Director of Public Prosecutions v Nash

[2022] VCC 1011

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-21-00303

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

NATALIE NASH

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE HAMPEL
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	15 March, 25 May, 9 June 2022
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 June 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Nash
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 1011

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:  Sentence – Armed Robbery – Guilty plea – County Koori Court –  Significant history of childhood trauma and substance abuse – Genuine expressions of remorse

Cases Cited:R v Verdins; R v Buckley; R v Vo [2007] VSCA 102; Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37

Sentence:Community correction order for a period of 2 years with judicial monitoring

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms E Fargher	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms M Casey	Law & Advocacy Centre for Women

HER HONOUR:

1Natalie Nash, you pleaded guilty to one charge of armed robbery.  The armed robbery occurred on the evening of 4 July 2020.

2At about 10.45 that night you went to the Irymple Hotel in Mildura with Jon Miles.  You waited outside while Mr Miles went inside and asked if a taxi could be called.  They called a taxi and a short time later it arrived and collected Mr Miles and you.  You sat in the front seat beside Mr Dhaliwal, the driver, and Mr Miles sat in the rear seat.  You told Mr Dhaliwal to drive to Dove Place in Mildura.  You then told him to pull into a car park.

3When he did so Mr Miles reached into his pocket, removed a large knife from his pocket reached around the driver's seat and held the knife at Mr Dhaliwal's throat, holding onto his shoulder with his other hand.  Money was then demanded from Mr Dhaliwal, 'Give me the money, give me the money', one or both of you said.

4You then, it would appear at Mr Miles' direction, leant across and took
Mr Dhaliwal's wallet from him and then got out of the car.  Mr Dhaliwal asked if he could have his licence back.  You took $300 from his wallet and returned the licence to him and then you and Mr Miles ran away.

5It was not a particularly well planned or professional armed robbery.  The whole of it was captured on the CCTV inside the taxi.

6Three days later police arrested you. You initially tried to run away but it did not take long for them to catch up with you. You were taken back to Mildura police station.  After that initial attempt to run away you were cooperative.  You told police that you were present but you said you were a bystander.  You said you saw Mr Miles put a knife to the taxi driver's throat, agreed that you had taken the money, that you had got out of the car and returned Mr Dhaliwal's licence to him.

7You told police that you took the wallet from Mr Dhaliwal because you did not want to put him at risk as Mr Miles had a knife at his throat.  You later told the police where Mr Miles was, and told them what he had said about his intention in relation to the armed robbery. In that way you assisted the police by helping them locate Mr Miles.  He was indeed where you told the police he would be.  They were therefore able to effect an arrest without difficulty and when confronted with evidence including the fact that you had implicated him, he too acknowledged his involvement, pleaded guilty and was sentenced for that and other offences in the County Koori Court.

8It was some time before you entered pleas of guilty because it took some time for you to understand that although you described yourself as a bystander, at law you are equally responsible for the actions of the other. Once that was understood by you, you entered your plea of guilty to this charge, and also applied to have the matter dealt with in the County Koori Court.

9A combination of the difficulty in your understanding that the role of the bystander, as you called it, was in fact one that rendered you criminally liable, and then COVID related delays meant that your plea was ultimately not heard until 15 March of this year in the County Koori Court in Mildura.

10When charged you were remanded in custody. You spent just under three months in custody before being released on bail in September 2020.  You have remained on bail for the whole time since then.  That is a period of about 21 months.

11In his victim impact statement Mr Dhaliwal spoke graphically of the impact of this offence on him.  He said, 'I'm scared and afraid, particularly driving at night time.  I'm no longer able to drive the taxi.  We had to sell our home'. That was  because he was not receiving income and could not afford the payments for the house.  He said his wife now has to work full time, whereas before that they had been able to manage things so she worked fewer hours and could look after the children while he worked full time.  He said he has become very emotional.  He is afraid to be alone.  He is jumpy and still recovering, unable to concentrate and forgets things.  He does not socialise, does not feel like talking and afraid when he is driving, checking the mirrors to make sure everything is safe and he still feels jumpy.  They are very powerful descriptions of the impact of conduct such as this and conduct for which you as well as Mr Miles are responsible.

12Armed robbery in company is a Category 2 offence and the court is required to impose a sentence of imprisonment other than a sentence of imprisonment in addition to a Community Correction Order unless one of the circumstances set out in s5(2H) of the Sentencing Act apply.

