Director of Public Prosecutions v Ludwig
[2017] VCC 744
•9 June 2017
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTIONCR-16-02243
CR-16-02444
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MATTHEW LUDWIG BRADLEY ABELA |
---
| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE LACAVA |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 6 April 2017 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 9 June 2017 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v LUDWIG |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2017] VCC 744 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---Subject: Theft Burglary (multiple charges)
Sentence: Ludwig - 6 years' imprisonment / 4 years non-parole
Abela - 3 years' imprisonment / 2 years non-parole---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr P. Pickering | |
| For Accused Ludwig | Mr W. May | |
| For Accused Abela | Ms N. Karapanagiotidis |
HIS HONOUR:
1Matthew Ludwig, you have pleaded guilty to eight (8) charges of theft (charges 1,3,5,7,9,11,12 & 13), four (4) charges of burglary (charges 2,6,8 & 10), and two (2) charges of attempted theft (charges 4 & 14). All of these offences occurred on the 6th November 2015. At the time of committing these offences you were on parole, having been released on 29th July 2015 (related summary charge 37).
2Bradley Abela, you have pleaded guilty to five (5) charges of theft (charges 1,11,12,13 & 16) and one (1) charge of possession of a drug of dependence (methylamphetamine) (charge 15). Four of the theft charges that you, Abela, face (charges 1, 11, 12 & 13) were committed by you together with you, Ludwig. Your offending also occurred on the 6th November 2015, except for the offending in charge 17 which occurred the 17th November 2015.
3In addition, you were each also charged with summary offences and you each consented to those charges being dealt with by me. You, Ludwig, were charged with breaching a term of your parole (charge 37), by offending whilst on parole, and with careless driving (charge 25) which occurred in a separate incident that occurred on the 12th November 2015. You, Abela, were charged summarily with making a false report to the police (summary charge 31). This offending also occurred on the 6th November 2015.
4In sentencing each of you for these crimes I must have regard to the maximum sentences for each of the offences that you have each committed. The maximum penalty for theft is 10 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty for attempted theft is 5 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty for burglary is 10 years' imprisonment. In circumstances where you, Abela, did not possess the drug of dependence for a trafficking purpose (as here) the maximum penalty for possession of a drug of dependence (meth amphetamine) is 30 penalty units, or 1 year imprisonment.
5In relation to you, Ludwig, the maximum sentence for breaching a term of parole is 3 months' imprisonment or 30 penalty units, or both, and the maximum sentence for careless driving is 12 penalty units for a first offence and 25 penalty units for a subsequent offence. You have prior convictions for careless driving.
6In relation to you, Abela, the maximum penalty for making a false report to police is 120 penalty units, or imprisonment for one (1) year.
7The offending of each of you was summarised in a prosecution opening summary that was tendered in evidence and read in open court by the prosecutor, Mr Pickering. The summary was accepted as being accurate by each of your counsel. Mr May appeared on your behalf, Ludwig, and Ms Karapanagiotidis appeared on your behalf, Abela. It is not necessary that I here repeat in detail that which is contained in the prosecution summary, except in an abbreviated fashion.
