Director of Public Prosecutions v Kenny
[2020] VCC 2057
•14 December 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-20-00162
Indictment No. K11213333
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| JOSHUA KENNY |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR D SEXTON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF PLEA HEARING: | 5 October 2020; 9 December 2020 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 14 December 2020 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Kenny | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 2057 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958; Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited: R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269; Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571; DPP v Heyfron [2019] VSCA 130
Sentence:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr A. Cecil | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Offender | Ms E. Gallagher | Victorian Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
1
Joshua Kenny, you have pleaded guilty to an Indictment containing
11 charges – five charges of theft which carries a maximum penalty of
10 years' imprisonment,[1] three charges of burglary which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment,[2] one charge of attempted theft which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment,[3] one charge of common law assault which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment[4] and one charge of armed robbery which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.[5]
[1]Section 74 of the Crimes Act 1958
[2]Section 76 of the Crimes Act 1958
[3]Section 321P of the Crimes Act 1958
[4]Section 320 of the Crimes Act 1958
[5]Section 75A of the Crimes Act 1958
2 You have also admitted your criminal record.
Circumstances of Offending
3 The circumstances of your offending were set out in a Prosecution Summary for Plea dated 11 September 2020 (Exhibit "A").[6]
[6]A truncated Summary of Prosecution Opening dated 30 September 2020 (Exhibit “B”) was read out at your plea hearing on 5 October 2020, due to the fact that this matter proceeded by way of a Koori Court plea hearing, with a restricted hearing time pursuant to the relevant County Court protocol.
4 Your offending was committed between 25 April 2019 and 29 April 2019, along with your co-accused. At the time of your offending you were aged 30 and resided in Orbost. During this period of time, you committed a series of burglaries, thefts, and armed robbery. The targets of your offending were various pharmacies throughout the Gippsland area.
5 On 25 April 2019 at approximately 1.05 pm, you and your co-offender entered a pharmacy at the Midvalley Shopping Centre in Morwell. You both walked to the rear of the store where the dispensary counter was located and stole two bottles of Ativan valued at $100 off the shelves before leaving the store. At the time you were wearing a black-hooded jumper with the hood pulled over a black baseball cap. You were also wearing black sunglasses. Ativan is a medication which is similar to Valium. Police were called immediately, however, you could not be located. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 1 on the Indictment, theft.
6 Less than 12 hours later, at approximately 12.30 am on 26 April 2019, you and your co-offender attempted to gain entry into another pharmacy located in Rintoull Street, Morwell, using a jemmy bar or similar object on the lock of the store's front door. When you were unable to lever the doors open, you and your co-offender used an unknown tool to smash the front glass panel to gain entry to the store. Witnesses observed the two of you and called 000. Shortly after you both exited the store with three or four boxes of Valium valued at approximately $12 to $16 and eight boxes of Valpam, valued at $16. You both ran to an address owned by an individual who was the father of one of your friends, where you admitted to the burglary. The owner of the pharmacy was subsequently alerted, and later that day the owner identified both you and your co-offender when you attended the pharmacy, asking about the burglary. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charges 2 and 3 on the Indictment, burglary and theft.
7
At approximately 8.50 pm two days later, 28 April 2019, you and your
co-offender used a tyre iron to smash the front glass doors of another pharmacy in Drouin and gained entry. The incident was captured on CCTV and observed by a witness who observed you and your co-offender leaving the pharmacy with boxes of medication. You were observed with your
co-offender getting into a dark-coloured SUV and then driving off. Police attended a short time later. The pharmacist confirmed that you and your co-offender stole an unknown amount of Sudafed, Codral tablets, Valium, Ativan, Temazepam, and Antenex. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charges 4 and 5 on the Indictment, burglary and theft.
8 A few hours earlier, at 4.55 pm on 28 April 2019, you and your co-offender had entered another chemist in Morwell. You both entered the store and walked directly to the dispensary counter, a staff-only area within the store, walking past staff members and the pharmacist. One staff member approached you both and asked you to leave. When the staff member said, "If you don't leave, I'm going to call the police" you then approached the staff member in an intimidating manner and said, "Well I'll snap your fucking neck". The staff member then yelled at both of you to leave, at which point you both ran from the store without taking any property. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 6 on the Indictment, attempted theft, and Charge 7, common law assault.
