Director of Public Prosecutions v Mostert

[2016] VCC 2082

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-16-01699

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JARED MOSTERT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 December 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Mostert
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 2082

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr. Grant	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr. Lewin

Pages 1 - 1

 

 

HIS HONOUR:  

1Jared Mostert, would you stand please. 

2You have pleaded guilty to a charge of false imprisonment, events taking place on 10 and 11 January 2016.  That carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.  You have also admitted a number of court appearances and prior convictions, the last one being on 17 December 2015, not long before you engaged in this conduct, for an offence which was remarkably similar in its nature to this and similar in the role that you played.

3You were given a relatively lenient sentence, a Community Correction Order, on that occasion by Her Honour Judge Cohen, on the basis of the limited role that you played. 

4It seems to me that you keep very bad company. If you do not sort yourself out in terms of getting to grips with your drug issues and mixing with people who do not get you into this kind of situation, then the real risk is that you will ultimately serve a very substantial term of imprisonment. 

5These are serious offences, and they are frequently visited with quite long terms of imprisonment. It does not seem to me that you are yet, at any rate, a serious hardened criminal, but one who is caught up in the unfortunate habit that has no doubt dogged your life for some time. 

6You are a bit older than some of the other participants in this offending conduct, 27 I think now, and it is about time you started standing up for yourself and making some hard decisions in order to set your life on a better course. 

7I doubt whether a lecture from me at this stage is really going to cut much ice but I hope that you remember some of what I say because this is going to be your last chance. 

8I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as reasonable, but whether they become good will depend very much on the hard work that you are going to have to put in.  There are some good signs and the letter from Bradshaw House suggests that you are willing to address these issues. 

9I should go back a moment, and say that the prosecution case is set out in the summary.  I am going to incorporate the whole of that summary which is Exhibit A into these reasons for sentence. 

10Ordinarily, even relatively minor participation in offending of this kind can be visited with quite substantial terms of imprisonment.  It certainly warrants a term of imprisonment.  You have served 92 days of pre-sentence detention.  Arguably, that is hardly enough to punish you adequately and to express the denunciation of this court. But you are still a relatively young man and I think there is some hope for you, and whilst the need to deter you is present and more importantly, the need to deter others, I think there are better vehicles in this case for general deterrence than you are, Mr Markovic being one of them, and the trial of Fi Nguyen is yet to be had. 

11For those reasons, I am prepared to place considerable weight on the need to rehabilitate you, and I think ultimately if that can be achieved and you can get away from the scourge of ice, the general public will be better protected. I think there is a real chance that you could achieve that if you can stick with this Community Correction Order.  You do not need me to tell you what is involved.  It will be a nuisance.  It will be an inconvenience for you.  You will have to abide by the terms of the order.  If you do not, you will be in breach and be up for three months just for the breach.   If you commit another offence punishable by imprisonment, you will be punished for that, but you will also be brought back and you will be in breach of the order up for three months for a breach plus you can be re-sentenced for this matter, and guess what; there will not be any other option other than to impose a sentence of imprisonment which is more commensurate with the nature of this offence, rather than the opportunity that is being offered to you through this Community Correction Order.  In other words, you will almost certainly have to serve a longer term of imprisonment than 91 days. 

12The future is very much in your hands therefore.  Are you willing to abide by the terms of a Community Correction Order?

13ACCUSED:  Yes, Your Honour.

14HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  Make sure you do this time and if you see the slightest sniff of anybody committing offences of this nature in your presence or anywhere near you or you being sucked into it, just, you know, get the hell out of there because it will land you in serious trouble.  All right.

15In those circumstances  - sorry. 

16MR GRANT:  Sorry, Your Honour, to interrupt you.

17HIS HONOUR:  No, no, no.

18MR GRANT:  I just note a 6AAA also, Your Honour.

19HIS HONOUR:  Yes, no I haven't passed sentence yet.

20MR GRANT:  I'm sorry.  I thought Your Honour had.

21HIS HONOUR:  No.  No.  I am now ready to impose sentence upon you and if you would - I shall find the indictment in a second.

22For the offence of false imprisonment, I convict you and sentence you to imprisonment for a period of 91 days.  I declare 91 days pre-sentence detention as time to be reckoned as served on that sentence and to be deducted administratively from the sentence that you have to serve.  It means that you will be released immediately.  I order that that matter be noted in the records of the court.

23I also order that you be the subject of a Community Correction Order commencing today, for a period of two years and you will be required to be under the supervision of the Department of Community Corrections.  You will be required to participate in rehabilitation programs which address drug abuse and risk factors or matters that reduce your risk of re-offending. 

24You will also be required to perform 250 hours of unpaid community work.  I will permit you to offset 150 hours of those 250 by way of satisfactorily completed hours of rehabilitation treatment, and that will still leave you a hundred hours of ordinary unpaid community work to perform. 

25I will also order that you be the subject of Judicial Monitoring.  We will look for a date of March of next year I think, the 10th of March, so I will require you to return to the court that I am sitting in, which will be in this building, on 10 March at 9.30 am, the 10th of March of next year, and there will be a report on your progress within the Community Correction Order. 

26I would want to see that you had complied with the order, that you had obeyed all lawful directions given to you within that order, that you had made some progress with your unpaid community work and that you had participated fully in the rehabilitation programs as directed. 

27All of those things will determine what happens thereafter, because if I am not satisfied with the progress you have made, then I will be making suggestions as to whether you might be breached on the order, and if you are breached, that will give me the opportunity of imposing a more severe sentence upon you. 

28I do not want to have to do that, so I am hoping that on 10 March of next year that you will be back here and I shall have a good report and I shall be urging you to continue with the progress you have already made. 

29The other thing you can do in the interim period is to get some work and pay your mother back $2000.  All right.  I will be impressed by that, so bear that in mind.  She put up a surety for you so that you would get bail.  It is important that you fix her up on that $2000. 

30I make the Disposal order in the terms of the draft with which I have been provided.   Mr Lewin, would you accompany my associate to your client to ensure that the order is in the terms that I have spoken of, and that he understands what he is signing.

31MR LEWIN:  Yes, Your Honour. 

32HIS HONOUR:  I have signed that order.  The order is now in place and you will be eligible for release today.  No doubt you will have to be processed downstairs.

33MR LEWIN:  Not sure if this is required, Your Honour, but there is still an active trial date if orders are required to vacate that.

34HIS HONOUR:  Do I need to - - -

35MR LEWIN:  No.

36HIS HONOUR:  No?  It has been vacated? 

37MR LEWIN:  If Your Honour please.

38HIS HONOUR:  If it is necessary for me to vacate it, I will do so, but I do not think he will be required to turn up at trial and he will not be on bail any longer.

39MR LEWIN:  If Your Honour please.

40HIS HONOUR:  But for your plea of guilty to this offence, I would have sentenced you to 15 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of nine months. 

41MR GRANT:  If Your Honour pleases. 

42HIS HONOUR:  Adjourn sine die.

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