Director of Public Prosecutions v Lawson
[2022] VCC 1986
•14 November 2022
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
KOORI COURT DIVISION
CR-19-02218
CR-20-00092
CR-22-01336
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ERIC LAWSON |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE JOHNS | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 12 April 2022, 4 October 2022 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 14 November 2022 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Lawson | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 1986 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW SENTENCE
Catchwords: Koori Court Jurisdiction – Aggravated home invasion – Theft – Damaging property – Conduct endangering life – Burglary – Aggravated burglary – Aggravated carjacking – Aggravated offence of recklessly exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving – Resist emergency worker on duty – Making a false document – Contravene Community Corrections Order – Related summary offences – Indigenous offender – Application of Bugmy principles – Intergenerational trauma
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:Bugmy v The Queen 249 CLR 571; DPP v Lawson [2020] VCC 2079; DPP v Lawson [2021] VCC 1985.
Sentence:Total effective sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4 years and 6 months.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Ms N. Stevic | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms A. Hughes | Melinda Walker |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Eric Lawson, you have pleaded guilty before me on Indictment N10239669 to the following charges:
(i) One charge of aggravated home invasion.
(ii) Three charges of theft.
(iii) Two of damaging property.
(iv) One charge of reckless conduct endangering life.
(v) One charge of burglary.
(vi) Two charges of aggravated burglary.
(vii) Two charges of aggravated carjacking.
(viii) One charge of an aggravated offence of recklessly exposing an emergency worker to risk by driving.
(ix) Resisting an emergency worker on duty.
(x) Making a false document.
2 You have also admitted related summary offences of:
(i) Failing to stop a vehicle on police direction.
(ii) Dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime.
(iii) Unlicenced driving.
(iv) Failing to stop a vehicle after an accident.
(v) Committing an indictable offence whilst on bail.
(vi) Unlawful assault.
3 The maximum penalties for each of these offences are as follows:
(i) For aggravated burglary 25 years imprisonment.
(ii) Theft, 10 years imprisonment.
(iii) Aggravated carjacking, 25 years imprisonment.
(iv) Aggravated home invasion, 25 years imprisonment.
(v) Resisting an emergency worker, 5 years imprisonment.
(vi) Reckless conduct endangering life, 10 years imprisonment.
(vii) Aggravated reckless exposure of an emergency worker, 10 years.
(viii) Damaging property, 10 years.
(ix) Making a false document, 10 years.
4 In relation to the related summary offences, the maximum penalties in terms of imprisonment are as follows:
(i) For failing to stop on police direction, six months imprisonment.
(ii) Dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime,
two years imprisonment.
(iii) Unlicenced driving, six months imprisonment.
(iv) Failing to stop a vehicle after an accident, 14 days imprisonment.
(v) Committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, three months imprisonment.
(vi) Unlawful assault, three months imprisonment.
5 You have admitted relevant prior convictions. Your most recent prior matters were matters for which I sentenced you, first in December 2020, and I will be referring to these sentencing remarks, the December 2020 sentence was imposed on 17 December 2020 and is reported at [2020] VCC 2079.[1] I next sentenced you in December 2021, 3 December 2021 and that sentence, the medium neutral citation is [2021] VCC 1985.[2]
[1]DPP v Lawson [2020] VCC 2079.
[2]DPP v Lawson [2021] VCC 1985.
6
You remained in custody between the imposition of the December 2020 sentence and your release pursuant to the December 2021 sentence. You were released on CCOs pursuant to those sentences on 23 December 2021, and you commenced the spree of offending that is before me on
4 February 2022. You have breached those CCOs by way of non-compliance and reoffending. Prior to your release you had been in custody for around
two and a half years, and prior to that period of custody you had been in the community for only around four or five months. I will come back to your history of incarceration during these remarks. It is a sad record of incarceration, and given the length and breadth of the offending before me, it is one that must continue for some time.
Circumstances of Offending
7 Turning to the circumstances of offending. The circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary of prosecution opening upon plea dated 28 September 2022, and that is Exhibit A, and Exhibit A forms part of these reasons for sentence, and I will not reproduce the detail set out therein. It is relied upon as part of these reasons for sentence. I will summarise very briefly, referring to irrelevant charges as incidents in the same way as they are set out in the summary of prosecution opening upon plea.
