Director of Public Prosecutions v Jones

[2017] VCC 750

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -17-00191

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BRIDGET JONES

---

JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 June 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Jones
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 750

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---

Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

---

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. Hannan	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr C. McKay

HER HONOUR:

1Bridget Jones, you have pleaded guilty before me to three charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception and one charge of theft.  You have also admitted prior convictions.  The facts underlying your offending are as follows.  Charge 1 is a rolled up charge comprising 49 transactions and Charge 2 relates to theft of money via 19 transactions and is also a rolled up charge.  Charges 3 and 4 relate to singular actions by you. 

2At the time of this offending you were aged 30 and employed at Premium Floors in Dandenong South.  You were employed there from 20 October 2014 as a payroll and accounts assistant.  Your responsibilities included preparing the payroll for 70 staff nationally and managing all the indirect payroll related obligations including superannuation, state payroll tax and WorkCover. 
You also had the responsibility of preparing daily bank reconciliations, managing the corporate credit card facility and managing the Motorpass fuel account.  Before any transaction or money transfer was completed staff had to get authorisation from either the general or finance manager. 

3Charge 1, as I have said, is a rolled up charge and relates to offending by you between November 2014 and November 2015 and relates to false accounting documentation which you prepared and presented to management for approval on 49 separate occasions in that 12 months.  It resulted in a loss to the company and an advantage to you of $126,038.88.  I should add here that I am attaching the extremely detailed prosecution summary to my sentencing remarks.

4Charge 2 relates to offending by you between November 2014 and November 2015.  That is a charge of theft.  It relates to you behaving in the following way.  On 19 occasions you accessed the Premium Floors Australia Commonwealth Bank account and deposited money into your credit card account in another bank which was controlled by you and you did so without authority. 
For example, on 26 November 2014 you transferred $793.52 from the Premium Floors Commonwealth Bank account and deposited it into your credit card account.

5The total amount of money that you stole in this way was $72,679.82.  Charge 3 is a further charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception.  Between February and December 2015 you used two corporate credit cards in the name of two Premium Floors employees to obtain property and services to the value of $41,675.41 for you own personal use.

6Charge 4, a charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception relates to offending by you between May and December 2015 when you used a company Motorpass credit card to obtain property and services to the value of $2446.69.  You created a company Motorpass credit card account online by using the names and details of Premium Floors Australia then used this card for your own personal use.  You were, for example, captured on CCTV footage attending a BP service station in Ferntree Gully and producing your Motorpass card to make payment.

7You eventually were questioned by police on 31 March 2016 and in a record of interview exercised your right to give no comment answers.  You were confronted by management in December 2015 when your offending was discovered at which time it related to the offending underlying Charge 3 only.  You made full admissions and signed a formal acknowledgement prepared by the company on 3 December 2015, the next day repaying the $41,675.41 you had obtained by this particular offending via a bank cheque to Premium Floors.

8As a result of this offending of course your employment with that company ceased.  It is appropriate at this point in time to refer to your prior criminal history which has a great deal of relevance in the sentencing exercise before this court in that it reveals extremely similar offending on those previous occasions.  Indeed your current offending began only three or four months you were placed on a suspended sentence by a Magistrates' Court in July 2014 for almost exactly the same offending.  Just excuse me.

9Your offending history began in 2006, this being a charge of theft. 

10As an employee of a call centre for Pizza Hut you obtained credit card details which were not yours and which you then used fraudulently in order to obtain funds.  On that occasion you were placed on a good behaviour bond.

11Then on 20 March 2007 you were placed on a community corrections order on charges of obtaining property by deception, attempting to obtain property by deception, theft, making a false report to police and using a false document.  That related to an unfair dismissal case which you conducted against an employer and you altered a payout cheque sent to you by the solicitors in that matter from $400 to $4000.  On 18 March 2008 that order was varied to allow you to deal with it by way of a fine.

12Then on 18 June 2009 you were fined on four charges of obtaining property by deception and one charge of attempting to obtain property by deception.  That related to offending by you in 2006.  It was a contested hearing whereby you were charged with using stolen credit cards, your defence being that it was, in fact, your sister.  However you were found guilty on that occasion and as I have said, fined.