13Ms Casey on your behalf, submitted that three of the circumstances set out in s5(2H) applied. Reversing her order, she submitted that there are substantial and compelling circumstances that are exceptional and rare that justify not making an order of imprisonment and the cumulative impact of those substantial and compelling circumstances which are exceptional and rare, justify a departure from the otherwise mandated custodial sentence.

14She also submitted that your impaired mental functioning was causally linked to the commission of the offending and substantially reduced your culpability as well as subjecting you to substantially and materially greater than the ordinary burden or risks of imprisonment.

15And finally, she relied on the fact that you had provided assistance to the police by identifying Mr Miles as your co-offender, telling the police what his motivation was and telling them where he could be found and that resulting in a peaceful arrest the making of admissions by him and his guilty plea.

16Ms Casey submitted that if I was satisfied that you fell within the exceptions to s5(2H) then this was case where a Community Correction Order alone or a combination sentence involving a term of imprisonment no greater than the three months you had spent on remand before release on bail, combined with a community correction order was appropriate.

17Without knowing your history and personal circumstances, looking just at those circumstances of the offending and your extensive criminal record, which dates back to matters that do not actually count as prior convictions because they were heard in the Children's Court more than 10 years ago, but noting that you have got a criminal record going back to when you were only 12 and first faced the Children's Court, and a history of failed attempts at completing community correction orders that had been imposed in the past in the Magistrates' Court, it was a big ask or it appeared to be.

18When added to that, after I had adjourned the plea at the end of the first day's hearing in order to have a full pre-sentence assessment conducted to see whether you would be suitable for a community correction order, either alone or in combination with a term of imprisonment, you failed to respond to any of the attempts to engage you in participation in that assessment.  I had also had you assessed for suitability for a Justice Plan because of your acknowledged intellectual impairments and the fact that you are a recipient of funding under the NDIS, but you were assessed as being not suitable for a Justice Plan, notwithstanding your levels of acknowledged disability.

19The prosecution submitted, both on the original hearing of the plea and after the failed attempts to have you engage with assessment for the extended
pre-sentence report, that the only sentence appropriate in the circumstances was one involving a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period.

20I adjourned the hearing on a second occasion and gave you a second opportunity to participate in an assessment for a community correction order. Whilst I was satisfied that significant attempts and repeated attempts had been made by Corrections to engage you, I was also satisfied that your circumstances, of which I was then well aware, warranted giving you a further opportunity and giving Corrections a further opportunity to see if you would engage. You did engage on that second opportunity, and a favourable assessment was provided after that second assessment.

21I am now, on all of the materials, the great wealth of materials that have been provided to me, the extensive and very helpful submissions provided both by Ms Casey and by Mr Davidson, Ms Fargher's predecessor, that it is an appropriate to release you on a community correction order.  I am telling you that now because I want you to listen to what I say after this.  I also want you to listen, I hope, with an open mind and without that added anxiety that I know already exists in you because of the circumstances you find yourself in, not only today but of your life and what has brought you to this stage.

22Are you all right there?  Do you need some water?

23OFFENDER:  No, I'm fine.

24HER HONOUR:  All right.  You have certainly done a lot better, Ms Nash, since you were released on bail, and a lot better during the adjournments so I take that, 'I'm fine', is actually being a reflection of the progress that you have made and of which you should be rightly proud.

25In deciding that releasing you on a community correction order is the appropriate sentence I rely on three main reasons.  First, your history of trauma and the profound pervasive and enduring effect of it on you, and the weight that must be given to that by the court in sentencing.  Second, something I have already briefly alluded to, your conduct since being released on bail in
July 2020, and third, that favourable second CCO assessment coming after the very unfavourable first assessment and its history of failed attempts to have you engage.

26Dealing with the history of trauma and its enduring effect, for reasons which will become apparent, it is not necessary or appropriate to recount your life history in detail in these sentencing reasons.  It is extensively documented in the reports detailed below which have been provided to me and which have been provided to Corrections.  It is not necessary to put it on the public record in these sentencing reasons.

27You are now 29 and you were 27 at the time of the offending.  That means you are an adult, not a young offender.  You are an Aboriginal woman. Neglect and drug use by your parents has resulted throughout your childhood in extended periods in out of home care.  Your father died when you were two.  Some reports say that he died of a drug overdose, other reports would indicate that he was murdered.  You were too young to have much direct memory but there is clearly an enduring traumatic memory of your history with him.