9
In the early hours of the following morning, at approximately 2.50 am on
29 April 2019, you and your co-offender smashed the front glass doors of a pharmacy in Rosedale, and spent approximately five minutes ransacking the store. You were both seen via CCTV footage exiting the store with an unknown amount of prescription medications. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charges 8 and 9, burglary and theft.
10 Less than 30 minutes later, at approximately 3.15 am on 29 April 2019, you and your co-offender attended at the Shell service station in Traralgon in a black Holden Captiva. Fuel to the value of $45 was put into the vehicle. You both then entered the store. Your co-offender took a bottle of drink from the fridge while you stood at the front door before you both returned to the car and drove away without paying for either the drink or the petrol. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 10 on the Indictment, theft.
11
Finally, later that day at approximately 1.40 pm on 29 April 2019, the same black Holden Captiva parked nearby to a pharmacy in Bunyip. You and your co-offender entered the pharmacy, where your co-offender asked where they stored the drug Nexium. Your co-offender was informed that a prescription was required for this drug, which was available at the pharmacy. Approximately
15 minutes later at 1.56 pm, you both re-entered the pharmacy holding large hunting knives. By this time, you and your co-offender had formed an agreement or understanding to commit an armed robbery on the pharmacy, with a third individual acting as a get-away driver. When you re-entered the store, you were observed to be wearing a dark grey jumper with a hoodie on your head, together with dark sunglasses. Your co-offender was observed to have a beanie pulled over his face, with two holes cut out of it for sight. You both walked directly to the dispensary area of the store, which was blocked off. You approached the pharmacist whilst holding the knife and said, "I'll stab you mate. I'll stab you mate. Where are the drugs?". Your co-offender then demanded the keys to the drug safe, and the pharmacist complied with this demand out of fear. You and your co-offender then went to the two large drug safes at the rear of the dispensary area, opened them and filled a yellow bag with an unknown quantity of prescription medication before running out of the store at approximately 1.57 pm. Amongst the medication stolen were Sudafed, Codral, Valium, Ativan, Aladore, and Antex. You both ran into the waiting Holden Captiva being driven by the third individual. A witness observed this, and in an attempt to block the Holden Captiva from being driven away, drove his vehicle and collided with the driver's side door of the Holden Captiva. This did not disable the Holden Captiva, and it drove away at a fast rate of speed towards the Princes Highway. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 11 on the Indictment, armed robbery.
12
You were then seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. Police subsequently detected the Holden Captiva on Princes Highway travelling towards Morwell. When the vehicle stopped at a red traffic light a police vehicle activated its lights, but the car accelerated away at a fast rate of speed until police lost sight of the vehicle. The third individual was dropped off at an address in Morwell, and your co-offender drove the vehicle with you then in the front passenger seat. Approximately one hour later at around 2.50 pm, a witness observed your co-offender slumped over the wheel of the
Holden Captiva, and saw the vehicle lose control and swerve to the left before colliding with a tree and catching fire. Police arrived and extracted both you and your co-offender before the car was fully engulfed in flames. You were both conveyed to hospital with serious injuries. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed a large amount of prescription medication in the rear of the vehicle and a charred yellow bag. Other items used in connection with your offending were located in the vehicle. A subsequent search of your
co-offender's address in Morwell revealed other items in connection with the offending. You were subsequently interviewed on 14 May 2019, making a
no-comment interview, before being charged and remanded in custody.
Nature and Gravity of the Offending
13 Overall, I regard your conduct as representing serious and concerning offending. As conceded by your counsel, you engaged in a spree of conduct over a four day period, in company with another. Clearly, your offending was targeted, by virtue of each instance of offending involving regional chemists. This was not random offending behaviour – rather, it seems clear that you and your co-offender were motivated by a desire to obtain drugs. Your victims were soft targets – retail chemists where on the occasions when you encountered staff, the various workers and pharmacists were entitled to feel safe. In that sense, general deterrence looms large as a sentencing purpose.
14 Your offending escalated, in the sense that your first offence involved the commission of a theft by entering a chemist during its operating hours. You graduated to obtaining forced entry to various chemists after hours, thereby committing burglary and theft, and ultimately engaged in a serious armed robbery. Your conduct was both intense in terms of the time frames and sustained in that it continued over a four day period. It was, in my view, determined conduct. You used implements to obtain forced entry in relation to the burglaries, and on one occasion when a staff member approached you both and asked you to leave, you replied in a menacing manner – approaching them in an intimidating manner and saying, "Well, I'll snap your fucking neck."
