Director of Public Prosecutions v Little

[2014] VCC 1901

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

AT GEELONG
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

DYLAN GEORGE LITTLE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MULLALY
WHERE HELD:	Geelong
DATE OF HEARING:	31 October 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:	31 October 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Little
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 1901

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr R. Gibson with Ms P. Long	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms P. Chaya	Victoria Legal Aid

HIS HONOUR:

1Dylan Little, just after 1 am on New Year's Day 2013, you robbed a 7-Eleven Store at North Geelong, and threatened a shop assistant with a large and frightening knife, and you got $200.

2Two days later on 3 January 2013 at 3.15 am, you committed another armed robbery, this time on the Belmont 7-Eleven Store.  You had a knife, or the knife, and this time a wig and cap.  You thrust the knife towards the console operator saying, "Open the drawer, open the drawer".  You obtained $250.  You dropped your cap as you left.

3Two months later you again struck.  This time it was a 7-Eleven Store on the intersection of Swanston and Ryrie Street.  It was much earlier in the evening than the other matters, this time around 7.30.  You, again, used the knife, or pointed the knife at the shop assistant saying, "Give me the money, all the money."  You obtained around $200. 

4You were arrested on 4 November 2013.  This followed a court hearing on 6 September 2013 in the Magistrates' Court, where, in addition to the sentence imposed, the magistrate ordered you provide a forensic sample.  The sample was obtained and DNA extracted which matched the DNA on the cap you left at the Belmont 7-Eleven on 3 January.

5What can easily be seen is the advantage gained by orders requiring offenders to provide a forensic sample.  DNA is a powerful tool in detection and increased certainty of detection is at the heart of deterrence, and thus the protection of the community.  In addition, your distinctive tattoo was seen on the CCTV footage at the stores.

6Once arrested, you admitted your crimes as depicted on the CCTV footage and expressed what I accept was genuine remorse. 

7These crimes, are on any analysis, plainly serious.  The victims indicated that they were in fear.  One expressly said that he feared being stabbed, and another feared for his life.

8People who work late at night in convenience stores and thus necessarily with cash, must have a sense that if armed offenders terrorise them, then the courts will, in denouncing the criminal conduct and deterring others from embarking on a similar course in the future; the courts will do this by imposing stern terms of imprisonment.

9Those words, or some like them, I have used before, and they were approved and re-stated by the Court of Appeal.  Indeed, the words that I used, which were approved by the Court of Appeal, were used by me in sentencing another offender who had committed an armed robbery on the same 7-Eleven Store at the corner of Swanston Street and Ryrie Street, some years ago.

10Your counsel conceded the seriousness of your crimes, accepting that there was a degree of planning involved, in getting the large knife, the wearing of the wig and cap in the second armed robbery, and some scoping of the store in that armed robbery as well.

11You co-operated with the police on your arrest and that is to your credit.  You explained to the police and, likewise, to your psychologist who examined you twice in recent times, that, at the time of these offences you were desperate for money because you had a drug habit that left you and your family in dire straits.

12Notwithstanding that the amounts you got were relatively small, you repeated your crimes twice and for another time a few months later.

13I will deal with your drug addiction and personal circumstances shortly. 

14It seems that after this spate of armed robberies on the 7-Eleven Stores, you committed burglaries on shops in March, July and August.  You were dealt with by the Magistrates' Court, as I have said, on 6 September and given a three months' term of imprisonment and a community-corrections order.

15The day you were released in November 2013, you were arrested again for these matters and remanded.  Two weeks or so later you were granted bail.

16Although it was said that you were chastened by your time in prison, that is, your first term of imprisonment, on you release your CCO did not go well.  Also when these matters were called on for plea on 20 June 2014, you failed to appear.

17You were arrested again in late August 2014 and have remained in custody since.

18It was said that your fail to appear was because you just could not face the prospect of separation from your long-term partner and your two children.

19Your poor performance on the community-corrections order was also likely due to your realisation once the armed robberies were revealed, you would inevitably going to gaol for some time.

20All this was put forward as part of the submission that your prospects of rehabilitation are not forlorn, but, on the contrary, are good, especially given your return to prison has again had the effect of waking you up to the need to act lawfully so as that you are there for your children and your ever supporting partner.  You said that you steered away from drugs as well during the time that you were at liberty after your release from the prison sentence imposed by the magistrate.

21I consider you do have prospects of permanent reform but, that, Mr Little is, in the end, entirely up to you.  You must do all you can to put drugs behind you.

22Your partner seems to have done that of late.  To your credit, you are doing all you can in prison to improve yourself.  It is hoped that you persevere over the whole time of your incarceration and while on parole and permanently thereafter.

23In short, Mr Little, you should not let your partner down ever again.

