Director of Public Prosecutions v Minton-Green
[2019] VCC 845
•7 June 2019
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-18-00941
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DYLAN MINTON-GREEN |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 7 June 2019 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Minton-Green | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 845 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Catchwords:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Ms N. Burnett | |
| For the Accused | Mr B. Johnston |
HER HONOUR:
1 Dylan Minton-Green, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of home invasion and one charge of common assault. The facts underlying this offending are as follows.
2 The offending was committed with your co-accused, Ashley Paul Stevenson. At the time he was a resident of a boarding house in Springvale as was the victim, Adam Smith.
3 At the time of the offending Mr Stevenson and Mr Smith had known each other for about three weeks and about a week before Mr Smith had lent Mr Stevenson $20. He had not met you previously.
4 On 9 October 2017 when Mr Smith was at home at the boarding house, Mr Stevenson and you arrived in the evening at about 10pm, at which time Mr Smith asked Mr Stevenson for the $20 he had lent him. Mr Stevenson said he did not have the money. Mr Smith went to his room and locked the door whilst the two of you went to Mr Stevenson's room which was next door.
5 After a while Mr Smith rang the landlord complaining about the noise that you two were making and then went into the kitchen to do some dishes. While he was there you came out of Mr Stevenson's room and walked past Mr Smith holding a green handled knife with a blade about four inches long. Mr Smith went back to his room and locked the door again and rang the landlord again to complain about your behaviour and the noise. He was told to call the police.
6 The two of you began to shout at Mr Smith through his bedroom door. He then called 000 telling them what had happened at which time you told him to, 'Get off the fucking phone', before forcibly opening the door by breaking the lock. You entered the room closely followed by Mr Stevenson. Your actions in entering Mr Smith's room underlie Charge 1 on the indictment, home invasion.
7 The two of you grabbed Mr Smith by the collar and pushed him against the bedroom wall and you grabbed the phone from Mr Smith's hand and threw it out the bedroom window. There was a scuffle during which Mr Smith was punched by both of you to the face and neck. Your actions in that regard underlie Charge 2 on the indictment, common law assault.
8 Mr Smith pushed you away and then you grabbed a pair of scissors that were in the bedroom, held them up and said, 'I'll stab you to death, cunt'. Mr Smith then put Mr Stevenson in a headlock and told him to get you to stand down. You were still holding the scissors. You again said, 'I'll fucking stab you to death, cunt', and 'If we don't get you tonight we'll send our friends to get you'. Mr Smith let go of Mr Stevenson who then tried to calm you down.
9 Police arrived soon after at which time you ran out of the back of the house and climbed onto the roof of a shed on the house running away. As you jumped off the shed police approached you and were arrested. They found the scissors you had used on the floor of Mr Smith's room.
10 The two of you were taken to Dandenong Police Station, where in records of interviews you and Mr Stevenson denied physically assaulting Mr Smith but admitted to kicking his door open and having an argument with him in his room.
11 The matters were resolved at a fairly early stage. At a contested committal hearing on 3 May 2018 the matter was resolved as a plea of guilty on the indictment before any witnesses were called.
12 The maximum penalty for home invasion is 25 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty for common law assault is five years' imprisonment.
13 A victim impact statement was sought from Mr Smith however one was not provided. I now turn to your personal circumstances.
14 You were 19 years at the time of the offending and you are now 21. You are one of five children born to your parents. Your father was 21 at the time you were born. Your mother was 17. They were both drug users. Heroin was their drug of choice and according to psychiatrist Dr Ranvir K. Sood, whose report dated 19 October 2017 was tendered on the plea, your life with them was characterised by chronic problems. Your father was in and out of gaol over many years and your family life was chaotic and traumatic, and according to Dr Sood you received very little consistent care. Your mother has apparently struggled with depression all her life and felt totally overwhelmed.
15 You had a lot of trouble at school from the start. You were described as loud and disruptive. You were bullied. You changed schools three times by Grade 2. You had serious learning and attention difficulties, you got into fighting and you have been consistently involved in fighting ever since.
16 You completed Year 8 but you failed Year 9 and at about the age of 13 you started smoking cannabis. Soon after you began using alcohol and cigarettes and then running away from home at around 15. You have been in and out of the family home since about 20 times.
