Director of Public Prosecutions v Hood

[2012] VCC 1555

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Case No. CR-138746

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ANGELA HOOD

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	25 September 2012
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hood
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 1555

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Catchwords:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
DPP	Ms F. Cockram	OPP
For the Accused	Mr M. White	Matthew White & Associates

HIS HONOUR:

1       Angela Louise Hood, on 12 October 2011 I released you on a community based order for a period of 18 months in relation to one charge of common assault. I also sentenced you to be imprisoned for 18 months and suspended 12 months of the sentence for a period of 18 months in relation to one charge of aggravated burglary. You failed to report to the office of corrections in relation to the community based order and did not complete any component of it. 

2       On 6 February 2012 I cancelled the community based order and sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of three months. You completely disregarded the order of the court that I made in October 2011. Between 20 November 2011 and 6 June 2012, you committed a series of opportunistic offences of dishonesty for which you were dealt with at the Neighbourhood Justice Centre in Collingwood on 19 July 2012. You were sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment on that occasion of four months. This sentence is due to expire on 26 September 2012. 

3       

This offending constitutes a breach of the suspended sentence I imposed on 12 October 2011 and it is plain that you also made no effort to comply with the suspended sentence that I imposed. The sentence that I imposed on

12 October 2011

was intended to assist your rehabilitation after an extended period of imprisonment but you failed to take any steps at all to rehabilitate yourself. I accept that you have had a severely disrupted and disadvantaged background but in my opinion, your prospects of rehabilitation are poor and it is clear from your demeanour in court that you have little or no regard for any orders made by this court.

4 The offence of aggravated burglary that I dealt with was a serious example of that offence and I will not repeat my sentencing remarks on that occasion in these reasons or the factors I considered in arriving at the sentence I imposed. By operation of s.31(5)(a) and s.31(5A) of the Sentencing Act as it applied at the relevant time, I am required to restore the sentence I imposed unless exceptional circumstances have arisen since the sentence was imposed. No such circumstances were identified by your counsel and I am not satisfied that any such circumstances exist.

5       However, I accept that you have been imprisoned for three months on a charge that was closely related to the circumstances of the aggravated burglary and further, that upon your release from prison you will require close supervision and support in order to obtain appropriate accommodation. In the result, the orders of the court are as follows.

6       The breach of the suspended sentence is proved.

7       I order that the partly suspended sentence of 12 months be wholly restored and I further order that you serve six months imprisonment before becoming eligible for release on parole.

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8       HIS HONOUR:  Are there any further orders required?

9       MS COCKRAM:  No, Your Honour.

10      MR WHITE:  No, Your Honour.

11      HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  We'll adjourn now til 10 a.m.

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