Director of Public Prosecutions v Linton

[2020] VCC 515

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-18-02215

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BROOKE LINTON

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GWYNN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	15 November 2019 & 28 April 2020
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 April 2020
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Linton
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2020] VCC 515

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  Criminal Law
Catchwords:              Recklessly causing serious injury; possess drug of dependence
Legislation Cited:      Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)
Cases Cited:              R v Verdins & Ors [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269; 169 A Crim R

Sentence:Community corrections order (3 years duration, 300 hours community work, treatment and rehabilitation programs, judicial monitoring)

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms N. Burnett	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms J. McGarvie	Sarah Pratt & Associates

HER HONOUR:

1Brooke Linton, you have pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of recklessly causing serious injury to Shaun Bray on 4 April 2018 and to possessing a drug of dependence, which was Diazepam, on 6 April 2018.

2In sentencing you for these crimes I must have regard to the maximum sentence for each of the offences that you have committed.  The charge of recklessly causing serious injury carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.  The remaining charge carries one year imprisonment in the circumstances of your particular case, as I am not satisfied that your possession was for purposes relating to trafficking in a drug of dependence, nor is it suggested that I do so.

3The circumstances of your offending are set out in a document entitled “Amended Summary of Prosecution Opening”.  It is a detailed document and represents an acceptance by you of all the elements of the offences to which you have pleaded guilty and the factual basis on which I am to sentence.

4In short compass, at the time of the offending you were 23 years of age and living in a bungalow at the rear of your mother's address in Wallan.  The victim of the offending, Shaun Bray, was aged 27 years.  You and he had formally been in a 12-month relationship together, which had ended about six months prior to the offence.  You had resumed contact one to two months before the offending and had been spending time together.  You were both using drugs, namely methylamphetamine, or ice.

5On Tuesday night, 3 April 2018, at about 10 pm, you picked up Mr Bray from a nearby pub.  You then drove to Kilmore to see Mr Bray's cousin, where you all played pool and talked for several hours.  I am told you also all used drugs.  You and Mr Bray left between 2 am and 3 am, which was on Wednesday 4 April 2018, and returned to your bungalow at the rear of your mother's premises.  The agreed position is that at that time both you and Mr Bray were drug-affected and argued about various things. 

6At approximately 6 am, whilst still arguing, there was a physical altercation between you inside the door to the bungalow which resulted in you stabbing Mr Bray to the left side of his chest under his left arm with a pair of scissors.  You continued speaking but Mr Bray was distracted as he felt a warm sensation on the left side of his chest which felt wet.  He left the bungalow and headed to the house.  By the time he got to the front of the property he realised there was blood inside his jumper and that he had been stabbed.  He telephoned emergency services at 6.15 am but did not detail what had happened as he was worried about you and did not want to get you into trouble.

7Between 6.15 am and 6.22 am you sent Mr Bray 11 text messages which were varied in nature.  You apologised after you asked if he was all right, told him you were scared, said you had to run away and offered to take him to hospital.  In a message at 6.22 am you texted, “Please [Shaun]…tell me if i need to take u to hospital fkkkk” – “fuck”, I presume – “im dead evidence galore n ill lose brad for you being near me”.  Brad was a reference to your boyfriend.

8Paramedics arrived at the scene at 6.32 am.  Mr Bray told them he had been on his way to work when he was attacked by an unknown male offender.  Paramedics found a 2 centimetre puncture wound on the left side of his chest with minimal bleeding.

9Between 6.35 am and 6.46 am you sent another 11 messages to Bray, again varying in nature, including asking if you had hurt him, then stated he must love putting you through this “shit” and that it was his plan all along.  You demanded monies that he owed to you.  You thanked him for putting you through “all that” and said you were scared to leave your room and get arrested, and noted that he refused to give the apology that you deserved.  You said you were sorry, you did not like hurting people and at least your knife was visible, and you also asked him whether your mother and police knew,and said he would not know what pain is.  Certainly at that stage it would seem your focus was very much on yourself and your own needs.