13Most relevantly on 14 July 2014 you were placed on a suspended sentence for charges of obtaining property by deception.  They have particular relevance, as I have already said, to the offending before this court.  On that occasion you were employed as an administrator and operations assistance where you were responsible for managing company book keeping and accounts.  You were issued with an Amex credit card for office purposes such as the purchase of office equipment and was provided for business use only. 

14It was noted that a number of personal transactions which you had made were made on that card at retail and fashion outlets.  Then it was discovered that a second Amex card had been used in this way and that a third and fourth company credit card in the names of other persons was also used by you and ultimately there was something in the region of 66 charges laid against you in relation to those dishonest transactions.  Some of the monies were paid back but you were ordered to pay compensation to your former employer of $11,288.

15As I have said, you then began employment with Premium Floors who appeared to have been completely kept in the dark about your prior history and began this currently offending.  I also note that you are facing further charges which
I understand are to be contested relating to exactly the same type of alleged offending in relation to yet another employer.  So I hope, Ms Jones, as you listen to this litany of prior and subsequent charges that you are facing what entrenched dishonest behaviour you have fallen into. 

16I now turn to your personal circumstance.  You are now 34 years of age. 
You are the second of three children who grew up in the housing commission area of Shepparton.  Your father and mother were both alcoholic.  Your father was a truck driver.  You recall frequent argument and sometimes violence and your parents separated when you were five, your father moving to Perth and you thereafter having little contact with him.

17You then lived with your mother whose drinking increased after the separation.  She was, according to what you told psychologist Patrick Newton whose report dated 7 June 2017 was tendered on the plea, a rigid and harsh disciplinarian and the family was dependent on welfare and experienced significant financial difficulties.

18You also have a brother who manifested very difficult behaviours and he was later diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome.  You were hospitalised for asthma as a child.  You endured teasing at school because of a lazy eye that you suffered which was eventually corrected and you needed to wear a patch. 
You left home at age 15.  You are currently on strained terms with your family.

19You were apparently a good student although your behaviour became disruptive when you entered adolescence and you were suspended from school on several occasions.  Then you fell pregnant when you were 15, gave birth to and kept that child.  You then returned to a different school when your child, your son, was about a year old with a changed attitude as you realised how important school was and so successfully completed your VCE.

20You studied for a diploma in beauty and nutrition at a local TAFE college and worked briefly in that capacity but for the most part you have been occupied in administrative and book keeping roles.

21You have had a number of relationships.  None were particularly successful.  The first was a four year relationship with the father of your son who has basically disappeared from his life.  Your son is now almost 17. 
You then had a three year relationship with a second man and then you married a man named Tim, in 2009,  although the marriage ended after a year and there was one child to that marriage, Dexter.  He is now aged seven.  Both your children have psychological problems.  Your son, Kieran, has anxiety problems and he has been dabbling in drugs.  Your son, Dexter, is undergoing assessment for an autism spectrum disorder.

22Finally you began a relationship with a man named Claude, which was, you reported, conflictual and difficult.  He was verbally and physically violent. 
You took him back after the relationship ended in 2016 due to violence, but broke down again after six months when police were called by neighbours due to an argument between the two of you.  Police obtained an interim order which prevented you from having contact and the Department of Health and Human Services became involved as well and you realised it was either you get rid of this relationship or there would be difficulties with you maintaining custody of your sons.

23You suddenly had to move house at this time and this caused a fresh round of financial problems with you.  Concerningly you continue to have contact with Claude and according to Mr Newton, "She indicated that she was considering returning to the relationship".

24You report a history of depressive mood disturbance first experiencing depression when you were 20 and when you were first prescribed an anti-depressant which you took for three years.  In 2014 there was a further bout of depressive symptoms which you said were triggered by your unstable relationship with Claude and again you were prescribed anti-depressants as well as Valium and Temazepam.  You apparently then went on to use both the Valium and the Temazepam taking amounts well in excess of the prescribed dose and engaging in doctor shopping to contain the large quantities of the drug that you required and indeed this seems to have increased your depressive symptoms.  You did some counselling via a psychologist referred by your GP and found it unhelpful. 