8During the night on the 6th November 2016 the both of you stole a black Ford Territory vehicle to assist in carrying out burglaries and thefts carried out by the both of you. (charge 1, theft of a vehicle)
9At about 2.23 am you, Ludwig, attended at Frankston Toyota. You cut the padlocks off the gate and gained entry to the premises. (Charge 2 Burglary). Having gained entry you stole a box of car number plates for vehicles stored in the premises (Charge 3 Theft). You also located the keys for various vehicles within the premises. You and other unidentified offenders used these keys to steal three vehicles from the premises of Frankston Toyota (Charge 5, Theft of vehicles). You and the other unidentified offenders also attempted to steal an Audi car but were unsuccessful. (Charge 4, attempted theft)
10At 3.04 am you, Ludwig, burgled a Subway restaurant in Patterson Lakes (charge 6, burglary) where you and others unidentified stole a safe containing $3,137.00 cash (Charge 7, Theft)
11Sixteen minutes later, at 3.20 am, you, Ludwig, burgled another Subway restaurant, this time at Chelsea (Charge 8, Burglary) where you and others who are unidentified used a sledge hammer and a crowbar to steal cash and soft drinks (Charge 9, Theft)
12By 3.39 am you, Ludwig, had travelled to Braeside where you used the black Ford Territory to ram the factory roll-a-door at Hughes Supercar Services in order to gain entry. (Charge 10, Burglary)
13Once inside the premises you, Ludwig, stole two valuable Ferrari motor vehicles and other equipment. A short time later you, Abela, took possession of the Ferrari vehicles and drove one of them. You, Ludwig, and you, Abela, drove the two Ferraris to the Langwarrin and Frankston area respectively. During a search of your home Abela, the equipment that was stolen from Hughes Supercar Services was found at your home. (Charge 11, Theft of equipment; Charge 12, Theft of Ferrari Daytona; Charge 13, Theft of Ferrari 328)
14Between 5.47 am and 7.54 am, both of you had conversations with a co-offender, Ridley, whom you asked to store a car for a few hours. You, Ludwig, drove the Daytona Ferrari to a house arranged by Ridley in Langwarrin where the Daytona Ferrari was stored, until the early hours of the following morning when you, Ludwig removed it. That car was valued at between $1.5 and $2m. It was set on fire in a paddock in Langwarrin around 3.55 am. Neither of you is charged with setting fire to the Ferrari Daytona.
15The Ferrari 328, also a valuable car but not as valuable as the other Ferrari, was also burned in Frankston. Neither of you is charged with setting fire to the Ferrari 328.
16Police found the black Ford Territory damaged on the side of the road in Bangholme. Inside a wallet was found with documents identifying you, Abela, together with a bag containing 2g of methylamphetamine. (Charge 15, possess a drug of dependence)
17Presumably to explain the fact that your wallet was left in the black Ford Territory, you, Abela, made a false report to police that your mother’s car had been stolen with your wallet in it. (related summary charge 31)
18At 12.30 pm you, Ludwig, attempted to steal a Nissan Skyline vehicle in Cheltenham (Charge 14, attempted theft)
19When police tried to arrest you on 12 November, you were driving a vehicle in Dandenong. You avoided police by reversing the car you were driving at speed into a road intersection, the open passenger door of the vehicle striking a pole in the process. (related summary charge 25, careless driving)
20On 17 November 2015 you, Abela, stole a Ford Falcon XR6. (Charge 16)
21It goes without saying that offending of this kind is very serious. In your case Ludwig, breaking into commercial premises in the dark of night with intent to steal and stealing valuable items on this scale, represents a serious example of what are serious offences. The offending was carried out with other unidentified offenders. In your case Ludwig it occurred whilst you were on parole. You, Ludwig, engaged in prolific offending, albeit mostly confined to one night. The offending appears to have been planned and organised and it was repetitive. The buildings were entered by force. You had time between each episode of offending on the night to think and to cease offending but you went ahead. Your counsel, Mr May, submitted that your offending, Ludwig, lacked planning and sophistication. I disagree. The fact that you were able break into the number of premises that you did over some distance in the time that you did suggests to me that the burglaries were indeed planned.
22You, Abela, engaged in a more confined episode of offending but it was serious offending.
23In sentencing you, Ludwig, I regard the burglary with intent to steal in charge 10 as the most serious of the charges you face, and this will be the base sentence I impose upon you.
24I have no doubt you each appreciated that the cars that you each stole that are the subject of charges 12 and 13 were vehicles of considerable value. Each was a Ferrari motor vehicle. I accept each of you probably did not appreciate the true value of the vehicle in charge 12, nevertheless, you both would have known both vehicles were high value vehicles. You both had time to stop not taking the vehicles. You both went ahead. In your case, Ludwig, for these reasons I have decided it is appropriate to accumulate part of the sentence I will impose on charge 12 with the sentence I will impose on charge 10. I will not accumulate any part of the sentence imposed on charge 13.
25In your case, Abela, the sentence I impose on charge 12 will be the base sentence.
26This kind of offending is prevalent. The sentences imposed on each of you must properly reflect appropriate deterrence (both general and specific) and appropriately denounce your offending, and apply just punishment and take into account your prospects for rehabilitation. Because each of you has a number of prior convictions for this kind of offending, I must also have regard to protection of the public when sentencing you. Also, because each of you has been imprisoned before on a number of occasions, I must have regard to totality in sentencing, and if necessary, moderate the sentence.