8 Incident 1, Charges 1 and 2, aggravated home invasion and theft, and it is also a summary charge of unlawful assault. That was a terrifying planned, it would seem, home invasion whilst armed and in company. It occurred in the early hours of 4 February 2022. Your victim was in bed at the time of the intrusion and the assault was upon him in his home. He suffered a 5-centimetre laceration and swelling. Items stolen included a safe and $1,100 in cash. It falls into the category of what is often described as a confrontational aggravated home invasion, although clearly theft was a significant object.
9 Incident 2 includes Charge 3, criminal damage, and Charge 4, reckless conduct endangering life, Summary Charge 1 failing to stop on police direction. You enlisted your daughter, it would seem, to this aspect of the enterprise and that is a fact for which I am satisfied you are suitably ashamed and remorseful. The driving and evasion of police set out in the prosecution opening was extremely serious. It involved several aspects of driving and seeking to evade police which were extremely dangerous.
10 Incident 3, burglary and theft, Charges 5 and 6. Your victim in those matters was Mr Giannitis. You kicked in his front door, stole items of value and personal significance; it would have been a very terrifying experience for Mr Giannitis, and indeed it was.
11 Incident 4 encompasses criminal damage, aggravated burglary and aggravated carjacking, this is in relation to Mr Amore and his wife, and also reckless exposure of an emergency worker to risk. Your victims Antonio Amore and his wife, they were in their home. You held up Mr Amore at knife point, police were pursuing you at the time. Rather than give yourself up, you continued your offending spree. Once you had effected the carjacking, you sped off and a police officer had to take evasive action to avoid your speeding vehicle as you escaped.
12 Incident 5, reckless conduct endangering life and failing to stop. This was again extremely dangerous driving, the wrong side of the road at outrageous speeds, narrow misses with oncoming traffic. You collided with a stationary vehicle. The consequences for others on the road, and for you in terms of your incarceration, would have been absolutely catastrophic and the risk of something catastrophic occurring, given your driving, was extremely high.
13 Incident 6, Charge 12, aggravated carjacking. It is a serious example of this offence, 78-year-old man dragged out of his vehicle.
14 Incident 7 relates to you resisting an arrest, dealing with stolen property, given the matters located, and you are also charged with making a false document, driving charges, committing offences whilst on bail, I will not summarise those matters, they are adequately summarised in the summary of prosecution opening.
Objective Gravity of Offending
15 I have touched on the objective gravity and the objective seriousness of this offending, and touched on some of the more serious aspects of your offending. And these serious aspects are also fairly set out in the prosecution written submissions on sentence, and accepted by you on your plea through your counsel, Ms Walker. And during the plea but also in her excellent written submissions.
16 The aggravated home invasion, Incident 1 as I have set out, had a confrontational aspect of it, involved a weapon, in company and actual violence was used. The threatening attack upon the Amores in their own home, is a serious example of the offence of aggravated burglary and aggravated carjacking. I have already highlighted the serious aspects of your driving, evading police, endangering persons during this escapade. And the aggravated carjacking of Mr Falvo, pulling a 78-year-old man out of his vehicle, dumping him on the ground, constitutes very serious offending, and I know you understand that and you accept it.
Victim Impact Statements
17
I received several victim impact statements in relation to your criminal conduct, Exhibit C from Tony Amore, Exhibit D Maria Amore, Exhibit E
Senior Constable Trusewicz, Exhibit F Mr Giannitis, and Exhibit G
Pasquale Falvo. I will not summarise those impacts, they are serious and
long-standing, and I take those significant impacts upon your victims into account in sentencing you.
History of Offending
18 The history of your appearing before me I have touched upon and I will just go over it again, on 17 December 2020 you were sentenced to a total effective sentence of two years and one month imprisonment, and a community corrections order of 30 months. And you were not released because you were still on remand in relation to a charge of armed robbery which predated the matters I dealt with you for in December 2020. And you ended up pleading to that matter, and I dealt with you in relation to that matter on 17 December 2021, and imposed a total effective sentence of 14 months imprisonment and a community corrections order of 30 months, to be run concurrently with the other order. You had been in custody that entire time.
