Director of Public Prosecutions v Mikael
[2014] VCC 72
•7 February 2014
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-13- 02306
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| JOHNNY MIKAEL |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 6 February 2014 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 7 February 2014 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Mikael | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2014] VCC 72 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | ||
| For the Accused |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Johnny Mikael, you can remain seated for the time being.
2 You have pleaded guilty to an indictment charging you with theft (Count 1) of a pair of scissors and, Charge 2, intentionally causing serious injury to Damsen Ludwiei.
3 The offence of theft carries a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years. The offence of intentionally causing serious injury carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and is therefore of course to be regarded as a very serious offence.
4 The prosecution has attended and relied upon a summary of opening which is Exhibit A, that was read yesterday. I am not going to read it in detail, suffice to say that in the early morning of 8 September of last year, you were with a group of friends, obviously the worse for wear for drugs and alcohol. You became involved in an altercation which you, by your conduct, escalated to a point where you grabbed a pair of scissors, attacked the victim with them and caused him serious injuries which included a laceration to his liver and hemoperitoneum and lacerations to his left upper arm and chest.
5 Apparently you were quite lucky that you did not kill him. You could easily have done. Of course, had you done so, you would have been up on much more serious charges than this. As it is, this is to be regarded as a very serious offence. The courts recognise that violence in the CBD in the early hours of the morning, perpetrated by drunks or people that are high on drugs of one kind or another is prevalent and that there is a need for deterring other people from committing offences of that kind.
6 It seems that you had become in the habit of attending with friends in that area and I hope that you will not do so again because the likelihood is that you may get drawn into some incident, even if you do not choose to initiate the incident. Anybody in that vicinity, particularly if they have had a drink or two, is likely to become vulnerable to becoming involved in a similar incident.
7 I suspect that you have learnt your lesson.
8 But I have to regard also the victim in this case. He has provided a victim impact statement, which is Exhibit B on the plea, and shows that not only did he suffer serious physical injuries, but that the psychological affects of your attack upon him remain with him now and will remain with him, no doubt, for a very significant period of time if not from the rest of his life. That also that has to be taken into account in imposing sentence upon you.
9 Your counsel has very helpfully provided me with a written outline of submissions which is Exhibit 1, and a report from a psychologist, Mr Bilkr, which is Exhibit 2, and a report from the Youth Justice Melbourne Central Courts Unit . The reports that emanate from there are authored by Mr Riordan, who is also the author of the assessment report that was made upon you today for your suitability for a Youth Justice Centre order.
10 It seems that you have done well since your offending conduct. I suspect that your being charged with this offence has been a major wake up call for you, not just you but members of your family who would seek to guide you and guide you along a better path. I get the impression that you have already formed a good relationship with Mr Riordan and others within Youth Justice and that they will help you to maintain your focus on a better path.
11 You have complied with the conditions of your bail and you have apparently passed the various drug screenings that have been required of you and I am of the view that this can be treated as an isolated incident.
12 Whether it is an isolated incident in your life is very much up to you and your response to the sentence that I am about to impose upon you today will very much determine whether you are able to sustain the course of rehabilitation that you are on at the present time.
13 There are other reasons, namely your willingness to participate in the various courses and so on that have been offered to you in the intervening period, and the report from Neil Laws of the Roxburgh College and the Reverend Tomah suggests that you have many good qualities and that if you build on those good qualities, you have got every chance of making a worthwhile contribution to society and leading a decent and honest life and a happy life.
14 All in all, therefore, I am persuaded that you are a good candidate for rehabilitation but that is not the only consideration, of course. I have to express the denunciation of this court appropriately for your offending conduct, to punish you adequately for what you have done. I have got to impose a sentence that deters you from committing further offences of this kind and, most importantly, one which has a capacity to deter others from committing offences of this kind.
15 You may appreciate that an offence of this kind would almost always carry a sentence of imprisonment in an adult prison of perhaps four years or even more, and it is only because of your youth and because you have no prior convictions and because you have good prospects of rehabilitation, that I deemed it appropriate for you to be assessed for a Youth Justice Centre order as distinct from a term in an adult prison.
16 The report which was provided to me this afternoon and authored by Mr Riordan, notes that you do have reasonable prospects of rehabilitation. In his opinion you are impressionable and immature and are likely to be subjected to undesirable influences in an adult prison. All of those factors militate in favour of making an order that you serve a period in the Youth Justice Centre rather than in an adult prison.
17 It is to your credit that you obtained your trade qualification and that too, I think, supports the proposition that you have a pretty good chance of a decent life.
18 I think that there are some positives to be obtained from a Youth Justice Centre order but of course there is a punitive element to it and I suspect that you appreciate that it is necessary for you to be punished for what you did.
19 The prosecution has taken the view that with the various things that have been said on your behalf that a Youth Justice Centre order in the range two to three years is within the range of sentences that are open to me. They are not seeking to persuade me that I must send you to an adult prison and all of that leads me to conclude that a sentence in that range is open to me to impose.
20 I am sufficiently impressed with your prospects of rehabilitation that I think a period at the lower end of that scale is warranted and I think that you have the capacity to learn what they can offer you in the period at the bottom end of that range.
21 I propose, therefore, to make a Youth Justice Centre order ‑ I think I can make it in respect of the two offences together, can't, I or do I have to make them individually?
22 MR SAUNDERS: I believe so.
23 HIS HONOUR: If I need to make it individually, I would.
24 MS BHAI: No, I don't think so.
25 HIS HONOUR: For the two offences, to which you pleaded guilty, I convict you on each and I sentence you to a Youth Justice Centre order for a period of two years.
26 I think there's pre‑sentence detention.
27 MR SAUNDERS: Two days.
28 HIS HONOUR: I declare that two days of pre‑sentence detention is to be reckoned as time served on the sentence that I have imposed and deducted administratively from that sentence and I order that that matter be noted in the records of the court.
29 I have been asked to make some ancillary orders.
30 MS BHAI: Yes, there's two, Your Honour. The first is for the retention of the forensic sample and, second, for the disposal of the scissors.
31 HIS HONOUR: Yes, I'm pretty sure I've sign those already. Yes, I've given them to Mr Travers. Yes, I've made those orders and I've signed those orders. Are there any other orders that I need to make?
32 MR SAUNDERS: Section 6AAA.
33 HIS HONOUR: Yes. But for your pleas of guilty, I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for a period of four years with a non‑parole period of three years.
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