27To the credit of each of you, you have each pleaded guilty to the charges and you both did so at committal. The matter proceeded as a straight hand-up brief. I treat each of you as having pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. For that each of you is entitled to receive, and will receive, a reduction in sentence. By pleading guilty each of you has saved the time and costs of what might have been a lengthy trial, perhaps trials. Further, I treat the pleas of guilty by each of you as indicative of your remorse for your conduct.
28I accepted into evidence victim impact statements from the owner of the premises burgled by you, Ludwig, which is the subject of charge 10. The trouble, stress and financial costs your offending has caused him is there described. In passing sentence on you, Ludwig, I have taken this victim impact statement into account.
29I also accepted into evidence a victim impact statement from the owner of the Ferrari vehicle the subject of charge 13. This was the vehicle of lesser value of the two Ferraris, but nevertheless, still a valuable vehicle. I accept and understand the stress and trouble and financial cost that the offending of both of you has caused the owner having lost his vehicle, even though it was insured, and in passing sentence on each of you I have taken this victim impact statement into account.
30When each of you was arraigned and pleaded guilty, you each admitted a significant criminal history.
31I turn to your prior criminal history, Ludwig. It is very relevant to take that into account here because of the need for the sentence imposed upon you to have regard to specific deterrence and to take into account, so far as is possible, the totality of the time that you have spent in prison over a number of years and in the period of the last 18 months or so leading up to this sentence.
32You were born on the 4th December 1984. At the time of this offending you were aged nearly 29. You admitted prior convictions from eleven (11) previous court appearances, commencing in May of 2004 when you were aged 19. You have many previous convictions for theft of motor vehicles, burglary, reckless conduct endangering, driving offences and offences generally involving motor cars, possessing amphetamine and drug trafficking.
33When you were first sentenced to a term of imprisonment, in May 2004, the sentence was ordered to be served by way of an Intensive Corrections Order. Nine days after that sentence was passed the Frankston Magistrates’ Court sentenced you for further offending of a similar kind to that which I am now to sentence you. You were then placed on a Community Based Order for 12 months. In December 2004 you were dealt with for further driving offences, these breached the Community Based Order. Subsequent breach proceedings found the breach proven and the Community Based Order was confirmed. Eleven months later you were again before the Court for driving whilst disqualified and other driving charges. You received a sentence of a term of imprisonment wholly suspended for 12 months. In October 2007, 23 months later, you again appeared before the Frankston Magistrates’ Court charged with 2 charges of burglary and three charges of theft. Again you received a sentence of a term of imprisonment and again the sentence of 3 months' imprisonment was wholly suspended for a period of 12 months. Six months later you again appeared before the Frankston Magistrates’ Court. On this occasion you faced many charges of burglary and numerous other dishonesty offences, including theft of motor vehicles. You were also dealt with for breach of a suspended sentence which was restored but the sentence ordered to be served concurrently with an aggregate sentence imposed of three (3) years' imprisonment. The Magistrate fixed a non-parole period of only 18 months, half the total effective head sentence. In September 2010, at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, presumably whilst undergoing the sentence imposed on the 31st March 2008, you received another sentence of imprisonment of 12 months for similar offending. The sentence imposed was ordered to be served concurrently and the Magistrate fixed a new parole period, which so far as I can see from your criminal record, added 3 months to your non-parole period, to 25th November 2010. After release from prison you re-offended and you were dealt with in this court on the 22 February 2013 on charges of trafficking a drug of dependence, 4 charges of theft and 3 charges of burglary, receiving a total effective sentence of 45 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 30 months. In May 2013 at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court you were charged with driving offences and received a further sentence of 6 months' imprisonment to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed at this court on the 22 February 2013.
34You were paroled on the 3rd July 2015 and your parole was cancelled by further offending, being this offending for which I sentence you, and perhaps other offending early in November 2015. You were taken back into custody owing the Parole Board 458 days, which you have now served. You were taken back into custody on 4th December 2015.