19
You were released from custody to commence the corrections order on 23 December and matters aired at the first Koori Court conversation in relation to the matters before me now in April of this year, and again in October more recently confirmed what my understanding was at the time, that it took both your instructor and I might say this court somewhat by surprise that due to emergency management days you were released at that time in that period in circumstances where my expectation was that the sentence I imposed might have expired in late January or early February before you would then be released on a corrections order, the object being your release to
Wulgunggo Ngalu healing place. And that is a place you had expressed a desire and interest in attending.
20 I summarise that history at this point because your criminal history, your history of incarceration and your personal history, and it being a history attended by significant trauma, all set the context for what occurred in your life over late December and January, culminating in the offending spree I have referred to on 4 February.
21 On the first occasion I sentenced you back in 2020, at paragraph 12 and 13 I said this:
'You have a lengthy criminal record, disclosing a number of relevant offences. It is a record which discloses a number of prior convictions for violence, as well as other relevant matters, matters relating to motor vehicles, and also a prior conviction of reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
Your offending on this occasion and your criminal record raise real concerns about the danger you pose to the community when you are affected by substances. It was submitted to me that I should be guarded at best about your prospects of rehabilitation. That is a fair assessment. You were assessed by Community Corrections as being high risk. The basis for that assessment is very clear on all of the materials and given your history.'[3]
[3]DPP v Lawson [2020] VCC 2079, [12]-[13]
22 Given the events that have unfolded on 4 February and your further remand, those observations are even more acute at this point in time.
Personal Circumstances
23 In relation to your personal circumstances, you are a proud Aboriginal man. Your father was a Barkindji man, your mother belongs to the First Peoples of the Milawa-Mallee, the Latje Latje mob. You recognise both and are proud of both lines, and you have knowledge in relation matters of cultural significance relating to your heritage. You have expressed a desire to engage more with your culture and your heritage, and this has been particularly difficult, of course, given the lengthy periods of incarceration in your life. I will not repeat the details of your early life that I have set out previously on two occasions. In my published remarks for this matter I will reproduce the matters set out at paragraphs 16 to 20 in my sentence of December 2020.
24 You grew up in the Mildura area. Your education was limited. You got to the Year 7 standard. You have not undertaken any further education since leaving school, I was told. Secondary school was not a positive experience for you. You had experienced racism growing up, and school also had the added complication of, due to the presence of a number of relatives and associates, you often found that you were getting into fights, in order to stick up for others.
25 You had an early exposure to and engagement in drug and alcohol use. You were also exposed to a significant degree to violence in your formative years. I was told that you began using cannabis, alcohol, and inhalants from as young as 11, and particularly the years 11 to 13 years of age. You began using amphetamines from 19 years of age, methamphetamines, GHB, and Xanax from 21 years of age, heroin at age 18 until 26 years of age. You explained during the sentencing conversation that you were now on a low dose of methadone and hoped to be able to get off it.
26 Your childhood had some positive aspects. It is also very clear that you were exposed to a culture of alcohol use and aggressive behaviour, which was reinforced by your late father and his male peers, who normalised intoxication and aggression. You describe how as a young boy, adult males, including your late father, would have the young sons engage in physical fights in order for the older males to win beer as a prize.
27 At the age of 15, shortly after your parents separated, your father sadly suicided. This had a profound impact upon you. I was also told, and you expanded on this in the sentencing conversation too, that you had lost three cousins to suicide in the early 2000s. Your history shows also that you entered the criminal justice system at a young age, and I will shortly come to that history, but it is a bleak one, that has sadly left you only some 19 months in total in the community since the age of 21.
28 Tragically, you have also reported that during periods of detention within the Youth Justice system, you were a victim of extremely traumatic experiences which have stayed with you and marked you. Those matters, you are now starting to come to terms with. I accepted what you said about that, and what was said on your behalf about that during the sentencing conversation.
29 I note the contents of Ms Walker's written submissions in relation to this matter to which I have referred and were exhibited on the plea, and I accept the matters contained therein. They refer to the traumatic instances you experienced during periods of detention within the youth justice system, extremely traumatic experiences which have stayed with you and marked you. Those matters were first raised, as I understand it, in one of the earlier sentencing conversations, and I accepted then what you said about those matters and they have crystalised further since then. I accept that aspect of your traumatic history.