10Mr Bray gave different versions to police and paramedics about how the stabbing had occurred and was extremely vague as to details.  At that stage he was still trying to protect you.

11At 6.45 am he was taken by ambulance to the emergency department of The Royal Melbourne Hospital.  Treating doctors diagnosed him with a left haemopneumothorax, which is air and a large amount of blood in the chest cavity; haemopericardium, which is a large volume of blood in the sac surrounding the heart, precipitating heart failure from a puncture to his epicardium (the membrane around the heart); a punctured lung; and fluid overload.  Both right-sided chambers of his heart were collapsed, with restricted movement of the heart from the large volume of blood.  He underwent an urgent operation and was subsequently admitted to the intensive care unit, with further drainage of fluid in his chest.  In the opinion of the hospital's doctors, the injury was very serious and would have led to acute cardio-respiratory failure and death without urgent attention.

12You continued to send text messages to Mr Bray throughout the morning.  Between 7.21 am and 11.39 am you sent a further seven messages in which you said you hoped he was happy about always leaving you anxious, to make sure that the money was in your account that day, and that you were over his head games with him pretending you had actually hurt him by running and not letting you help.  You again asked if he was okay and later referred to having “snapped”.

13Police members conducted a door knock of the area to search for witnesses.  They approached you at about 12.40 pm at your car outside your house and asked if you had heard or saw anything that morning.  You feigned ignorance and then sent a text message to the victim asking where he was.  After making further enquiries, police re-attended your address at 1.55 pm, where you again feigned ignorance.

14On Friday 6 April 2018, at 1.40 pm, police executed a search warrant at your address.  You were present and initially cooperative.  You were arrested and cautioned and your mobile phone seized.  You asked police about the victim.  Two Valium tablets in a blister pack were found in your possession, forming the basis for the second charge on the indictment.  For that charge you are convicted and discharged.  The focus of your plea and sentence is on the charge of recklessly causing serious injury.

15As the search progressed you became agitated and irrational.  You were taken to the police station for interview, during which you provided a “no comment” series of answers, as is your right.

16Mr Bray was discharged from hospital on 10 April 2018, six days after your attack.  Two days later he attended upon his general practitioner with a fever.  X‑rays showed more fluid in his lungs and, as a result, he was re-admitted to hospital for further drainage and was eventually discharged on Sunday 15 April 2018.

17On Tuesday 17 April, Mr Bray provided a sworn statement to investigators disclosing you, for the first time,  as being the perpetrator.  At the conclusion of his statement he stated, “It's been a hard decision for me to make this statement, but I think about how I nearly died and I have to think about myself.  I just want Brooke to get some help for her mental issues”.

18Mr Bray has declined to make a victim impact statement, limiting my ability to assess the impact of the offence upon him to the available medical evidence and a degree of common sense that he simply must have been affected, likely psychologically as well as physically.  There is no updated information post 10 April 2018.  It appears Mr Bray was sympathetic to you in what occurred, given both his initial approach in which he blamed an unknown male offender for his injury and at the time of his statement to investigating authorities.  His focus was on wanting you to get help. 

19On any view of it, you committed a serious criminal offence with serious consequences for Mr Bray.  You inflicted your injury on him when he had little, if any, chance to know what was happening and you did so by using a hidden weapon.

20I accept that this would appear to be an impulsive act without premeditation involving a single impact during a physical altercation.  There is, and should be, understandable focus on the initially life‑threatening outcome for Mr Bray.  Whilst you may not have been at the time, you are now well aware from the medical evidence that the repercussions for Mr Bray could have been far worse.  This is more good fortune rather than good management by you.  I accept that the actual consequences of your act were probably unintended.

