Director of Public Prosecutions v Paterson
[2016] VCC 1673
•19 May 2016
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. 15-01222
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| TIMOTHY PATERSON |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE BOURKE MP | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 19 May 2016 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Paterson | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2016] VCC 1673 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Catchwords:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr P. Pickering | |
| For the Accused | Mr W. Toohey |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Timothy Paterson, you are to be sentenced for one charge of trafficking in a large commercial quantity of the drug of dependence methylamphetamine, one charge of trafficking in the drug of dependence MDMA, three charges of possession of a drug of dependence, one charge of making a false document, and one charge of possessing an unregistered handgun.
2 Relevant maximum sentences are life imprisonment for trafficking a large commercial quantity, 15 years' imprisonment for trafficking, 12 month's imprisonment for possession of a drug of dependence, 10 years' imprisonment for making a false document, and seven years' imprisonment for possession of an unregistered firearm.
3 You are also to be sentenced for the following summary offences with the stated maximum sentences; dealing with proceeds of crime, two years' imprisonment, possessing cartridge ammunition without a licence, a maximum fine of four penalty units; committing an indictable offence on bail, three months' imprisonment; possessing a prohibited weapon without exemption or approval, two years' imprisonment; and possessing a controlled weapon without lawful excuse, 12 months' imprisonment.
4 You pleaded guilty to these offences in this court on 11 February. When interviewed by police, on 15 September 2014, you exercised your right to silence. There was a very short committal hearing in July 2015. The matter was listed in this court for trial. However, as evidenced by solicitors' letters tendered before me, you made offers to plead to a majority of these offences as early as late June 2015, prior to committal. You also offered early to plead to trafficking in a commercial quantity (that is, not a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine) on Charge 1. The Crown rejected that offer.
5 Ultimately in early February of this year you agreed to plead guilty to all offences and you were arraigned on 11 February.
6 You receive the benefit of your plea of guilty and the level of cooperation that short history of the proceedings shows. The timing of your plea should be seen in the light of those offers or negotiations I have described. I find that you have been motivated to facilitate the interests of justice and that you are genuinely remorseful.
7 At your plea hearing, which ran on 4 May, Mr Pickering for the Crown tendered a written Crown opening.
8 Mr Toohey for you tendered your letter to the court; (Mr Toohey read this out), prison documents related to urine drug testing and participation in rehabilitation programs in remand custody, the letter of the Malvern Private Hospital related to your admission there for drug rehabilitation in 2010, a number of letters of character reference, a Melbourne Remand Centre document recording the number of days you were placed in lockdown arising out of riots there in June or July of 2015, the two solicitors' letters I have earlier spoken of making offers to plead to charges on the presentment, another letter by you to the Commissioner for Corrections Victoria concerning the effects upon you of the Melbourne Remand Centre riots and aftermath, and a preparatory business plan named "Infinity Recovery Centre." This relates to your stated ambition to set up a drug rehabilitation clinic when released from prison.
9
Mr Toohey also called Anne Hooker to give evidence on your behalf.
Ms Hooker manages the Youth Unit at Port Phillip Prison named Penhyn. You are presently placed there, although aged 37, as one of three prison mentors to those younger prisoners. Ms Hooker has run this unit in its various forms for over 17 years.
10 The circumstances of your offending are comprehensively described in the tendered Crown opening, which is Exhibit A. My own summary may therefore be shorter. I am also informed by matters put on your behalf not challenged by the Crown.
11 There are two episodes of drug trafficking, which is the main offending. They occurred in early July and on 15 September 2014. I accept that, despite coming from a functional supportive family and your own success academically and in subsequent life, during the decade prior you had declined into addiction and heavy drug use. As detailed in the Crown opening, between 3 and 12 July you imposed upon your friend Emily Gareh to place and store at her Port Melbourne apartment a large quantity of methylamphetamine. At one point you took some but not all of the drug away.
12 Upon realisation of what was at her home and in developing anxiety about it, Emily Gareh sought legal advice. A solicitor rang the police on 11 July. Upon search of the apartment on 12 July police found drugs, drug use and trafficking related items and materials. These included:
13 (1) About 2.5 kilograms of methylamphetamine (a part of Charge 1 on the indictment, trafficking in a large commercial quantity). There were various packages at high purities of the drug. Two bags respectively held about 950 grams and about 1,500 grams at 90 and 80 per cent purity.