15 Due to the fact that your conduct extended over a period of four days, whilst I accept that you were likely drug-affected and clearly motivated by a desire to obtain drugs, in my view, you nevertheless had ample opportunity to contemplate your wrongdoing and desist from further offending. Instead, your criminal behaviour continued to escalate.
16 Your offending culminated in the armed robbery, which was committed at approximately 1.55 pm on 29 April 2019. In my view, whilst it does not represent a high level example of armed robbery, this was a serious and concerning example of the crime of armed robbery, more serious than a low level example, for the following reasons:
(i)You committed the armed robbery in company with another, which would have increased the degree of fear and apprehension to others.
(ii)You and your co-offender had entered the pharmacy approximately
15 minutes prior to the armed robbery, asking if a particular drug was stored at the pharmacy, revealing a degree of planning and intent.
(iii)You both re-entered the pharmacy holding large hunting knives. Your use of a bladed weapon no doubt increased the degree of fear and apprehension in others and represented a greater potential for harm.
(iv)When you re-entered the store in order to commit the armed robbery, you had a hoodie over your head, and you were wearing dark sunglasses. Your co-offender had a beanie pulled over his face with two holes cut out of it for sight. These acts of concealment also reflect a degree of forethought, and no doubt increased the degree of fear and apprehension in others.
(v)The offence of armed robbery is inherently a violent offence; However, the menacing aspect of this particular armed robbery is reflected through your approach to the pharmacist whilst holding the knife, saying, "I'll stab you, mate. I'll stab you, mate. Where are the drugs?"
17 I accept that save for these words, there was no actual use by you of the hunting knife, and there was no physical violence caused to any occupants of the chemist. I also accept that the armed robbery was of a relatively short duration. In all likelihood, your conduct in relation to the armed robbery was ill‑conceived, unsophisticated in both its planning and execution, and motivated by a desire to obtain drugs quickly. Your counsel referred to your conduct in relation to the armed robbery as "Drug-induced craziness". This, in my view, whilst perhaps accurate, highlights the objective dangerousness of your behaviour, and accordingly the gravity of the armed robbery.
18 It also cannot be forgotten that your offending involved multiple victims at different locations on different dates. Whilst no victim impact statements were provided in this matter, it is to be expected that those who were unfortunate enough to encounter you during your offending would have been adversely impacted by the experience. Whilst collectively your offending can be described as a spree, you nevertheless offended discretely, and any penalty imposed must appropriately acknowledge each of your offences and victims.
Personal Circumstances
19 You are currently 32 years of age. You were born in Orbost. You have Aboriginal heritage, identifying as being of the Gunai people of East Gippsland on your father's side. You have two older sisters. A considerable amount of detail was provided in an outline of submissions which was tendered on your behalf (Exhibit "1") in relation to your background. Your counsel described your background as representing, "A complicated life".
20 Your parents separated when you were about two years old, after which you moved with your mother and sisters to live in Lakes Entrance, with your biological father remaining in Orbost. Your mother formed a relationship with your stepfather, and together they had another child, your stepsister.
21 When you were about nine years old, the family moved to Cairns, where you remained for about a year and a half. During this period, your relationship with your stepfather was deteriorating, with him administering physical punishment in the form of beatings, including with a curtain rod. Following your mother's separation from your stepfather, and in the context of your mother drinking heavily at this time, you moved back to Victoria to live with a maternal aunt for a number of months before living in an Aboriginal group home, and then returning to Cairns to live with your stepfather for some six months, before returning to Victoria with your stepfather when you were about 12 years old.
22 After living with a maternal aunt in Cann River for about a year, at the age of 14 you went to live with your mother in Sale, along with an older sister. Your mother was then a drug user. Around this time, you commenced smoking marijuana. DHS became involved and you were moved to an Aboriginal youth hostel in Bairnsdale, before moving to Orbost to live with your biological father when you were 15, where you lived for about one year.
