Director of Public Prosecutions v NG

[2018] VCC 1868

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 18-01315

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ANDREW NG

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE GRANT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	6 November 2018
DATE OF SENTENCE:	7 November 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v NG
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 1868

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms C. Jago	OPP
For the Accused	Mr J. Vlahos

Pages 1 - 8

 

 

HIS HONOUR: 

1Andrew NG, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception, one charge of handle stolen goods, one charge of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception, and 11 charges of making false documents.

2The maximum penalties for these offences are as follows:  obtain financial advantage by deception, ten years' imprisonment; handle stolen goods, 15 years' imprisonment; attempt to obtain financial advantage by deception, five years' imprisonment; make false document, ten years' imprisonment.

3It is my task as the sentencing judge to impose upon you an appropriate and just sentence after taking into account both the circumstances of the offending and the circumstances personal to you.

4The circumstances of your offending are comprehensively set out in the document entitled "Summary of prosecution opening for plea purposes", which the prosecutor read in open court.  That document will be annexed to these sentencing remarks.

5I make the following points about your offending.  In 20 April 2016, the victim William Glenn's car was broken into, and his wallet containing his driver's licence, Commonwealth bank debit card, Credit Union Visa card, and other personal cards were stolen.

6On 26 April 2016 you made a credit card application with HSBC, in which you falsely represented that you were William Glenn, and you used false documents, namely payslips and a Commonwealth bank statement to support that representation.  You obtained a $15,000 credit facility.  You overdrew the account with an ultimate debt of $16,294.68.

7On 18 October 2017 you applied for a credit facility in the amount of $5,000 with the Bank of Melbourne.  You again falsely represented yourself as William Glenn, and used false documents to support that application.  Over two days in late October you overdrew that account to an ultimate debt of $5,376.31.

8The transactions included veterinary expenses for your dog, cash advances, and expenditure at Coles and Bunnings.

9When the police executed a search warrant at your home on 24 January 2018 they located a Motorola radio that had been stolen from William Glenn's car on 20 April 2016, and a VicRoads learner permit in the name of Jason Yeong that displayed your photograph, and two financial institution cards in Yeong's name.  You had used the permit to dishonestly apply for a credit facility at Net Plus.

10The police also seized an NGA USB stick containing numerous false documents.  You had created these documents between 16 September 2016 and 24 January 2018 with the intention that they be used by you or another person to induce a third person to act upon the documents to their prejudice.

11I do not intend to go through all the documents relevant to Charges 5 to 15.  It is sufficient to note that they relate to false tax assessment notices of assessment; false documents purporting to bear the stamp of a justice of the peace; false payslips; false banking documents; and other false miscellaneous documents.  Ten of the 11 charges are rolled up charges including more than one document.

12This is not low-level offending.  You were in the business of producing and using false documents for reward or for your own benefit.  Your counsel told me that you did this to fund your drug addiction. 

13Charges 1 and 2 show the sophisticated nature of your offending.  In those two charges the benefits, over $20,000 worth, accrued to you. 

14Charges 5 and 8 relate to documents that were provided to two particular people, namely Carl Hobbs and Brianka Castle, to use for their own benefit.  Whilst it is not suggested that you understood exactly what the documents would be used for, you knew that they would be used for an improper purpose.

15In addition, Charges 1 and 4 were offences committed whilst you were on a community corrections order.  This is an aggravating feature for those two offences.

16Finally, your offending is not confined to a small period of time.  It extends over a period of 18 months or so. 

17In this case, general deterrence, denunciation and just punishment are all relevant sentencing considerations.

18You have relevant prior convictions.  On 13 December 2013 you appeared at the Sunshine Magistrates' Court for charges of attempt to obtain property by deception, theft, and make a false document to prejudice another.  You were convicted and released on a 12 month work only community corrections order.

19On 5 December 2014 you appeared at the Geelong Magistrates' Court for offences that included attempted burglary, possess drugs, and go equipped to steal.  You were convicted and placed on a 24 month CCO with a raft of conditions designed to assist your rehabilitation.  You were also dealt with for breaching the earlier CCO, with that order being varied to a 24 month order.

20On 30 June 2015 you appeared at the Geelong Magistrates' Court for charges that included serious drug offences and multiple dishonesty offences.  On the majority of the offences you were sentenced to a total aggregate term of eight months' imprisonment with pre-sentence detention declared of 171 days.  You were convicted on the remainder of the offences and released on a 12 month community corrections order with conditions that were designed, again, to facilitate your rehabilitation.  The corrections order was to commence on 10 September 2015.  You were also fined $1,000 for breaching the order that was made on 5 December 2014.

21Finally, on 8 December 2015 you appeared at the Geelong Magistrates' Court for dishonesty and drug offences, and placed on a community corrections order for 12 months.

22Your prior history means that specific deterrence is a relevant sentencing consideration.  It also explains why I have some reservations about your prospects for rehabilitation.  I will come back to this issue later in these remarks.

23I now move to those matters relating to your background and those matters in mitigation.

24You are 29 years old.  You come from a good family.  You are well-educated, and up until 2012 you had a history of steady and responsible employment.  You told Ms Ferrari, a consultant psychologist who assessed you on 24 October 2018 that whilst you dabbled in recreational drug use in your early 20s, there were no addiction issues.

