Director of Public Prosecutions v Karistianos

[2015] VCC 685

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15 00575

THE QUEEN

v

JESSE KARISTIANOS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	22 May 2015
DATE OF SENTENCE:	22 May 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Karistianos
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 685

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

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Crown	Mr J. Dickie	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr R. Chaudhuri

HIS HONOUR: 

1Jesse Karistianos, you have pleaded guilty to one uplifted matter of drive while suspended, one indictable matter of make counterfeit money and a further indictable matter of have, in your possession, a tool that had been used in the making of counterfeit money.

2Those last two crimes carry maximum penalties of 14 years and ten years.  You have pleaded guilty at a reasonably early opportunity.

3Whilst I find your explanation to the police as to why you counterfeited the money somewhat bizarre, I am not prepared to exclude them beyond reasonable doubt.

4I think, in this situation, bearing in mind your addiction to drugs, I am more inclined to the belief that this was carried out to purchase drugs.  However, there is a subsequent conviction where you used counterfeit money to buy a puppy, which does tend to give support to the ridiculousness of the excuse that you gave to the police.  But in any event, you have got to get the benefit of the plea of guilty, utilitarian and with remorse.

5You do have prior convictions and subsequent matters but I note that the prior convictions are now of some antiquity and, in reality, support your counsels description of you as having a long term drug addiction.

6I accept from the bar table that at the time of this offending you were using ice and your capacity for judgment would have been affected, to say the least.

7Since this matter has occurred you have undergone a sentence of imprisonment of some three months at the start of this year and you are facing a breach proceeding on a community corrections order.  In those circumstances I do not see that there is any need to put you back in gaol.  You have now had the experience of that and if that has not been salutary then nothing I do is going to affect that.

8The circumstances of the offending are that police intercepted you driving with a suspended license.  When they looked in the car the found a number of counterfeit $100 and $50 notes, together with a small amount of $20 notes.

9You admitted to the police that you had made them and said you were working with the Commonwealth Bank on some sort of project.  The police took the notes but, it would appear, not to have arrested you, and it was some time later that police decided to investigate the matter.

10The matter was originally to be heard, as I am told and accept, in the Magistrates Court, but was, for reasons that remain unknown, uplifted into this jurisdiction.

11Insofar as counterfeiting is concerned, this court sees matters where hundreds of thousands of dollars of extremely good quality notes are often produced.  You have produced a small quantity of what, on any basis, has to be described as poor quality and indeed, your counsel tells me, that the informant described them as effectively being pathetic.

12However, the fact of the matter is that counterfeiting is and traditionally has been regarded as a serious crime, going back to about the 12th century, as I understand.  A coin of the realm provisions and it cannot be one on that, even though it may have its less serious side, be treated as any sort of a joke.  It is an attack on the currency of a country and no matter, whether it is a small one or a large one, it has to be treated seriously.

13The circumstances as such, with you and in your particular situation, I do not need to hear a detailed account of your existence.  You are supported in court by your mother.  You clearly have issues that need to be dealt with and that is really a matter for you and your advisors.

14In all of the circumstances I think, and so far as those two Commonwealth charges are concerned, that a community corrections order, with conviction of two years' duration with 150 work hours, is sufficient punishment and sufficient so far as general deterrence and specific deterrence are concerned.

15I make it clear to you that whilst there is an element of - not unfair to say ridiculousness about this offending, a repeated effort at it, if you were brought back before me, you would not be treated anywhere near so kindly.  Do not do it again.

16Sorry, and on the drive.  I have already done the drive, have I?

17MR DICKIE:  No.

18HIS HONOUR:  In that scenario, I will fine him $200.

19MR DICKIE:  With or without ‑ ‑ ‑ 

20HIS HONOUR:  I will not exercise - sorry?

21MR DICKIE:  With or without conviction?

22HIS HONOUR:  With.

23MR DICKIE:  Your Honour, as I understand it, the practice is still that a s.6AAA declaration is made in relation to Commonwealth matters.  I am not sure if Your Honour is ‑ ‑ ‑

24HIS HONOUR:  Not with a cco, I do not.  No, it is not within the section.

25MR DICKIE:  See, I mean ‑ ‑ ‑

26HIS HONOUR:  This is really troubling.  See, I have taken the view and I recon I am dead right, that even when you give a gaol sentence and then a cco, it does not come within the section and they are looking at it at the moment.  They have asked me, I have done these sort of submissions and some decisions where I have said exactly what I just said then.  But it is sort of meaningless because if someone had pleaded not guilty and run a trial, I probably would not have given them a cco anyway.

27MR DICKIE:  Yes, Your Honour.

28HIS HONOUR:  Though there is a reason - it has happened recently.  As I said, I do not think it fits with part of whatever it is.

29MR DICKIE:  You may (indistinct), Your Honour.  If I have mislead you I apologise.

30HIS HONOUR:  I know, as a matter of law, I do not have to.

31MR DICKIE:  Yes, Your Honour.

32HIS HONOUR:  What concerns me is that it is misleading because you run a trial in my court and all bets are off, if you know what I mean.

33MR DICKIE:  Yes, Your Honour.

34HIS HONOUR:  I mean that in a kindly, sort of legalistic way, I do not ‑ ‑ ‑ 

35MR CHAUDHURI:  I would suggest Your Honour's use the term, "chancing ones arm."

36HIS HONOUR:  That is what I will have to use.  Yes.  That is exactly right.  Where will he report to Mr Chaudhuri?  Where is he living? 

37MR CHAUDHURI:  Greensborough, Your Honour.

38HIS HONOUR:  There is corrections in Greensborough, I am sure there is.  I will just get him to sign that Mr Chaudhuri.  Are you worried about something I have done, Mr Dickie?  Or are you just ‑ ‑ ‑ 

39MR DICKIE:  No.

40HIS HONOUR:  On a self-education program.

41MR DICKIE:  I apologise now then for being wrong, Your Honour.  I just checked that I was wrong and I was and I can apologise again.

42HIS HONOUR:  There is always a sense of anxiety arises when a judge sees the prosecutor start flicking through the Sentencing Act of the ‑ ‑ ‑ 

43MR DICKIE:  It is more for my own learning, Your Honour.

44HIS HONOUR:  Edification.

45MR DICKIE:  Edification, is the word, Your Honour.  Thank you.

46HIS HONOUR:  All right.  That order is made.  Just stand up for me for a moment.  What you have really got to understand is, no matter what is going on in your personal life, it might seem like an easy thing to do, to photocopy a note and try and pass it to a bookmaker, or whatever you are going to do with it.  But the fact of the matter is that it is not just a revenue offence, it is an offence which has historically been treated very seriously, all right.  300 years ago you would be having your hands cut off for it, okay.  It has always been treated with a certain disdain.  Do not do it again because if you get brought back for this, for breaching this cco, I will not have any choice, all right.  It will be holiday time.  Now, you have already one, you do not need another one.  Thanks, Mr Dickie.  Thanks, Mr Chaudhuri.

47MR CHAUDHURI:  As Your Honour pleases.

48MR DICKIE:  Yes.  Thank you, Your Honour.

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