23 At the age of 16, you went to live with your sister, Danielle, and her partner in Traralgon. By this time, you had left school and you were working as a tyre fitter. At this time, you formed a relationship with a friend of your sister and lived with her in New South Wales until about 2007, before returning to Victoria and living in Lakes Entrance. You and your partner, Lisa Stevens, had a son, Jayden, who is now approximately 13 years of age. Soon after, you broke up with Ms Stevens and moved to Traralgon in 2008. Soon after, you resumed your relationship and moved to Morwell with Ms Stevens. During this time, both you and Ms Stevens were using marijuana and morphine heavily, and DHS became involved, with Jayden being removed from you care in 2008. You ultimately separated from Ms Stevens in the context of a period of heavy drug use. It was around this time, 2007/2008, that your criminal history commenced. In this period, you were using ice, marijuana and Xanax very heavily.
24 You moved to Tamworth for several years, living with a friend, before living in numerous places on the New South Wales Central Coast. I note that your New South Wales criminal history commences in 2007 and consists of dishonesty matters and driving matters, for which you have served relatively short sentences of imprisonment.
25 In about 2014, having met another woman, Stephanie McMaster, you both moved to Long Jetty in New South Wales. Your son, Jayden, came to live with you and Stephanie in 2015. During this period you had ceased using drugs. You and Stephanie had a child together, Michaela, who is approximately four years of age.
26 In late 2015, you hurt your back and were prescribed Endone, which unfortunately quickly led to a descent on your part into drug use. Just before Christmas of 2015, you moved back to Victoria with your son, Jayden, and lived with your mother in Geelong when your partner, Stephanie, asked you to move out of the house. Whilst in Geelong, you resumed using ice, as well as Endone. Your relationship with Stephanie finally ended in mid‑2016 in the context of your continued drug use.
27 Following this, you moved to various locations in New South Wales and Queensland, undergoing a drug rehabilitation program in mid‑2017. By this time, Jayden was returned to your care following DHS involvement.
28 Sadly, you fell back into drug use in early 2018. You returned to Victoria with Jayden, who then went to live with his mother, Ms Stevens, with you living in Orbost with your biological father and sister, Casey. You again managed to start reducing your drug use.
29 You have instructed that in the period leading up to the offending, you went to Morwell to get a prescription for Suboxone renewed, staying with your co‑offender. You have instructed that you took a number of tablets and you have no real recollection of much of the offending. Your next clear recollection was waking up in hospital.
30
You were hospitalised in relation to events leading to your arrest following the offending. Those matters are set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening. In the hours following the armed robbery, the vehicle in which you were travelling was the subject of a police pursuit before police lost sight of the vehicle. At approximately 2.50 pm, with your co-offender being slumped over the steering wheel of the vehicle, he lost control and swerved, before colliding with a tree and the vehicle catching on fire. Both you and your co-offender were conveyed to hospital with serious injuries. Your injuries were detailed in a report from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, authored by
Dr Maaike Moller and dated 26 November 2019, Exhibit "2". That report makes clear that upon your arrival at the Latrobe Regional Hospital, you were placed in an induced coma and intubated, before being transferred to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and admitted on 30 April 2019. According to
Dr Moller, you sustained high-force trauma causing the fracture of five of your ribs, a collapsed lung, complex fractures of both of your forearm bones, and also of your thigh bone. Following being placed in an induced coma, you were transferred to the intensive care unit of a tertiary trauma centre where you underwent two operations and multiple procedures associated with the intensive care environment. You had several complications, as detailed in the report. You were in hospital for almost three weeks before being transferred to rehabilitation, with limitations on your movement for at least six weeks. According to Dr Moller, your injuries were medically serious, and it is likely that without medical intervention you would have died.
Sentencing Factors
31 Pursuant to s.5 of the Sentencing Act 1991, I am required to take into account various factors in formulating an appropriate sentence in your case. I have already referred to the maximum penalties, the nature and gravity of your offending, and your previous character.
Your Culpability and Level of Responsibility for the Offending
32
Your counsel did not submit that your moral culpability for your offending was in any way reduced pursuant to any mental impairment, in accordance with what is often referred to as the Verdins[7] principles. Whilst I note from the extended pre-sentence assessment report from Corrections dated
16 November 2020 that you are currently in receipt of anti-depressant medication, and according to the intake assessment in relation to Wulgunggo Ngalu Learning Place dated 19 November 2020 that you have previously been in receipt of anxiety medication, you do not appear to have been the subject of any mental health diagnosis, and I note from your criminal history that previous supervisory orders have not included mental health conditions.
