Director of Public Prosecutions v Newport

[2015] VCC 568

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

AT SHEPPARTON
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-00252

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BRADLEY PETER NEWPORT

---

JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN
WHERE HELD:	Shepparton
DATE OF HEARING:	5 May 2015
DATE OF SENTENCE:	5 May 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Newport
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 568

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---

Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

---

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Moore	O.P.P.
For the Accused	Ms D. Price	Greg Duncan

HIS HONOUR:

1Bradley Peter Newport, you have pleaded guilty to one count of armed robbery, contrary to s.75A(1) of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for that offence is 25 years' imprisonment.

2You pleaded guilty at committal mention in February 2015 and I have taken your early plea into account in your favour in mitigation of sentence.

3A prosecution opening was read to the court and tendered in evidence and your offending may be summarised as follows. 

4On 7 November 2014 you attended a premises situated at 22 Kitchener Crescent, Seymour.  Your purpose by that attendance was to recover a debt owed to you in all probability from drug offending and use.  The victim was present at the premises at the time of your arrival.  Following your arrival, a dispute took place between you and him over a debt, during which time you firstly armed yourself with a carving knife.  You were then disarmed by other occupants of the premises and then rearmed yourself with a vacuum cleaner pole.  During the course of a struggle, you struck the victim with the vacuum cleaner pole.  His telephone fell from his clothing and you appropriated it.  It is this conduct relied upon by the prosecution in support of the count of armed robbery.  Your assault upon the victim continued and you also took from him his car keys.  Ultimately the offending ceased and the incident was reported to police. 

5You were arrested in the early hours of the morning of 8 November 2014 and during questioning by police you made admissions to a number of the questions put to you including admitting assaulting the victim and stealing his property.  Thereafter you were charged and remanded in custody where you have remained.

6Offending of this nature is prevalent in our community and the sentence that I impose must be calculated to deter you and others from offending in this way.  You must also be punished for what you have done.  The victim involved in this offending has not provided a victim impact statement to the court. 

7I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You were born on 16 May 1987 and you are now aged 27 years.  You have admitted an extensive criminal history.  You have numerous court appearances for a range of offences and a number of dispositions imposed by courts to facilitate your rehabilitation have so far been unsuccessful. 

8Your childhood and developmental years were severely disrupted for a number of reasons, essentially as a result of your family's transient and itinerant lifestyle.  You have had little or no contact with your father and you are one of five children that your mother has had.  You left school in Year 7 and plainly your educational development has also been severely disrupted. 

9I have received in evidence a psychological report of Dr Matthew Barth, a consulting and forensic psychologist, detailing your background and psychological profile.  You suffer from bipolar disorder and are currently medicated for that condition with Seroquel.  Dr Barth has also diagnosed you with antisocial personality disorder and furthermore you have suffered from polysubstance abuse disorder since the age of 13. 

10I accept that you require intensive and ongoing psychological treatment and support and any assessment of your prospects for rehabilitation must be guarded. 

11In my opinion, the current corrections regime available to Corrections Victoria is not appropriately resourced to deal with a person of your complex psychological profile.  Furthermore, it is clear that you have little or no community support.  Your relationship with your mother is at best tenuous and as I have already observed, you have had little or no support from your father.  In my opinion, your prospects for rehabilitation and the ultimate protection of the community will be best served by you undertaking programs in prison and following your release on parole, receiving intensive and appropriate psychiatric treatment and support. 

12Furthermore, in my opinion, if these services are not delivered to you, there is a real risk of your offending escalating.

13Nevertheless, you are still a relatively young man and it is clear that you have struggled with a number of very difficult personal issues since you were a child.  Whilst, as I have already observed, your criminal history is an extensive one, you have yet to have committed offences that may properly be described as more serious in nature.  Your offending on this occasion falls at the lower end of seriousness for offences of armed robbery. 

14In the result, the sentence of the court is as follows. 

15On the charge of armed robbery, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for two years and six months. 

16I order that you serve 12 months' imprisonment before becoming eligible for release upon parole.

17I declare that you have served 177 days by way of pre-sentence detention, not including today. 

18But for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a total effective term of imprisonment of four years and imposed a non-parole period of two years. 

19MR MOORE:  If Your Honour pleases.

20HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  Mr Newport, that means that you will be eligible for release on parole in approximately six months.  It is essential that you undertake now whilst you are undergoing sentence the various courses and so on that will be available to you in prison and obviously you are going to require ongoing support on parole. 

‑ ‑ ‑