21This is, in effect, an offence committed in a domestic violence setting where significant weight would ordinarily need to be given to general deterrence.  General deterrence carries weight in any event.  The prosecutor is right to describe this offence as violent, drug‑fuelled offending in a domestic setting.  However, there are a number of factors that may impact on the weight that is given to general deterrence in your particular case, or at least as to how it is to be properly represented.

22In terms of your personal circumstances, you are presently aged 25 years and were 23 at the time of your offence.  Your parents separated when you were aged two years.  You have an older brother, Brandon, now aged 27, and a younger sister, Krystal, now aged 12.

23Post the separation of your parents you maintained contact with your father until more recently.  Your mother commenced a new relationship in 2005 and you suffered physical and emotional abuse from your former stepfather.  You also witnessed your mother being subjected to this violence.  Your mother separated from your stepfather in 2017.  You also suffered both physical and emotional abuse from your older brother, who had abused illicit substances from his adolescence.

24In 2017 you witnessed your brother being involved in a drink driving accident where his car was engulfed in flames.  You were driving past him at the time, with his partner and children in your vehicle.  You stopped to render assistance and to try and pull your brother from the car.  You found this incident particularly upsetting despite deficits in your relationship with him.

25You also turned to drug use and abuse, initially cannabis in your early teens, and were evicted from home at age 16 due to that drug use and the consequential behavioural issues which resulted.

26Between 16 and 19 years you lived between the houses of various friends, your grandmother, and occasionally the home of your mother.  You lived in a refuge for nine months before obtaining a unit in Broadmeadows when aged 19 years and then moving into the bungalow at the back of your mother's house as referred to in the Crown opening.

27You attended numerous different schools due to a combination of being bullied, your family relocating and your transitional living due to the unstable relationships within your family.  Not surprisingly, you have found the need to frequently relocate both accommodation and your education as unsettling.  You did manage to complete a Year 12 education and have had some work in the hospitality industry.

28Your relationship history presents the same pattern as that to which you have been exposed during your upbringing, in that you have had a history of volatile, dysfunctional and violent relationships with other drug users.  You describe your relationship with Mr Bray in the same terms and this was not challenged. 

29In essence, your upbringing was unstable and volatile, which in part has carried through into your young adult life.  At present you enjoy a good relationship with each of your parents and a close relationship with your grandmother and maternal aunts, nieces and nephews and younger sister.

30You are unfortunate to have had a longstanding history of mental health issues which include depression, anxiety, conduct disorder and borderline personality disorder.  You have had psychiatric admissions in 2014 and 2015.

31You commenced using cannabis at the age of 14 and using methamphetamine by the age of 16 years.  You have had periods of abstinence.  You were using methylamphetamine daily at the time of the offending before me.

32A substantial amount of material has been filed on your behalf, initially at the commencement of your plea hearing before me on 15 November 2019, and now subsequently in advance of your further plea held today, 28 April 2020.  It is important to go through that plea material filed and its relevance to the sentencing outcome.

33A certificate of participation in building resilience using cognitive behavioural therapy dated 4 December 2018 was tendered.  A certificate of achievement for completing a 13-day program in addiction medicine from Eastern Health dated 14 December 2018 was also tendered.  Both mark your then desire to commence positive change in the aftermath of your offending, which has clearly had a degree of catalyst for you to make such change.

34A letter authored by Nick Morgan from Uniting ReGen dated 13 November 2019 was also tendered.  Mr Morgan confirms he is a senior alcohol and other drugs counsellor with what is called the Torque Program at Uniting ReGen.  You completed that program between 4 February 2019 and 15 March 2019.  It is a six-week non-residential rehabilitation program for people engaged in the justice system.  You are described in his correspondence as an active and engaged participant and were observed to be polite, respectful and motivated to access support.  You completed that program.

35A further letter from Michele Sammut from UnitingCare ReGen dated
11 February 2019 confirmed that you were continuing to attend on their office for drug and alcohol counselling.  You were described as engaging well and demonstrating strong motivation for alcohol and drug treatment to maintain abstinence.  This was in the context of other communications from the same organisation confirming that you had completed complex counselling, consisting of 12 individual sessions between 28 November 2018 and 3 May 2019.