30 I will also set out in my published reasons the very sad, as I have stated, history of incarceration in your life from childhood, from the age of 13 effectively, and those matters that are set out at paragraphs 21 to 25 of my December 2020 sentence will be reproduced in my published sentencing remarks for the matters before me today.
31
You were first arrested for assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft at the age of 11, and placed on a probation order and a Youth Supervision Order at the age of 12. By age 13, you had been sentenced to a Youth Residential Centre for three months. At the age of 15, you were sentenced to your first period of Youth Detention. You appeared before the Magistrates' Court at the age of
17 and received an Intensive Corrections Order of three months. You again appeared in June 2002 at the age of 17 and was sentenced to four months of adult imprisonment.
32 In June 2003 at the age of 18, you were remanded and sentenced to a term of three years with a non-parole period of 12 months. You were released on parole in November 2004 at the age of 20 but returned to prison in December 2005 to serve out the unexpired portion of 12 months of that parole. You were 21 at that stage. In March 2006, still at 21 years of age, while undergoing the cancelled parole, you were sentenced to a further period of 18 months; six months of that sentence was run cumulatively.
33 While in custody in April 2007 and aged 22, you were sentenced in the County Court to six years and one month with a non-parole period of 40 months. You were released on parole in August 2010 at age 26. You returned to prison in September 2010. Your parole of two years and nine months was cancelled. You appeared before the Mildura County Court in February 2011, sentenced to three months cumulative upon the unexpired parole.
34 You were released again on parole in August 2011 at the age of 27. You returned to prison one month later in September 2011. Your parole of two years and one month was cancelled. You then appeared before the Melbourne County Court in 2013 at the age of 29. You were sentenced to a total effective sentence of five years with a non-parole period of two years and six months. You were released on parole in December 2017 at the age of 33 but returned to prison in February 2018 to serve out the cancelled period of 366 days.
35 During this period of incarceration, your nephew passed away by suicide and this had a severe impact upon you. You were released and after serving the unexpired portion in February 2019 at 34 years of age, and then in July of that year, were remanded again on the current offending, where you have remained.
36 In 2020 I stated the following:
‘The reports tendered on your behalf demonstrate that you carry with you the effects of childhood trauma and further trauma throughout your teenage and adult years. You have had early learning behaviours, and consequences of your lifestyle, drug and alcohol abuse, and the effects of trauma, that have shaped your psychology. I was told and I accept that you have a lack of coping strategies to manage emotions, to manage your experience in community life, and dealing with stress and disconnection.
You lack appropriate coping skills for life stressors, and you have had little insight into how your experience of childhood trauma has contributed to your current psychological presentation. I am satisfied that you are now starting to come to terms with that aspect of your make-up'.[4]
[4]DPP v Lawson [2020] VCC 2079, [26]-[27].
37 That was so in December 2020, and remained so in December 2021, and given your participation in the Koori Court sentencing conversations in April and October this year, I am satisfied you still have that insight, but you have been unable to deal with those factors. Those findings in relation to coping skills for life stressors and the effects of trauma are drawn from the reports that have been tendered in the earlier hearings and remain exhibits in relation to these matters before me today. And they include the January 2020 report of Ms Latif and the earlier 2013 report of Angeline Swan. And those matters are also set out in some detail in Ms Walker's very helpful written submissions.
38 All those matters I have referred to, the history of incarceration, the early childhood trauma, the psychological sequelae of those matters I have referred to because they do place your very serious offending in context. That history sets the scene for the monumental unravelling that is apparent in your very serious offending. I touched on that chronology, on 23 December when you were released somewhat unexpectedly. There was no opportunity to go direct to Wulgunggo Ngalu healing place, which had been a significant proposal across both the 2020 and the 2021 matter, to give you the opportunity to pursue a community corrections order on country in a culturally appropriate manner with cultural supports, and also supports to address mental health and drug abuse issues.
39 That did not happen, I was told you went to Mildura, and what then happened was there was a death in the family, a significant passing of an uncle. And that necessitated you coming to Melbourne in relation to sorry business, there were family tensions, long-standing friction and conflict within the family which bubbled over at the sorry business events. Now, that is a very brief analysis of what is no doubt a very complex situation. The full effect of what occurred and led you to seeking solace once again in methamphetamine, which then triggers a whole range of offending for you, these matters cannot be understood by simply skimming the surface and reciting the bare facts.