35On the 14th February 2017 you were dealt with for offending that occurred subsequent to the offending for which I sentence you. The subsequent offending occurred on the 23 November 2015, 30 November 2015 and the 2nd and 3rd December 2015. The charges were again of a similar kind; burglary, theft of motor vehicles and criminal damage. The Magistrate imposed a further term of imprisonment of 120 days on some of the charges, concurrent, and also made a Community Corrections Order for 12 months on some of the other charges. The Community Corrections Order was made in the expectation you would be released on or about 14th June of this year.
36Although you have been in custody since 4th December 2015, you have not served any pre-sentence detention for this offending. Your time in custody has seen you serving other sentences for offending, both before and after this offending.
37Your counsel, Ludwig, filed a helpful chronology and outline of submissions on your behalf which I marked as exhibit 1. Mr May told me, and I accept, that you had an unremarkable childhood and your parents were decent hardworking people. You were the middle child of three and I was told, and accept, that your siblings have had no involvement with the criminal justice system.
38I received into evidence a report relating to you from Danielle Harley, a Forensic Psychologist who saw you for that purpose at Port Phillip Prison on the 18th November 2016. After limited testing she thought you suffer from extremely low intellectual capacity, although you do not have problems with basic literacy, numeracy or comprehension deficits. You told Ms Harley, and I accept, you have had a limited education and employment history. You apparently spent time in special education and left school in year 10 and took up an apprenticeship as a boiler maker. You completed the first year but left the apprenticeship through the second year. Since then you have had casual infrequent employment of a labouring kind. You moved out of home aged 18 when you commenced using drugs, eventually developing an addiction to methylamphetamine which you were using at the time of offending.
39You told Ms Harley, and I accept, that at the time of this offending you were using methamphetamine intravenously daily and were thus drug- affected at the time of the commission of the offences. Ms Harley opined that your offending occurred in the context of a drug induced psychosis. In her report she said, inter alia:
40“Mr Ludwig has self-reported symptoms during interview consistent with a possible psychotic experience. Testing has also indicated cognitive limitations. The nature and extent of these matters, however, are not currently well understood. Further investigation involving psychiatric and neuropsychological opinion appears warranted to accurately understand the relationship between these factors and Mr Ludwig’s alleged offending.”
41In passing sentence upon you, Mr Ludwig, I have taken Ms Harley’s report fully into account.
42Using this report, your counsel, Mr May, submitted that I should find that your cognitive limitations referred to by Ms Harley played some part in your offending and that I should regard your moral culpability for the offending as being somewhat reduced and therefore place less emphasis upon the application of general and specific deterrence. I reject that submission. Ms Harley carried out only limited cognitive testing of you and she did not give any evidence linking your suggested cognitive deficits to the offending. In my view your offending occurred in the context of your use of methylamphetamine around the time of the offending and this, in part, helps to explain your offending but it does not excuse it in any way. I reject the submission, I should request a psychiatric report relating to you from Forensicare.
43Mr May submitted I should regard your role in this offending as being limited. I reject that submission. Although your offending was confined to one night, there was a lot of it. I accept you are now remorseful, I accept you have had a problem with drug use for a long time, I accept you have pleaded guilty at an early time and I accept that as a still relatively young man you have spent a good part of the recent years of your life in prison, and I accept that there is a danger of you becoming institutionalised because of repeated sentences of imprisonment being imposed upon you. I have taken all of these matters into account in arriving at the sentences imposed by me on the individual charges and in applying what I regard as appropriate accumulation of some of the sentences imposed.
44Mr May submitted that I should regard the imposition of a Community Corrections Order with a Justice Plan condition as being within the appropriate range of sentencing for you. I reject that submission. I note that the prosecution submitted that the making of a Community Corrections Order was not within the appropriate range of sentencing for you.
45In my opinion the making of a Community Corrections Order, with conditions to deal with your offending, would not properly meet the purposes of sentencing. In your case the purposes of sentencing must properly address general and specific deterrence, denunciation and just punishment in a setting where I regard your prospects for rehabilitation as being poor. Having regard to your criminal record the sentence must also attempt, so far as possible, to address the need to protect the public from you. The sentence I will shortly pass attempts to address these purposes.
46I turn to the prior criminal history of you, Abela. As was the case with Ludwig, so too with you, Abela, your prior criminal history is very relevant to take into account here because of the need for the sentence imposed upon you to have regard to specific deterrence and to take into account, so far as is possible, the totality of the time that you have spent in prison over a number of years and in the period of the last 18 months or so leading up to this sentence.
