Director of Public Prosecutions v Newey

[2016] VCC 788

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 16-00675

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TRAVIS NEWEY

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE GUCCIARDO
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	25 May 2016
DATE OF SENTENCE:	10 June 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Newey
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 788

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr M. Perry	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms Z. Garde-Wilson	Garde-Wilson Lawyers

Pages 1 - 8

 

 

HIS HONOUR: 

1Travis Newey, you pleaded guilty to trafficking in a drug of dependence between 16 January 2014 and 30 January 2014, as well as one charge of handling stolen goods, one charge of storing a firearm in an insecure manner whilst unlicensed, and one charge of possessing a drug of dependence.  You also pleaded to two related summary offences of dealing with proceeds of crime and possession of ammunition.

2For the proposes of the plea, a summary of the prosecution was tendered, and it will remain on the court file as exhibited.  For purposes of the sentence, it will suffice to recite the essential factual circumstances, which are detailed in the summary.

3You are said to lie in the middle level of offending with respect to drug trafficking, and mid-to-high level with respect to criminality related to possession and handling property described as being proceeds of crime or stolen, including firearms.  This combination elevates you into the level of criminality in which your associates, Vincent, Rose and Miller have been dealt with, and below other associates such as Lam and Fogarty.

4The property with which these charges are concerned are a great number of items found and seized upon your property at Winton just outside Benalla.  That property contains a house and a large shed.  The premises had an extensive security system with external cameras, and it was the subject of photographs I have seen as an exhibit to the plea.  The photos show internal monitors within the house and the shed.

5There, you stored stolen property, which included unsecured firearms and ammunition.  There, you met associates, received stolen goods; arranged for their exchange for drugs; and there you trafficked and used ice.  You maintained several phone services, and the prosecution estimates the value of this property to be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

6Having had a look at the photographs, in my view that estimate is appropriate, particularly when one considers the type of items involved.

7In terms of the specifics of your trafficking, as is the case with others of your co-accused, it is difficult to quantify both value and quantity of your involvement.

8What can be said, in the relevant period, is that you discussed with Fogarty, a principal offender in this enterprise, a previous drug purchase, where you travelled between Melbourne and Wangaratta to transact with Lam, a transaction to which you had contributed some $7,000 out of an $11,000 purchase of ice; and that, further, you talked about an up and coming purchase, wherein you again were the main contributor.  Those contributions, of course, are out of the mouth of co-accuseds.

9Fogarty, on 17 January, advised you of a delivery from her supplier to her and asked how much was required by you.  Later, she confirmed an arrangement to have a quantity delivered to your premises.  Further discussions took place which focused on how she would traffic drugs to enable her to supply you with an ounce of ice.  A couple of days later, she made arrangements with you to meet you on the highway to collect money to contribute towards a purchase.

10Later in January, discussion about a hire vehicle reveals that the hire vehicle leased in her name for purposes of drug movements was paid for by you on your credit card.

11On 28 July, Fogarty can be heard discussing a $3,000 payment from you for a shipment of drugs, and later can be heard requiring you to deliver $5,000 to assist with the purchase.  And later in that year, Fogarty discusses your failure to contribute towards some purchases, providing you with a motorcycle worth some $6,000, and mentions other instances of supplying.

12It is unclear whether these are transactions within the charged period, and in my view do not aggravate or constitute part of the offence circumstances, but are led to provide background and context to your course of conduct and involvement.

13In late August 2014, police executed a search warrant at your property and located a significant amount of stolen property, and property believed to be proceeds of crime, as well as firearms and property identified as the proceeds of a large number of burglaries and thefts on residential and commercial premises.  Surveillance-type footage obtained at your premises show you handling various of these items.  The summary outlines a number of burglaries from which these items have come, with various significant items and values involved.

14Investigators seized five unsecured firearms throughout the property.  You were not licensed or held a permit under the Firearms Act.  A quantity of ammunition was also found.  Images located in relation to only a few days before the search, show you handling these firearms.  These firearms were used at times as a medium of exchange for the purchase of drugs.

15Further paraphernalia located at your premises included drug packaging equipment; digital scales; money counter; mobile phones; computers; drug cutting material and drug ledgers.  The indictment contains a schedule to the charge of handling, which demonstrates the calibre and nature of the goods involved.

16I have said it before and I repeat, trafficking in drugs is an evil and socially damaging trade.  It creates human misery and costs our society an enormous price by way of health costs, law enforcement, destruction of social structures, the erosion of family and human relations.  It creates a wave of consequential crime and a generation of young people are rendered numb and lost in the midst of our community.  These are but a few of the effects.

17In an area like a regional centre, this effect is even more pronounced.  The community rightly looks to the court to denounce such disregard and lawlessness to deter others by the imposition of sentences that reflect just punishment.

18The handling of stolen goods or proceeds of crime, particularly when connected to the trafficking of drugs equally is at the core of criminality, which impacts not only on the convenience of victims, but on the security and safety of homes; on the value of property by way of insurance; on the sentimental and practical value of items, creating a trade and a market which feeds on more crime and more disruption.  When it is of this scale and of this organisation, in my view it is serious offending.

19I take into account your plea of guilty.  It will attract a discount on your sentence by operation of law.  I accept it was given comparatively early.  You waived the committal hearing, and I will take into account your acceptance of responsibility for this conduct demonstrated by the plea, as well as its utilitarian value, which was saved the community costs and inconvenience of a criminal trial.