40 A full understanding of why the events of the funeral and sorry business impacted upon you so significantly requires some understanding of the impacts of trauma and loss in your life, and the history of trauma and loss, the intergenerational trauma, its effects on you and those around you, and also the nature of sorry business and cultural obligation. And how long-standing family tension and conflict can emerge and be exacerbated in that setting. These matters and more emerged in the sentencing conversation, and I will not summarise them all in detail. But due in part to those matters to a large part in relation to those matters you spiralled out of control into addiction once again, or into abuse, substance abuse.
Other Factors in Mitigation
Bugmy principles
41 In 2020, in my sentence of 2020, I referred to matters that I still accept in relation to the matters before me today, and Ms Walker's written submission makes the submission again that you are entitled to the full effect of the Bugmy v The Queen (“Bugmy”)[5] principle. The prosecution also accept the application of the Bugmy principle. The prosecution also quite rightly refer to the principle that protection of the community is something that must be borne in mind alongside the application of the Bugmy principle. In 2020 I referred to these matters at paragraphs 29 to 39, and those matters will be reproduced in my published sentencing reasons.
[5]Bugmy v The Queen (“Bugmy”) 249 CLR 571..
42 In a detailed and excellent plea on your behalf, your counsel, Ms Walker, put forward a comprehensive argument that you are entitled the full effect of the Bugmy principle. The prosecution conceded that there was a factual basis to raise the Bugmy principle. The relationship between your exposure to alcohol and violence and the trauma associated with that experience as a young child is centrally relevant to a proper assessment of your subjective culpability for the offending in this case.
43 The effects of intergenerational trauma are apparent in your life story, and no doubt were apparent to all around you as you passed from childhood to teenager to adult. You were further traumatised through the juvenile justice system. I accept what you have told the psychologist and your counsel, and what was so difficult for you to articulate during the sentencing conversation. Those traumatic experiences have also left their mark on you and played a role in your psychological make-up and the dysfunction exhibited during times of stress.
44 What I did state on that occasion is that the circumstances, this is at 37:
'The circumstances that have led you to this court are not confined to those immediate factors which occurred to you at different times in your life. Parents, family members, friends, people you have grown up with and got to know through various institutions, have also been a product of systemic disadvantage, that stems from the colonial experience'.[6]
[6]DPP v Lawson [2020] VCC 2079, [37].
45 Now, that was my perhaps ungainly attempt to capture briefly and reflect the concept of transgenerational trauma as it applies to your circumstances. It is no doubt, in the context of your life, far more complex than can be summarised in a few paragraphs in a sentence such as these. And as I have pointed out previously, and do so again today, the problems you must confront can be laid under the umbrella of substance abuse and reoffending in one sense, but there is deeper trauma, particularly that which has been drawn out on each of the sentencing conversations you have engaged in and referred to by all of the Elders and respected persons you have been before. That you must take opportunities and seek out opportunities to get professional assistance to address historic trauma personal to you, and for drug counselling.
46 In my sentence in 2021 I also referred to these matters. And the object that remained in 2021 to seek to break the cycle of prison in your case and impose a very lenient sentence. I also made the point in 2021 that the offending was very serious offending, sitting within a history of serious offending that impacts the community in a serious way. And at this point of your criminal trajectory, as opposed to the circumstances in December 2021 and December 2020, the principle of protection of the community looms large. The Bugmy principle still has application and I have applied it with significant mitigatory effect in your case, as will become apparent when I state the sentences I have imposed.
Participation in Koori Court
47 You have taken part again in the Koori Court process, twice in relation to the matters before me, as I have stated, April and October. On both occasions you engaged appropriately. It is to your credit that you have faced your Elders and acknowledged your wrongdoing, seeking atonement to some extent and expressing some remorse, certainly expressing shame. Koori Court process is recognised as more burdensome than a general list plea, and your participation affords you some mitigation. So too do your early pleas of guilty. They have significant utilitarian value, particularly so given the state of trial lists in this state, and your sentence is discounted accordingly. Your periods in custody to date have also been more burdensome due to the pandemic.
