Director of Public Prosecutions v Munson

[2023] VCC 848

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

  Revised

                   Not Restricted

      Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 22-01674

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SYMON MUNSON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MOGLIA
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	25 September 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 September 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Munson
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 848

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:Criminal Law – Sentence – guilty plea.

Catchwords:              Sentencing – false imprisonment – not insignificant role – parity with co-offenders – serious history of drug use – reasonable prospects of rehabilitation – custody made more difficult by COVID – utilitarian value of plea in the aftermath of COVID – general deterrence.

Legislation Cited:      Crimes Act 1958 (Vic); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)

Cases Cited:Brown (aka Davis) v The Queen [2020] VSCA 60; Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169.

Sentence:Total effective sentence: 169 days imprisonment reckoned as a period already served combined with community corrections order of  12 months with programs; 6AAA: 10 months imprisonment and community corrections order.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	G. Hayward	M.  Robinson Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	D. Sala	Galbally Parker

HIS HONOUR:

1Symon Munson, you have pleaded guilty to false imprisonment occurring on 20 June 2021.

Summary of offending

2The agreed basis for your guilty pleas is set out in the summary of prosecution opening dated 12 September 2023.

3In summary, during June 2021, acquaintances of yours were involved in an attempt to buy $2,000 worth of methamphetamine.  A dispute arose between them about whether one of them, Mr Mavroudis-Rigbye, had stolen the money rather than use it to buy the drugs.

4Consequently, on 20 June 2021, Mr Rigbye was detained by a group, led by Tod Angwin, in the garden shed in the back yard of his home in Raquel Close, Carrum Downs.

5On that day, your first involvement in helping to detain Mr Rigbye was when you were at Mr Angwin's house at about 1.00am and you moved things into and out of the shed, preparing it for detaining Mr Rigbye.

6By 2.15am you were standing by the shed door as others came and went. Your role seemed to have been as a guard. At about 5.20am you locked the shed with a chain – an obvious sign that you were knowingly involved in detaining someone. Within 5 minutes, you unlocked it and took a beanbag into the shed.

7Later that day, at a little after 2.00pm, you were again at the door of the shed, including while Mr Rigbye left and you directed him to the house from where he returned only a couple of minutes later. You remain involved in like ways until about 9.40 pm that night, when you come out of the shed handing a long arm to Mr Criggie, one of the other offenders, just before Mr Rigbye quickly left the shed and ran off. While you ran after him with Mr Criggie, it is not suggested that you had the gun or handed it to him with any purpose that he should use it (Charge 1, false imprisonment).

8It was not alleged that you were complicit in causing any injury to Mr Rigbye, although he was injured by others.

9A couple of weeks later, 6 July 2021, you were home when police attended and arrested you. They interviewed you and you answered their questions. You did not admit to the details of your conduct that I have just set out, rather you minimised your conduct. You denied going into the shed – a clear lie. However, after a break in the interview, you admitted more, including that Mr Rigbye was shot. You gave thereafter a fairly reasonable account.

10There is no victim impact statement from Mr Rigbye.  Nevertheless, I have had regard to the obvious fear and anxiety that he would have experienced arising from your conduct in the context of what others were doing while detaining him in the circumstances I have set out.

Procedural history

11After your arrest and interview, you were remanded in custody.

12You were released on bail on 22 December 2021. This means that you have 169 days – approximately 5 ½ months – pre-sentence detention on this case.

13This was your first time in custody, and I accept that it was an eye-opener for you.

14You pleaded guilty in this court today, having been told of the prosecution position that they did not seek your further remand. Whilst there has not been a trial date set down, your plea has not been an early one. This affects my assessment of your remorse. In any case, your plea has assisted in reducing the backlog of trials in this Court due to the pandemic.

15Your plea shows that you accept responsibility for what you did and that you are willing to facilitate the course of justice.  It benefits the community by avoiding the cost and inconvenience of a trial, including the need for witnesses such as Mr Rigbye to give evidence again, at least on your part. Your sentence will be more lenient because of this.

Personal circumstances

16You were born and raised in and around Melbourne and enjoyed a generally positive early life. You were active in sport during those years and helped on the farm.

17You reported being bullied in school and depressive symptoms as a teenager. You started drinking at about 18 years of age and this became problematic over time, including for your relationships.  You started using amphetamines then in your late 20s, which added to this problem.