20I take your personal history and circumstances into account.  You were 29 at the time of your offences; you are now some 30 years old.  Your father is a retired truck-driver.  Your eldest brother lives in Western Australia.  You have a younger brother and a sister who is a DHS disability support worker.  You live at the family property in Winton.

21You were schooled to year ten, and thereafter you have had a solid and creditable work history, from furniture remover to machine operator, to maintenance technician, to working with livestock and concreting.

22In 2010-11 you travelled to Western Australia to seek employment and you found work in concrete business until February 2013, when you commenced your own concreting and earthworks business with your brother.  However, I was told that in 2013 you returned home to visit the family.  You then caught up with some old friends who had by then become involved in drug use, and you did not return to Western Australia and your own business.

23It is paradoxical that the effect of the presence of drugs in and around the region led to your addiction and the abandonment of your part of a promising business venture, and a positive work history and life in the community.  No one better than you would realise the destructive effect of ice on people's lives.  And yet, this is what led you to involvement as described.

24You have a prior criminal history beginning in 2004, when you were placed on a community-based order for a number of offences including criminal damage; reckless conduct endangering serious injury; a number of counts of discharging a missile to cause damage or injury; theft; and unlawfully being on the premises.

25In April of 2005 you were fined for recklessly cause injury.  In October of 2005, a suspended sentence was imposed both for offences arising out of incidents at pubs.  In 2014 in July, you were dealt with for handling stolen goods, and you were convicted with a 2,500 donation to the Seymour Primary School.

26These offences are relevant, particularly the last, even though it is an antecedent and not a prior.  But you have not experienced incarceration before, and they do raise a concern for your prospects of rehabilitation.

27You have spent 77 days on remand from August to October 2015.  During your period on bail, you were required to attend upon Gateway Health in relation to drug treatment and counselling, but after one appointment you were exited from the program, as you had been clear for over two months and drugs were apparently no longer an issue.

28You had been on a curfew whilst on bail, and in February of 2016 your father suffered a series of severe strokes and was hospitalised, being only discharged recently in May of 2016.  You have taken over the day to day operations of the farm, carting hay, dealing with cattle, fixing fences and monitoring the farm as a going concern.  The letters from your mother in April and May confirm her reliance and dependence on you for the proper operation of the farm, and I take those matters into account.

29Apart from the farm work, you have lived in the family home and have helped with two grandchildren who live there, and expressed remorse for your conduct.  The update confirms that you are also sharing the responsibility for your father's care and rehabilitation, which is also to your credit.

30I accept that there has been some delay in the disposition of this matter.  In a long and difficult investigation such time is not inordinate, and the main part of the delay occurred between the arrest and the charge being issued, and in part that was due to the fact that the authorities could not apparently find you in that period of time.

31In any event, the general aspect of delay is made relevant by your progress in the time that has passed, which has been positive in the prospects of rehabilitation, which in my view are reasonably good.

32However, the involvement in trafficking and in particular the handling offences is of a scale and gravity which in my view cannot be dealt with otherwise than by a term of imprisonment.  In my view, your conduct and time on remand is insufficient and undervalues the seriousness of the offending for the sake of convenience.

33I take into account the principle of parity across the spectrum of offenders and offending I have dealt with, which belong to a particular level of involvement, and endeavouring to synthesise each of the particular aspects pertaining to the circumstances of the offending, in your particular circumstances, a period of imprisonment is warranted, even if then combined with a community corrections order, which I will order pursuant to the suitability assessment conducted.  Would you please stand, Mr Newey.

34On the count of trafficking, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

35On the charge of handling, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

36For the possession at Count 4, you are convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment.

37On the failure to securely store firearms, you are convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

38On the possession of ammunition, you are fined $300.

39On dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

40I order that one month on Charge 1 be cumulative on Charge 2, making a total effective sentence of 13 months' imprisonment.  I declare 77 days as pre-sentence detention.

41Upon your release, you will be released upon a community corrections order for 12 months.  You will perform 200 hours of community work.  You will be assessed and treated for drugs.  You will be directed to programs concerning reoffending, and you will be under supervision of the Correctional authorities.

42But for your plea, I would have sentenced you to 24 months' imprisonment, with a 14 month non-parole period.

43Were there any other ancillary orders such as disposal or forfeiture orders in relation to Mr Newey?

44MR PERRY:  From memory, Your Honour, there was a 464 application regarding DNA and an application for forfeiture of property taken, and disposal.

45HIS HONOUR:  Just pardon me for a moment, I think there are some documents.  Yes, there is a disposal order, which I will sign.

46MR PERRY:  Thank you, Your Honour.

47HIS HONOUR:  And there are forfeiture orders which I also sign.

48MR PERRY:  Thank you.

49HIS HONOUR:  Yes, Mr Perry?

50MR PERRY:  I take it Your Honour has also received a copy of the s.464.

51HIS HONOUR:  I am signing it now.

52MR PERRY:  Thank you, Your Honour.

53HIS HONOUR:  The fine, yes.  I will order a stay of three months.  I have signed the disposal of forfeiture order.

54Mr Newey, a request will be made of you at some point for the taking of a scraping from the mouth to place your DNA on a database.  If you refuse at that time, then an authorised police officer can use reasonable force to take a blood sample from you.  Do you understand?  Are there any other orders?

55COUNSEL:  No, Your Honour.

56HIS HONOUR:  I will stay on the Bench while the community corrections order material is printed.  Take a seat, Mr Newey.  I will stand down.

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