Director of Public Prosecutions v Holmes

[2023] VCC 994

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-22-02268

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SCOTT HOLMES

---

JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	15 June 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	15 June 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Holmes
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 994

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

---

Subject:Plea – sentencing

Catchwords:            Attempt to pervert the course of justice

Legislation Cited:    

Cases Cited:

Sentence:4 months' imprisonment: 2 months added onto sentence of 18 months currently being served, current non-parole period increased by 1 month to 13 months

---

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms A. McVean	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr B. Keating	Slink & Keating

HIS HONOUR:

1Scott Holmes, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice, the offence occurring on 6 April 2022.  The circumstances involved a discussion between you and your father on a telephone from the prison where you were then currently on remand wherein you sought to persuade your father to contact your former partner, who had obtained a family violence intervention order against you, with a view to persuading her to withdraw her statement against you so that you could avoid any further court action against you for the offences for which you were then on remand.

2Attempting to pervert the course of justice is always a serious offence, and although the offending was serious, it seems to me that although there were some aggravating features – particularly since it arose out of a family violence relationship between you and your former partner – it nevertheless comes towards the lower end of the scale of offences of that kind. 

3You admitted prior convictions, none of which involve attempting to pervert the course of justice but are nevertheless serious enough in their own way, and I take those into account.

4Your counsel has presented me with an outline of submissions, and he has sought to persuade me that your offending is towards the lower end of the scale.  During the course of discussion, I have indicated my views as to an appropriate sentence.  They have been the subject of discussion during the course of the plea hearing and between you and your counsel.  Your counsel indicated that he had no further submissions to make in view of the indications that I have given as to an appropriate sentence.

5It is necessary for me to mark the seriousness of the offending with a term of imprisonment.  It is necessary for the court to denounce offences of attempting to pervert the course of justice with appropriate sentences to punish you adequately, to satisfy the need to deter others from engaging in similar conduct and to send a message that offences of this kind almost always result in a term of imprisonment to respect the serious nature of the offending and to take into account the maximum term of imprisonment, which is 25 years.

6However, you are serving a sentence at the present time for offences committed subsequent to the present offending.  I need to take into account the totality principle and the principle of parsimony in assessing how the sentence that I have in mind, and have articulated to you through your counsel, can be blended with the sentence you are presently undergoing to satisfy those sentencing principles.

7In the circumstances, as I indicated to you through your counsel, for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of four months.  I direct that two months of that sentence be served cumulatively upon the sentence of 18 months that you are currently serving.  I order that a new non-parole period be fixed, and that the new minimum term to be served before you are eligible for parole will be 13 months.

8But for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for a period of eight months, and I would have added another three months, making a total of four months, to your current non-parole period.

9Are there any other orders I need make, counsel?

10MS McVEAN:  Nothing further, Your Honour.

11MR KEATING:  No, thank you, Your Honour.

12HIS HONOUR:  Thank you both for your help.  On the undertaking that you will file the letter from your father along with the other documents, I will hand you back the original letter.

13MR KEATING:  Thank you.  Yes, I will do that, Your Honour.

14HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.

‑ ‑ ‑