Director of Public Prosecutions v Lester
[2014] VCC 265
•25 February 2014
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| VAUGHAN LESTER |
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JUDGE: | Her Honour Judge Gaynor | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 25 February 2014 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Lester | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 265 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Catchwords:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | ||
| For the Accused |
HER HONOUR:
1 Vaughan Robert Lester, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of recklessly causing serious injury. The facts underlying this offending are as follows. In May of 2012 you moved into a boarding house in Jolly Street, Dandenong where there were a number of other residents. Apparently they noticed that you began to behave strangely in that you were ranting to yourself, would hold a knife in the kitchen, sharpen it, stare at persons who went into the kitchen, yell in your bedroom in the early hours of the morning words such as, “I will kill you, you bitch,” and then laugh.
2 You then approached one resident, Michael Harrison, suggesting that he had offered his girlfriend to you. Mr Harrison did not know what you were talking about.
3 On 26 June 2012 Mr Harrison contacted the landlord to tell him that your conduct was putting other residents in fear. You were seen again acting abnormally that evening and on the following day. You stormed out of the house on 23 June at about midday at which time Harrison contacted the landlord who attended the house.
4 He opened your room which they discovered contained knives and had blood on the walls. You left a note on your door directing him to call you. You went to the Emergency Department of the Dandenong Hospital at 4.42 p.m. that day, presenting with self-inflicted cuts across your left forearm from a kitchen knife. The wounds were treated with sutures and glue and then bandaged and you were then discharged.
5 Police attended the house in the afternoon enquiring about you. Harrison asked them to look in your room but they declined and left. You then returned to the house at about 10 p.m. ranting to yourself. You spoke to Harrison and another resident while holding the note from the landlord in your hand. You said you would leave in the morning. Harrison told you residents were scared of you and would not sleep that night and you agreed to leave that night. You left your room 10 minutes later carrying your belongings and Harrison offered you his phone to call the landlord. As you were leaving you threatened that you would return and kill everyone and then shortly after you left the house, returned and stood outside it, making threats to kill the residents.
6 Harrison saw you on the opposite side of the road making threats and was concerned that you would return to the house, so went to speak to you. He was not carrying any weapons. He asked you what your problem was and you responded, “Youse are all fucking dead” and started walking away. Harrison told you not to turn your back on him and to deal with it now, and put his hand on your shoulder. You turned round and punched him. Harrison at the time thought he and you were exchanging fists, however during the fight unbeknown to Harrison you in fact stabbed him.
7 Another resident, Nicholas Thomas, heard the commotion and saw you fighting then ran over and pulled you off, at which time he saw a gleam of metal as your arms went up, and received a small cut to the face. He then heard a knife drop. He grabbed the knife and saw you searching around on the ground for it. He showed you that he had the knife and saw that Harrison was bleeding profusely. He separated the two of you, at which time you were yelling threats along the lines of, "You're fucking dead. I will kill you all". Thomas walked Harrison back to the house, at which time it was seen you had stabbed and cut him to the face and body and blood was spurting from Harrison's neck.
8 Police and ambulance attended and you were found about 160 metres down the road in the rear yard of a house. You were taken to the police station. Harrison was taken by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital where he received immediate attention to stabilise a potentially critical condition. He was found to have suffered stab wounds to the upper back, middle back and the face, involving the left facial nerve and carotid artery, causing facial nerve palsy. He also had a fractured jaw. He underwent an operation which involved exploration, cleaning and closing of the wounds, an arterial graft, dissection of a facial nerve and a plate being inserted in the jaw. Somewhat incredibly, he was apparently released from hospital the next day.
9 At interview, after having been found fit to be interviewed, you said you had been living at the house for about a month and that the injuries you suffered were from an attempted suicide. You told police that you returned to the house that night after returning from hospital to find the note from the landlord asking you to leave and alleged that Mr Harrison had threatened to batter you if you had stayed. You said you kept several knives in your room. You basically denied making threats and said that Harrison ran up to you, swearing at you, threatening to kill you with a big knife in his hand.
10 This matter was settled at a fairly early stage and you have been remanded in custody since your arrest in 2012.
11 I now turn to your personal circumstances. You are 28 and were 26 at the time of this offending and were born in Mackay in Queensland. You have got one older brother and were essentially brought up by your mother after your parents separated when you were four. You have had very little contact with your father whom you last spoke to in 2009, and you do not have contact with your brother.
12 When you were in Year 9 your mother moved the family from Mackay to Townsville to study social work. She suffered some health difficulties and mental health difficulties as well but was able to provide for you and you continue to enjoy a close relationship with her and have communicated with her by phone whilst you have been in custody.
13 You started Year 10 but did not complete it and undertook a traineeship, then finding employment with a man who owned various show games which were taken to carnivals around the country. In other words, you became what is colloquially known as a "Carny". You ran the games at various shows. You also helped operate rides and you travelled for some years extensively throughout Australia.
