Director of Public Prosecutions v Parker (a pseudonym)
[2016] VCC 664
•18 May 2016
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| Michael PARKER (a pseudonym) |
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JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Montgomery | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 18 May 2016 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Parker (a pseudonym) | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2016] VCC 664 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr Moore | |
| For the Offender | Ms Price |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Mr Parker,[1] can you stand up please, sir. Michael Parker, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent act with a child under 16 and two charges of incest. Each of the incest charges are representative charges. The facts of the matter are contained in the prosecution opening for plea hearing - Exhibit 1. I will not now refer to the facts. Any reader of these reasons can refer to that exhibit to place the sentence in its factual context. The facts are not disputed by your counsel.
[1] A pseudonym.
2 You have no other criminal history. You are to be placed on the Sex Offenders Registrar for the mandatory period of life. In consideration of a prison sentence I am about to impose on you in respect of Charge 1 you are then treated as a serious sexual offender on charges 2, 3 and 4 and you are declared to be such in respect of those charges and that will be entered in the records of the court.
3 The prosecutor Mr Moore does not seek a disproportionate sentence in respect of those charges and submitted there is no need to protect the community. Mr Moore accepted that in the whole of the circumstances here your plea of guilty could be regarded as an early plea and I accept that submission. Your counsel made a similar submission. He noted you had made substantial admissions and the likelihood of the matter going to trial was non-existent. After consideration of all the material, including the mental health reports and Ms Price's submissions, Mr Moore submitted that I could impose a moderate sentence of imprisonment in combination with a community corrections order.
4 Victim impact statements were tendered and I have taken them into account. On your behalf Ms Price filed written submissions, tendered a report from Ms Lechner a consultant psychologist, and a Forensicare report from Dr Ria Zergiotis was also tendered after a request for such a report from me. Ms Price made oral submissions. You have the support in court of your biological father who Ms Price tells me has only seen you three times since he left. He has written to you since the last adjournment and he has met with you. Your younger brother Peter[2] is also in court and is supportive of you.
[2] A pseudonym.
5 Going to the report of Carla Lechner, which is dated February 26 2016, she sets out your personal history, how you presented at interview. You do not have any substances abuse problems. In relation to the behaviour here you told her how you felt about it, in the first paragraph of the section of her report headed, Offending Behaviour. You were tested for intelligence and also for depression. She said that you currently present with symptoms of major depression and you gave a history of a long-standing mood disorder. She thought you may have autism and Dr Zergiotis also was of that opinion but no prognosis has been made.
6 In her summary and opinion she set out the circumstances of your infancy and said that you found it difficult and painful to communicate your thoughts and feelings and it was hard for you to talk about the offending. In the Forensicare report Dr Zergiotis said that you are of average of borderline intelligence. Your actual account and understanding of your offending behaviour was limited and you expressed some remorse during the interviews. She set out your educational and work history and the circumstances of how you were brought up in the Church and you have in fact been banished from the church and the effect that it has had on you.
7 You have no contact with most of the members of your family and you feel extremely isolated. You had told her that you have become intermittently suicidal and Ms Price tells me that in between the appearance at a country town and here you in fact obtained admission to a hospital. She concluded that from a diagnostic prospective you were found to fulfil criteria for major depression with a history of long-standing chronic social disorder and recommended that you been assessed for autism spectrum disorder in the future, saying there was insufficient information provided to be able to formulate, in respect of reoffending, any risk assessment of recidivism in that area. She said there was no evidence of a psychotic disorder but you presented as clinically depressed.
8 She said it is difficult to formulate the risk of reoffending in the future until you participate in a specialised program. She said that you would find it difficult to cope in prison were you to receive a custodial disposition.
9 In her submissions, both written and oral, Ms Price set out the history of your relationship with the Church and the effect it has had on you when you have been, in effect, expelled from that church. You have no longer any contact with your mother who has also been expelled from the church earlier on for adultery.
