Director of Public Prosecutions v Oldfield

[2017] VCC 1093

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

AT WODONGA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -17-00184

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JOSHUA OLDFIELD

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SACCARDO
WHERE HELD:	Wodonga
DATE OF HEARING:	31 July 2017
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 August 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Oldfield
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 1093

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:  Sentence – False Imprisonment – Intentionally Cause Injury - Persistent Contravention of Family Violence Notices and Orders

Sentence:Total Effective Sentence of 318 days’ imprisonment reckoned as a period of imprisonment already served and an 18 month Community Corrections Order to commence this day.
Section 6AAA declaration 2 years’ Imprisonment without a Community Corrections Order

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Moore	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr J Kantor	Mario Vaccaro

HIS HONOUR: 

1Joshua Oldfield, you have pleaded guilty to one count of false imprisonment, which carries a maximum period of imprisonment of ten years; one count of intentionally causing injury, which carries a maximum period of imprisonment of ten years; and one count of persistent contravention of family violence notices and order, which carries a maximum period of imprisonment of five years,  three separate incidents in which you made unauthorised contact with the complainant involved in the latter count.

2The circumstances of your offending are not in issue and are set out in the summary of the prosecution opening for your plea.  I do not propose to restate the circumstances of your offending in my sentencing comments. 

3The victim with respect to all of this offending, was your previous partner, with whom you had engaged in a relationship for some 18 months and is the mother of your son, who was born in May 2014. 

4At the time of the offending, you had just turned 18.  Your victim was 17. 

5There can be no issue that the offending is serious.  Count 3 involved repeated breach by you of legal obligations imposed upon you, that you were not to contact your victim.  Notwithstanding that obligation, you invaded the sanctity of her home, where you left messages to her and then engaged in the behaviour involved in Counts 1 and 2. 

6Those counts involved you threatening to kill your victim, driving her to an isolated location where you abuse her, both verbally and physically and held her against her will. 

7Your violent and cowardly acts visited upon a defenceless young woman, must have been terrifying for her.  It comes as no surprise that she has described, in her witness statement, ongoing feelings of insecurity and apprehension, which act to reduce her self-confidence, affect her sleep and impact adversely upon most aspects of her life. 

8Your personal history is as follows:  You attended at the Wodonga Secondary College, where you completed Year 10.  You met your victim when you were at school.  You were 16 at that time and she was 15. 

9Upon leaving school you found employment in the Wodonga Abattoir.  You have also worked as an electrical technician, a meat worker and in the retail sector and as a carpet cleaner.  To your credit, you do have a history of relatively consistent employment. 

10At the time of this offending, you were just turned 18.  I accept the position put in your plea, that the offending occurred in circumstances in which you had difficulty dealing with the fact that your relationship with the complainant had ended and that your behaviour occurred in the context, not only of that emotional setting, but also in a background of your own immaturity at that time. 

11That position is supported, having regard to your history of attempting
self-harm, by throwing yourself in front of a speeding vehicle, during the period in which your relationship with the complainant was disintegrating and also by the assessment of Mr Michael Crewdson, the clinical psychologist, who has provided a detailed report in this instance, in which he concludes that you presented with anxiety and a chronic depressive disorder and that these conditions were likely to impact upon and influence your behaviour involved in the offending.  That is not to say that it excuses the behaviour in any way at all, but it does explain it. 

12I am satisfied, in sentencing you, that I should do so in the context of statements made by the Court of Appeal, to the effect that:

"In young offenders, it is often the case that those offenders are more prone to ill-considered and rash decisions, may lack the degree of insight and judgment and self-control expected of adults and may not fully appreciate the nature and seriousness of the consequences of the criminal conduct involved."

13I make specific mention of each of these factors, as I am satisfied that they most probably applied in the circumstances of your offending. 

14You have a prior history of convictions imposed in the Children's Court for offences involving recklessly causing serious injury; and intentionally causing serious injury; trafficking in and possessing cannabis; and dishonesty.  Whilst this history is clearly relevant to the sentence which I should impose in this instance, I am satisfied, having regard to the circumstances of this offending, which I accept, as I have said, arose in the context of your inability to cope with the loss of your relationship with your then partner, that I should regard your prior offending as not being completely relevant to the circumstances involved in this case. 

15Given your age, I am satisfied that your rehabilitation must be given significant weight in the sentence which I am to impose. 

16You have been in continuous custody for a total of some 587 days, since December 2015.  That custody initially arose by reason of offending by you in New South Wales.  Your custody, with respect to the offending in this instance, was continued for some 318 days.  It is clear that the custody which you have served with respect to this offending, must be taken into account as time served.  Equally, I am satisfied that I should give due weight to the fact that you have now been imprisoned for some 587 days. 

