Director of Public Prosecutions v Oddy
[2013] VCC 1399
•20 September 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT SALE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MARK ODDY CRAIG TURNER |
---
JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Dean | |
WHERE HELD: | Sale | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 9 September 2013; 10 September 2013; 19 September 2013 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 20 September 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Oddy & Anor | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 1399 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr B J Halpin | OPP |
| For the Accused | Mr J Sullivan for Oddy Mr G Casement for Turner | Sullivan Braham Warren Graham & Murphy |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Mark Richard Oddy and Craig Charles Turner, you have each pleaded guilty to one charge of intentionally causing serious injury, contrary to s.16 of the Crimes Act, 1958.
2 The maximum penalty for that offence is 20 years imprisonment.
3 You both pleaded guilty after you were committed for trial and so your pleas may not be described as at the earliest opportunity. However they have avoided the necessity of witness giving evidence and a trial taking place. I also accept that your pleas of guilty are indicative of remorse in each case. Accordingly I have taken your pleas of guilty into account in your favour in mitigation of sentence.
4 A prosecution opening was read to the court and your offending may be summarised as follows:
5 Prior to 2 December 2012, the date of your offending, each of you had been involved in separate altercations with the victim, Lance Ratcliffe. In your case, Oddy, you had behaved aggressively towards his partner, Andrea Conboy, outside the Port Albert Hotel in October 2012. The following day you attended at the victim's house and demanded an apology from him for some perceived offence that you apparently felt. He did not apologise to you and told you to leave.
6 In your case, Turner, you were also involved in an altercation with the victim in the Port Albert Hotel.
7 On the evening of your offending, you were consuming alcohol together at the Port Albert Hotel and left at approximately 9 pm.
8 In your interview with investigating police, you Turner stated that Oddy suggested that you both attend the victim's house to see if his partner was alright because, "We got told that he was bashing his missus", a reference to the victim.
9 In your interview with investigating police, you Oddy stated that there was no discussion about the victim, prior to going to his house.
10 I am not able to conclude on the available evidence the reason that each of you attended the victim's premises, but it is clear that both of you were ill disposed towards him.
11 I do not however accept that you, Oddy, were prevailed upon by Turner to attend the premises. Furthermore, your denial of prominent involvement in the offending is contradicted by the independent evidence of neighbours.
12 You both arrived at the victim's house at approximately 10 pm. After hearing banging and loud noises, the victim opened his front door and saw Turner standing next to the victim's vehicle, and Oddy on the opposite side of the property. The victim went back into his house and called the police at 10.07 pm. The victim armed himself with a weight bar and went back outside and stated that he had called the police. Thereafter you both assaulted him repeatedly by punching and kicking him. He was also attacked with a cast iron pan and had water poured on him.
13
The attack on the victim was brutal and cowardly. The evidence of independent witnesses who saw and heard these events, discloses that you both played a prominent role in the offending. Understandably the victim's partner was terrified and she locked herself in a cupboard, after making repeated phone calls to the police, who finally arrived at the premises at
11.30 pm. As the police arrived, you both fled. You brutal attack on the victim took place over a period of approximately one and a half hours.
14 An ambulance also attended and the victim was observed on the ground in a foetal position, wearing only jeans and was severely injured. He was conveyed by air ambulance to the Alfred Hospital in a critical condition. Upon admission to the intensive care unit, he was observed to have bleeding on the brain, fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, three fractured vertebrae in his lumbar spine, a large laceration to the head and other cuts and bruises. He was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for 16 days. He has undertaken extensive rehabilitation and continues to suffer significant cognitive impairment as a result of his injuries.
15 I have received in evidence a victim impact statement of the victim, a victim impact statement of his daughter and a victim impact statement of his partner. The statements detail the deeply traumatic effect your offending has had on all of them.
16 Plainly your offending is of the utmost seriousness. Your assault on the victim was an alcohol fuelled, brutal and cowardly attack on a 59 year old man on a Sunday night at his home. Your conduct was entirely unjustified and it must be denounced by this court.
17 The sentence that I will impose must be calculated to deter others from offending in this way and you also must be deterred from re-offending. Persons who commit offences of violence of such gravity must expect the imposition of a substantial term of imprisonment upon conviction.