28Whether you were in out of home care, with your parents before your father's death, or placed with your mother after his death, throughout your childhood you were subjected to appalling abuse and neglect.  Your parents clearly were unable to care for you and to protect you. Culpably and shamefully, when the State intervened, despite at times good efforts by many concerned and committed people, you suffered abuse and neglect that was as bad, if not worse, then you had suffered in the home.  As a result you have a significant history of trauma and neglect and you have been the victim of continuous exploitation and psychological, physical and sexual abuse all your life.  The impact of that childhood trauma endured and carried through into your adult life and has shaped and informed many of the life experiences that you have had since then.

29Not surprisingly, with that history you also have a long history of substance abuse.  It started in childhood and the substances that you have abused have been predominantly alcohol and heroin.  There are consistent reports of you having been on methadone on and off for now 14 years.  That means you would have been only 15 when you were first placed on methadone, which again indicates how young you must have been when you were first exposed to heroin abuse.

30At the age of 29 you now have three children.  At the time of the plea in March they were eight, 18 months and only six weeks old.  That means that the youngest two were born whilst you were out on bail for this. At the time of the assessments that were conducted in the lead-up to the plea on 15 March and, indeed, on the hearing of the plea itself, you were clearly in the very early, what the doctors describe as postpartum stage of new motherhood.

31Your three children do not live with you.  They are in out of home care but you have been assiduous in maintaining contact with them and expressing a commitment and a desire to ensure that their interests are put ahead of yours. It is a sad acknowledgment on your part that you are not yet at a stage where you can care for them independently. Rather than risk them suffering the sort of abuse and neglect that you suffered in childhood, you have made what I accept to be a considerable sacrifice in acknowledging that their best interests are that they are in out of home care and that you abide by, and accept, the controls and restrictions that are placed around you seeing them. That includes, significantly, being unimpaired by substances, which is a significant feature in your progress to achieving sobriety.

32Not surprisingly too, given that history, your own relationships have been marked by substance abuse, violence and instability, and not surprisingly also, having regard to what I have recited already, you have amassed that significant criminal history. It can be seen to be closely related and interlinked to the abuse that you have suffered all your life.

33This offence is a step way out of line with the other offences that have generally  brought you before the courts.  You have never committed or been convicted of an armed robbery before.  You have never been before this court and your offences have been mainly minor dishonesty offences, street offences, driving offences and summary weapons offences.  It is a long and troubled history that provides an insight into the sort of life that you have led.

34An extraordinary number of reports dating back to your childhood were collected by your lawyers, or commissioned especially for this plea and provided to the court.  I received:

- A psychological report from psychologist, Gerald Purchase, dated 7 December 2007.  That is when you were 15 and you had already been under his care for years by then;

- A neuropsychological report prepared by Dr Lindsay Vowels in February 2010.  So when you were only 18.

- Your NDIS plan dated 14 September 2020.  So that is just three months after your release from custody on bail.

- A letter of engagement from Djirra dated 28 September 2020, again just after your release on bail and in relation to the support or engagement that was being offered to you and that you were availing yourself of.

- A letter of engagement from ACSO Restart dated 30 September 2020, again relating to the plans that have been put in place and the progress that you were already making after your release on bail.

- A psychological report from Dr Mirabel McConchie dated 4 June 2021, and

- A neuropsychological  report of Anna McLaren dated 12 November 2021.

35There were also comprehensive but curated and selected extracts from your Department of Justice and Community Safety file and the Department of Families Fairness and Housing file.

36After the plea was adjourned on 15 March further materials were provided:

- A report from Ms Paynting of Sunraysia Community Health dated 14 April this year. 

- An update from Lee Mercieca dated 14 April this year.

- An update in relation to your attempts to engage in TAFE dated 18 April this year.

- An update about your contact with your children from your Child Protection lawyers dated 18 April this year, and then following the unsuccessful attempts to have you assessed for suitability for a CCO and a Justice plan, reports from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing confirming that you were not eligible for a Justice plan, dated 17 March, and

- the pre-sentence report from Corrections dated 10 May.

37I have read all of that material carefully. I read it all or most of it before the plea and I have read all of it at least once since.  I am extracting only small parts but the reports I know are all available to Corrections and remain on the court file for me to access of need be.

38Dr McConchie in her report said this:

'Ms Nash has one of the most unusually severe, pervasive and relentless past history of terrible trauma, abuse and neglect that the writer has encountered. She has never known constant, safe and trusted supports and has difficulty in maintaining any form of stability and planning in her own life.'