36Urine screens tendered showed an absence of drugs other than the presence of cannabis.

37A letter was also received from Anna Bough, clinical psychologist, working with Turning Point.  That letter was dated 24 January 2019 and confirmed that you had completed treatment with what is referred to as the Making Waves program at Turning Point.  This program provides psychological treatment for people presenting with co-existing substance use concerns and mental health issues.  You attended 18 appointments overall, with a focus being on the reduction of your use of methamphetamine and cannabis and the development of alternative coping strategies to manage your mood and interpersonal difficulties.

38You successfully completed an extended residential withdrawal program through Eastern Health and were maintaining abstinence by the date of that letter.  You were described as presenting as open and engaged during involvement with that program.

39A letter from Dr Mithira Nithianandan, psychiatric registrar, dated 13 November 2019, confirmed that you were engaged in Spectrum Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for treatment of diagnosed borderline personality disorder.  This program appears to have been particularly helpful but the letter is relatively confined in its compass.

40You also completed educational programs, including training in spray tanning and lash and brow treatments.  You hope in the future to work in the beauty industry.

41A report from Ms Carla Ferrari, consultant psychologist, dated 18 October 2018 was tendered.  She diagnosed you at that time with generalised anxiety disorder, amphetamine-type substance use disorder, cannabis use disorder and borderline personality disorder.  She expressed the opinion that you present with low risk of reoffending.  Overall, I found her report to be less than satisfactory but had no reason to dispute her diagnosis or, in effect, her risk assessment, nor was her report challenged.  Being somewhat dated and lacking in detail, the opportunity was given for further material to be obtained.

42I have now received a report from Dr Fiona Best, psychiatrist, dated 2 April 2020.  She found your history to be consistent with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder.  She states:

“Ms Linton's presentation, her reported history (particularly referencing her difficult developmental history with her parents and stepfather whom she perceived as poor role models and who either abused her or engendered in her a feeling of neglect, and feeling unloved and unlovable), and the documentation provided with the referral, indicate that her difficulties relate to a borderline personality pattern characterised by interpersonal relationship difficulties and a fear of abandonment in those relationships, difficulties with self image and emotional regulation, recurrent thoughts and acts of self harm, self harm with risky behaviours mostly associated with illicit drug use, multiple suicide attempts and intense anger when unable to regulate her emotions.  Whilst there was no evidence today of a major mental illness such as schizophrenia, or major depression; a borderline personality organization predisposes Ms Linton to developing a major mental illness.”

43Dr Best opines that your personality difficulties had a significant impact at times on your insight and judgment.  Your personality difficulties, in combination with your use of ice and Quetiapine, which you used to block out difficult emotions at times, are likely, in Dr Best's view, to have resulted in you having difficulty in thinking clearly and rationally and impaired your judgment at the time of your offence.

44Dr Best's report is also not the subject of challenge.  I take into account its full contents and the other matters before me, and accept that there is a basis for a limited reduction to your moral culpability for your offence of recklessly causing serious injury.

45Further, Dr Best has genuine concerns that your impaired mental functioning, as a consequence of your personality difficulties, means that imprisonment may have a capacity to weigh more heavily upon you than an individual without those deficits and may lead to deterioration in your mental health and make you more vulnerable to develop a major mental illness.  This assessment must be seen in the context of her concern that your personality difficulties make you susceptible to major mental illness in any event.  I take her opinion into account. 

46There should be, in my view, moderate application to limbs 5 and 6 of the decision of R v Verdins & Ors (2007) 16 VR 269. Limb 5 refers to the existence of a condition at the date of sentencing, or its foreseeable recurrence, which may mean that a given sentence will weigh more heavily on an offender than it would on a person in normal health. Limb 6 refers to a serious risk of the imprisonment having a significant adverse effect on mental health; a factor tending to mitigate punishment. I understand the use of these limbs is a conceded position.