17 By 16 you were depressed and suicidal but received no treatment. You also became involved with a harder criminal group and began using ice and heroin which you used intravenously and which has been a problem for you ever since.
18 You have had periods of psychotic episodes where you have seen people. You have not received any treatment for that. So you have had a difficult history.
19 Unsurprisingly along the way you have been involved in offending. It goes back to 2014 and there have been a number of appearances in the Children's Court since that time involving charges of handling stolen goods, assault, robbery, possessing amphetamine, possessing prescription drugs, possession of cannabis, in 2017 intentionally damaging property, again in 2017, resisting a police officer.
20 It is quite clear that your offending has escalated in terms of the serious offending that you committed against Mr Smith and which has brought you before the County Court which is, of course, a court which only hears the more serious matters on the criminal agenda.
21 On 7 June 2018 when you appeared before this court on a plea, you were on Lexapro, an antidepressant. You were described by Dr Sood as rather naïve and gullible. He described you as open, expressing helplessness but he also thought you were very streetwise and that you expressed distrust, anger and contempt for authority.
22 It was Dr Sood's belief that you were suffering from poly-addiction to alcohol, cannabis, ice, heroin and speed, 'In the setting of serious deprivation and a family history of neglect, chaos and addiction'. He thought you showed signs of Adolescent Conduct Disorder, 'which is likely to become a Borderline syndrome with Antisocial traits unless he receives serious treatment'.
23 The plan was for you to attend DayHab for a detox program and which would set up what would hopefully be long-term therapeutic help.
24 Ordinarily courts are expected to respond very sternly to the charge of home invasion. Certainly it is my view that in terms of the seriousness with which this particular offence and the range of offending that relates to it is regarded it is, in my view, at the low to middle range. That is not to say it is not serious but I am just saying within the range of seriousness for this serious offence that, in my view, is where it falls.
25 When you first appeared before me with Mr Stevenson in June of last year it was my view that although each of you had done a bit of work in relation to your addictions and so forth that you needed to do more and so the matter was adjourned to 6 December 2018 at which time I said I would consider, if you had done well, placing you on a Community Corrections Order.
26 However, the matter was brought back on 26 November where the court was informed you had remained in residential rehab until about August but had relapsed with another person there and you took a tab of LSD and ended up in hospital. You had also take heroin.
27 At the time you came before the court you were back with your father. You were on Suboxone. The two of you were attending Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous together and the plan was that you were to go into the detox program then SHARC housing. I was tempted to further defer the matter to see how you went and, in fact, I agreed to that and there was a further deferral.
28 So it has been a bit of a rocky road getting here, Mr Minton-Green. I was also informed at the time that you had been employed but fallen off a roof and there was mention of further charges.
29 The matter came back before me on 26 February 2019 at which time I was told you had been living with your father but he had been rearrested and taken into custody. You were then supported by Toby Smith who works at DayHab and he attested to the fact that you were back in DayHab and were complying. It was proposed that after 4 March, which is when you would have completed detox, you would go to the Oxford House which was a recovery house. The matter was adjourned to 5 June.
30 Happily, I received a very good report from DayHab. I received a letter from Louise Program at SHARC, that is Self Help Addiction Resource Centre. She is the program coordinator in Recovery Support Services. In her letter dated 4 June 2019 she noted that you were admitted to SHARC on 27 March after completing an episode at DayHab and said that you participated in a day program which aims to assist young people in their recovery, part of which you lived in shared accommodation managed through Launch Housing and you twice weekly supervised through urine drug screens. She noted that you were currently over two months drug and alcohol free as was seen from the results.
31 As a part of the recovery plan you regularly see a general practitioner to assist with your physical health and you have been referred to Headspace for psychological intervention. You are still awaiting your first appointment.
32 Ms Robinson said, 'Dylan has become an asset to our program and is successfully building positive relationships with other members of our community. We believe that with guidance and support Dylan will progress in his drug and alcohol recovery and will have a bright future ahead of him'.
33 I really could not have asked for more in a report like that, Mr Minton‑Green, so well done.
34 In my view, serious though the offending is and I note that the prosecution has submitted that I should deal with you by way of a term of imprisonment to be combined with a Community Corrections Order, in my view, given your age, rehabilitation is still an important consideration for the court, more important than it would be were you older.