'There is no doubt that Ms NASH has suffered severe psychological and physical abuse her entire life. She has experienced trauma and rejection to such an extent that she has no concept of a life without abuse, terrible pain and hardship'.

39You were diagnosed with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder when only
14 or 15 by the psychologist, Mr Purchase, to whom I have referred.  It is really sad reading his report.  He noted that you were highly articulate at that age.  A young person who spoke her mind, and he noted that you often had great power and insight.  He also noted that the ongoing childhood sexual abuse that you had suffered had been a significant contributing factor to that chronic
post-traumatic stress disorder.  For a child of 14 to already be diagnosed with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder again is emblematic of the failures, the serial failures in care, that have accompanied your life.

40By the time Dr Vowels assessed you, you had symptoms of acquired brain impairment, which Dr Vowels considered was probably resulting from substance abuse and overdoses and perhaps from head injuries, along with organic dysexecutive syndrome and depression.  Your memory even then was noted to be so reduced and unreliable that Dr Vowels considered you might have an organic amnesic syndrome at a mild to moderate level.  Your presentation was also suggestive at that stage of ADHD.

41There are limitations to the testing that the neuropsychologist, Ms McLaren, was able to conduct in 2021, but her findings were entirely consistent with the earlier neuropsychological assessment of Dr Vowels and well supported by the tests and assessments and opinions of Dr McConchie.

42Your pre-morbid level of intellectual functioning has been estimated to be borderline to low average.  It is now accepted you have a substance related acquired brain impairment and that this has had a pervasive and untreatable effect on your life including a severe negative impact on your ability to plan and to make adequate and insightful decisions.  It also affects your memory.  It is clear, therefore, why you meet the criteria for support under the NDIS and, as Ms Casey observed in her second submissions, surprising that you were not considered to be eligible for a Justice plan.

43It is also very clear that the principles in Verdins[1] apply significantly to your case.  Your impaired mental functioning clearly reduces your moral culpability.  There is a very clear causal connection between that and the offending.  There is also a very clear connection between the impact on you of this lifelong sustained trauma and the additional hardship and impact that would be likely to flow were you to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment.  This is one of the more severe cases where one can say properly Verdins really applies, rather than just trying to shoehorn somebody into it.

[1]R v Verdins; R v Buckley; R v Vo [2007] VSCA 102.

44This is also a case where what the High Court said in Bugmy[2] has particular and powerful application.  There the court said:

'The experience of growing up in an environment surrounded by alcohol abuse and violence may leave its mark on a person throughout life. Among other things, a background of that kind may compromise the person's capacity to mature and to learn from experience. It is a feature of the person's make-up and remains relevant to the determination of the appropriate sentence, notwithstanding that the person has a long history of offending.'

'Because the effects of profound childhood deprivation do not diminish with the passage of time and repeated offending, it is right to speak of giving "full weight", to an offender's deprived background in every sentencing decision. However, this is not to suggest, as the appellant's submissions were apt to do, that an offender's deprived background has the same (mitigatory) relevance for all of the purposes of punishment. Giving weight to the conflicting purposes of punishment is what makes the exercise of the discretion so difficult. An offender's childhood exposure to extreme violence and alcohol abuse may explain the offender's recourse to violence when frustrated such that the offender's moral culpability for the inability to control that impulse may be substantially reduced.  However, the inability to control the violent response to frustration may increase the importance of protecting the community from the offender'.

[2]Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37 [43]–[44] (citations omitted).

45That then leads to the second main reason why I have come to the view that a CCO is appropriate, and that is your conduct since release on bail and the steps that have been taken that indicate that protection of the community can be served, has been demonstrated so far to be served, and can continue to be served by a non-custodial sentence with you accepting the supports that have been offered to you and that you have engaged with.

46It is remarkable given your history that since released on bail nearly two years ago there has been no further offending.  You have said somewhat diffidently in the course of the sentencing hearing that this was a change,  that in the past you had usually been caught reoffending within two weeks of being sentenced, and you have consistently reported being substance free since bail by consistently engaging drug and alcohol services and taking your methadone properly and under supervision in the appropriate doses.