47You are now 31 years of age and you were born on 7th April 1986. You, too, have a long criminal history over a thirteen year period. Since May 2004 you have been dealt with by courts in this State on many occasions. You have numerous prior convictions for drug trafficking, theft, car theft, burglary and various dishonesty offences and numerous driving offences. You are a drug addict and much of your offending can be directly linked to your drug addiction.
48You have received a number of dispositions in the past designed to assist you rehabilitate yourself from drugs, including Community Based Orders and suspended sentences and intensive corrections orders. In 2010 you were sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment to be served by way of a drug treatment order, but in May 2011 those orders were cancelled and you were ordered to serve an unexpired term of imprisonment of 8 months. That was because you re-offended.
49In February 2013 you were again before the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on charges of drug trafficking and driving offences, and you again were dealt with by the making of a drug treatment order. After a couple of variations this drug treatment order was eventually cancelled and you were ordered to serve the unexpired term of 11 months' imprisonment on the 27th March 2014.
50I was told, and accept, that you were taken into custody on the 5th December 2015 and you have remained continuously in custody since that time. You were sentenced to a term of imprisonment in relation to other matters and some of your time in custody relates to that sentence which was served by 21 June. In relation to these matters, you have served 351 days pre-sentence detention since 22 June 2016.
51I turn to your background circumstances, Abela. I admitted into evidence a psychological report in relation to you, received from Jeffrey Cummins who saw you for that purpose at Port Phillip Prison on the 17th March 2017. That report set out some of your background information which was not specifically referred to by your counsel. You are now aged 31. You have a partner with whom you have a six year old daughter. Your partner is also a drug user and she is currently serving a Community Corrections Order for drug-related offending.
52Your parents separated on multiple occasions. The family home appears to have been dysfunctional and your parents would fight both verbally and physically. Your father, who was a heroin user and user of other drugs, died of a heart condition aged 46. You told Mr Cummins your mother, aged 51, is an alcoholic who has also been in trouble with the law. Your brother is a drug user also currently serving a gaol sentence for drug- related offending. A sister has also offended in a drug-related way.
53You had a limited education and left school in year 9 aged 15. You have had limited employment punctuated by periods in and out of custody. Leading up to your arrest in 2015 you had been out of custody for 12 months, which was the longest period out of custody for about 10 years. During this time you had a job doing labouring work and you obtained certification to level 2 in Civil Construction (Exhibit 4). You told Mr Cummins, and I accept, that you want to get back to this upon release. You also told Mr Cummins that you felt you were getting on top of things but got in with the wrong people, which I assume led to drugs and this offending. You told Mr Cummins, and I accept, you committed these offences whilst on an ice binge. Mr Cummins thought you are a person of low average intelligence and you did not present as being psychotic or schizophrenic. Mr Cummins thought you probably suffer from a chronic adjustment disorder primarily triggered by your drug use and drug-related offending and to some extent by your dysfunctional upbringing. On the basis of your comments to him, he thought your prospects for rehabilitation were “guardedly favourable”. Your counsel did not seek to rely on Verdins principles.
54I assess your prospects for rehabilitation as being poor. I accept you have shown signs that you want to change but until you rid yourself of drugs and start to associate with people away from the drug scene that is unlikely to occur. I accept there are tentative signs that you want to change. One such example was the evidence of negative urine screens (Exhibit BA-4) taken within a prison context in January this year.
55I received into evidence references from your mother and your partner, which I have taken into account.
56Your counsel emphasised your early pleas of guilty and your remorse, which I accept. She emphasised that you were sentenced for other matters in February 2016 and you were serving that sentence until 21st June 2016.
57I was told, and accept, that your time on remand has been more difficult because of onerous conditions caused by lock-downs at the Melbourne Remand Centre and Port Phillip Prison. In this context I was told, and accept, you have worked as a billet in prison and that you have worked to gain better qualifications that may assist you find work upon your release. I accept you have family support and I was told, and accept, you have work available to you on release. In that regard I received into evidence a letter from Jenae Russell indicating there is agricultural service work available to you.