47I note that the reality of the present prison environment, referencing COVID-19, would see you in quarantine for the first 14 days should a term of imprisonment be imposed.  More importantly, for someone who would otherwise be exposed to their first period in custody and has close family relationships, a prison sentence would occur in circumstances where you will be unable to access personal visits and there would be a limited ability to access therapeutic programs for what is the foreseeable future.

48Dr Best does see the benefits from targeted psychotherapeutic treatment thus far but understandably is of the view that more work needs to be done.  I wholeheartedly agree.

49Updated letters have been tendered from Uniting ReGen.  In his letter dated
17 March 2020, Mr Nick Morgan refers to your past participation and states that you have done a refresher program in December 2019, at which time you were again observed to be engaged, respectful and proactive.  Certificates have been tendered confirming this.

50A letter authored by Hayley Allen, alcohol and drug counsellor, confirms that you have completed five counselling sessions this year, and she observed a decline in your mental health associated with you being harassed by a neighbour's friend.  She notes that your mental health support at Spectrum ceased at this time, a service that Dr Best opined was particularly helpful for you.

51Of course, we do now have the intervention of the COVID-19 pandemic, which will limit your access to support programs in the community in a direct sense.  To your credit, you have managed to locate new and safer accommodation, and have continued to follow through on referrals made on your behalf, including a referral to a psychologist which has yet to commence.  You continue to work with Ms Allen.

52It is unfortunate that you have recently returned to some illicit drug use.  It appears that your use of cannabis has been somewhat ongoing and in more recent times there has been a return to the use of the drug ice.  To your credit, you have been honest about this with those working to assist you, but perhaps less honest with your mother.  With your personality difficulties this is something which needs to be addressed with some urgency.  In the past you have clearly demonstrated the ability and willingness to get help when needed. 

53I note that since being charged you have abided by an intervention order to protect Mr Bray, and which was taken out on his behalf, and you have abided by bail conditions for what is now a two-year period.

54You are well supported by family.  Your mother, grandmother and two aunts were present for your initial hearing.  The court has now restricted access during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am satisfied that your family members would have preferred to be here, and your mother is.  I am satisfied they provide you with a well‑meaning support base. 

55In forming that view I have had access to references tendered on your behalf authored by Kate Pattinson, Emma Wilson, your aunts Natasha Ratten and Vicky Johnson, Allyson Malcolm (your brother's partner), and your mother.  Whilst each of these persons has known you in a different capacity, they each speak of the difficulties you will face and your willingness to take responsibility for your actions and work on your problems.  This support, combined with your constant efforts to access appropriate treatments and support, and respond to them, augurs well for your rehabilitation.

56Not surprisingly there have been points along the way where you have struggled, but you have demonstrated an ability to pick yourself back up and keep trying.  The fact that there are no prior convictions and no subsequent matters since April 2018 indicates, firstly, that there were contributing circumstances, but, secondly, that you have made efforts to respond to those circumstances and arrange for appropriate interventions which appear to be capable of assisting you.

57As I have already referred, you were 23 years of age at the time of your offence.  You were still relatively young and there is merit, in combination with the other matters to which I have referred, in maintaining some focus on your rehabilitation.  It is certainly not something which, in the circumstances of your offending and history overall, should be displaced.

58In your case I am satisfied that less weight needs to be given to specific deterrence and to protecting the community from you.  This is based on the fact that you have no prior convictions and that there is no evidence before me of a domestic violence history between you against Mr Bray.  I am told, as I have said, there is no subsequent offending and that you have abided by both intervention and bail orders.  Whilst you have maintained, on and off, a connection to drug use and abuse and your personality issues remain live, you have not returned to criminal behaviour despite those difficulties.  This tends towards the view that you have in fact learnt from the events of 4 April 2018.