24But I cannot over-emphasise your rehabilitation.  Primary sentencing considerations are general deterrence and deterrence to you as well, and also denunciation which all goes to the ultimate purpose of sentencing which is protection of the community.

25Those sentencing considerations are to be given appropriate weight, but I must attribute weight to them in the process of synthesising all aspects of what you did, and why, as well as who you are and what your future holds.

26I have not said much of who you are in terms of your past history to this point.  The report of Mr McMullen on your upbringing is heart-wrenching reading.  You were born to a young mother and a father who had no interest in you or her thereafter.  Your mother was unable or unwilling to care for you.  You were, in effect, abandoned.

27However, your grandmother came to your aid and your first seven years with her were as good as they could be in all the circumstances.

28You went back to your mother at age seven and things went seriously downhill.  After the initial period, her interest in you waned as she became more involved in drugs.  Her long-term partner was a drug taker, it seems involved in outlaw motorcycle gangs and a serious, violent and cruel man.

29The time you had at home until you escaped at age 14 was not conducive to any education or, more importantly, to instilling any moral compass.  You were surrounded by drugs and it seems at an early age, in your early teens, were encouraged to use drugs by your mother.

30You were unruly yourself and victimised in a chaotic household.  I will not catalogue all the violence that you were the victim of.

31You left home and became homeless at the age of 14, stealing to survive.  You had left school by then.  You had relationships in your teens and some periods of work, and abstinence from drugs, but none of those things were longstanding.

32You have prior criminal matters that have been dealt with in the Magistrates' Court, but many of them when you were young and I was told involved fighting with your stepfather.

33They are not ignored, but, in the circumstances, it is more surprising that your criminal history is so slight.

34At 17 you met your current partner and have remained with her ever since.  You have two children.  She suffered serious complications with the birth, I think, of the second child, and things were hard after that experience, and drugs became a significant problem, mainly for you, but also in the household.

35You took to using cocaine and money and common sense were thereafter in short supply.  You wanted to provide for your family, but the grip of drugs saw you failing in that regard.  Your offending occurred in that downward spiralling set of circumstances.

36The psychologist you saw said you have post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.  Of note, is that in prison things have improved, contrary to what is often predicted will happen in gaol.

37Whatever the diagnostic label, it is plain to me that your upbringing has left scars and you have real battles because of that, both then, and I sense, into the future.

38As the High Court said most recently in the matter of Bugmy, that is the most recent case of that name; what the High Court said was that "Exposure to violence and drug taking and deprivation in childhood leaves enduring problems that can, and most often should, be seen as a basis for mitigation when, as an adult, and usually as a long-term drug addict, an offender commits serious crimes."

39It provides no basis for excusing what you did, but it allows the court to be more merciful.  Although it might not be plain to you, Mr Little, when I impose the sentence, the sentence that I impose I consider to be a merciful one, in particular the period of time that you must serve before you are eligible for parole.

40There are other mitigatory matters.  Your plea of guilty was early and your co-operation comprehensive.  The sentence will be less as a consequence of that.  Again, this is evidence of genuine remorse.

41You are still relatively young and have life ahead of you.  You have the significant support of your partner, although she will have her struggles, as you serve your time in prison.

42I intend to allow for a long period of parole so as you are supported and supervised in the community when the parole authorities decide to release you.

43There must be a measure of cumulation for the different offences, but I have ensured that the total sentence I am about to impose, meets the totality of your offending, no more and no less.

44Will you please stand, Mr Little.

45For committing the crime of armed robbery, Charge 1, you are sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

46For committing the crime of Charge 2, armed robbery, you are sentenced to three years' imprisonment.

47For committing the crime of armed robbery, Charge 3, you are sentenced to three years' and six months' imprisonment.

48I order that nine months of charge 1 and 2 be served cumulatively upon Charge 3, giving a total sentence of five years' and I fix a minimum non-parole period of two years' and six months'.

49You have already served some time in custody that can be attributed or reckoned as part of the sentence.  I was told that was 82 days.  I will ensure this declaration that you have already served 82 days is entered into the records of the court so that prison authorities are left in no doubt that you have served 82 days.

50Had you pleaded not guilty to these offences and been found guilty of them, I would have imposed a sentence of six years' and six months' with four years' and six months' as the minimum term.

51There are orders that I have been asked to make by the prosecution relating to compensation to the owners of the 7-Eleven Stores and I will sign those orders.  I have also been asked to sign an order so that disposal can occur of some of the items related to these crimes and I intend to make that order.

52Is there anything further?  Is the arithmetic right?

53MS CHAYA:  Yes, Your Honour.

54HIS HONOUR:  Thank you, you can be seated, Mr Little.

55Those orders have been signed; if there is nothing further, I thank counsel for their significant assistance in this matter and Mr Little can be removed and commence his sentence.

56(Offender removed.)

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