10 She told me about your work history. Since I last saw you in a country town you in fact have lost your job at the abattoirs in your country town. She said that you had expressed remorse and confessed to police and your plea of guilty has been entered at an early stage. She described your expulsion from the church as having a profound consequence for you and submitted that it constituted extra‑curial punishment. She pointed to your mental health issues as set out in both of the reports. She submitted that you have good prospects of rehabilitation.
11 I have taken into account all of the matters put in mitigation by your counsel and the submissions of the prosecutor. In sentencing you I must have regard to a range of factors, such as the seriousness of your offending, your culpability for it and your personal circumstances. I am required to balance those interests with the interests of the community in denouncing your criminal conduct and the interests of the community in seeking to ensure, as far as reasonably possible, that you are as an offender rehabilitated.
12 I have taken into account the provisions of the Sentencing Act pursuant to s.5 of that Act. I have reviewed the case of Bolton in considering if a community corrections order would be appropriate in your case. In doing so I have weighed the objective seriousness of your offending with the other principles set out in Bolton. I asked for a community corrections assessment to be made. It was done on Monday of this week. In that you were assessed generally at a medium risk of reoffending. That does not relate to sexual reoffending as that assessment would have to be done in the future.
13 You indicated that you would be prepared to comply with a community corrections order if I ordered one. Your counsel submitted I should consider ordering a custody sentence in combination with a community corrections order. One of the factors I have to take into account is what is specific deterrence, that is, to ensure that as far as possible it is clear to you that you should not reoffend. On the material in front of me I consider that plays a lesser role than it normally would in this type of offending.
14 The main sentencing principle for this type of offending is general deterrence, that is, to pass a sentence that sends a message to the community that this type of behaviour just cannot be tolerated. I have also taken into account current sentencing practices. You have pleaded guilty to the charges. I accept that it was at an early opportunity. You have no other criminal history. I am taking into account the fact that you have shown remorse. You have been expelled from the church and that has resulted in you being socially isolated. I have taken into account the matters set out in both of the mental health reports.
15 Weighing all that up - it has been a difficult sentencing proposition for me - doing the best I can taking all of those factors into account I have decided to impose a custodial sentence with a community corrections order for the reasons that I accept the mitigatory factors that have been pointed out to me. I am also cognisant of the problems you might face in gaol with the mental health issues that have been pointed out to me.
16 On Charge 1 I sentence you to a term of imprisonment of six months. On Charge 2 a term of imprisonment of 15 months. On Charge 3 a term of imprisonment of nine months. On Charge 4 a term of imprisonment of 15 months. Those charges are to be served concurrently. The conclusion of your sentence you are to be placed on a three-year community corrections order with conditions for treatment and rehabilitation, medical, mental health and programs to reduce offending and also a supervision treatment condition.
17 I declare pursuant to s. 6AAA of the Sentencing Act - I make the comment as I often do, I always find this a very difficult assessment to make, but if you proceeded to trial and the jury found you guilty your sentence would have been in the order of something like five years with a non-parole period of three years. Any other orders sought, Mr Moore?
18 MR MOORE: No, Your Honour.
19 HIS HONOUR: Okay. We will have that CCO form. Just sit down for the moment, Mr Parker. If you could take that up to your client and make sure he understands it. I am told that there is no pre-sentence detention here. Also will he accept service of the sex reporting conditions?
20 MS PRICE: He will.
21 HIS HONOUR: I expect you to go through them, Ms Price, because as you know it is very easy for people not to understand the detail and to breach many of the conditions, particularly things like changing address or changing Internet connections and so on.
22 MS PRICE: I'll do so today.
23 HIS HONOUR: Thank you.
24 MS PRICE: He has signed that order, Your Honour. I wonder if a notation can be made about custody management issues in respect of Mr Parker?
25 HIS HONOUR: Yes. What would you like noted?
26 MS PRICE: It's his first time in custody. He's at risk of self-harm.
27 HIS HONOUR: Yes.
28 MS PRICE: Thank you, Your Honour.
29 HIS HONOUR: Any other matters? No. Mr Moore, I can send you off?
30 MR MOORE: Thank you very much, Your Honour.
31 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Ms Price, thank you. You can take Mr Parker out thanks.
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