Director of Public Prosecutions v Jago

[2018] VCC 328

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -17-01301

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

THANE JAGO

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:	15 March 2018
DATE OF SENTENCE:	15 March 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Jago
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 328

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. O'Doherty	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms J. Clark	Kurnai Legal

Pages 1 - 5

 

 

HIS HONOUR: 

1Thane Francis Jago, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of damaging property, two charges of causing injury intentionally, and one rolled up charge of threat to kill.  Those crimes all carry maximum penalties of ten years' imprisonment.

2You pleaded guilty to a settled indictment and must get the benefit of that plea of guilty.  Whilst remorse will be somewhat problematic, you must clearly get the utilitarian benefit of the plea having saved the victims and the community the cost and stress of a trial.

3You are now 36 years of age.  You have a long criminal history and you have been sentenced on a number of occasions for violence.  You are at risk, I would have thought having been released after doing something in the order of around seven years all up, of becoming institutionalised.  That is something that has to play a part in all this.  Thirty six is an age where you can turn your life around and it is not uncommon for that to occur.

4A summary of the offending and I will do it directly from the summary. Even though a number of these charges were not proceeded with, they are part and parcel of the concept. 

5You and Ms Dixon were in a relationship and you had been at her house for about a month or so.  Shianne Burgess is a friend of hers and also a former partner, I am told, of you.  On 23 February 2017 at about 10 am, you were at her house.  She was going to visit her grandmother.  You grabbed her bag and said, "You're not going."  You then snatched her phone and broke it, that gives rise to Charge 1.  You then grabbed her by the hair and body, dragged her to the floor, put your hands around her neck and choked her for about 30 seconds.  She tried to get up but you pushed her back down and choked her again for about 30 seconds.  She said she could not breath and the result and injury was red marks on her neck.

6You told her that she was not allowed to leave.  You told her that she was a slut and that you wanted to kill her, which now becomes part of Charge 8. 
You grabbed a stepladder, held it above her head and told her that you were going to kill her.  She says that she believed that you would.

7On 24 February, that is the next day, you were again at her house.  Also present was Shianne Burgess, who I have referred to previously.  Ms Dixon was getting ready to leave the house when you, angry at being woken up, threw a plate towards her and Burgess and it missed.  They then went to leave the house and you told them they were not going anywhere and that you would hit them both.  You told Burgess that she owed you money.  You grabbed Burgess the hair and pulled her back inside the house through the front door.

8While you were dragging her inside, you punched to the head and once to the mouth, causing her lips to bleed.  You said to Ms Dixon, "You're next, I'm going to kill you."  That is part of Charge 8.  They then ran and called police.

9You were ultimately interviewed and denied the offending that you ultimately pleaded to appropriate charges and clearly you get the benefit of that.

10I have now had put before me and read out by the learned prosecutor, a victim impact statement made by Ms Dixon which clearly indicates the consequences and the ongoing trauma and anxiety that domestic violence causes. 
Obviously that is all taken into account.

11The offending has to be regarded as serious. It calls for the application of general and, in your situation, specific deterrence, denunciation and appropriate punishment.  You have now been in custody on these and other matters for
383 days.

12A gaol sentence for this offending is inevitable and it is a situation where I agree with the Crown submission that it should be one which fits into the head sentence plus a non-parole period range.

13The circumstances are that I will sentence you on the basis that you will do the entire sentence.  It is not a matter for me what actions are taken by the administrators in the future. You also have matters pending which may affect the ultimate outcome of all this.  As I understand it, they are matters for which you are on remand and there is not much I can do about that.

14As I understand it, the last time you were released from prison after a very extended period of time was without parole and you were simply released into the community and into this area without any supervision and without any assistance.  If at all possible, I would ask the Parole Board to give serious consideration to making sure that upon your release, even if it is to be transferred to Tasmania, that there be appropriate circumstances put in place, accommodation and the like.

15However, a gaol sentence it must be and I can only trust in the future as to what is going to occur from that.

16Your background was put to me and I am aware of family circumstances from having dealt with relatives of yours in the Koori Court and also in mainstream.  Insofar as this offending is concerned, I think it is important to realise that some three or four weeks prior to it, you were stabbed by a man who I have also sentenced in relation to that stabbing and gave a significant sentence.  I am told and I accept that since you have been in custody, it has become clear that you were and could still be suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in relation to that.  That would put into context, I do not regard it as attracting the principles of Verdins to any great extent, but it would put into context the anger and the relatively sudden acts of violence and treats that occurred in this situation.

17Since you have been in custody on medication for those problems, you have been seeing a psychiatrist and a psychologist and you tell me that you are starting to finally deal with some of these matters.  You are also a mentor for younger prisoners and that gives you responsibility and also the chance to talk through the difficulties that you have.  All those things all give hope for the future and it is really up to you.

18Insofar as your background is concerned, it is a classic Bugmy.  You are an Aboriginal man from Tasmania.  You went into care at the age of 11. 
You were out for a period of time and again taken back into care at the age of 13.  You were seriously sexually assaulted during that period of time and you are presently seeking compensation for that assault, during the course of your wardship.  You were simply released from wardship and ultimately came to Victoria.  As I am well aware, you do have other family here in Victoria. 
You are not an unintelligent man and my understanding is now that you have completed Year 12.

19In around 2000 to 2004 and 2005, you were in a four or five year period where you were not offending and that is clear from your criminal history. 
After that, you have clearly been off the rails and you have offended in
New South Wales and in Victoria and in serious ways, armed robbery and the like.

20As I said at the start, it is important when you are released that there be some sort of supervision.  You are clearly of the view that being in released into this area will be a total disaster.  You still have family, albeit your mother is very ill, you tell me, in Tasmania and it seems to me that that would be the sensible thing to do to get away from the contacts and associations and associates that you have within the La Trobe Valley and surrounding areas.

21In the end, as I say, it is a classic Bugmy situation.  You don't get over that sort of childhood and that sort of background and those sort of experiences in five minutes.  At 36, you are at real risk of being institutionalised and it would be much preferable if I give a disposition which involves some sort of assistance to you afterwards, but it is just not that circumstance.

22Rehabilitation is up to you.  Reoffending is up to you.  All I can do is leave it up to your lawyers to try and resolve the other matters that are pending and hope that ultimately at least there will be some period of parole where you can be supervised and assisted on your release into the community and similar situations do not arise again.

23In any event, doing the best I can in all the circumstances, on Charge 1, seven days concurrent.  Charge 2, 12 months.  Charge 6, 12 months.  Charge 8, nine months.  I direct that three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 6 and three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 8 be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the sentence imposed on Charge 2.  That give an effective head sentence of 18 months.  I direct that you serve a minimum period of 12 months before becoming eligible for parole, though that is obviously an academic exercise, I would have thought, in this situation.

24I direct that 383 days be reckoned has having been served under this sentence and so that you understand the benefits of you having been very sensible this morning and negotiated a settlement, I say that pursuant to s.6AAA, but for your pleas of guilty, and clearly there would have been extra offences had you gone before a jury, you would have been sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 30 months with a minimum term of 21 months.

25MS CLARK:  If Your Honour pleases.

26HIS HONOUR:  All right.  So it was 18 with 12.  You have done 383 days of it.

27OFFENDER:  Twelve months of it.

28HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right.

29OFFENDER:  (Indistinct words).

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