Director of Public Prosecutions v Leguier, Raymond
[2011] VCC 1799
•25 October 2011
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR-11-01813/01565
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| RAYMOND LEGUIER |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE HOWIE | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 21 October 2011 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 25 October 2011 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Leguier, Raymond | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2011] VCC 1799 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Catchwords:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Mr A.J. Ayers | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr A. Dickenson | Palmer Stevens & Rennig |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Raymond Leguier, you have pleaded guilty to the following offences: one charge of burglary and two charges of theft on one indictment; and one charge of trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence on a second indictment. You have also pleaded guilty to four summary charges: failing to stop when directed by police, possessing a prohibited weapon, driving while your authorisation was suspended, and dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime.
2 You are 31 years of age and your criminal record is limited to three traffic infringement notices in December 2010, January 2011 and March 2011 for exceeding the speed limit.
3 The offences occurred in the following circumstances:
4 At half past three in the morning on 15 December 2010 you went with others to a fence building site in Truganina, forced entry and stole work tools including a generator, compactor, three tool boxes, two welders, two drills, a grinder, a radio, a drill torch and two floodlights. You also broke into a trailer on the site and stole other tools. Police were alerted and attended at the scene. Following pursuit of the vehicle driven by you, you were arrested and taken to Werribee Police Station where you were interviewed and made full admissions.
5 On 19 May 2011, after locating 84 ecstasy tablets, a knuckle knife and $1724.80 in your car at Lilydale, police executed a search warrant at the house in Sunbury where you were living and found 9668 ecstasy pills and drug-related items such as scales, syringes, glass smoking pipes and a notepad with names and numbers.
6 Your possession of the ecstasy pills arose from your association with Narelle Weston and Patrick Gill. Weston obtained 12,000 ecstasy pills from Gill in Sydney on 8 May 2011 and delivered approximately 10,000 of them to you at Sunbury the following day, keeping 2000 for herself.
7 On 19 May, fearful of Gill, who was seeking payment for the 2000 pills, Weston asked an associate to call police and to have them intercept the car in which she was travelling with you. When police officers did so, they found 84 pills, a knuckle knife and $1724.80 in cash in your car. A subsequent search of your Sunbury house located the 9668 pills and the other items. You assisted police to locate the pills and you made full admissions when interviewed, telling them that you had sold a small number of pills and that you were selling them for $25 each. You said to the police that the cost of the pills was about $108,000, that you had paid about $25,000 and that the balance was still owing. My understanding on the basis of those figures is that you would have expected a profit in the order of $140,000.
8 You were remanded in custody until released on bail on 25 May but returned to prison after being rearrested on 30 June and you have remained there a period of 124 days.
9 As the maximum penalty for trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence is life imprisonment, you will readily appreciate that it is a very serious offence. The total weight of the ecstasy pills was three and a half kilograms. This quantity is three and a half times the quantity defined as a large commercial quantity. I note also that you were engaged in this criminal conduct when you were on bail for the offences committed on 15 December 2010.
10 The maximum penalty reflects abhorrence of trade in drugs of dependence and awareness of the social harm that they cause to individuals, families and society as a whole. That is something that you, yourself have personal awareness of.
11 In this case, while your motivation was to make a significant amount of money, you were not part of a large criminal enterprise. It appears that the trafficking was of a limited nature and that your intention was to sell the pills in dribs and drabs over a period of time.
12 The maximum terms of imprisonment for the other offences are: burglary, ten years; theft, ten years; dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime, two years; possessing a prohibited weapon, two years; driving when directed to stop, six months; and driving whilst suspended, four months.
13 The burglary and the thefts were a planned criminal venture engaged in with others. As I said to your counsel, Mr Leguier, it seems to me to be a low act to steal the tools of people who are working. I have not been told the precise value of the tools, save that it was in the order of $5000 to $10,000. As you were apprehended by police before you had travelled far from the site, fortunately the tools were recovered.
14
For reasons that are not altogether clear, as a mature man of previous good character, with no prior relevant history of offending and a good work record, you made choices to become involved in serious criminal behaviour. The explanation may in part lie in matters helpfully set out in the report of
Ms Northey, the psychologist who recently assessed you. She reports that you are 31 years of age, of average intellect and with no mental health issues. Perhaps you have been a slower maturer as a consequence of your family moving around, but after completing an apprenticeship as a butcher, you commenced working on the docks at the age of 19 and you worked there successfully, earning good money, for ten years until July 2011. You married in 2004 and you have two daughters aged five and two.
