Director of Public Prosecutions v Laslo

[2016] VCC 1337

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-01839

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

THOMAS LASLO
DIMITRIOS THEODORIDIS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	12 September 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Laslo
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 1337

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. Hannan
For Accused Laslo	Mr D. Holding
For Accused Theodoridis	Ms A. Kapitaniak

HIS HONOUR: 

1Dimitrios Theodoridis and Thomas Peter Laslo you can remain seated for the time being.  You have each pleaded guilty to an indictment charging you with blackmail between 28 October 2014 and 7 November 2014, now almost two years ago.

2The maximum term of imprisonment for that offence is 15 years.  It is regarded as a serious offence.  You Laslo, have admitted prior court appearances and convictions although I note none are for blackmail or similar.

3You Theodoridis have no prior convictions.  The prosecution has tendered, relied upon and read to the court this morning a plea opening which is Exhibit A. I incorporate that into these reasons for sentence in its entirety.  It is essentially an agreed statement of facts upon which I can proceed to sentence, albeit with some qualification and explanation tendered on behalf of each of you by your counsel.

4The victim has provided an victim impact statement which is Exhibit B. Not surprisingly, it has had a significant effect upon him. 

5On behalf of you, Theodoridis, your counsel provided me with an outline of submissions along with a report from Dr Erin Cunningham which is useful in that it sets out a lot about your background history, your upbringing, childhood, your education and work experiences.  Also your mental state and he has diagnosed you as meeting the criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  It's not suggested that any mental impairment operates to reduce your moral culpability for this offending.  However, it is to be taken into account in a more general way in assessing the appropriate sentence. I note that you are undergoing treatment whilst you've been in custody and that that is having a beneficial effect upon you.

6I was also provided with a letter from your partner. That suggests you now have taken your new responsibilities seriously and that you look to a more stable lifestyle than that which you were involved in immediately prior to these matters and those for which you are presently serving sentence.

7I think that having regard to your lack of prior convictions, your prospects of rehabilitation for a young man still 27 years old must be at least reasonable, if not good. I would hope that you would be able to put these matters behind you and lead an honest and productive life from here on. 

8Moving to you Laslo, I have been provided by your counsel with an outline of submissions on your behalf and also letters from your mother, from Joseph Vaccola, from Eres Jamil and from Justin Bartlett, managing director of VSA Group dated 25 August 2016, and a letter from Lee Hoban of Lee Hoban Racing Pty Ltd.  I have also been provided with a medical report and accompanying documents dated 10 June 2011 that speak of a serious accident you had a number of years ago which has clearly had an ongoing effect and your enjoyment of life and in particular the enjoyment of your particular interest in motorcycles and competitive riding thereof.

9Both you and Mr Theodoridis have been sentenced to substantial terms of imprisonment for serious offending conduct that occurred after this offending conduct and it is submitted on behalf of each of you that had I been sentencing you at the same time for all offences that if I was persuaded a term of imprisonment was appropriate for this offending conduct that it should not add a great deal to the sentence that you are already serving.

10On the basis that the totality principle requires a sentence that is not a crushing sentence, looks at the picture overall and takes into account the competing sentencing considerations relevant to all of the sentences at the same time.

11It was left open on behalf of each of you that this offending conduct towards the lower end of the scale of offending conduct of this nature may not require a terms of imprisonment. But I have indicated clearly that although it may be towards the lower end of the scale of offending conduct of this kind I regard it as serious offending conduct.  You have pleaded guilty to the offences. It is true that it may not be in the strongest case against either of you but you have faced up to your criminal responsibility and accepted that you committed the offence of blackmail. That did involve in this case physical intimidation and both of you have accepted that that is the role that each of you played in participating in this joint venture with Mr Stebbings.

12That requires this court to denounce conduct of that kind to punish you adequately for that offending conduct to deter you, each of you, from committing further offences of that kind and in particular to pass a sentence that has the capacity to deter others.

13However, I did indicate during the course of the plea hearing and the prosecution does not dissent from the proposition that the totality principle would not require me to impose a substantially longer term of imprisonment upon you that that which you are actually serving and I propose therefore to accede to the submission of each of your counsel and approach the matter in that way.

14It is true that you Theodoridis played a more significant role than Mr Laslo in the offending conduct but you had no prior convictions.  Mr Laslo has some prior convictions albeit not for offending of precisely this nature. But looking at the matter in the round, I see no good reason to distinguish between the two of you so far as sentencing is concerned.  I see no alternative to other than to sentence you to terms of imprisonment, each of you, for this offence and I propose to do so although, as I say, I don't propose to add to the sentence that you're presently serving to any great degree. 

15Would you please stand, each of you?  For the offence of blackmail to which you have pleaded guilty I convict you and sentence you to eight months imprisonment and I order that one month of that term of imprisonment be served cumulatively upon the sentence that you are presently serving.  But for your pleas of guilty I would have sentenced you each to 11 months' imprisonment and have ordered that you serve a period of six weeks cumulatively upon the sentence that I would have imposed.   Is there any other order that I need make?

16MR HANNAN:  No, Your Honour.

17HIS HONOUR:  No.  All right, yes, thank you.

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