[7]R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269
33 In submissions, your counsel referred to your, "History of dislocation, minimal education and drug use"[8]. Indeed, as I have outlined in relation to your background, you have had what could be described as a disrupted upbringing. Your parents separated when you were two, and for some time thereafter, it seems, you had minimal contact with your Aboriginal father. You have clearly had an upbringing marked by dislocation, moving frequently both within Victoria and throughout New South Wales and Queensland. From a young age, you endured episodes of physical discipline at the hands of your stepfather, and at around the age of 14, you were exposed to drug use by your mother. Also at around this time you commenced using cannabis, resulting in some involvement with DHS and your placement at an Aboriginal youth hostel for a period of time. In my view, it is likely that this instability of life circumstances in your early years has impacted to a degree upon your personal development from a young age, warranting a moderate reduction in your moral culpability pursuant to the Bugmy principles[9].
[8]James Fitzgerald, Outline of Plea Submissions on Behalf of Joshua Michael Kenny (29 September 2020) Paragraph 39
[9]Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571
Plea of Guilty and Remorse
34 You entered a plea of guilty to the charges after negotiations between prosecution and defence, without the need for a contested committal hearing. I accept that your plea of guilty therefore was entered relatively early in the proceeding. Your plea of guilty has spared the community the expense of a committal hearing and trial and has spared witnesses the ordeal of giving evidence. You have pleaded guilty, notwithstanding, it seems, an absence of any meaningful recollection on your part of your offending behaviour. In these circumstances, your plea of guilty reflects an acceptance of wrongdoing, and a willingness to facilitate the course of justice, warranting a sentencing discount for utilitarian reasons.
35 I also accept that your plea of guilty is reflective of genuine remorse on your part. In that regard, you participated in a Koori Court sentencing conversation with Aboriginal elders on 5 October 2020. In my view, you participated honestly and meaningfully in that confronting sentencing conversation, where the elders, through their participation, highlighted the shaming aspect to that process. During the conversation, you indicated that you were very remorseful. You indicated that you did not want your children doing what you have done. You said that your offending was "Not who I am". In relation to your victims, you said "If I could see them, I would apologise, they don't deserve to go to work and experience that."
36 As the various authorities make clear[10], meaningful engagement in the Koori Court sentencing conversation may operate as a mitigating circumstance. Through this process, you have faced the shaming that is an integral part of these proceedings and you have been prepared to be accountable for your offending. Participation in the process of a Koori Court is more burdensome than appearing at a traditional plea hearing. Rather than, "Hiding behind counsel"[11], you took the opportunity to personally demonstrate your remorse for your offending, you demonstrated a degree of insight into your offending behaviour, and you expressed an intention to reform. In this way, participation in this process may itself be rehabilitative.
[10]DPP v Heyfron [2019] VSCA 130 at paragraphs 67 and 68
[11]DPP v Heyfron [2019] VSCA 130, paragraph 68
37 For these reasons, I am satisfied that a further sentencing discount is warranted due to your genuine remorse.
Period in Custody
38
Whilst in one sense your involvement in the serious motor vehicle accident, which resulted in you sustaining serious injuries, highlights the dangerousness of your behaviour at the time of the offending, I am satisfied that as a consequence of those injuries, your time in custody has been more arduous.
I also accept that the gravity of your injuries has caused you to reflect on the seriousness of your offending behaviour, in a sense acting as a personal deterrent for you.
39 I am satisfied that you have used your time in custody productively. In that regard, I have considered the urine screen results dated 26 February 2020 (Exhibit "3") and the bundle of custodial course certificates (Exhibit "4"), documenting your positive progress whilst in custody. According to the extended pre-sentence report to which I have earlier referred, you have had no prison incidents or positive urinalysis screens for illicit drugs since being on remand.
40 You have experienced a significant period of your time in custody during the period of the COVID‑19 pandemic. This has meant that you have had no personal visits and limited contact with the outside world, as well as strict lockdowns from time to time and substantial restrictions in relation to therapeutic and other programs. As the authorities make clear, a sentencing discount is warranted by virtue of the circumstances in which you have been in custody in the COVID‑19 environment.