14 (2) About 20 grams at 20 per cent purity of MDMA (Charge 2, trafficking in that drug of dependence).
15 (3) Small quantities of the drugs of dependence Alprazolam and Oxycodone (Charge 3 and 4, possession of drug of dependence).
16 Other discoveries included $500 in cash (summary offence dealing with proceeds of crime) and a notebook with notations consistent with drug pricing or sales.
17 On 15 September police raided your own Richmond apartment. They again found drugs, drug use and drug trafficking related items. Drugs include:
18 (1) A total of 750 grams of methylamphetamine. Purity varied from 0.2 per cent to 100 per cent. This is also a part of Charge 1.
19 (2) 2.9 grams of cocaine (Charge 5 on the indictment, possession of a drug of dependence).
20 Other items found related to the firearm and weapon charges. There were false documents ( two fraudulent driving licences, Charge 6 on the indictment). Charge 7 on the indictment is possession of an unregistered handgun, which attracts a maximum penalty of seven years' imprisonment. That was a .25 semi automatic pistol later tested and found to be operational. Its magazine was loaded with ammunition.
21 The total quantity of methylamphetamine found at both premises was 3.254 kilograms. The relevant large commercial quantity threshold for that drug is 1 kilogram. Both quantities found at Port Melbourne and Richmond were in your possession for sale. About 20 gms of MDMA at 20 per cent purity were found at Port Melbourne, Charge 2. The trafficable quantity threshold is 3 grams.
22 You are a 37 year old man presently awaiting this sentence in remand custody. As earlier stated, you had the benefit of a well supported upbringing. Your parents, older sister and other members of your family attended court during the plea hearing. Schooling was highly successful, both academically and in sporting achievement. You completed your VCE at Scotch College as captain of the school, and then completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Melbourne University.
23 There was so called recreational drug use including cocaine and ecstasy at university. This further developed in the context of part time work at hotels and nightclubs. After university you continued to be successful in business. There were positions in telemarketing, corporate sales and eventually in the recruitment industry. You set up and ran businesses in that area, first in partnership and then your own business. That ran from about 2010 to 2013 before its demise in the context of your drug use. Involvement in the nightclub culture persisted throughout the time. It presents as a high powered but chaotic and dangerous existence. By 2008 you had become an habitual cocaine user. You came to be enmeshed in the nightclub and drug culture. There were other drugs and at the time of this offending you were heavily using methylamphetamine.
24 There were also attempts at rehabilitation. You were able to afford quite extensive periods in private drug clinics in 2008, 2009 and 2010. However you relapsed. By 2013 your business had failed and you were estranged from your family. You did not see them at all for 12 months. Superannuation funds kept you going but not for long. You had dissipated the advantages of your upbringing, education and talent. In such a situation you committed these offences in 2014.
25 I accept the proposition put by Mr Toohey that these offences were not committed alone. The circumstances of your placement of drugs with Emily Gareh had aspects that were haphazard. It is not put that you were operating a Giretti like drug enterprise over the period July to September 2014. There is no evidence of enrichment. However you handled and at least warehoused very large quantities of methylamphetamine, drugs held and destined for sale.
26 You were remanded upon arrest in September 2014. To date there has been 613 days, that is over 20 months on my reckoning of pre-sentence custody. You have used that time impressively well. You are drug free and have been active in Narcotics Anonymous. In particular having presented in a very positive way at the Metropolitan Remand Centre, you were recruited to the Penhyn Youth Unit at Port Phillip Prison as a prison mentor.
27 The evidence of Ms Hooker spoke strongly for you. I have little doubt that she does not give such evidence without serious consideration. Amongst other things she agreed that you have been an exemplary mentor. She sees you as genuinely remorseful. You have been motivated and effective in assisting young prisoners at Penhyn.
28 Mr Toohey also pointed to the unusual difficulties of your imprisonment prior to placement at Port Phillip, caused by lockdown conditions at the Melbourne Remand Centre between July and October 2015.