59You entered your plea of guilty at committal proceedings held at Melbourne Magistrates' Court in October 2018.  The matter resolved on that day without the need for any evidence being called.  Your plea of guilty is a relevant matter to take into account in your sentence.  In your case it has utilitarian value and has saved the court the time and expense of contested proceedings.  More importantly, it has saved Mr Bray and other witnesses the need to give evidence and relive the events of 4 April 2018.  Having had reference to all material filed on your behalf, I am satisfied that your plea is one which does take responsibility for your actions.  Remorse is a little harder to define.  All of those factors will be taken into account in your favour.

60The Crown position on sentence is that a proper reflection of all relevant considerations will include what is referred to as a combination sentence.  That is a period of imprisonment in combination with a community corrections order.  Your counsel submitted that a corrections order in its own right would adequately meet the requisite considerations.  This required an assessment as to your suitability to be undertaken.  The need for this to be done, together with the provision of a further psychiatric assessment, led to the matter being adjourned from the original hearing date in November 2019 to today's date.  The assessment outcome report finds you suitable to be placed on a community corrections order.

61I make the ancillary orders as sought for disposal of clothing and Valium tablets and the forfeiture of scissors located at your premises.  Did we discuss the forensic sample, Ms McGarvie?

62MS McGARVIE:  I don't recall unfortunately.

63HER HONOUR:  Have you got instructions?

64MS McGARVIE:  I probably did take them on the last occasion but I don't recall, so if I could just briefly take those instructions again?

65HER HONOUR:  You can.

66MS McGARVIE:  Yes, Your Honour.  It's not opposed.

67HER HONOUR:  In addition, application is made for you to provide a forensic sample.  That involves the use of what is a lengthy cotton bud being placed inside your cheek cells.  A sample is taken and you then go on a database.   If there is further offending you can be identified.  I make that order in circumstances where the application is not opposed and take into account the serious nature of the offending and, in my view, it is in the community interest that such a sample be provided.  Should you not participate in the taking of that sample, reasonable force can be used, or a blood sample can be taken instead.

68The basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence are punishment, general deterrence (sending a message to the community), specific deterrence (sending a message to you), rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community.  In sentencing you I must have regard to a range of matters such as the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of the victim.  I am also required to balance the interest of the community in denouncing criminal conduct with the interest of the community in seeking to ensure, as far as possible, that offenders are rehabilitated and are reintegrated into society.

69I have taken into account the relevant sentencing guidelines referred to in s.5 of the Sentencing Act where relevant to your case. These include s.5(3), that a court must not impose a sentence that is more severe than that which is necessary to achieve the purposes for which the sentence is imposed, and s.5(4), which prohibits the court from imposing a sentence that involves the confinement of the offender unless it considers that the purposes for which the sentence is imposed cannot be achieved by a sentence that does not involve the confinement of the offender.

70I have taken into account current sentencing practices for the offence of recklessly cause serious injury which understandably covers a range of outcomes particular to the circumstances of their respective cases.

71Courts do have discretion in terms of choosing a sentencing disposition which does enable all the purposes of punishment to be served simultaneously in a coherent and balanced way, in preference to the option of imprisonment, which is skewed towards retribution and deterrence, factors which have less weight in the overall sentencing mix for you.

72Whilst the path to rehabilitation may be a difficult one for you, and it seems your ability to access appropriate services has a role to play and you have demonstrated the effectiveness of targeted assistance, a community corrections order can be punitive, achieve deterrence, and may be suitable even in cases of relatively serious offences such as this, which might have previously attracted a medium term of imprisonment. 

73In terms of the charge of recklessly causing serious injury, you are convicted and placed on a community corrections order for a period of three years.  During that period you are to undertake 300 hours of community work and to participate in treatment and rehabilitation for drug use and abuse, your mental health and programs to reduce your risk of reoffending.  You are to be supervised by the Office of Corrections and I am going to subject you to judicial monitoring in an effort to maintain your resolve and ensure appropriate implementations for your treatment and rehabilitation are made.  In terms of the treatment conditions, 100 hours of treatment will be offset against the community work component.