Prospects of Rehabilitation
41
Your counsel realistically described your prospects of rehabilitation as "fair".
I accept that notwithstanding your history of dislocation, minimal education and drug use, you have at times been able to hold down employment, and there have been periods where you have ceased drug use, engaged in rehabilitation, and lived a productive life. Your criminal history, both in Victoria and New South Wales, reveals your longstanding problems with regards to drug use and dishonesty-related offending. You have previously received therapeutic dispositions, which have not succeeded in preventing you from reoffending. I accept, however, that your criminal history does not contain offending of the gravity reflected in your current offending.
42
As I have previously stated, your participation in the Koori Court sentencing conversation is a positive matter in relation to any assessment as to your prospects of rehabilitation. Likewise, your productive use of time in custody is a positive matter in this regard. Subsequent to your plea hearing on
5 October 2020, you were assessed for suitability by Corrections Victoria in relation to a placement at Wulgunggo Ngalu Learning Place, and in relation to your suitability for a Community Correction Order. Having read the relevant reports, I am satisfied that you engaged honestly and openly in relation to those assessments. Your ineligibility to attend at Wulgunggo Ngalu was based upon your current methadone therapy, which cannot be facilitated at Wulgunggo Ngalu. You were assessed as suitable for a Community Correction Order, and I am satisfied that the pre-sentence report in that regard bodes well in terms of your motivation to rehabilitate.
43 You have been able to articulate your desires upon release to return to Orbost and reunite with your family, and ultimately have your son, Jayden, at least reside with you in the future.
44 In all the circumstances, notwithstanding the difficulties in your life, I am satisfied that your prospects of rehabilitation are reasonable, though clearly dependent upon substantial specialist interventions in the future to assist you in overcoming your problematic behaviour and ultimate reintegration into the community.
Sentencing Principles
45 Your offending, as I have described, was serious and concerning. Any penalty imposed must reflect the sentencing principles of denunciation, general deterrence, specific deterrence given your criminal history, and the need for community protection given the gravity of your offending conduct. Of course, any sentence must also reflect the legitimate sentencing purpose of the facilitation of your rehabilitation. Indeed, I accept that meaningful rehabilitation is highly relevant to community protection.
46 In sentencing you, I have had regard to the discrete nature of your offending. There is a need, in my view, for a degree of cumulation between the offences, to adequately reflect your criminal conduct and the people impacted by your crimes, subject as always to the overriding principle of totality.
47 Having carefully considered all relevant matters, notwithstanding your suitability for a Community Correction Order, I have come to the view that a combined sentence of imprisonment along with a Community Correction Order does not adequately reflect the relevant sentencing factors and purposes to which I have referred. In my view, the only appropriate sentence in this case is a sentence of imprisonment with a non-parole period. In light of the positive mitigatory matters to which I have referred, I am satisfied that the sentence should incorporate a significant parole eligibility period. Mr Kenny, I now come to the moment in my sentencing remarks, where I pass sentence in relation to the charges on the Indictment.
Sentence to be Imposed
48 On Charge 1, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 4 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 2, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 3, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 4 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 4, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 5, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 5 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 6, attempted theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 7, common assault, you are convicted and sentenced to 9 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 8, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 9, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 10, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to 4 months' imprisonment.
On Charge 11, armed robbery, you are convicted and sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment. This is the base sentence.
49 I direct that 1 month on Charge 1, 3 months on Charge 2, 3 months on Charge 4, 4 months on Charge 7, 4 months on Charge 8, and 1 month on Charge 9, be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the base sentence imposed in relation to Charge 11, making a total effective sentence of 4 years and 4 months. I direct that you serve a period of 3 years before becoming eligible for parole.
50 Pursuant to s.18 of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare a period of 595 days has been served by way of pre-sentence detention, and this period is to be deducted from your sentence.
51 Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that had you pleaded not guilty, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of 6 years' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 4 years and 6 months.
52 Turning to you firstly, Mr Cecil, are there any ambiguities in relation to the sentence, or has anything been missed?
53 MR CECIL: I do not believe so, Your Honour.
54 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Ms Gallagher, any issues from your perspective with the maths or any other orders that have been missed?
55 MS GALLAGHER: None, Your Honour.
56 HIS HONOUR: All right, thank you.
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