35 I am most reluctant to interfere with the progress that you are making. The program you are in is one which is hard to come by. I think it is really important for your long-term future that you remain there, that you keep doing what you are doing. I think, in my view, a Community Corrections Order can answer the punitive requirements of the sentencing exercise before me together with the rehabilitative features which, in my view, remain so important to your long-term recovery.
36 Courts are not encouraged to say that the long-term positive future of an offender is tied to the community good, yet that is clearly the case here and that is perhaps more acceptably said in a case where there is a young offender like yourself, Mr Minton-Green. As someone who has been a long term substance abuse offender and user, it is unsurprising that your recovery has involved two steps forward and one step back. What I am concerned about is that the steps forward keep happening. So I am prepared in the circumstances to place you on a Community Corrections Order and you have been found suitable for this. You were assessed, understandably, as a high risk of re-offending, probably because even though you are in a good space, if I can put it that way, the drug program has still got a way to go.
37 The report notes that, 'Mr Minton-Green reported that he has successfully remained abstinent from all substances for approximately two months'. It was noted that you were subject to weekly urinalysis and so forth. It said that you displayed some insight into the impact of your behaviour on the victim and wider community. You agreed that the victim would have felt scared and you were regretful for your actions and you believed that a CCO was fair punishment for the offending behaviour in this context.
38 Well of course, that is right, Mr Minton-Green, especially since you could have got gaol for it, I am sure you do think a Community Corrections Order is a fair response. However, before I can place you on a Community Corrections Order I have to explain the conditions of it to you.
39 I am prepared to place you on Community Corrections Order because of your youth, because of the substantial steps that you have taken in your rehabilitation, because of the ongoing difficulties that you have had in your childhood, the lack of treatment for them, that you have entered a plea of guilty and I am satisfied that you are remorseful for your offending. Because of these reasons I am prepared to place you on this order.
40 Could you stand up please, sir? I'll explain the conditions to you.
41 The thing you have got to understand, Mr Minton-Green, is this. A lot of young blokes like you go through this. They get out the door and they go woo hoo, I am on a Community Corrections Order. I did not get gaol. All right and you know, it is all sweet from here but it is not because you are on an order, all right? Because one of the things I am going to be doing is judicial monitoring. So you and I are going to be seeing each other every three months. I will be getting a report from Corrections about how you are going every three months.
42 While you are on the order you are still risk, all right and you will understand why when I tell you the conditions and the conditions are these.
43 You are firstly to report to Community Corrections within two working days of the making of this order. That is by Tuesday of next week. The order will last for 20 months. While on the order you must not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment. It does not mean you have to be sentenced to gaol but if you knock of a box of matches from Woolworths theoretically you can go to gaol for that. Do you understand what I mean by that?
44 OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
45 HER HONOUR: Most people do not go to gaol for knocking off a box of matches but you know, the legislation says that they can. You know, if you get involved in drug possession too much, you know. Behaviours around drug offending, some of them attract gaol, all right? So you do not have to get gaol, you just have to be charged with something for which you could get gaol. If that happens in the next 20 months you will come back in front of me, I will re-sentence you on all of this. Do you understand that?
46 OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
47 HER HONOUR: While you are on the order you may not leave Victoria except with the permission of the Community Corrections Office. You must not attend upon the Community Corrections Office under the influence of drugs or alcohol. You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change. You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections Office and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections Office, all right?
48 So there are going to be special conditions and they are, that you are to undergo treatment and rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol and you are to undergo treatment and rehabilitation for mental health difficulties. So there is going to be supervision which means Corrections are going to be keeping a bit more of an eye on you more frequently. There will be judicial monitoring and I will be seeing you in three months.
HER HONOUR: Now you are living in South Yarra? Which Community Corrections? Moorabbin.
MR JOHNSTON: Yes, it is.
HER HONOUR: Is Moorabbin the closest one to South Yarra?
MR JOHNSTON: Apparently. You'd think the city would be closer.
HER HONOUR: It's ridiculous.
MR JOHNSTON: Schlep out there and very difficult to get to because - - -
HER HONOUR: Absolutely, particularly if you haven't got any money.
