Director of Public Prosecutions v Hunt

[2020] VCC 615

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 19-00687

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ZAR HUNT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	13 May 2020
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 May 2020
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hunt
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2020] VCC 615

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms E. Hill	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr J. Desmond	Papa Hughes Lawyers Pty Ltd

HIS HONOUR:

1Zar Hunt, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of intentionally causing injury and one uplifted summary matter of being the owner of a dog, which attacked.  The maximum penalty for intentionally cause injury is 10 years.  The maximum penalty for the summary offence is a monetary one.  In circumstances where you are unemployed endeavouring to get your life back on track, I think the overall circumstances of this case is such that on that charge, I find you guilty and I will simply convict and discharge.

2The intentional injury is a different matter and falls into a very difficult category.  As has been very frankly and openly discussed between myself and counsel during the course of this plea, the factual basis is one of real uncertainty and
I will come back to that in a moment.

3You pleaded guilty to a settled indictment and must get the benefit for that.  Whilst remorse may be somewhat problematic, you certainly have to get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty - which, in the current circumstances in this state so far as jury trials are concerned, takes on an added benefit, in my view, on your behalf, in terms of relieving the list of at least one trial. 

4You do have a significant criminal history which appeared to have occurred in bursts.  There is nothing there which really suggests that you cannot turn your life around.  As Mr Desmond, I think fairly, points out, that offending does not seem to have been of a seriousness which approaches the offending for which you now plead guilty here.  The offending now occurred quite some time ago, in late 2018.  Subsequent to your being charged, you were remanded and indeed have spent 375 days in pre-sentence detention.  That is a significant period of time.

5You are now 29 years of age and it is, as I said during the course of discussion, a situation where the only person who can turn your life around is you.  I accept what Mr Desmond says on your behalf:  that this is a circumstance where you can do that.

6Your background is that you were born in Wangaratta.  You were expelled from school, it would seem when you were around 14 or 15. When you were 20, your father passed away and you found the body.

7In material before me, a reference from your mother, is that you, having found that body, did not know what to do and sat with it for 24 hours before you contacted 000.  It is at that point in time in which that occurred, sometime after your parents were separated, that your life began to spiral out of control.

8I accept on the material put before me and the submissions that the separation of your parents when you were around about 14 or 15 has had a very significant effect upon you, and the passing away of your father has been somewhat devastating.

9After that, your drug use, as I said, became out of control.  You have had a criminal history.  Having read that now, it all seems to confirm what you counsel said, that it does relate to drug offending.  It has gone on for a significant period of time.

10Subsequent to your release on these matters, now some six months ago, you have been liaising with Odyssey House.  That was for about 12 weeks. 
They have closed your files.  You have been doing well.  You are currently on methadone and going through the process of having that reduced to go onto other forms of medication which will assist you.

11It is a situation where you are now able to look for employment.  Your family would appear to not have criminal histories.  You have a brother and a sister who both have very good jobs, and you have their support.  You also have the support of a partner who you have now shifted in with, and the support of your mother, who tells me through the reference that she is a loss prevention officer.

12In other words, since this offending has all occurred, you have turned your life around.

13The circumstances for which I sentence you are, in the simplest terms that I can make it, this:  you and the victim had a relationship of sorts where the victim had been, for reasons I am not aware of, unable to continue where he was living.  He had a small dog and you, over Facebook, indicated that he could come and live with you.  He did so.  You at that time had a larger dog, which the Crown opening says could be aggressive.  Again, I think I have indicated that this is not the worst offence on Earth, and I will explain why that is so in a moment.

14I think it is inescapable that the overall circumstances surrounding this man coming to live with you involved the use of drugs.  I am not totally disregarding the Crown opening.  I am again not working on the basis of what I have been told from the Bar table from defence.  The fact of the matter is, is simple terms, that I do not know how this started.  All I really know is how it ended.

15The complainant says that he was told to leave and was then suddenly, for no apparent reason, assaulted by you and another male.  He claimed that each of you was holding a bat.  He said he could not see what type of bats they were.  He said he was struck on numerous occasions.  He said he was stabbed, and described himself as being very much afraid.