18In fact, in 2020 you report admitting yourself to the Frankston hospital psychiatric ward and also at another time you were hospitalised for detoxification. Your drug use, particularly methamphetamine, by this time had become an entrenched problem for you. Over time this has involved you being suicidal, having hallucinations and being paranoid. The fact that you sought help in those years, voluntarily, is however a good sign.

19This offending in June 2021 is an apt reflection of just how far you had sunk.

20Since then, in custody, you reported that you have remained drug free and that since your release in December 2021, but for smoking cannabis once, you have continued in the same way.

21You have no criminal history and have not offended since this incident. I do not propose to sentence you with any real focus on specific deterrence or community protection.

22Psychologist Rhiannon Weber provided a report dated 19 September 2023 (Exhibit 1). She stated that you attended her for counselling over about 6 months in 2022 and again for a session recently. Her opinion is that you were depressed but have engaged in treatment intelligently, with discipline and that you are motivated to change.

23Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Dr Simon Kennedy provided a report dated 29 August 2023 (Exhibit 2). In it he described you as having engaged openly with assessment and demonstrated some insight into your substance abuse and offending. He states you have a persistent depressive disorder, probably arising in your teens and an addiction-based disorder, now in remission. He stated that your drug use was directly related to your offending and that you will require treatment over the next 2-3 years to completely recover. To date, he states your response seems to be appropriate and I accept that.

24Your time in remand fell in the middle of the COVID pandemic.  Prison life at that time was full of restrictions, including for contact visits, so I find that it was more difficult for you than it should have been. 

25People who know you well have written character references about you (Exhibit 3). Shirley Siggins wrote of your strong desire to be a better person; your Aunty Karen Soall wrote of your good will in assisting your brother recover from a stroke; your friend Kristy Mathews wrote of you being someone she trusted with her home when she had to be away; and your parents Emily and Gregory wrote of your downward spiral at the time of the offending and since then of your shame, your hard work in counselling and your efforts to make good.

Sentencing issues

26The maximum penalty for false imprisonment of a person is 10 years' imprisonment.

27Detaining someone in a garden shed with a group of people standing over them, one of whom at least had a firearm, is cruel and literally uncivilised.  You were present when others wielded the firearm, indeed you held it and passed it to another during the incident. All this is the conduct of people who have forgotten something fundamental about our community – that people should be treated with dignity, even those who have wronged us. 

28The maximum penalty I have just outlined is just one indicator of how far beneath the minimum standard of conduct that your conduct with the others fell on that night.  It was shameful.

29Your role was not as high as that of Mr Angwin, but it is higher than Ms Russell and Ms Snowden as far as the false imprisonment goes.  This puts your part in the offending into perspective but I must say your role was not insubstantial.

30In order to deter others from engaging in similar conduct and to punish you appropriately, I will impose a term of imprisonment as well as making other orders for your ongoing supervision.

31I have had regard to your time in custody in 2021 during COVID and the burdens it placed on you.  I will moderate your sentence accordingly.[1]

[1]Brown (aka Davis) v The Queen [2020] VSCA 60, [48].

32Your counsel, Mr Sala, accepted that, in all the circumstances, a term of imprisonment combined with a community correction order would satisfy all of the sentencing requirements.  The prosecutor conceded that this would be appropriate and having considered all of the things that were submitted, I agree.

33I note the efforts you made on the CISP program during the first 6 months of last year after you were bailed, and I accept that you have honoured the trust that the Magistrate expressed in you when giving you bail.

34I have also considered how parity with the other offenders should influence your sentence. I have come to the view that your offending is more serious than that of Ms Russell and Ms Snowden and similar to that of Ms Nicholls, who also handled a firearm during the time. Like others, your drug use played a role and you have a need for ongoing treatment not only for your own recovery but also to provide the community with the best protection that can be ensured by your rehabilitation.

35I have requested and received an assessment of Corrections Victoria (Exhibit A) which recommends that you are suitable for such an order. 

36On the charge of false imprisonment, I sentence you to 169 days imprisonment, combined with a community correction order.

37That CCO is with conviction and will last for 12 months.  The conditions over and above the mandatory ones are that you:

(a)Undergo supervision

(b)Engage in any recommended treatment for drug abuse, including testing;

(c)Engage in any treatment for your mental health;

(d)Engage in any programs that are recommended.

38As to the imprisonment term, I declare that you have already served the 169 days, and I direct that it be reckoned as a period already served under this sentence.

39In accordance with section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, but for your guilty plea, I would have imposed 10 months and a community corrections order.

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