Director of Public Prosecutions v Parades-Martenez

[2016] VCC 48

Pages 1 - 5   IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -15-00118

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JONATHAN PARADES-MARTENEZ

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE CAMPTON
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 January 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Parades-Martenez
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 48

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: Robbery
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence: Good Behaviour Bond for a Period of 12 Months

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Albert
For the Accused	Mr G. A. Davis

HER HONOUR: 

Charge

1Mr Paredes-Martenez, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of robbery and the maximum sentence for that offence is 15 years' imprisonment.  The full circumstances surrounding the charge was set out in the prosecution opening, which is on the court file.

Circumstances of the Offending

2In brief, the prosecution case is that on 18 November 2013, you assisted by aiding and abetting John Vaofusi and Tolga Ozdemir in robbing Nicholas King of the keys to his 2011 Holden VE Calais sedan.  This robbery took place at unit 4/126 Bethany Road in Hoppers Crossing, after an earlier incident involving your co-offenders. 

3The prosecution case is that after this earlier incident, Mr King was alone inside the unit and he locked the door to keep Mr Vaofusi and Mr Ozdemir out, as he was scared of what they might do.  You came to the front door and asked to come inside to get your backpack and then leave.  Mr King could only see you outside, so he let you in.  When he opened the door, Mr Vaofusi and Ozdemir barged in.  They demanded the keys to his car.  You held him by his arms and Mr Vaofusi took Mr King's car keys from his pocket.  Vaofusi and Ozdemir were telling Mr King to be quiet.  Vaofusi had a crow bar and threatened to hit Mr King if he did not settle down.

Personal Circumstances

4Now your personal circumstances were outlined to the court by your counsel.  You were born on 16 November 1995.  So you are now 20 years old.  This means that at the time of offending, you had only just turned 18.  Apparently you had a fairly troubled childhood with your mother suffering from a depressive illness and alcohol issues.  You have half-sisters in Chile and your natural father resides with your two step-brothers in Sydney.

5You left home when you were only aged 14 and lived with a friend's family.  Despite being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, you did quite well at school.  However, you prefer working with your hands to academic pursuits and you have worked as a bricklayer, in a warehouse and as a concreter.

6Unfortunately, the court has heard that at the time of your offending, you had become addicted to the drug ice, and for at least seven months prior to the offending, you were mixing in the unreal world of fellow ice users.  It seems that it is only after you met your girlfriend that you realised the futility of this lifestyle. 

7It took you some six to eight weeks to wean yourself off the drug and since then, you appeared to have changed your life around.  You have completed a Certificate II in civil construction.  You have obtained a warehouse certificate and a forklift licence.  You live with your girlfriend and your counsel informed this court that your ambition is to eventually have your own concreting business and you are saving up for an truck and the appropriate equipment to do this.

Mitigating Circumstances

8The mitigating circumstances relied on by your counsel, include your plea of guilty, that you are a youthful offender, that you have no prior offences, that you have commenced rehabilitation and you have given up the drug ice and that there has been no subsequent offending.  You counsel submitted that taking all these circumstances into account, in particular your youth and lack of prior offending, that the court should consider placing you on a good behaviour bond.

9Although the crime of robbery is a very serious offence, as is reflected in the maximum period of imprisonment, which is 15 years, I am going to accede to his request to place you on a good behaviour bond. This is because I have taken into account all the mitigating circumstances that your counsel put before the court.  I have given you a discount for your plea of guilty because although it was a late plea, it saves the expense of a second trial, because there were going to be two trials, and it saves the witnesses the ordeal of giving evidence in two trials.

10However, the most significant reason for acceding to his request to place you on a bond is your lack of prior offending and your youth at the time of the offending.  Everyone deserves at least one chance.  If you were to engage in further offending and if you were found guilty, there is absolutely no way that you would be receiving a second good behaviour bond.

11Now, I have also decided not to convict you.  Once again, if you were to offend again, there is no way you would avoid getting a conviction.  I cannot stress how lucky you are not to get a conviction.  Not only could it affect your seeking to borrow money from a bank, but it would affect your opportunities to travel.  I don't know what the situation is with regard to South America, but certainly, if you wanted to travel to the United States of America with a conviction for a crime as serious as robbery, there is very little change they would let you into the country.  So by this one offence and by mixing with these other people and by using the drug ice, you have placed your whole future in jeopardy and I am sure your counsel will tell you when you leave the court that you are very, very lucky that I have decided to be, what I regard, as lenient with you.  Do you understand?

12OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

13HER HONOUR:  Have we got the documentation?

14OFFENDER:  Thank you, Your Honour.  Thank you for that.

15HER HONOUR:  But for your plea of guilty, it would have been a community corrections order for 12 months with conviction.  Just get him to sign the document and then I will deal with the 464.  Mr Martenez, the period of the bond, as you have seen, is 12 months and if you were to commit another offence during that 12 months, I have no option but to resentence you on the offence, do you understand that?

16OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

17HER HONOUR:  And as you have seen, as well as being resentenced on the offence, you could face a fine.  Now, in relation to the 464ZF application, there are a number of authorities which deal with when and why a sample should be taken and I consider that given the findings I have made in relation to Mr Martenez, that he was very young at the time, that he is rehabilitated and that it was out of character given he has no prior convictions, I do not see any point in putting the authorities to the trouble of collecting yet another sample.  No doubt, if he was to get into any more trouble in the future, that application will made as a matter of course anyhow. 

18Just one further thing, Mr Martenez, I hear that you have weaned yourself off the drug, ice.  If you are tempted to go back on again, because of course it is a very difficult thing to get off, please seek professional help. 

19OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

20HER HONOUR:  All right. 

21MR ALBERT:  Just one other matter, Your Honour. 

22HER HONOUR:  Yes.

23MR ALBERT:  Look, I think perhaps - may vary between some course, but there's some summary - one summary offence that's still on the court record, and as I understand it, the court likes to clear what it has, so we'd be seeking to withdraw that unlawful assault - I think it was one unlawful assault charge, which is the only summary offence.      

24HER HONOUR:  Thank you for that.  All right.  The charge of - summary charge of unlawful assault is withdrawn.  So that will actually have to be marked on the court record.  But that does not concern the parties.  He has got a copy of his bond.  He understands the conditions.  Is there anything else?  I think that's the end of ‑ ‑ ‑

25MR DAVIS:  No, Your Honour.  As the court please. 

26HER HONOUR:  All right, or else I'll see you - the prosecution tomorrow at ‑ ‑ ‑

27MR ALBERT:  Eleven. 

28HER HONOUR:  Eleven.  All right.  Thank you.     

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