16In any event, he was able to escape.  While he was trying to do that, your dog attacked him and bit him on the leg, which caused lacerations to his foot and ankle.  He had pleaded with you to tell the dog to let him go, and indeed, you did do that.

17He then, as I understand it, was able to obtain medical assistance, and again, made somewhat conflicting reports as to what had occurred, I am informed.  And in any event, he was examined at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, ending up with a left cheek laceration, nasal and bilateral tenderness, multiple scalp lacerations, apparently, some injuries to the right arm, and lacerations to the right foot and ankle which would appear to have been caused by the dog.

18It is important to note that this matter resolved as 'injury', and whilst they are obviously not critical injuries in any way, shape or form, I am certainly not to sentence on the basis that they are serious injuries.

19That is about as far as I can take it, I think.  There is nothing to suggest that the position of the complainant or victim is necessarily ongoing, and indeed, whatever the reasons may be, there is no victim impact statement before me.

20It does have to be regarded as serious and warranting of a custodial sentence, and had you not done the amount of time that you had, the position here might have been a bit different.  It calls for the application of general and specific deterrence, as well as denunciation and, obviously, appropriate
punishment.

21The Crown's submission, which in the normal course of events I would not cavil with, was that a combination sentence was within range.  The fact of the matter is that you have breached one of those already.  It would be problematic whether they would accept you for it.

22But in these very strange times in which we live, you have now done that time, and I think it would be unfortunate to send you back to prison in circumstances where you would probably go into lockdown with the fear of what may occur insofar as the virus is concerned.  In lockdown, as I am well aware, the situation is that you would be receiving no contact visits.  And I think that in these circumstances, when you have done such significant time, it would be gratuitous.

23It is also the situation where, if there is to be a community corrections order considered, which in other circumstances I might well consider, that I am well aware of the circumstances surrounding those at these times, there are no workplaces for people to go and do work.  I understand that the programs are all in abeyance until people see what happens.  There is virtually no one-on-one.  You certainly would not be seeing a psychologist one-on-one, and it would seem to me to be of little assistance to anybody.

24This is a situation where you have done a significant sentence.  Your LEAP report will now show that you have been given a very significant gaol sentence for what has to be regarded as a serious offence.  If you can continue to turn your life around, you have now been on the methadone for six months, and yourself, your community and your family will be well-served.

25The drug use you have been into the past and the offending commences again, you run a real risk of getting a very serious gaol sentence if offending such as this were to be brought before the courts again.  That is really up to you. 
As I say, in the strange circumstances in which we live, there is very little support the court can offer, and very little support, realistically, that the community can offer.  So I take all those matters into account.

26The prospects of your rehabilitation are certainly not non-existent and you have shown that the risk of your reoffending should now be regarded as, whilst guarded, relatively low.  That is going to be a matter for you, and you will be well aware of the consequences if you do reoffend. 

27So in all those circumstances, and bearing in mind this is an ex tempore set of sentencing remarks because of the circumstances in which we all sit, and is subject to revision.

28On the charge of intentionally cause injury, 375 days.

29I direct that 375 days be reckoned as having been served under this
sentence.

30And 6AAA - I think in these circumstances, I will simply say:  but for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to be imprisoned for a period of two years with a minimum term of 15 months.  That is probably unrealistic, but that is about the best I can do.

31MR DESMOND:  If Your Honour pleases.

32MS HILL:  And in respect to the summary charge that is before ‑ ‑ ‑ 

33HIS HONOUR:  I simply convict and discharge on that.  He has not got a job, so I am not going to fine him.

34MS HILL:  As the court pleases.

35MS HILL:  There's the disposal order that's before the court.

36HIS HONOUR:  I have done that and signed that.

37MS HILL:  As the court pleases.

38MR DESMOND:  Thank you for your help with this matter.

39HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you for that.  And also, can I simply say: 
as I understand it, these emergency matters that we are supposed to deal with, and the way in which counsel and their instructors have dealt with this has been very sensible and very much further the interests of justice.  And I say that quite sincerely as a judge to members of counsel.  Thank you for that.

40COUNSEL:  Thank you. 

41HIS HONOUR:  All right. 

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