47You have sought and welcomed the assistance from Djirra and other organisations and you accepted the assistance from NDIS with the plan that has been prepared for you.  One of the major aims, or the major aim of that are to engage with your children and to make sure you are safe and sober so you can, to try and engage in education, to enrol in a TAFE course that I was told about, so when you are better able to navigate life you will have some employable skills and be able to use them, and something to do to keep yourself occupied. As noted by Dr McConchie in her report, you require significantly more support structures in place to improve your life situation and functioning because you have oscillated your entire life between neglect, abuse and chaos to institutionalisation and incarceration, and your opioid addiction has increased your vulnerability. 

48So, carefully structured supports, provided in a way that assist you but do not overwhelm you, are essential. You have shown great courage in embracing that although it has been hard. You have also demonstrated an increased capacity to tell to those who are there to support you when you are feeling overwhelmed and to work with them to find a way of making sure you remain engaged rather than doing what you have done in the past, which was when overwhelmed, disengaging.  So again, that shows a significant change and a greater capacity to reach out for the help and to benefit from the help that has been offered you.

49You pleaded guilty to these charges after, as I said, being brought to understand that although you were not  the initiator at law you were also guilty, and you sought to have this matter dealt with in the County Koori Court.  You participated in a sentencing conversation with Aunties Ada Petersen and Sandra Stewart .  They are elders who are well embedded in the community in which you also live and they were able to speak to you with knowledge of you, your family and circumstances and of the organisations with which you have been engaging, and those where you have tried but which had not worked out.

50They were very clear and very strong in speaking frankly to you about the wrongfulness of your conduct and the shame that you bring on your own people by offending in the way you did, and it was very clear that you took that to heart.  You expressed remorse, sorrow, regret and guilt in speaking to Aunties Ada Petersen and Sandra Stewart about that, and that is consistent with what you have said throughout from the time the police arrested you and to many of the experts who assessed you since.  I take that as genuine expressions of remorse and I take that into account as reinforcing the weight to be given to your
guilty plea.

51You have also pleaded guilty at a time when COVID is still rife in the community, and that means therefore that your plea of guilty gets extra weight because of the burden on the court system of the delays brought about as a result of COVID and the delays in people having their cases coming on for hearing.  It is also a factor in addition to your significant history of trauma to take into account in determining whether imprisonment is an appropriate penalty for you.

52It was very clear in that sentencing conversation, that it was obviously painful for you to have to talk about yourself, your trauma and to open up in front of the people there: people you knew of and respected in the community and people you did not know, your lawyers, the judge and the others present in the court. But it was also very clear that you wanted to engage and you were trying as hard as you could to do so.  It is clear that you want to be a good mother to your children, to provide them with love and to give them a safe life, something very different from what you had.

53You see them regularly and to your credit, as I have said, you accept that they are better in out of home care at the moment because you acknowledge that you are not able to provide them with the safety and security that you so want them to have. You are also aware of the consequences of putting your own desire to have your children with you over their interests and safety, having regard to your background.  That is what I take to be a considerable selflessness that stands in contrast to the thoughtlessness that led you to participate in this armed robbery, and the desire to be a deserving mother to your children is a very powerful factor in your rehabilitation.

54I accept as both prosecution and defence submitted, that your active participation in the sentencing conversation is a mitigatory factor that carries significant weight.  You participated voluntarily, you did not hide behind counsel and you did demonstrate genuine remorse, insight, and not only  an intention to reform but also a demonstrated reformation between the time of release on bail and now.

55You have shown other real signs of a sustained commitment to live a life better than your life before this offence.  Despite the well documented difficulties you experience in executive functioning and the tiredness and lassitude associated with those daily methadone doses, you have been acting as a carer, looking after an elderly man.  You lived in for some time and even though you are now living away with an uncle who is providing you with support, you continue to visit Mr Jensch and look after him daily.  The testimonial he wrote is very moving.

56And this is serious looking after someone.  This is helping him clean his house, it is helping him bathe, feed and attend to the most basic of bodily needs.  You clearly do it with love, gentleness and affection and you have demonstrated a commitment to continue to do it, to put the interests of somebody else ahead of yours.  That is a very, very promising sign, and although you acknowledge that you are not yet ready to go into paid work, to be able to do this and to keep it up shows that you clearly have greater skills and a greater capacity than you have given yourself credit for.  You have been able to show you are able to engage in meaningful work that, as the elders both said, stands you in very good stead as you look after yourself and then move into being able better to look after others. As they said, you understand and acknowledge you must look after yourself first in order to be able to look after others.