25Mr Newton said you reported a significant history of problematic alcohol and drug use.  You commenced binge drinking at the age of 12 and continued this throughout your teens.  You abused cannabis and party drugs at heavy levels between the ages of 18 and 24.  You told Mr Newton you were addicted to the drugs you abused and had a wide range of behavioural problems.  You did undergo drug counselling at the Goulbourn Community Health Centre in 2007 and were drug free by 2008 and have maintained that status.

26However you have a history between 2004-2016 of prescription drug abuse, for which you have only had brief counselling.  Apparently you are now abstinent from all drugs including those drugs as well.  However Mr Newton noted that you continued to be prescribed both Valium and Temazepam during 2016 and 2017 with the last script been written in May 2007 (sic) and that seems to me, with respect, to be an example of you saying one thing which you may believe of assistance to you and in fact the circumstances and the hard evidence proving it opposite.

27In any event, Mr Newton saw and reviewed your criminal history and then talked about the background to the current offending.  I found what you had to say to Mr Newton about this offending fairly interesting.  You stated that you had initially taken the money to meet the financial stressors that you were under and then you continued to take it because other personal and other needs arose.  Mr Newton stated, "She also acknowledged that she had engaged in various purchases to promote an image of success as well as giving away money to others in need".

28This is part of the behaviour I was talking to you about earlier.  You cannot afford to do that sort of thing.  Part of the psychological problems that seem to me you face is a problem with the image that you need to present to the world.  Underneath of all that, of course, is a chronically low self-esteem because otherwise you would not need to do this.

29The way Mr Newton quoted you was to say that basically you said you had a bad break-up, which was the relationship with Claude.  You were kicked out of the house.  Your son was having terrible problems "and I desperately wanted to get him out of the situation that he was in.  So I enrolled him a school I couldn't afford", (that being a private boarding school in Hamilton).  You still had the $11,000 owing to your former employer.  You went on saying that every month something new came up and then you said:

"A lot of the time I was trying to keep up appearances.  I have fallen on my face so many times and I wanted to have a lifestyle so my friends and family would think I was successful and not struggling.  Even though it wasn't my money I wanted others to think I was doing well".

30So you gave your mother money to buy a new car.  You put in money for the funeral fund for a friend of your son who committed suicide, saying to Mr Newton "I just wanted to be the one that people could come to for help".

31You express remorse, you said you were very sorry for the position you put your kids and perhaps Mr Salter, this may not mean much to you, but you stated:

"And to my ex-employer, Premium Floors, to everyone that worked there who trusted me.  We became friends and I genuinely loved all of them.  I am so ashamed for betraying their trust and destroying their friendship".

32It seemed appropriate at this time to refer to the victim impact statement filed on behalf of Mr Salter.  He was the finance manager and company director of Premium Floors and he was the immediate manager of you.  I am going to quote extensively from his victim impact statement.  You need to hear this.

"When the fraud was initially detected I was both shocked and in a great deal of disbelief.  As we continued to find additional fraudulent activity my shock turned into anger and I became quite physically ill.  As the offender's direct manager I felt as though it was my fault that this activity had occurred 'on my watch' and was fearful of losing my job.

During this time I suffered a great deal of anger, anxiety and distress often wanting to vomit.  I became fearful of how this could reflect on my future with the company and the impact this could have on my family and my financial status".

33He had done nothing.  This is all because of you.

"I had trouble sleeping and immediate trust issues with other honest members of my finance team.  I have always been a very trusting person but after uncovering the extent to which my trust has been breached I was scared when signing off on any monetary transactions."

34And I might say that would just be part and parcel, every day, of the work that he had to do.  So this is a stress every day that is being faced on probably numerous occasions by Mr Salter.  It is suspecting foul play when, in fact, there was not any.  This is just a nightmarish, emotional situation that I am describing. 

"I felt angry at myself that I did not pick up on the fraudulent transactions earlier and that I had been taken for a ride".

35I mean how dare you do that to another human being, Ms Jones? 

36Under the heading "Financial impact of the crime".  Listen to this.

"Before discovering the fraudulent activity I was promised by our parent company a significant increase in base salary and a larger bonus for the 2016 calendar year amounting to a total of $20,000 conservatively speaking'.

37Can I just depart, Mr Salter, are you supporting family?

38MR SALTER:  Yes, two sons, two sons and a wife. Yes.