29 The criminal record filed with the indictment states two prior court appearances in June and November of 2013. Both are relevant. There are firearm offences in June 2013 (albeit attracting a non conviction good behaviour bond) and in November 2013 a Community Corrections Order for offences including driving under the influence of a drug and using cocaine. I was also advised of subsequent convictions in December 2014 for trafficking in cocaine and in methylamphetamine. You received a sentence of four months wholly suspended. That offending occurred in March of 2014 and you were released on bail. Accordingly this offending before me, specifically Charge 1, makes out the summary offence also before me of committing an indictable offence on bail. Given this, the provisions of s.16(3c) of the Sentencing Act apply. However the need for a just total sentence and one reflecting the respective seriousness of these offences would seem to me to require no such cumulation, at least in the full sense.
30 These offences of drug trafficking are very serious, particularly reflected in the maximum sentence for Charge 1. Charge 7, possession of a loaded operational handgun is also serious and disturbing. There are some mitigating or at least less adverse factors related to the circumstances of your involvement. I have attempted to identify those. However at the end of the day, especially in respect of Charge 1, you possessed and handled for sale a very large quantity of drug. You have prior convictions which are relevant, albeit a limited history well short of this level of seriousness. Accordingly the sentencing considerations of deterrence, particularly general deterrence, condemnation of the offending, your moral culpability and the need for proportionate punishment are relevant and important.
31 There must be a prison sentence of considerable length. There are also significant moderating factors which should affect what that length of sentence should be.
32 These include the following.
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(1) Your plea, cooperation and remorse.
(2) Your personal history and circumstances.
(3) Particularly I find that you have good prospects for rehabilitation. This was a major thrust of
Mr Toohey's plea. You have considerable personal resources and abilities. You have stable family support, and I find, strong motivation to reform. As stated during the plea, critical to this will be your ability to abstain from drug use. This offending was the culmination of a long and sustained period of drug abuse and addiction.
34 These favourable factors should go to reduce the length of your sentence. Particularly in your case this may be reflected in the length of your minimum term.
35 I sentence you as follows. On Charge 1, trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence you are sentenced to six years'' imprisonment. On Charge 2, trafficking in a drug of dependence, you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment. On Charge 3, possession of the drug of dependence cocaine, sentenced to six months' imprisonment. On Charged 4 and 5, possession of a drug of dependence, you are sentenced to two months' imprisonment on each. On Charge 6, making a false document, you are sentenced to two months' imprisonment. On Charge 7, possession of an unregistered handgun, you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
36 On the summary offences you are sentenced as follows. For dealing with proceeds of crime, four months' imprisonment. For possessing cartridge ammunition, unlicensed, you are fined $200. For committing an indictable offence on bail, sentenced to one month's imprisonment. For possessing a prohibited weapon, three months' imprisonment. For possessing a controlled weapon, two months' imprisonment.
37 I direct other than in accordance with s.16(3c). These sentences are to be served concurrently but for the following orders for partial accumulation. I direct that six months of the sentences for Charge 2 and Charge 7 be served cumulatively upon the sentence for Charge 1, and upon each other. That is a total effective sentence of seven years' imprisonment. I direct a minimum term of four years before eligibility for parole. I declare under s.18 of the Sentencing Act, 613 days of pre-sentence detention already served in respect of that.
38 If you had not pleaded guilty under s.6AAA I would have imposed a sentence of ten years with a minimum term of eight years.
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HIS HONOUR: Now was there an application for a forensic sample order? He may have had a sample taken.
MR PICKERING: Yes I think that's correct Your Honour, there wasn't an application that we filed on the last occasion but there are the forfeiture and disposal orders.
HIS HONOUR: There are other applications for disposal orders and the like are there?
MR PICKERING: Yes.
HIS HONOUR: All right, I will sign those, they are not opposed and should be made. It is a disposal order in respect of drugs and drug related items scheduled there. There is a forfeiture order, that is in respect of the money is it?
MR PICKERING: There is two forfeiture orders, one is for the guns and there is a separate forfeiture order which is for the money. Then there is the disposal orders which relates to the drugs.
MR TOOHEY: It is only some of the money Peter isn't it?
MR PICKERING: Yes.
HIS HONOUR: I will sign those orders. Is there anything else?
MR PICKERING: No Your Honour.
MR TOOHEY: No Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Thank you both for your assistance the other day and today. Mr Paterson must be taken into custody now. There are those orders.
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