74There is a significant punishment in this order in its duration and the requirement to do community work, but focus is also maintained on you accessing further treatment in order to further reduce your assessed risk.

75In addition to the conditions I have imposed there are standard conditions, the first and foremost of which is you must not commit any other offences during that three‑year period which could be punished by imprisonment.  You are required to report within two working days to the nearest community corrections office, which I understand to be South Morang.  You are also required to advise your supervising corrections officer of any change of address of where you are living or working, and you must do so within two clear working days.  It is a term of all community corrections orders that you must submit to visits, as directed, and you must obey all of the instructions and directions of the community corrections officer.  You are not able to leave the State of Victoria without prior permission.

76In my view, this order presents you with a chance to continue to change your life in a positive fashion, should you choose to take up that opportunity and the supports that should be made available.

77This order can be breached if you do not comply with it in terms of the conditions or re-offend whilst it is in place.  If you do so, you will have to come back before me for breaching the order.  I may have to re-sentence you on the original charge of recklessly cause serious injury, and sentence you for the fact that you have contravened the order I have made this day.

78I can only place you on such an order if you are prepared to sign documents to that effect; are you prepared to do that?

79OFFENDER:  Yeah.

80HER HONOUR: Section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act requires me to state the sentence that I would have imposed if you had not pleaded guilty to the charges.  I observe that I have taken into account quite a range of factors, but if not for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of 10 months, combined with a 30 month community corrections order.

81That order will print out shortly and you are able to approach Ms Linton to take her through that, and ‑ ‑ ‑ 

82MS McGARVIE:  As Your Honour pleases.

83HER HONOUR:  ‑ ‑ ‑ we'll fix a suitable date for judicial monitoring.

84MS McGARVIE:  Yes, Your Honour.

85HER HONOUR:  I'll give her a couple of months to start the order, bearing in mind that there'll be some limit to the – 25 June so I can just see what's going on.

86MS McGARVIE:  Yes, Your Honour.

87HER HONOUR:  It's a problem with that date, Ms McGarvie.  Do you want to approach your client and find out what the problem is?

88MS McGARVIE:  Yes, Your Honour.  That date was suitable.

89HER HONOUR:  Okay.

90MS McGARVIE:  Yes.

91HER HONOUR:  And South Morang seems to the closest, in my view, to Morang, but yes.

92MS McGARVIE:  Yes.  Ms Linton's indicated she has an appointment lined up for tomorrow.

93HER HONOUR:  All right.

94MS McGARVIE:  But that was arranged at the CCO assessment.

95HER HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  Ms Linton, I'll see you on 25 June, one way or another.  If we're still subject to the current restrictions you can beam in from South Morang without the need to physically be here.  Indeed, that's probably the preference.  This will be a really long haul.  If you do run into difficulties along the way it's best that you do what you've done in the past and find things to help you, or indeed speak to your legal representative should the need arise.  Don't stick your head in the sand.

96OFFENDER:  Thank you.

97HER HONOUR:  I'll be seeing you fairly regularly.  If I'm convinced that you're on the right track at some stage I might alleviate the need for you to appear on judicial monitoring, but it's one step at a time at this stage.  You'll appreciate that the Crown position was that I should not take this course.  The best thing you can do, in your interests and those of the community, is to stick to this order, because I don't really want to be in a position where I have to look at re-sentencing you.  Did you have any questions?

98OFFENDER:  Um, you know, I just want to thank you for considering everything that I've done and I – yeah, I ‑ ‑ ‑ 

99HER HONOUR:  Well, there's one way to do that.  Anything arising for either of you, Ms Burnett or Ms McGarvie?

100COUNSEL:  No, Your Honour.

101HER HONOUR:  All right.  Well, I thank each of you for your assistance.  We'll stand down until 2.15.

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