Director of Public Prosecutions v Jones
[2012] VCC 975
•17 July 2012
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-11-01668
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| PAUL GORDON JONES |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE WILMOTH | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 17 July 2012 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 17 July 2012 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v. Jones | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 975 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Catchwords: One charge of attempted armed robbery, two charges of robbery; soft targets in service stations; threatened use of syringe; heroin addict; voluntary surrender to police, full admissions; early plea of guilty; accused engaged in treatment immediately afterwards and continuing; general deterrence;
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Ms C. Camilleri | |
| For the Accused | Ms J. Swiney |
HER HONOUR:
1 Paul Gordon Jones, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted armed robbery and two charges of robbery. The maximum penalties for these offences are 20 years and 15 years imprisonment respectively.
2 You committed the first robbery charge on the afternoon of 17 April 2011 at the Fuel Zone Service Station in Lysterfield. Daniel Wallace was the console operator who was working alone. You approached him and demanded cash while keeping your hand in your pocket as if to suggest you had a concealed weapon. In fact you had a small hammer in your pocket which you did not produce. Mr Wallace handed over $500 cash. You returned to your car which was parked nearby and there you dropped the hammer which police later found.
3 Two days later on 19 April at about 10.15 p.m. you entered the BP Service Station in Ferntree Gully carrying a syringe. Vishang Soni was the console operator and there were two customers in the shop. You demanded cash from him and produced the syringe. Mr Soni refused to give you any money saying there were cameras in the shop and that he had called the police. He then locked himself in the rear office. You left there without any money. That is Charge 2, attempted armed robbery.
4 At that service station you were seen and recognised by a family acquaintance who later approached you and told you she intended to report you to the police if you did not hand yourself in.
5 Returning to events on 19 April, about 25 minutes after the attempted armed robbery you went back to the Fuel Zone Service Station where you had been two days earlier. This time the console operator was Timothy Grimshaw, also working alone. You approached him and demanded cash and he handed over $184.70 as well as some cigarettes you demanded. You left and returned to your car.
6 On 6 May 2011 you went voluntarily to the Knox Police Station and admitted to having committed the attempted armed robbery at the BP Service Station. You were arrested and interviewed and you made full admissions to all three offences. You told the police you had used the cash to buy heroin and had sold the cigarettes to obtain cash which you then used to buy heroin.
7 You told police you were not proud of what you had done, that you wanted to face up to it and that you were using heroin at the time as well as Xanax pills.
8 As to the first occasion you said you needed money for the next day's heroin. Until that time you had been selling scrap metal from rubbish collections to pay for heroin and you used the money that was handed over also to buy it.
9 You said you knew the person you approached in these service stations would be scared or intimidated, but you would not have caused them any harm even though you had a small hammer with you for use if you were locked into the shop by the operator.
10 You agreed it looked like you were armed and the operator would have thought that. You agreed you were wearing a balaclava and trying to disguise yourself.
11 As to the second offence you said you had not intended to harm the operator with the syringe but to threaten and frighten him. You then said that just as on the first occasion you were not thinking straight because of the Xanax pills and possibly alcohol and that this was why you could not really agree or disagree that the man seemed frightened.
12 You told the police in relation to the third offence that you used the same method of demanding money but with no weapon and when you saw there was not much cash you demanded cigarettes as well. Again you said you were "off your face" and that you had been wrong and very stupid. You also told the police that you had been a desperate heroin addict and that you had started a program that day meaning a program targeting your heroin addiction.
13 Two of those console operators provided victim impact statements in which they each stated that they had been affected badly by the fear caused by the robbery. One of them was able to return to work with the assistance of the support he received from his employer and the other was assisted by professional counselling.
14 I turn now to your personal circumstances. You are aged 25 and you have worked as a bricklayer including running your own business. From what you have told the police you have rarely been out of work, but in recent times you have been residing at Odyssey House for treatment of your drug addiction.
15 You had been introduced to heroin at the age of 23 or 24 which is perhaps relatively old, but it appears in the context of what I have heard about your circumstances that you became quite quickly and seriously addicted. You were admitted to Odyssey House in February and remained there drug free for two months until mid-April when your father suffered a heart attack. After that you lived with your family who are supportive of you and you continued with counselling.
16 You were readmitted to Odyssey House on 20 June having waited for another bed to become available. Again, according to a report from Odyssey House, you have remained drug free and continue to engage in all aspects of the program there.
17 A worker from Odyssey House accompanied you to court for the plea hearing and I was informed that you are not able to leave there without being accompanied by a staff member.