57So you are accepting, even welcoming of the interventions to assist you in many aspects of your life.  From the NDIS assistance with your daily living activities, to accepting that your money needs to be managed externally, and in dealing with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing in relation to seeing your children, engaging in drug and alcohol treatment and, difficult for a person with your deep history and many interventions in the past, your commitment to engaging in treatment and therapies to assist you to address some of the impact of that lifelong trauma and to think about managing better and healthier relationships with men in the future.

58The third factor I have referred to is the favourable second CCO assessment.  In that this was said:

'The writer is aware that an extended pre-sentence assessment report dated 10 May has been submitted to the court.  The writer has sighted this report and further collateral information in relation to this assessment.  It is noted that Ms Nash presents with a trauma background where there has been family breakdown, potential unresolved grief and loss issues, she has been the victim of sexual abuse, substance use and there are concerns relating to her mental health and cognitive functioning […] Ms Nash spoke about her drug use (alcohol and heroin) at the time [of the offending] as a significant factor and spending time with procriminal companions. Ms Nash reported she presents with regret over her actions and acknowledged the victim would have felt frightened.  Ms Nash further noted she is not proud of her behaviour and it has been a “wake-up call” for her.  Ms Nash spoke about making prosocial changes as she does not want to find herself in this situation again'.

59I just interpolate there, that is often said in the course of pre-sentence assessments, but given the wealth of material before me this is truly a genuine reflection of your general state, not just of something being said to a Corrections officer in the hope of getting a non-custodial sentence.

60Consistently again with the reports that have been provided to me, you told Corrections that you were living with your uncle in Mildura, that you usually spend time assisting what was described there as an elderly man, that is Mr Jensch, with daily tasks, that you see your children every weekend, that although you are not involved in any formal organised activities you have been engaging in artwork and drawing as you reported during the sentencing conversation.  You maintained to Corrections that since being granted bail you have remained abstinent from substance use, and the longer you remain abstinent the more you recognise the negative impact it has had on you.

61The report concluded, when discussing supports and interventions currently involved and further which could be imposed on the community correction order:

'Ms Nash indicated she tends to feel overwhelmed when there are multiple services involved, which is not uncommon.  The writer also notes that Ms Nash has presented with service involvement for a significant period of her life. Considering this, should a CCO be imposed, CCS will work collaboratively with services already involved with Ms Nash to help mitigate the risk of overservicing her'.

62It concluded:

'Ms Nash has been assessed as a high risk of general reoffending. Notwithstanding her previous history with CCS, she appears to have been able to demonstrate appropriate compliance whilst subject to bail.  The conditions proposed by Your Honour save for the justice plan condition (as outlined above), are respectfully endorsed to support Ms Nash to continue working towards addressing factors underpinning her involvement in offending behaviours.  Considering the information available at the time of the assessment, Ms Nash has been assessed as a suitable candidate'.

63The conditions that I had asked you to be assessed for were treatment and rehabilitation conditions in relation to drugs and alcohol, supervision, mental health assessment and treatment, offending behaviour programs and judicial monitoring. That is a large suite of conditions but they are all, in my view, necessary. I am comforted and heartened by Corrections’ understanding of the need to deal with somebody with such a history of trauma in a way that will work with existing services rather than add additional ones, and am confident they will listen to you when you say you are feeling overwhelmed and work towards a way of better tailoring the services to your needs without overwhelming you.

64So for all of these reasons I am well satisfied you fall within the exceptions in s5(2H) (b) and (e), and that a community correction order is appropriate.

65I cannot impose a CCO on you, Ms Nash, unless you consent, and I propose to impose a CCO for a period of two years with those special conditions that I have indicated and with the usual core conditions.  Do you consent to that order?

66OFFENDER:  Yes.

67HER HONOUR:  All right.  I am now formally going to sentence you.

68Natalie Nash, on the charge of armed robbery to which you pleaded guilty you are convicted.  You are sentenced to be placed on a community correction order for a period of two years, commencing on 23 June 2022 and ending on
22 June 2024.  You must attend at the Mildura Community Correctional Service at 59 Madden Avenue, Mildura, within two clear working days after the commencement of the order.  Today is Thursday.  That means by Monday.  That may well be by telephone rather than personal attendance but it is up to you to make that contact.  It is not up to them to contact you.  Do you understand that?

69OFFENDER:  Yeah.  Yes, I do.

70HER HONOUR:   And will you do that?

71OFFENDER:  Yes.