25A major turning point in your life occurred on Easter 2012, when your girlfriend committed suicide whilst on a teaching placement in the Northern Territory.  The relationship had commenced in 2008, and although your partner was living away from you at the time you had planned to reunite and travel together after she had completed her placement.  Understandably you were significantly affected by this event, with Ms Ferrari opining that you developed post-traumatic stress symptoms and grief as a consequence.

26You told Ms Ferrari that some friends introduced you to the use of the drug ice as a way of addressing your grief.  Your life spiralled out of control thereafter, as you became addicted to that drug.  Within a relatively short time you had lost your job, you had spent your savings, and your relationship with your family was at breaking point.

27Your counsel told me that by mid-2013 you were committing criminal offences to support your serious drug addiction, an addiction that has blighted your life ever since.

28You are currently in custody undergoing a sentence imposed in the Geelong Magistrates' Court on 16 April 2018.  On that day you were sentenced for a large number of dishonesty matters that were committed in late 2016 and early 2017.  The offences are similar in nature to those that are before me.  You were sentenced by the magistrate to a total effective sentence of 18 months' imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 months before being eligible for release on parole.  The magistrate declared 42 days' pre-sentence detention, covering the period 7 March 2018 to 17 April 2018.

29Although this matter is not a prior conviction, it is relevant to my sentence because of the operation of the principle of totality.  In sentencing you, I am required to consider the total sentence that would have been imposed had all of the offences fallen for consideration on the same occasion.  I must ensure that the total sentence I impose is just and appropriate for all of your offending.

30You have entered an early plea of guilty.  Your plea is an acceptance of responsibility and has saved the victims from the trauma of giving evidence.  It has also saved the cost and expense associated with a criminal trial.  You will be given credit for all these matters.

31As I have already said, I have reservations about your prospects of rehabilitation.  I accept that you are an intelligent man.  Up until the death of your girlfriend in 2012 you had a very good work history.  Your girlfriend's death precipitated your descent into drug abuse and criminal offending.  If you were able to address your drug problem and remain drug-free, there is every reason to believe that you could again become a law-abiding, hardworking citizen.

32However, the truth is that over the past few years, you found it incredibly difficult to stop abusing a drug that is highly addictive.  In 2015 you served a sentence of imprisonment.  If anything was to cause you to pause and reflect on your future, that sentence should have done so.  The fact that it did not indicates the potent nature of the addictive qualities of the drug ice.

33When you were released from prison you had the support of Community Corrections.  Notwithstanding that support, you relapsed into drug usage.  I was told that this occurred after you had been advised that a friend had suddenly died.  With respect, the excuse is not persuasive; the fact that you relapsed is.  You must have had some understanding of what the consequences of relapse would be.

34One can only hope that you now have the good sense and the strength of character to successfully follow through on your states intention to remain drug-free upon your release from prison.  Only time will tell.  One positive indicator is the productive way that you have used your time in custody.

35I intend, as far as Charges 1, 2 and 4 are concerned, and Charges 5 to 15 are concerned, to impose separate aggregate sentences.  I do so because the respective offences form part of a series of offences of a similar character, and it is therefore sensible in these circumstances to make such orders.  This does not mean that your sentence is different to what it would have been if you were sentenced individually for each offence; whichever way the sentence is constructed the result would be the same. 

36Will you please stand?

37On Charges 1, 2 and 4 you are convicted and sentenced to an aggregate 15 months' imprisonment.  This is the base sentence.

38On Charge 3, convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

39On Charges 5 to 15, convicted and sentenced to an aggregate term of 15 months' imprisonment.

40I order three months of the sentence on Charge 3 and six months of the sentence on Charges 5 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed on Charges 1, 2 and 4.  This makes a total effective sentence of two years.

41I direct that 15 months of this sentence be served cumulatively upon the sentence that you are currently serving.  This makes for a total effective sentence across both matters of two years and nine months.

42I fix a minimum non-parole period of 18 months commencing from today's date.

43I declare that the period of 287 days, being 245 days already served on the Magistrates' Court sentence, and the 42 days on remand for the current matters, be reckoned as already served in respect of the total combined effective sentence of two years and nine months, and the new single non-parole period of 18 months.

44Had you pleaded not guilty and been found guilty after trial, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of three years on the current indictment.  I would have sentenced you to a global sentence across both matters of three years and nine months, and fixed a minimum term of two years and six months.

45I make the forfeiture order sought by the prosecution. 

46I also order that you undergo a forensic procedure for the taking of a scraping from your mouth. If you fail to cooperate in the taking of the sample, the police may take a blood sample, and may use reasonable force to obtain that sample. This order is made pursuant to s.464ZF(2) and 464ZF(2A) of the Crimes Act 1958.  I make the order for the following reasons:  the seriousness of the offending, prior convictions, the order is in the public interest, and the order is consented to.

47Take a seat there for a moment. 

48Perhaps I just should check, Ms Jago and Mr Vlahos that you are satisfied that that declaration of the pre-sentence detention accords with your calculations.

49MS JAGO:  I'm actually just double checking that now, Your Honour.

50HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.

51MR VLAHOS:  I'll be relying on my friend.

52MS JAGO:  Yes, Your Honour.  That's correct.

53HIS HONOUR:  So Mr NG, do you understand what has happened?

54OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

55HIS HONOUR:  So it is a total effective sentence that you are now undergoing of two years a nine months, with a minimum term of 18 months, and a declaration that you have served 287 days.  Is that clear?

56OFFENDER:  Yes, sir.

57HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  Mr NG can be removed.   

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