18 I now turn to your personal circumstances.
19 Craig Charles Turner, you were born on 26 March 1992 and you are now aged 21. You were 20 when the offence before the court was committed. You have one prior court appearance at the Frankston Magistrates' Court on 21 November 2012, where you were placed on an adjourned bond for 12 months in respect of one charge of assault by kicking. The offence occurred whilst you were intoxicated. Your offending on this occasion constitutes a breach of that bond and occurred merely two weeks after the order of the Frankston Magistrates' Court was made.
20 You are the youngest of two children and your parents separated when you were in Year 7 at school. It would appear that this event led to the development of an adjustment disorder, with underlying anger management issues. You left school in Year 11 and you have completed three years of an apprenticeship as a carpenter. You are a talented footballer.
21 I have received in evidence a psychological report of Helen Jarvis, a consulting and forensic psychologist and a report of Dr Simon Kennedy, who is also a consulting and forensic psychologist. The reports detail your background and developmental history and I accept that your adjustment disorder has led to alcohol abuse by you, which in all probability led to your offending on this occasion. The psychologists do not identify any mental illness or psychological disorder but both conclude that you will benefit from ongoing counselling and support.
22 I also accept that since being charged with this offence, you have undertaken treatment for alcohol abuse. I heard evidence from your mother and father and I accept that you are remorseful for your offending and that you will have their ongoing support. In my opinion your prospects of rehabilitation may properly be described as very good.
23 Plainly youth is a very significant sentencing factor in your case and it plays a prominent role in the sentencing synthesis that I must undertake. However your offending is also of the utmost seriousness and the degree to which your youth informs the sentence that I impose, must be considered in that context. Nevertheless, the sentence I impose will be less than the sentence that I will impose on your co-offender, because of your youth and the primacy that rehabilitation must play in that sentence.
24 Mark Richard Oddy, you were born on 9 June 1965 and are now aged 48. You were 47 at the time of your offending. You have one prior court appearance at the Sale Magistrates' Court on 15 October 2012, where you were placed on an adjourned bond for 12 months in respect of one charge of recklessly causing serious injury and one charge of criminal damage. That offending concerned you assaulting a person who you believed had assaulted his female partner. Your offending in this instance is a breach of that bond.
25 In respect of the charge before the court, you were 27 years older than your co-offender and you should have brought your relative maturity to play in the incident. Instead you played a prominent role in what occurred and in my opinion your moral culpability for what took place is considerable.
26 You have a stable work history as an excavator operator and you are a CFA and coastguard volunteer. You have a 13 year old daughter from a previous relationship, who you are close to and you are actively involved in her netball club. It would appear that prior to 2012 you led an unremarkable life in Port Albert.
27 I have received in evidence a psychological report of Ms Deborah Smith, a consulting and forensic psychologist, detailing your background and psychological profile. Ms Smith concluded that you are currently suffering from depression and anxiety and that you are of low intellectual capacity. She also concluded that you are a low risk of re-offending and deeply remorseful for what occurred. Your low intellectual capacity means that you have poor decision making skills and this probably contributed to your offending, but I am nevertheless satisfied that you understood the seriousness of your assault on the victim.
28 I accept that your depression and anxiety will result in a greater degree of hardship for you in prison, but this will also be able to be managed by the prison medical staff. I do not accept that you intellectual capacity is such that in the circumstances of this case, the principles of general and specific deterrence should be moderated. As I have said, in my opinion your moral culpability for your offending is considerable and you have hitherto functioned well in the community in a range of activities and positions, which demonstrate a degree of maturity and decision making capacity.
29 In my opinion, however your prospects of rehabilitation may properly be described as good.
30 In the result, the sentence of the court is as follows:
31 Mark Richard Oddy, in relation to the charge of intentionally causing serious injury, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of five years and six months. I order that you serve three years and six months imprisonment before becoming eligible for release on parole.
32 I declare that you have served 22 days by way of pre-sentence detention, not including today.
33 But for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of seven years and imposed a non-parole period of five years.
34 Craig Charles Turner, on the charge of intentionally causing serious injury, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for four years and six months. I order that you serve two years imprisonment before becoming eligible for release on parole.
35 I declare that you have served 23 days by way of pre-sentence detention, not including today.
36 But for you plea of guilty, I would have imposed upon you a term of imprisonment of six years, with a non-parole period of four years.
37 I have made the ancillary orders sought by the prosecution in each case.
38 Are any further orders required?
39 COUNSEL: No, Your Honour.
40 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. We will adjourn now until 11 am.
- - -
0
0
0