72HER HONOUR:  Yes.  I am sure your lawyers will continue to assist you to do that.  Now, there are mandatory terms that apply to all CCOs.  They are:  that you must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time that the order is in force, and as you know with your history, almost anything these days carries with it the option of a term of imprisonment, or the prospect.  Given you have gone nearly two years already I do not think this will be as difficult a condition for you now as it might have been in the past.

73You must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed by
Regulation 17 of the sentencing regulations.  That means, Ms Nash, that you must not be impaired by drugs or alcohol when you attend on Corrections or they attend on you for any of these conditions of your CCO, and you must submit to drug or alcohol testing if directed.

74You must report to, and receive visits from the secretary or delegate.  You must let the Community Corrections officer know within two clear working days if you change your address or change your job, or get a job.  You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the secretary or delegate, and that is particularly important for you because you live on the border.  So make sure you remember that, and you must obey all lawful instructions from, and directions of, the secretary or delegate.

75In addition, the special conditions are these:  you must be under the supervision of a Community Corrections officer for a period of two years.  You must undergo assessment and treatment including testing for drug abuse or dependency as directed by the regional manager.  You must undergo assessment and treatment including testing for alcohol abuse or dependency as directed by the regional manager.  You must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment, and that might include psychological, neuropsychological or psychiatric treatment or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager.  So you must participate in programs and courses that address factors relating to the offending as directed by the regional manager.

76So far as judicial monitoring is concerned I am setting the date for judicial monitoring as three months from now.  So you must reappear at court for a review of your compliance with this order as directed by the court, and your first review is on 22 September of this year at 9.30 am at the Melbourne County Court.  You can, of course, attend again from Mildura and we will make arrangements to have you come in by video link.  Do you understand all of those conditions?

77OFFENDER:  Yes.

78HER HONOUR:  Do you have any questions about any of them, Ms Nash?

79OFFENDER:  No.

80HER HONOUR:  And do you consent?

81OFFENDER:  Yes.

82HER HONOUR: All right. I further declare, pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act that if you had not pleaded guilty but you had been found guilty by a jury, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment and it would have been a term of three years with a non-parole period of 18 months¸ but that is not what I am doing.  I am releasing you on a CCO.

83I should also indicate, Ms Nash, that I have referred to the fact that you spent three months on remand.  I have not made this a combination sentence so I do not make any declaration in respect of the three months of pre-sentence detention, but that is still sitting there as part of the background and the history for this.

84I know it is not going to be easy for you to comply with the CCO but I am so impressed with the progress you have made to date and I have confidence that Corrections have got an understanding of your history and circumstances and a real desire to help you succeed, and I hope that they, together with the organisations you are already working with, will be able to help you stay clear of offending and to have that better more fulfilling and offence free life that you so desperately want for yourself and that you have not been able to have to date.

85The purpose of the judicial monitoring is so that you can come back and report to me your progress and Corrections can report your progress.  If you are having difficulty and you and Corrections cannot sort it out between the two of you, rather than saying it is too hard, I want you to reach out the way you have been doing already and ask if you can bring the judicial monitoring forward so that we can have it earlier and sort out if there are problems and see what can be done to sort it out.  I hope you understand now that reaching out and asking for help is actually a good thing and that the help is there.

86OFFENDER:  Yes.

87HER HONOUR:  So I look forward to seeing you in three months’ time, Ms Nash, and look forward to you being able to tell me you have continued to make progress.  There may be some little slip backs, but the important thing is to recover from the slip backs rather than to give up.  If you are showing that you are really making an effort despite the slip backs, you are going to keep on making that progress.

88OFFENDER:  Yeah.

89HER HONOUR:  All right?  So I will sign a copy of this order.  That will be sent to Ms Casey and to your lawyers in Mildura and Corrections will have a copy.  When you do have a face to face meeting they will give you a copy of it but your lawyers will probably get a copy of it to you before then anyway, but do make sure you report within the next two days.'

90OFFENDER:  Yes.

91HER HONOUR:  That is tomorrow or Monday.

92OFFENDER:  Yeah.

93HER HONOUR:  All right.  Any further orders required to be made?

94COUNSEL:  No, Your Honour.

95HER HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you very much, Ms Casey, for the considerable assistance and to you, Ms Fargher, and to Mr Davidson for the considerable assistance I have been provided by the prosecution in this.  We will now adjourn.

96MS CASEY:  As Your Honour pleases.

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