17You pleaded guilty to these charges at an early stage.  I am satisfied your plea should be accorded significant value, given the timing of the plea, the effect that it has had in saving the complainant from giving evidence and also the fact that it has saved the community the significant expense associated with a trial. 

18I am further satisfied that it does provide evidence of your remorse and acceptance of wrongdoing and in that sense, it makes a positive statement in support of your prospect of being rehabilitated.

19I am further satisfied that your past history and mature attitude to employment, speaks positively with respect to your potential for rehabilitation. 

20You have been assessed as being suitable for a community corrections order, subject to various conditions. 

21It is the position of the prosecution that a community corrections order, combined with a period of imprisonment, falls within the range of sentences which might be appropriate in this instance.  For the reasons to which I have referred in the comments which I have made, I am satisfied that I should impose a sentence of this type.

22I am satisfied, having regard to the dates upon which this offending occurred, the type of the offending and the motivation of the offending, all of which arose by reason of the personal issues between yourself and the complainant, in the context of your separation from her, that I should impose an aggregate sentence with respect to the three charges in this instance. 

23Would you please stand. 

24I am satisfied that the seriousness of your offending justifies a period of imprisonment being imposed.  I am satisfied that the punitive aspects of your sentencing are appropriately met by your sentence being such that it involves the imposition of a community corrections order, together with a period of imprisonment, being confined to the time which you have currently served with respect to this offending. 

25I am equally satisfied that the seriousness of your offending requires me to impose an obligation upon you with respect to the community corrections order, that you undertake community work of 100 hours. 

26The order that I propose with respect to the community corrections aspect of this sentence, is as follows:  I am going to read this to you and I am going to ask you whether you consent to the imposition of this order. 

27You are to be the subject of a community corrections order which will continue for 18 months. 

28You will be the subject of the following conditions:

·You are required to undertake 100 hours of community work within the timing of the order.

·You are to undergo such drug treatment and rehabilitation; mental health treatment and rehabilitation; treatment and rehabilitation in the form of undergoing programs to reduce the risk of future offending; and supervision, as is directed by those managing your order. 

·You will also be the subject of judicial monitoring by myself. 

29Do you understand those conditions?

30OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour, I understand.

31HIS HONOUR:  The judicial monitoring will involve you appearing before me for the purpose of supervising the way in which you are applying yourself to the community corrections order.  The first date of that supervision will be
14 November.  It will be 9.30 in the morning.  I propose to make an order that you can appear via a video link. 

32I want you to understand that the judicial monitoring is not designed to be part of punishment, it is designed really for me to try to assist you in towing the line and your rehabilitation.  But if you breach any aspect of this community corrections order, you come back to me and you do not want to do that, because you are on the brink of a disaster here.  You will either move in the right direction and seek to rehabilitate yourself, or you will continue to spiral out of control and downhill and you will be sentenced as an adult, because you have been given the chance for rehabilitation. 

33If you thumb your nose at it, your chances are over and I will be the sentencing judge and the comments that I am making here will be recorded and I will remember them and you need to remember them. 

34If you breach the community corrections order, various things can happen, depending on how you have applied yourself to it.  If you have not applied yourself to it at all, you will be re-sentenced by me. 

35So I will sign the order. 

36Is there anything else?  The days that I have indicated, are they the correct days, Mr Prosecutor, in terms of the declaration?

37MR MOORE:  Yes, Your Honour. 

38HIS HONOUR:  I will just show the order to the lawyers at the Bar table and then Mr Vaccaro will take it down to you.  Mr Moore, were there any applications for ancillary orders? 

39MR VACCARO:  I will just approach my client, Your Honour.

40HIS HONOUR:  Of course.

41MR VACCARO:  Thank you.

42MR MOORE:  Just bear with me a moment, Your Honour.  No ancillary orders, but did - I might have missed it.  Did Your Honour make a 6AAA declaration?

43HIS HONOUR:  I don't think I did.  Yes.

44MR MOORE:  I did miss it.  Sorry, Your Honour. 

45HIS HONOUR:  No, you didn't miss it, I missed it. 

46MR MOORE:  Sorry. 

47HIS HONOUR:  But for your plea of guilty in this instance, I would have imposed a period of imprisonment, without a community corrections order and that period would have involved a straight sentence to two years. Fixing that period I do so without fixing a minimum period for your detention. I am satisfied that it is appropriate that I should have fixed a straight sentence taking into account not only your age but the issues which have been referred to by those managing your current custody. I am satisfied that your rehabilitation would have been likely to be advanced if there was no doubt as to the duration of your custody in that you would have been in a position to make appropriate decisions as to taking part in any programs recommended to assist in your rehabilitation.

48Is there anything else that I need to attend to? 

49MR VACCARO:  No, sir.

50MR MOORE:  No. 

51HIS HONOUR:  We will now adjourn.

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