39HER HONOUR:  Two sons and a wife.  You know, you are not the only one in the world with two sons and a family, I hope you realise, Ms Jones.  Now going back to the victim impact statement.

"The remuneration audit committee in the parent company decided, following the fraudulent activity, that someone in the company should be held accountable for the crime".  [I would have thought it would be you,
Ms Jones, but no.]  "This person was me, meaning a financial impact of at least $20,000 in 2016 and additional exponential impact on future years percentage increase".

40What does that mean, Mr Salter?

41MR SALTER:  Um, just, um, how percentages are applied every year.

42HER HONOUR:  Yes.

43MR SALTER:  Um, five percent of a lower amount going into the 17 years of course means a lot ‑ ‑ ‑ 

44HER HONOUR:  All right, so this just could go on indefinitely.  Incredibly unfair.  All right and then social impact.

"The crime has affected how I trust people.  I feel it difficult to trust new people I meet socially and now act more defensively than before the crime.  I worry about some sort of retribution from the offender for uncovering the fraudulent activity on myself, my wife or my children".

45I apologise that I asked you that question.  I had read the victim impact statement.  I should have remembered. All right, this is what you have done to another human being and you need to go away and think about this.  I am going to return to - and I again repeat what I said in an earlier conversation in relation to this.

46I regard the impact upon Mr Salter as grave and the unfairness that must accompany this must simply rancour with him all the time.  You were the one who did this, not him.  Yet he is the one - his employment seems to be permanently affected now by your actions.  All right so you need to understand other people are affected by this.  Not some big nameless company that sends out endless money, your immediate - one of the people that you "loved" at Premium Floors. 

47All right and I am going back to the psychological report in some detail because it may be seen that I am in some way being lenient upon you but there are strong reasons why I am deciding to go on the way that - and deal with you the way that I am.

48Now I am going to return now to the report, to the mental status and assessment results.  Now Mr Newton found that you did not manifest significant singes of psychological disturbance, you had a normal mood, you expressed regret for you offending, you were not experiencing any active symptoms of depression.  He stated that in the period preceding your arrest, that is in the time that you were offending:

"It would seem likely that the depressive mood disturbance she was then experiencing reflected the combined impact of her drug use, problems experienced by her children, her unstable accommodation and the disruption to Claude".

49He said that this probably amounted to an adjustment disorder with mixed disturbance of emotions and conduct stating, "That is, her distress is likely to have been reactive in nature rather than representing the outworkings of a primary depressive disorder".

50However he said that he did not consider it likely that the level of depressed mood disturbance would have "had a material effect on her judgment, reasoning or capacity to understand her behaviour and its likely consequences" and he believed that any condition you may have suffered was in remission.

51He found no problems with your cognitive functioning.  However he said,
"Ms Jones' moral reasoning tenders towards the pragmatic and she is prone to the self-centred in her consideration of moral issues".  In other words it is all about you and that you can only see your problems and what you have done in terms of you and what was going on for you.  That is why it is extremely important that you hear that victim impact statement.

52Now he then goes on to talk about personality judgment and he says:

"Lacking any stable figures upon whom she could rely and subsequently suffering repeated experiences in which she has felt she was either exploited or ignored by others, she internalised a view of the world as a hostile and competitive place where the strong take advantage of the weak".

53Are you understanding what I am saying here, Ms Jones?  Basically you have decided, you know, kill or be killed. 

"Equally however she has - was left with a view of herself as ineffectual, inadequate and lacking in the personal qualities that would allow her to prosper in such an environment".

54He says that as a result you are feeling resentful, you are powerless, the world is hostile and uncaring so you have decided:

"That she must either take advantage of situations to further her own welfare or else risk being overwhelmed by others who would exploit her weakness.  She appears to have rationalised each instance of offending conduct both past and current by reasoning that as the ends to which her offending were directed to good - "

55That is, helping your son, getting your mother a car, putting money into the funeral fund.

"This compensated for the fact that the means she used were unlawful and involved a betrayal of trust.  That is, her desire to meet her own financial needs took precedence over other moral and ethical considerations while her engagement in 'charitable acts' in connection with the money she had taken allowed her to rationalise and excuse the self-aggrandising - "

56Do you understand the word "self-aggrandising", that is what you were doing.

