphetamine is an aggravating factor because you were so hyped-up that you could not be reasoned with.

28The use of methamphetamine is a scourge in our society.  It has destructive effects on those who use it and those who are unfortunate enough to be anywhere near them when they are in an aggressive and antisocial state. You were well aware of the dangerous effects that methamphetamine had on you, but went back to using it almost as soon as you were released from custody. Those who use this illegal pernicious drug and commit offences of violence while in hyped-up state caused by it, cannot expect the law to excuse them. 

29This is a serious example of the offence of intentionally causing injury.  You repeatedly stabbed your terrified victim, and her two young children were exposed to the trauma of hearing her scream as you attacked her and saw her bleeding badly and taken off in an ambulance.  Although there is no Victim Impact Statement from Ms Barton, she told police that she believed you were going to kill her.  She was in excruciating pain and having difficulty breathing.  You fled, leaving it to others to help her.  It is fortunate that she was able to receive prompt medical attention because Dr Kamalanathan, who treated her, stated that her wounds did have the capacity to cause serious harm or injury.

30Mr Holland, violence against women, particularly violence perpetrated by men against women with whom they have had an intimate relationship, is a huge problem in our society.  In sentencing you, the court must denounce your conduct in the strongest possible terms and place emphasis upon general deterrence, so that others who might be minded to act in the violent, cowardly and brutal fashion in which you have done, will be aware that such conduct will not be tolerated and will meet with appropriate punishment.

31In your case, you have shown a repeated pattern of violence against women with whom you have been in a relationship, as well as against your mother, without whom your son, Jake, would not have had stable care in his life. In the light of your gratuitous domestic violence and repeated breach of intervention orders, which date back many years, this Court must also place emphasise on specific deterrence when sentencing you.  It seems that, notwithstanding a variety of Court dispositions, including significant periods of imprisonment, you have done nothing to address your attitude towards women and nothing to address your long‑term drug problem. It is high time that you learned that a woman with whom you have a relationship is not your property.  You do not own her.  You do not have any right to control her.  If you or any man lays a hand on a woman in a violent way, then you need to know that the law will administer appropriate punishment for such cowardly, brutal behaviour. You have breached not only orders by way of a community‑based order and a suspended sentence, but also parole.  You had been out of custody for only about six months when you committed this offence, having just completed a 15‑month term of imprisonment.   In the light of this history, in imposing sentence upon you, the Court must also have regard to protecting the community.

32It would be wrong of this Court to say that you have no prospects of rehabilitation, however, your track record in the criminal justice system spanning over two decades causes me to take a pessimistic view of your prospects. Having said that, it is to your credit that you did demonstrate some remorse in your record of interview and entered a plea of guilty at the earliest possible opportunity. Notwithstanding that you made disparaging remarks about Ms Barton in your record of interview, you did tell police, "I shouldn't have fuckin’, stabbed her" and described yourself as "What a fuckin’ turd"[6] and stated "I put my hand up now, I stabbed her, yeah".[7]  You stated that you were in love with her, and, after the incident, expressed concern such that you had asked people whether she had died and stated that you were relieved to read in the newspaper that her condition was stable.

[6]Answer to Question 92 in the record of interview

[7]Answer to Question 177 in the record of interview

33By reason of your early remorseful plea, you are entitled to a high discount on the sentence, which, otherwise, would have been imposed.  You spared your victim the trauma of giving evidence and saved the State the cost of a trial.

34In all of the circumstances, there can be no doubt that the only appropriate sentence is one of imprisonment.  The pain and scars, both physical and psychological, to your victim, the distress of her children and the burden which your conduct places on the community at large in terms of emergency, ambulance and medical services, are serious consequences of a serious crime. Unhappily, you have burdened society and the criminal justice system for a long time.  Indeed, in the last five years, you have spent very little time out of custody. One must express concern about whether you will ever be capable of living a lawful life in the community.  One can only hope that after a reasonably lengthy period of enforced abstinence from drugs and with the benefit of supervised parole, you may yet be able to make something of your life.

35Your counsel stated that, at your request, you have been placed in protective custody whilst on remand.  I have not been provided with any evidence that this is a more onerous way to serve a sentence of imprisonment save that it limits the contact that you have with mainstream prisoners.  It is to your credit that you have apparently been using your time to get fit and look after your health and, hopefully, once sentenced, you will take advantage of drug rehabilitation, anger management and other educational programs available to you.

36Would you stand up, please.

37On one charge of intentionally causing injury, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of five years.  I direct that a period of three and a half years' imprisonment be served before you become eligible for parole.

38I declare a period of 321 days pre‑sentence detention to be time reckoned as already served under the sentence imposed this day. 

39Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I declare that had it not been for your plea of guilty, the sentence imposed this day would have been seven and a half years with a non‑parole period of five years.

40Pursuant to s.78(1) of the Confiscation Act 1997, I order the forfeiture to the State of four swabs of blood from the scene, one unused cigarette from the scene, one screwdriver/leather awl, one brown Adidas jacket, one pair of brown cargo shorts, one pair of blue denim jeans and one latex glove. I further direct that such property be placed in the custody of the Chief Commissioner of Police and be held by him until 28 days from this date or the conclusion of any appeal proceedings where it may be tested and/or analysed and then destroyed.

41Be seated, please. 

42I'll just leave the Bench temporarily.  I think I've left the disposal order in my chambers.

43(Short adjournment.)

44Thank you, I'll have my Associate hand down a copy of the disposal order to each counsel and the copy of the electronic orders.

45MR MOORE:  Your Honour, I'm now in a position to file the original indictment.  You'll recall he was arraigned on a copy.

46HER HONOUR:  Yes, of course, thanks for that.  I'll certify that filed today.  Thank you, you can take Mr Holland from the court.

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