58You have a lengthy criminal history, as discussed above, achieved in a context of chronic drug use. In passing sentence I am mindful of the length of time you have spent in prison, especially since December 2015. I have taken this into account.
59Ms Karapanagiotidis submitted that I should make a Community Corrections Order. I reject that submission. In my opinion the making of a Community Corrections Order with conditions to deal with your offending would not properly meet the purposes of sentencing. In your case the purposes of sentencing must properly address general and specific deterrence, denunciation and just punishment in a setting where I regard your prospects for rehabilitation as being poor. Having regard to your criminal record the sentence must also attempt, so far as possible, to address the need to protect the public from you. The sentence I will shortly pass attempts to address these purposes. I note that you have failed to take advantage of non-custodial dispositions in the past which were designed to assist you to rid yourself of drugs and rehabilitate yourself.
60The prosecution submitted that the making of a Community Corrections Order was not within the appropriate sentencing range for you.
61Dealing first with you, Mr Ludwig.
62On charge 1, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months.
63On charge 2, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 years.
64On charge 3, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months.
65On charge 4, attempted theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 6 months.
66On charge 5, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.
67On charge 6, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years.
68On charge 7, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 months.
69On charge 8, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years.
70On charge 9, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 months.
71On charge 10, burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 years.
72On charge 11, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 months.
73On charge 12, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.
74On charge 13, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.
75On charge 14, attempted theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 6 months.
76On summary charge 37, breach of parole, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 months.
77On summary charge 25, Careless Driving, you are convicted and fined the sum of $500.00.
78I direct that one year of the sentence imposed on charge 2 and six (6) months of each of the sentences imposed on charges 1, 6, 8 & 12 cumulate upon the sentence imposed on charge 10 and upon each other making a total effective sentence of six years' imprisonment.
79I direct that you serve a minimum term of four years before being eligible for release on parole.
80For the purposes of s. 6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I declare that had it not been for your pleas of guilty to the charges, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of 8 years with a non-parole period of five and a half years.
81There is no pre-sentence detention in your case, Mr Ludwig.
82Any licence that you may hold to drive a motor vehicle in the State of Victoria is cancelled and you are disqualified from obtaining a licence to drive a vehicle for a period of 3 years from 16th November 2015.
83I turn to sentence you, Mr Abela.
84On charge 1, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months.
85On charge 11, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 months.
86On charge 12, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.
87On charge 13, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.
88On charge 16, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months.
89On charge 15, possession of a drug of dependence, you are convicted and fined $500.00.
90On summary charge 31, making a false report to police, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one (1) month.
91I direct that six (6) months of each of the sentences imposed on charges 1, 13 and 16 cumulate upon the sentence imposed on charge 12, making a total effective sentence of three years' imprisonment.
92I direct that you serve a minimum term of two (2) years before being eligible for release on parole.
93For the purposes of s. 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that had it not been for your pleas of guilty to the charges, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of 5 years with a non-parole period of three years.
94I declare that there has been 352 days pre-sentence detention and that 352 days be reckoned as having been already served under the sentences passed this day and be entered into the records of the court and be deducted administratively.
95Any licence that you may hold to drive a motor vehicle in the State of Victoria is cancelled and you are disqualified from obtaining a licence to drive a motor vehicle for a period of 3 years from 6th November 2015.
96I have been asked to sign forfeiture and disposal orders relating to various items seized. The making of these orders was not opposed and I have signed them.
97HIS HONOUR: Are there any questions arising out of that? I understand there's some issue about pre-sentence detention in respect to Mr Abela.
98MR PICKERING: It was worked out by my instructor, Your Honour, to be 352 days rather than 351, that was all. I haven't re-calculated it in the time I've been sitting here, Your Honour.
99HIS HONOUR: What did you calculate it at?
100MS KARAPANAGIOTIDIS: I also calculated it at 352 days, Your Honour.
101HIS HONOUR: Very well, my arithmetic must be out for some reason. I'm not sure how you arrived at 351 but it doesn't matter much, I'll amend the sentence so that 352 days is declared as pre-sentence detention.
102MR PICKERING: If Your Honour pleases.
103MS KARAPANAGIOTIDIS: If Your Honour pleases.
104HIS HONOUR: Would you remove Mr Abela and Mr Ludwig please.
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