"The self-aggrandising aspects of her behaviour.  That is, she reasoned that the breaches of trust and dishonesty in which she engaged during her offending were rendered acceptable because they were undertaken with a view to providing for herself, her children and a range of others".

57Now Mr Newton has diagnosed this as a maladaptive personality trait.  Do you understand the word maladaptive?  All right, it means that your outlook is skewed and fractured and wrong.  That you have got a very powerful internal mechanism where you continue to offend in this way excusing your behaviour, excusing the damage you do to people like Mr Salter because you have got needs. 

58Now I hope you realise that you might see the world as having been a tough place to negotiate.  That does not make you any more deserving or any more vulnerable than anyone else and I hope you have heard that Mr Salter, who has got a wife and two sons, just like you have, whom he is supporting, is equally vulnerable to appalling things happen to him, in this case, it being your dishonesty. 

59So, you know, you are not especially deserving of presenting to the world as a successful human being or of having items that you cannot afford or of providing schooling for your children that you cannot afford.  You are not especially deserving of these things because the world has been unkind to you and you are certainly not entitled to spread that unkindness further as you have to
Mr Salter.

60Now a personality disorder means that this entrenched attitude of yours is extremely serious.  It means it is a disordered way of looking at the world and basically what Mr Newton says is that unless there is intensive psychological intervention this is going to keep going, all right?  You will not be able to help yourself.  He stated, "I am concerned that in a custodial environment these dysfunctional aspects of her personality would be reinforced potentially entrenching them further".  That is, gaol is going to make you worse because it is not going to provide you with this intensive psychological intervention.

61He stated: "It is clear to me that considerable rehabilitative work remains ahead of her".  He said, "The intensity of her problems indicates a clear need for her to engage with professional mental health assistance".  He says unless you are given this intensive assistance, "I would consider Ms Jones' prognosis for recovery to be poor".  In other words you are going to do it again.

62If you do this again all you are going to get is gaol.  You are just getting it more, that is all.  It will be the revolving door and in the next 12 months that you are in gaol you will see these other women.  They come, they go, they come, they go, nothing changes.  Their families crumble, they lose relationships, they get out, they do it again, back they come, back they come, back they come. 
I just hope I am making it clear to you how problematic your view of the world is and how serious your offending now is. 

63He says, "Intensive treatment provided in the context of close supervision and unambiguous consequences for non-compliance - "  That is, it is very clear what will happen to you if you do not abide by the conditions of the CCO, i.e. you will be gaoled.  "May well provide the best opportunity for Ms Jones to address the problems which have overshadowed her life to date".

64Now the prosecution have very understandably, as I have said, submitted that I should deal with you by a term of imprisonment which is greater than that allowed for a combination type sentence which your counsel submitted I should impose.  That is, one year in gaol and then released on a community corrections order.  I can totally and entirely understand why the prosecution has made that submission.  Really, in one sense, it seems the obvious way to go but I - the only reason I am not looking at that is because, in my view, you require - you certainly require a period of time in gaol because your offending warrants it.  You have just done this too many times. 

65Of course you are going to go back to the Magistrates' Court now for breach of suspended sentence.  You breached your suspended sentence four months in.  All because your problems overwhelmed you and you believe you are entitled to go and deal with it this way.  I mean how someone thinks it is all right to knock off money to buy a car for their mum when they are on a suspended sentence for doing the same thing is beyond me and that just shows me how psychologically disturbed your thinking is.  You must have known that this would be uncovered.  Once it is uncovered this sort of offending is extremely difficult to challenge in the courts.

66In any event I have decided that I will place you on a 12 month gaol sentence to be followed by a long community corrections order which will be onerous and filled with difficulties and your life will be run for years by Corrections once you leave.  Under the community corrections order you cannot leave Victoria without telling Community Corrections.  You have to tell them of change of address and employment within 48 hours, you cannot just move around wherever you want to.  You are going to have supervision which means you are going to be going in to see them all the time.  You will be undertaking intensive psychological and probably psychiatric treatment.  I will ensuring that my sentencing remarks are sent to Corrections as will be a copy of Mr Newton's report, so they will know what they are dealing with.