14 You returned to Townsville when you were 18 and obtained a traineeship as a slaughterman, completing a Certificate II in meat processing. You were employed as an A rate slaughterman for two years and then in that time met your former partner with whom you were in a relationship between 2006 and 2009. Two children were born of this relationship, a daughter now aged seven and a son aged four.
15 You and she separated when your son was about a month old; your former partner suffering post-natal depression after each birth and insisting that you separate after your son was born. She later sought reconciliation but you refused and ultimately this caused a great deal of bitterness between the two of you. You now have no contact. She does not allow you to see the children and you last saw them about five years ago.
16 In 2009, after your relationship broke down, you returned to your work as a carnival operator and in late 2009 while working at the Melbourne Show were seriously assaulted with a tomahawk, receiving 22 stitches to the head. You then returned to Townsville to see your children and for the first time started showing signs of mental illness. You then stayed with your mother in Townsville for 12 months, returning to work at an abattoir, then left your mother's house and travelled around Queensland, at which time you were often homeless. During that time you committed a number of offences, a record of which was tendered on the plea.
17 Essentially your prior criminal history begins in 2010 when you were convicted in the Townsville Magistrates' Court with a charge of unauthorised dealing with shop goods. You have then gone on in 2011 to be dealt with in the Townsville Magistrates' Court for theft, obstructing police, possession of a knife in a public place, wilful damage, failing to appear, committing a public nuisance. That last appearance occurring in the Brisbane Magistrates' Court on 13 September 2009. In other words, this was low-level street offending which, given the way in which your history developed, I am satisfied was an indication of a life that was unravelling and which had become meaningless to you and where it would seem that you yourself were in a bad state emotionally and mentally.
18 You ultimately came to Victoria, where you have worked fruit picking, labouring and at a meat works in Seymour. You then came to Melbourne and found accommodation at the boarding house where you ultimately offended.
19 In his report dated 20 February 2014 consultant psychiatrist, Dr Danny Sullivan, notes that you reported alcohol use from your teens, stating that by the age of 19 you were drinking up to two bottles of spirits a day, although you reduced your intake when you had children. You also reported cannabis use from the age of 12 but cessation of use of that drug in about 2011. You occasionally using Speed until 2012 and significantly in the month before the offending you began injecting Ice. You told Dr Sullivan this "helped you feel normal but that you had a difficult comedown". You told Dr Sullivan that you were paranoid and had been concealing weapons in your room while using it.
20 It was the view of Dr Sullivan that your attack on Mr Harrison was the result of a methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder. He stated that whilst there was no evidence of any psychotic illness in you, in the absence of substance abuse your mental state remained settled in gaol because you continue to take olanzapine, which is an anti-psychotic. He stated:
"Any psychotic symptoms at the time of the alleged offence are likely to have been induced by substance abuse. Methamphetamine can induce psychosis and symptoms can persist for some months after use."
He noted that:
"While the accounts of the victim and of Mr Harrison varied, but Mr Lester described persecutory ideation about Mr Harrison and others. He denied uttering threats to the victim. I am unable to determine the degree for which his perception of threat was based in reality and the degree to which methamphetamine abuse induced his paranoia."
21 I note that Dr Sullivan made that comment at a time where it was not accepted by you that circumstances were as they are outlined in the prosecution summary. He states:
"At the time of the alleged offences Mr Lester was suffering a methamphetamine-induced psychotic disorder associated with persecutory ideation, possibly auditory hallucinations and aggression. This impeded his ability to think clearly and make calm and rational choices, impaired his judgement and was causally associated with the offence as alleged. It is likely that Methamphetamine use disinhibited him."
22 I am satisfied that there is a Verdins link between your offending; that is, that you were in a state of drug-induced psychosis at the time of this offending which led to persecutory thoughts about other people that you were living in a boarding house with and to you behaving in the extremely violent way in which you did. There is nothing in your history to suggest that this is a normal way for you to behave. I am also satisfied of this, not just by the findings of Dr Sullivan but because of the very clear descriptions given by residents in the house of the irrational behaviour you were exhibiting before you attacked Mr Harrison in the way that you did. I am satisfied that, accordingly, your moral culpability for this offending is reduced.
23 Doctor Sullivan has gone into your psychiatric history. It appeared that in 2009 you attended an Emergency Department at a Queensland hospital with suicidal ideation and were commenced on anti-depression medication. You were admitted from 29 November to 9 December 2009 with a diagnosis of substance abuse and anti-social traits and were trialled on an anti-depressant and Olanzapine.
24 You also presented in May 2010 with suicidal ideation and a deliberate self-harm attempt. The diagnosis was adjustment disorder. You presented again in June 2010 and talked about hearing voices for six months and were commenced on Risperidone, an anti-psychotic, and discharged without admission.