Other Sentencing Considerations
48 Totality is an important consideration in your case. The contravention proceedings relate to corrections orders that were substantially therapeutic in their conditions, coming after a lengthy period in custody. You were only in the community for around six weeks prior to your remand on the matters before me. As I have stated, the breadth of your offending over a 12 hour or so period leaves no option but a significant term of imprisonment to be served. Nonetheless, totality applies, and it was over that single day period.
49 It is an absolute tragedy in your case that a significant term of imprisonment must be imposed, but it is unavoidable. Unavoidable given the matters to which I have referred. I have taken into account the mandatory sentences and mandatory non-parole periods where they apply to the matters before me, as well to the presumption of cumulation. I will allow a significant period of parole in the expectation that you can continue to work on yourself in custody with the right professional assistance to address past trauma and its consequences, and to support you on parole. I sincerely hope that you have the opportunity to get professional assistance in relation to trauma and drug counselling whilst in custody and beyond.
Sentence
50 I sentence you as follows, and you can remain seated, Mr Lawson. I will deal with the contraventions first, and the structure of the sentence perhaps might be slightly unconventional, but we will discuss it at the conclusion for clarity.
51
The CCO I imposed in December 2020 was in relation to a single charge of aggravated carjacking. On that charge of aggravated carjacking I imposed
18 months in combination with a two and a half year CCO.
52 Applying the principle of totality, given the period you spent in custody prior to release, I will resentence you on that charge to 21 months imprisonment.
53 I declare that you have served 18 months as pre-sentence detention in relation to that sentence.
54 All other sentences imposed on that day stand and have already been served.
55 In relation to the contravention of community corrections order imposed in December 2021 for the charge of armed robbery I sentenced you to 14 months imprisonment and a two and a half year CCO to run concurrently with the CCO imposed in the earlier sentence.
56 I resentence you on that charge to 16 months imprisonment.
57 You have served 14 months of that sentence by way of pre-sentence detention. This sentence is to be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on the contravention of CCO imposed in 2020.
58 Effectively given the PSD declarations I have made in relation to each of those resentences, that makes a total effective term of five months imprisonment.
59 Turning to the fresh indictment, I sentence you as follows:
60 On Charge 1 you are to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three years and 10 months.
61 On Charge 2 eight months.
62 On Charge 3, criminal damage, three months imprisonment.
63 On Charge 4, reckless conduct endangering life, two years.
64 On Charge 5, burglary, 18 months imprisonment.
65 On Charge 6, theft, six months imprisonment.
66 On Charge 7, aggravated burglary, three years imprisonment.
67 On Charge 8, theft, nine months imprisonment.
68 On Charge 9, aggravated carjacking, three years and six months imprisonment.
69
On Charge 10, aggravated recklessly exposing an emergency worker,
18 months imprisonment.
70 On Charge 11, criminal damage, six months imprisonment.
71 On Charge 12, aggravated carjacking, four years imprisonment, that is the base sentence in relation to this sentence.
72 On Charge 13, resisting an emergency worker, two months imprisonment.
73 On Charge 14, making a false document, one month imprisonment.
74 In relation to the related summary offences:
75 Unlawful assault, Charge 41, three months.
76 Fail to stop on police direction, Charge 1, three months.
77 Failing to stop and render assistance, Charge 24, seven days.
78 Dealing with property suspected of being proceeds, five months.
79 Committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, two months.
80 Unlicenced driving, two months.
81 All of the sentences I have imposed on indictment and the related summary offences are to be served concurrently, other than the following orders for cumulation I make. And I have stated that in those terms, given presumptions of cumulation, so in order to give effect to the principle of totality, I am ordering that the sentences to be served concurrently, save for the following orders for cumulation.
82 Nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 1 be cumulative on the base sentence, Charge 12, and other sentences.
83 Three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4 is cumulative on the base and other sentences.
84 Two months of the sentence imposed on Charge 5 is cumulative.
85 Six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 7 to be served cumulatively.
86 Nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 9 is to be served cumulatively.
87 And two months of the sentence imposed on Charge 10 is to be served cumulatively.
88 That makes a total effective sentence on my reckoning of six years and seven months imprisonment. There is 284 days pre-sentence detention on that sentence. Is that right, do the parties agree with that?