18 The report confirms that you appear to be motivated and committed to changing your life and that you intend to remain at Odyssey House for the duration of the program, which is 18 months. That intention was more accurately expressed by Ms Swiney, who appeared for you, as being your intention to return there upon your release from the sentence of imprisonment which you accept is inevitable.
19 As a young person you had been in trouble and had many appearances at the Children's Court. Your only appearance in the adult courts was in the Magistrates' Court in 2004 when you were convicted and fined for driving charges and a shop theft. That history indicates that you had matured and settled into life as a working man, presenting no threat to the community. That changed when you became an addict needing drugs constantly.
20 Your voluntary surrender to the police and frank admissions suggest that it was indeed only that drug addiction that led you to offend in these very serious ways over a very short period of time.
21 That offending calls for a sentence which reflects the compelling need for general deterrence in relation to robbery and armed robbery, or in this case an attempt. These three men were working alone, two of them at night, and are what is known as “soft targets”. Unfortunately it is a common occurrence. Desperate offenders are attracted to them because of the easy availability of cash, the victims cannot defend themselves and are in great danger of potential harm. They are placed in fear and often suffer, as we know two of these men certainly did, from the consequences of the experience.
22 All this you know too and you said as much to the police, although because you had been under the influence of substances you were reluctant to agree that you had observed that the second and third victims were actually frightened.
23 Your prospects for rehabilitation are good because of your contrition and remorse, your history of hard work as a tradesman and your efforts to remain free of drugs and to tackle the scourge of addiction. The prosecution concede s this. However it must be said that you are still in the early stages of rehabilitation from a clinical point of view and I make that observation only on the strength of the short time you had spent at Odyssey House.
24 Because of those good prospects there is less need for a focus on specific deterrence than on general deterrence. They also mean that a short time in custody and a longer period on parole would be an appropriate disposition because you could then return to Odyssey House sooner rather than later and continue with your rehabilitation, the specifics of which will be placed on hold by your time in custody.
25 A further mitigating factor closely connected to your surrender and your cooperation with the police and the admissions is your early plea of guilty to the charges. For that you are entitled to a discount on your sentence both for avoiding the need for witnesses to have to give evidence and for the utilitarian advantages to the criminal justice system.
26 It is certainly in the interests of the community that your rehabilitation is able to proceed, but nonetheless a prison sentence to be served immediately is warranted in this case.
27 The range offered by the prosecution as being appropriate was three to four years for the head sentence and one to two years for the nonparole period.
28 Ms Swiney responded that the range was too high because of the compelling mitigating factors and because of the importance of protection of the community which will be achieved by your rehabilitation. I should add that even though you are not a young or even a youthful offender the rehabilitation of a drug addict is always of very great importance to the community.
29 During the plea I was referred to a number of cases in which sentences for attempted armed robbery and for other serious offences were considered by the Court of Appeal and I have taken them into account.
30 Indeed taking all matters into consideration I agree with Ms Swiney's submission and accordingly I will sentence you as follows and I will ask you to stand now please, Mr Jones.
31 For each of the robbery charges, Charges 1 and 3, 12 months imprisonment. For Charge 2, attempted armed robbery, 18 months. This is the base sentence and three months of each of the other sentences are to be served in cumulation upon it.
32 That results in a total effective sentence of two years. I order that you serve a minimum period of nine months before being eligible for parole.
33 The long period of parole that results from those orders provides time in which you may be able to complete most of the time you need to spend in Odyssey House subject to your readmission there.
34 For a man who, in his adult years, has displayed very little disposition for offending, apart from these offences which arose from your drug addiction, a short time to be spent in custody is appropriate. In all the circumstances of this case it also addresses the importance of general deterrence.
35 If you had pleaded not guilty to these charges I would have sentenced you to three years imprisonment, with a nonparole period of two years.
36 The prosecution seeks a disposal order in respect of a number of items connected with the offences and an order for the retention of a forensic sample obtained from you. Through your counsel you have no opposition and I make those orders.
37 A compensation order is also sought, which you do not oppose, in favour of Fuel Zone in Napoleon Road, Lysterfield for $997.40 and I make that order as well.
38 Now, Ms Camilleri, I haven't made a note of any pre-sentence detention. I'm not sure ‑ ‑ ‑
39 MS CAMILLERI: Your Honour, I believe the plea was on the 29th, up until today, not including today, would be 16 days.
40 HER HONOUR: Thank you. 16 days are to be taken into account to be reckoned as already served and I shall cause that to be noted on the court record. Are there any other matters I have neglected, Ms Camilleri?
41 MS CAMILLERI: No.
42 MS SWINEY: No. No, thank you, Your Honour.
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