15 According to Ms Northey's report, there was increasing conflict between you and your wife and you separated a number of times between January 2007 and April 2011 when final separation took place. As Ms Northey explained it, the breakdown of your marriage challenged your personal resources and found them wanting in terms of emotional maturity. She considers that you became overwhelmed and relapsed into illicit drug use, particularly involving methylamphetamine, known as ice.
16 The present offending occurred in a period between December 2010 and May 2011.
17 The sentence to be imposed must provide a sufficiently severe punishment to make clear the court's denunciation of the offences and seek to deter, not only you, but others from committing similar offences.
18 On the basis of the material before me, your prospects of rehabilitation must be considered good. You were caught quickly, co-operated with police, admitted your offending and accepted responsibility for your conduct. You have pleaded guilty, you appreciate that a substantial sentence of imprisonment is required., and Ms Northey's report indicates that you intend to use your time in prison as productively as possible.
19 Your two children are a good reason for you not to offend again. I am told that you are committed to them and that you are resolved to work to maintain a good relationship with them.
20 The prosecution submitted that the appropriate sentencing range is a term of imprisonment of seven to eight years with a non-parole period of five to six years.
21 You are convicted of each of the offences.
22 On the charge of trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six years. This is the base sentence.
23
On the charge of burglary, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of
15 months. I order that eight months be served cumulatively.
24 On each charge of theft, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of eight months. I order that two months on each charge be served cumulatively.
25 On the charge of driving, knowing that you had been given a direction to stop, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two months. I order that one month be served cumulatively.
26 On each of the charges of possessing a prohibited weapon, driving while your authorisation was suspended, and dealing with proceeds of crime, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one month. I make no order for cumulation.
27 The total effective sentence is a term of imprisonment of seven years and one month. I order that the period during which you shall not be eligible for parole be fixed at four years. The fixing of that non-parole period is intended to reflect your good prospects of rehabilitation.
28 I direct that the period of 124 days in which you have been held in custody in relation to these proceedings be reckoned as a period of imprisonment already served under the sentence. You have received a less severe sentence because of your plea of guilty, and the sentence that would have been imposed but for your plea of guilty is a term of imprisonment of nine years with a non-parole period of six years.
29 MR BOSSO: As Your Honour pleases.
30 HIS HONOUR: Anything further, Mr Prosecutor?
31 MR BOSSO: No, Your Honour.
32 HIS HONOUR: Mr Dickenson? You may be seated, Mr Leguier..
33 MR DICKENSON: Just with regards to the days in custody - - -
34 HIS HONOUR: My recollection, Mr Dickenson, was that in the prosecution opening, which I don't seem to have before me - - -
35 MR BOSSO: It was 120 days, Your Honour.
36 HIS HONOUR: It was 121 days?
37 MR BOSSO: I think it was 120, Your Honour. I worked it out to be 124 as well.
38 HIS HONOUR: Yes, and that was a day or two ago.
39 MR BOSSO: It was 120.
40 HIS HONOUR: Yes. It was 120 then.
41 MR BOSSO: Yes.
42 HIS HONOUR: What was the date then?
43 MR BOSSO: That was the 21st, I believe.
44 HIS HONOUR: The 21st. So we've had four days since then and it doesn't include today, does it.
45 MR BOSSO: No, that's right, Your Honour.
46 HIS HONOUR: Yes. Are you satisfied about that, Mr Dickenson?
47 MR DICKENSON: There'd only be a day in it, Your Honour. There was a - - -
48 HIS HONOUR: Every day counts.
49 MR DICKENSON: It does, and I am hopeful to get that ascertained fairly quickly, Your Honour. There'd been some discussions between counsel as to those days, and as Your Honour - - -
50 HIS HONOUR: You didn't raising anything with me as far as the opening was concerned.
51 MR DICKENSON: I must confess, Your Honour, that that particular aspect of it I hadn't picked up. The number that I had was 121 and the change of summary that was given to me at court, I hadn't apprehended that, so I apologise to Your Honour. If Your Honour will bear with me for a brief second. I am satisfied with that, Your Honour.
52 HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you. Would you go with the prison officer, please, Mr Leguier, and I will leave the Bench until three o'clock.
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