89 MS HUGHES: That is the number that I have written down.
90 HIS HONOUR: 284, that is what I calculated from the last occasion.
91 284 days pre-sentence detention on that sentence.
92 Now, that sentence is to be served cumulatively on the five-month total effective sentence that arises from the resentencing of the Community Corrections Orders. Now, that is a slightly unusual way to express it, but it just seems to me to be ungainly and preferable to ending up with a large sentence and a large PSD. So I will state that again to make my intentions clear.
93 In relation to that total effective sentence of six years and seven months, there is 284 days of PSD on that sentence to be served cumulatively on the outstanding sentence in relation to the contraventions, which is five months.
94 Which would make a total effective sentence of seven years.
95 And I set a non-parole period of four and a half years on that total effective sentence, with the declaration of 284 days PSD applying to that non-parole period.
96 So again, just to make my intention clear, in arriving at the five months in relation to the contraventions, PSD has already been taken into account to arrive at that number of months. In combination with the total effective sentence I have imposed today in relation to the indictment and related summary matters, that becomes a total effective sentence of seven years, with a non-parole period of four and a half years to reach that declaration of 284 days pre-sentence detention applies.
97 Pursuant to section 6AAA, were it not for the pleas of guilty, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of nine and a half years imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years. I make the orders for forfeiture that are sought.
98 Now, if there are any concerns with the way I have stated and structured the sentence, they can be raised either now or sometime today and I will look into it and correct it, but I have endeavoured to make it clear for corrections so they understand. But yes, I acknowledge I have approached it in a slightly unconventional way because it seemed to me to be preferable to having a sentence in the order of eight or nine years with hundreds of days of PSD, but if there is to be anything raised in relation to that, I am more than happy for that to be raised with my chambers.
99 Mr Lawson, it is a lengthy sentence, given the matters I have referred to I saw no alternative for that, but I urge you to try and use the non-parole period to work on some of those things you have raised during the sentencing conversations. Anything else, Ms Hughes?
100 MS HUGHES: Your Honour, I just query whether or not there is any orders that you have to make with respect to Mr Lawson's licence.
101 HIS HONOUR: Yes, I thought that myself too, I mean I have made them on the – perhaps I will ask the prosecutor.
102 MS HUGHES: I am just looking at Ms Walker's submissions that she filed and as I understand it, the only charge that I can see is Charge 20, the theft of a motor vehicle.
103 HIS HONOUR: Theft of motor vehicle has to be, yes it does.
104 MS HUGHES: Yes.
105 HIS HONOUR: Thank you for raising that, Ms Hughes. Mr Lawson, in relation to charge – sorry, what charge was it?
106 MS HUGHES: 20, Your Honour. That is according to the table that I am reading here.
107 HIS HONOUR: But is that – yes, perhaps I will just go to that now. That might be on one of the earlier - - -
108 MS HUGHES: Perhaps an earlier indictment had been filed. I believe it might be the Charge 13.
109 HIS HONOUR: Just hang on, I will try and find the – I cannot find it now, I have got several. Which charge is that on the indictment.
110 MS HUGHES: I unhelpfully have indictments for the first two matters and I cannot find the indictment for this matter, Your Honour. I apologise.
111 HIS HONOUR: Ms Stevic, can you help me here? Have we lost Ms Stevic?
112 MS STEVIC: In terms of the – can Your Honour hear me?
113 HIS HONOUR: Yes, is there a theft of motor vehicle before - - -
114 MS STEVIC: No, there is not a theft of motor vehicle charge on the fresh indictment.
115 HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right. Look, I will not make – I mean, orders against the licence were made in the sentences back in 2020, 2021 when there were those charges. On the resentence, I do not think they were mandatory charges, although it was a carjacking resentence. But, look, I think I have made the orders previously, thank you, Ms Hughes for raising it, but we will leave it as it stands. But I will just say again, yes, if there is any – perhaps if you can both give some thought to the structure of the sentence, we will prepare the orders and I am sure we will hear from Corrections if they have a query about it. But the matter can be raised. All right, I will adjourn the court.
116 MS STEVIC: Your Honour pleases.
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