MR JOHNSTON: However Your Honour, we have discussed that. He'll be able to attend the South Yarra Train Station. There is a line that will take him directly there.
HER HONOUR: Yes. It's ridiculous. You'd think Richmond or something.
MR JOHNSTON: That requires two separate trains.
HER HONOUR: It's a straight line out Moorabbin, is it?
MR JOHNSTON: It is.
HER HONOUR: Well take the money and run then. All right. That's fine. Thank you very much. Now so you're clear about the orders?
OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: Just do not make the mistake, as I said, that so many young blokes do which is, I'm out in the community. It doesn't matter. Corrections is really annoying. I don't like my case manager. They're idiots, la la la. Those sorts of things, all right, because the order is what's keeping you out of gaol. You understand that?
OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: All right. So if there's any difficulties, there may not be but if there are at judicial monitoring we can talk about that. All right but what you will probably find is that they will simply – because you've already got a regime set up they'll simply direct you to continue that regime. All right?
OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: Do you know what I mean by that? Does regime make sense to you?
OFFENDER: Yep.
HER HONOUR: What's it mean?
OFFENDER: Um just like to – I dunno how to explain it but I know it means, you
know - - -
HER HONOUR: No. I just worry sometimes that I use language that is - - -
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: You know, I forget that I'm dealing with a 20 year old kid and he's not necessarily going to understand everything I say. It simply means that because you're living in the share house, because you're getting drug rehab at SHARC, because SHARC is also organising for mental health treatment they'll say that's the way that you fulfil the conditions that I've just outlined to you, all right?
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: It's always good when you walk in with your own psych treatment, your own drug treatment because then Corrections just say keep doing what you're doing. Does that make sense?
OFFENDER: Yep.
HER HONOUR: All right. Are you prepared to enter this order?
OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: Thank you very much. We'll just print it out. You don't have to come in here. You can be beamed in from Moorabbin on the day of the judicial monitoring, all right?
OFFENDER: Yep.
HER HONOUR: All right, good. Thanks. We'll just do that. Have a seat, sir, thank you. So 21 August at 9.30, all right and Corrections will remind you about that. Thank you very much.
MS BURNETT: Your Honour, there's also the forensic sample.
HER HONOUR: Yes, I think it's appropriate in the circumstances.
MS BURNETT: I don't believe there's any opposition.
HER HONOUR: Have you got anything to say about that?
MR JOHNSTON: No, Your Honour, it's not opposed. I think he's already provided it, he told me in relation to the robbery. I'm instructed that he has previously
provided - - -
HER HONOUR: Yes but maybe it's a retention. Do you want to check that out, Ms Burnett and get back to me?
MS BURNETT: Certainly, Your Honour, we'll do that.
HER HONOUR: Thank you. Done. We'll get you to sign that, sir. Could you give my apologies to Judge Hogan, sorry.
MR JOHNSTON: I've just been notified by Your Honour's associate that I'm not required in that court. It'll be adjourned administratively in my absence.
HER HONOUR: All right, good.
MR JOHNSTON: So I think - - -
HER HONOUR: I could have sentenced for longer. All right, that's fine. Thank you very much. All right. Good luck with that, Mr Minton‑Green.
OFFENDER: Thank you.
HER HONOUR: You know, it's not easy coming from where you've come from but also that's not an excuse to keep heading down that road either. Are you feeling better about everything? Can you stand up, sir? Are you liking where you are?
OFFENDER: Yes. Yes, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: Yes.
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: A lot or just a bit?
OFFENDER: I like it a lot better.
HER HONOUR: Yes?
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: You look well.
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: You look well and what's the house you're staying in like? Do you like that?
OFFENDER: Yeah, yeah, I like that and the people that I live with as well.
HER HONOUR: That's really good.
OFFENDER: Yeah.
HER HONOUR: All right. Well look good luck to you. I look forward to seeing how you go in three months' time, all right?
OFFENDER: Okay, thank you.
HER HONOUR: Thank you. So just make sure you do what you're supposed to under this order and this will work out, all right. Ms Burnett, thank you so much for your help and of course, thank you, Mr Johnston.
MR JOHNSTON: As Your Honour pleases.
MS BURNETT: Thank you, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: All right, you are excused.
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