67You will be doing a considerable number of hours of unpaid community work.  Can I tell you this, Ms Jones - sorry, there will also be judicial monitoring.  You will be coming back to see me at regular intervals and I will be getting a report on your progress.  I say to you if I find there has been any deviation by you on the basis that "I am entitled to something better", I will put in gaol and I will not hesitate and it will be for a long period of time.  Much longer than the 12 months that you are about to undergo.

68I note that there are some difficulties.  You have placed your son, Dexter, with a family friend in Shepparton who has four children.  On his removal from the private school you had so unwisely placed your son in, he relapsed into forming inappropriate friendships at his high school, he got back into drug problems.  You linked him back in with a private psychologist which, again, probably not something you could afford.  He does not wish to go with that friend to Shepparton.  He is of an age where he is 17 now.  The idea is he will do a pre-apprenticeship but his living arrangements are entirely uncertain because he does not want to leave his friends in Narre Warren as I understand it, which is what happens with kids that age.  So, you know, his position is uncertain.

69Whilst the position of both your children is difficult it does not take them into the category of suffering exceptional hardship as a result of your incarceration.  That is a much higher standard but I do note that it will cause you, I imagine, quite some psychological suffering to be separated from them and particularly to be unsure of the plight of your eldest son.  I just hope you understand how misguided your efforts to deal with him involving the repeated offending by you in this way have been and it really, in some sense, have made it worse.

70In all the circumstances, I do take into account the mitigating factors including your plea of guilty and the difficulties of your life and the psychological problems underlying, as I accept they do, your repeated offending.  But can I tell you, you are not the first person who comes before this court with psychological difficulties and hard childhoods.  It is practically standard fare for everyone who appears in this court. 

71Now I am giving you this opportunity, Ms Jones, as I am sure I had made clear, only because it has got to stop and that it is in the community's interest that I do the best I can, but if you do not take this last, final, opportunity we are done and you can resign yourself to a life in and out of gaol.  You are at the crossroads, you are entirely at the crossroads.  Unless you start reflecting on what your outlook and offending achieved, you will get nowhere and it will be gaol from now on.

72Now you are an intelligent woman, you have got the capacity to maintain employment.  Whether you have got the capacity to maintain employment in an honest fashion remains to be seen and obviously if you have got any brains, you will not obtain employment, in fact I am sure you would not be able to, which involves any financial responsibility.  But unless you accept the fractured way in which you look at the world and the fractured way in which you look at money, your life is going to be an unendingly far more miserable one, in fact, than it has been because it will involve gaol. 

73Very well, could you stand up please?  Now, Mr Hannan, we have got the four charges. 

74MR HANNAN:  Yes.

75HER HONOUR:  I think in relation to each of the charges I will sentence
Ms Jones to 12 months' imprisonment and they will run concurrently.  I think that is the best way because it could not ‑ ‑ ‑ 

76MR HANNAN:  Charge 4 might not deserve the 12 months, Your Honour, compared to Charges 1 and 2, for instance.  It's a much lower amount of $2000 odd dollars..

77HER HONOUR:  Can I combine any of them?  I mean it is essentially ‑ ‑ ‑ 

78MR HANNAN:  They could all be aggregate.

79HER HONOUR:  You reckon they could be?  Because I am more than happy to aggregate them.

80MR HANNAN:  It is all the one employer, it is all during the same prolonged period.

81HER HONOUR:  It is basically just knocking off money using different means, is it not?

82MR HANNAN:  Yes.

83HER HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  Well that is what I will do. 

84I am sentencing you to 12 months' imprisonment.  Upon release you will be placed on a community corrections order.  I can only place you on this order with your consent.  I need to explain the conditions of this order to you.

85The fundamental conditions.  The order will last for three years.  Whilst on that order you must not commit any offence for which you could be imprisoned in that next three years.  That does not mean if you offended again and the Magistrates' Court does not sent you to gaol, i.e. if you knock off a box of matches from Woolworths, you will still have breached this order.  Any offending for which you could be sentenced will bring you right back in front of me and as I have said, you know, there is an expression called "Bring your toothbrush", it means you will be going to gaol.  You will need to bring two or three, you got it?

86Secondly, you must comply with any regulation or requirement proscribed by Regulation 17 of the Sentencing Regulations.  That is, you have got to do what you are told.  You must report to, and receive, visits from the Corrections. 
You must report to the community corrections office within two clear working days of the order starting and it will start two days after you are released. 
You must let a community corrections officer know within two clear working days of you changing your address or your job.  You must not leave Victoria without the permission of the Community Corrections and you must obey all lawful instructions and directions of the Secretary of Community Corrections. 