25 At the gaol you have been housed at St Paul's Psycho-Social Rehabilitation Unit which noted past diagnoses of depression and suicidality. You have participated in a range of programmes and whilst there have shown no acute symptoms or concerns while being an inpatient of St Paul's.
26 It was the view of Dr Sullivan that you had a history of unstable mood, with poor coping and some depressive symptoms. He said the differential diagnosis are a persistent depressive disorder or substance-induced depressive disorder.
27 Basically what he is saying is the drugs have drastically affected your mood. You reported to Dr Sullivan that whilst Ice made you feel normal, you had a bad comedown. By that I expect you mean that you woke up in the morning feeling incredibly depressed and black about life. Is that right? All right. I just need to ask you, Mr Lester. You have done very well at Narcotics Anonymous. The fact that you are not using drugs anymore, has that an effect on your mood?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: In what way?
PRISONER: I feel a lot better, a lot brighter. I've got goals now in lots of different ways.
HER HONOUR: All right. Do you understand the link between your mood and drug use?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: All right. Thank you. Have a seat.
28 Whilst in gaol you have attended on Narcotics Anonymous and I have received a very positive report. It is stating that you have consistently attended. "He has been a strong role model for other prisoners. I firmly believe that he has good prospects for rehabilitation with the help of his stated intention to become involved in the Narcotics Anonymous Fellowship on the outside".
29 It certainly seems that your time in gaol has actually been beneficial for you. It has allowed you to detoxify from the use of methamphetamine. You have been held throughout in a psychiatric unit. You have been continually dosed with Olanzapine. In other words, you have very much stabilised.
30 It was Dr Sullivan's view that your mental state remains settled on anti-psychotic medication and whilst you are not using drugs. In other words, if you use drugs you will have psychotic episodes.
31 Your mother attended court, saying that she is prepared to relocate to Melbourne to support you through any parole period that this court might set. The ideal scenario for you would be to return to Mackay where she resides in her parents' home, where she has appropriate supports and as a social worker understands the various supports that can be sourced in Mackay.
32 Certainly, it is my view, given the Verdins link that I have outlined, that your sentence should be reduced. My concern is that a parole period could in fact result in a setback in what you have achieved. I am concerned that you continue on Olanzapine. That does need to continue and hopefully you will leave gaol with a prescription for that drug.
33 However, it is my view that a parole period, unusually, is not one that is the wisest course to take in this case. The plan is that you return to Queensland with your mother. Your mother does not have accommodation in Melbourne. I certainly think the period of time you have spent in prison is almost sufficient to answer the seriousness of your offending, taking into account the matters that I have raised.
34 A longer period on parole would mean you could not return to Queensland, where you have the support that you do not have in Melbourne. Your mother has, on oath, offered 100 per cent support to you and appears to have a good understanding of the problems that you have faced.
35 In all the circumstances it is my view that the appropriate way to deal with you is by way of a straight sentence. This is to allow you to return to Queensland as soon as you can and not to have to undergo application for service of a period of time on parole, which would probably have to be undertaken in Melbourne because of the length of time it takes to have parole transferred to another State.
36 Your mother has said she is prepared to temporarily relocate to Melbourne but that seems to me problematic. She does not have accommodation and the sorts of stabilising factors that you need access to are in my view most readily accessed by way of a straight sentence.
37 In saying this, it is my view that protection of the community is probably the paramount principle to which I must have regard and it is my view that your swift return to Queensland in the care of your mother is the best way to achieve that.
38 I therefore sentence you as follows. Could you stand up please. On the charge of recklessly causing serious injury, I sentence you to a term of imprisonment of 620 days, so that is one more week. I declare that 613 days of this sentence have already been served by way of pre-sentence detention. It means you have got another seven days. You need to go and get yourself organised. The main thing is you need a supply of the Olanzapine.
PRISONER: Yep.
HER HONOUR: All right. You need to get that sorted for when you leave.
PRISONER: The nurse will work that out.
HER HONOUR: Then it is back to Mackay, and good luck to you. All right.
39 In terms of the plea, I accept that it is a genuine sign of remorse and although not made at an early stage, there were nevertheless in my view extenuating circumstances in this regard. I was informed by your counsel that negotiations in relation to the indictment took place about two months before the trial. Prior to this, it had been difficult to obtain proper instructions from you as you continued to hold the various delusions about what had occurred on that day.
40 Obviously as you spent more time in gaol and your mental state evened out and improved, your instructions were able to become more realistic and ultimately your counsel was able to act upon them and to negotiate the outcome, which has been the indictment to which you have pleaded guilty to in the proceedings before this court.
41 Pursuant to s.6AAA, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of three years and ordered that you serve a minimum term of two years.
PRISONER REMOVED
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