Director of Public Prosecutions v Moodie-Williamson

[2016] VCC 215

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-02060

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

V

DILLON MOODIE-WILLIAMSON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE JORDAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	2 March 2016
DATE OF SENTENCE:	3 March 2016  1st revision 15 March 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Moodie-Williamson
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 215

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms G. Overend	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr S. Moglia	Dribbin & Brown

HIS HONOUR:

1Dillon Moodie-Williamson, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of armed robbery.  The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years' imprisonment.

2The circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary read by the prosecutor and tendered as Exhibit A on the plea.  In summary, the facts which found that charge are that on 3 September 2015 at about 7 pm, you entered a service station in suburban Melbourne.  After taking a drink from the fridge, you approached the counter and after another customer left, you pulled a hatchet out of the bag.  In a soft voice you said, "Give me the money."

3A female shop assistant thought initially you were joking, however you kept on demanding the money.  She opened the register, took out the notes and counted them in front of you.  You then walked off with $110.  The police arrived after you had left.  The female shop assistant was very scared and shaken.  There was no force applied or threats made to the shop assistant.

4I do not regard this as a lower end example of this type of offending.  There are a number of factors which support this view.  These include you had an axe in your possession.  The female shop assistant was on her own and could be described as a "soft target".

5The shop assistant was invited by the informant to provide a victim impact statement but has declined to do so.  There is no evidence thus before the court of any ongoing consequences for her arising out of what on any view was a frightening incident. 

6You have no criminal record that is in any way relevant.  There are two minor driving offences which in my view do not bear on the sentencing exercise.  Accordingly, I proposing sentencing on the basis of this being your first offence and court appearance for anything relevant.

7I turn now to some matters personal to you.  You were only 20 years of age at the time of offending and you are still of that age.  You turn 21 next Monday, 7 March 2016.  You are in full-time employment, having completed an apprenticeship as a mechanic.  You are living with a partner who is some years older than you.  She works in a responsible job.

8On the plea, a number of documents were tendered.  Exhibit 1 was an Outline of Submissions.  Exhibit 2 was a report from Pamela Matthews, forensic psychologist dated 29 February 2016.  Exhibit 3 was a reference from your employer Greg Harvey dated 15 February 2016.  Exhibit 4 was a reference from your partner, Marni Purtill dated 25 February 2016.  These documents speak for themselves.  A Sentencing Snapshot was also given to the court and it provides some limited guidance. 

9In my opinion, your prospects of rehabilitation are real.  You have shown remorse from the start and a genuine concern for the impact of your offending on the shop assistant.  The material tendered as Exhibits 1 to 4 confirm those prospects.  Your full-time employment and the family support you have as well as from your partner are positive factors in terms of rehabilitation prospects.  Your surrendering to police within days and freely admitting your offending is also consistent with both remorse and a realistic approach to rehabilitating yourself.

10Your counsel pointed to a number of matters which you are entitled to have taken into your account in mitigation.  Firstly you pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.  You have spared the shop assistant the ordeal of giving evidence.  You have also saved the community time and expense in regards to a trial.

11Your counsel submitted that a Community Correction Order was the appropriate disposition without a period of detention.  The prosecution agreed this was within the range of appropriate dispositions. 

12As well as those matters personal to you which I have referred to, I must also take into account other relevant sentencing considerations.  General and specific deterrence must be given weight in the sentence I impose.  Your relative youth also requires rehabilitation be given appropriate weight.  The community cannot and will not tolerate offending which so seriously compromises our citizens' right to feel safe in their workplace.  The message must be clear and consistent with appropriate punishment in such circumstances.  Your sentence must manifest the community's denunciation of your conduct and impose just punishment.  I must protect the community from any repetition of this type of offending.  I must seek to deter you and others from such offending.  This is without doubt a serious offence.

13I have considered all the circumstances of the offence and of the offender in arriving at the appropriate sentence.  I must not impose a sentence of confinement unless I consider that the purpose or purposes for which the sentence is imposed cannot be achieved by a Community Correction Order with conditions.

14You have been assessed for a Community Correction Order and an assessment outcome report of 3 March 2016 assessed you as being a low risk of reoffending and suitable for a CCO; Exhibit B.

15You are convicted and sentenced to a Community Correction Order for a period of two years with conditions that you perform 200 hours of unpaid community work and that you be supervised.

16Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Act, I declare that but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a sentence of confinement in a Youth Justice Centre for a period of 12 months.  I make the order for the forensic sample that you have consented to.

17MR MOGLIA:  As Your Honour pleases.

18MS OVEREND:  As Your Honour pleases.

19HIS HONOUR:  A few things need to be explained to you, sir, just in terms of those orders.  My associate will read some material to you.  In terms of the forensic sample, I won't require you to provide a blood sample but you have got to provide a sample of your saliva and if you don't comply with that lawful request by a police officer, they can use force so I suggest you do as they tell you to do and there will not be any force required, but they are entitled to use force.  Do you understand that?

20OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

21HIS HONOUR:  And the Community Correction Order that I am in effect offering you that and that your counsel have sought will be read to you and listen to it carefully, and just remember there is - and I speak to you man to man, do not breach it because if you come back, there will be no mercy. 
I stuck my neck out for you - holding up someone with an axe - and if you come back to me, bear in mind what I have said.  You follow?

22OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

23HIS HONOUR:  Yes, Madam Associate.

24ASSOCIATE:  Dillon Moodie-Williamson, this order will last for two years and commences on 3 March 2016 and ends on 2 March 2018.  You must attend at the Moorabbin Community Correctional Services at Moorabbin Justice Centre, 1140 Nepean Highway, Highett, within two clear working days after commencement of this order. 

25The mandatory terms apply to all community corrections orders are:  you must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time that the order is in force.  You must comply with any obligation or requirement required by regulation 17 of the Sentencing Regulations 2011. You must report to and receive visits from the Secretary or delegate. You must report to the community corrections centre within two clear working days of the order starting. You must let a community corrections officer know within two clear working days of you changing your address or job. You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the Secretary or delegate. You must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary or delegate.

26The conditions that apply in addition to the mandatory terms listed are unpaid community work. You must perform 200 hours of unpaid community work over a period of two years as directed by the regional manager. If you fail to comply with this order, the Secretary of the Department of Justice or delegate can give you a direction to perform additional hours of unpaid community work in accordance with s.83AU of the Sentencing Act 1991. Supervision: you must be under the supervision of the community corrections officer for a period of two years.

27MR MOGLIA:  May I approach the dock, Your Honour?

28HIS HONOUR:  Yes, certainly.

29(Community corrections order signed and acknowledged.)

30MR MOGLIA:  If I might put on the record, Your Honour, as I think was indicated early in the plea, the address charged and the address Corrections have on the order is the current full residential address although a lot of time he is spending at the partner's address.  He will arrange to change that address in short compass with Corrections, but it is not the address he used on the arraignment which is why I raised it, Your Honour.

31HIS HONOUR:  Would you need me to do anything about the order?

32MR MOGLIA:  I don't think so.  Nobody's going to take an issue that it's a breach of any kind.  That's his parents' address where he formally resides but is in the process of moving.

33HIS HONOUR:  Well, that's the appropriate address today, is it?

34MR MOGLIA:  Yes.

35HIS HONOUR:  I think that authority was yours.

36MR MOGLIA:  Thank you, Your Honour.

37HIS HONOUR:  Anything else required?

38MR MOGLIA:  Nothing, Your Honour.

39MS OVEREND:  No, Your Honour.

40HIS HONOUR:  It is up to you, sir.  10.30 for us.

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