87Now in addition to these mandatory terms I am ordering an intensive compliance period which will take place in the first two years of the community corrections order once you are on it. 

88You must perform 300 hours of unpaid community work over the first two years as directed by the regional manager of Community Corrections.  You must -
I am going to order that 100 hours of treatment and rehabilitation which you properly undertake, can be counted as hours of unpaid community work.  If you fail to undertake this order the Department of Justice can give you a direction to perform additional hours of unpaid community work, all right?  So when you get out you are going to have to do 300 hours of unpaid community work within the first two years.

89Secondly, you are going to be under the supervision of a community corrections officer for a period of two years.  That will be intensive supervision from Corrections. Your worker will be following up to see how you are doing the next things I am going to order- which are that you must undergo assessment and treatment including testing for drug abuse or dependency as directed by Corrections. 

90You must undergo mental health assessment and treatment.  That may include psychological, neuro-psychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager.  That is, you have to get a mental health plan.  You must participate in programs or courses that address factors which related to your offending behaviour, all right?  I am going to make the comment that you need psychiatric as well as psychological treatment.  Are you prepared to enter this order?

91OFFENDER:  Yes, (indistinct).

92HER HONOUR:  All right, prepare the paperwork.  Any days of PSD? 

93MR HANNAN:  No, no PSD.

94HER HONOUR:  There are no days of pre-sentence detention?

95MR HANNAN:  No.  Was judicial monitoring part of that community corrections order, Your Honour?

96HER HONOUR:  Yes.  I am also going to order judicial monitoring.  Yes, the first judicial monitoring will be 10 July 2018 and that will be six weeks after you have been released from prison.  So you and I will be visiting each other, we will be seeing each other then and I better see that you have reported in and are getting going on this order.  I do not want to hear any excuses and like
I have said, in my view, scamming has become second nature to you, do not even bother trying it when you come back here.  I do not want to hear excuses, I hear them all the time, not interested.  It is either do what you are supposed to do or off you go.  No, perfectly clear?  There is no wriggle room for you and the consequences are immediate and massive.  I will, and I will repeat it again,
I will gaol you and I will not hesitate.  You have missed out on a longer sentence than 12 months by less than a centimetre.  Have a seat, we will prepare the paperwork.  Mr Salter, have you got any questions?

97MR SALTER:  Ah no I don't, Your Honour.

98HER HONOUR:  Is everything clear?

99MR SALTER:  Yes.

100HER HONOUR:  Again, the court recognises the severity of this offending upon you and - yes.  Very much, very much - and I absolutely accept that it could affect you financially into the indefinite future plus, as you said, the complete loss of trust and the self-blame.  Forget the self-blame, all right?  We have this all the time and you just do not expect people to behave in that way.  It is - it completely - we see it all the time with persons like yourself, Mr Salter, the whole faith in human nature is fundamentally shaken and that is an additional suffering in itself and I entirely accept that, all right?  Thank you.

101I should add Ms Jones that you were found suitable for placement on a community corrections order after assessment.  You are assessed as a medium risk of re-offending according to the level of service risk assessment tool.  I do not accept that assessment.  I regard you as a high risk of re-offending without the appropriate intervention as indicated by Mr Newton who saw you for a much greater period of assessment than did the community corrections assessment officer.

102Yes that is fine, good.  Thank you, we will get Ms Jones to sign it, thank you.

103I do have to make a declaration pursuant to s.6AAA ‑ ‑ ‑ 

104MR HANNAN:  Yes you could, Your Honour.

105HER HONOUR:  Pursuant to s.6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of four years and order you serve a minimum term of two and a half years, all right?  Thank you. 

106MR HANNAN:  As Your Honour pleases.

107HER HONOUR:  I will give copies of that to you.  Have I covered everything? 
I will hand back that Judge Davis' case.  I will inform her, Judge Davis, that you thought it might be of assistance to me, Mr Hannan.  I am sure she will be very pleased.

108Well hopefully, Ms Jones, this is the start of a new way of operating for you and I will see you on 10 July next year.  Thank you.

- - -