Director of Public Prosecutions v Peaston

[2015] VCC 14

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 13-02484

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JENNIFER PEASTON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE GUCCIARDO
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 January 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Peaston
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 14

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Dr N. Rogers with Ms C. Boston
For the Accused	Ms N. Karapanagiotidis

HIS HONOUR:

1Jennifer Peaston, you pleaded guilty to two charges of causing injury intentionally to the victim in these matters, which also involved one Alfio Granata.  I shall refer to her as "J" for reasons of privacy and anonymity.  Mr Granata is still to be dealt with.

2The offences arise between 20 to 25 December 2012 in relation to Charge 1 on 24 December 2012 in relation to Charge 2.  Mr Granata is still to be dealt with by this court for a large series of serious offences committed upon J over a period of weeks whilst she was falsely imprisoned in a room of a hotel where you and Granata resided.

3A plea of guilty to this indictment was negotiated after Granata pleaded guilty to matters relevant to him and both that arraignment plea and the new indictment to which you pleaded guilty represented a significant change in the way the matters were received.  I am satisfied that your plea represents the earliest opportunity for you to plead guilty to an appropriate indictment which by operation of law will attract a discount upon your sentence.

4In October 2012 you and Granata had been in a de facto relationship since 2008, when you were aged 27.  The relationship began normally with promise of future and family, but by 2009 physical violence had entered the relationship.  In 2012 you were aged 32 and Granata was aged 44 and you resided together at a hotel in Preston.

5The factual circumstances which are the foundation for the charges you have pleaded guilty to are extensively and comprehensively described in a prosecution opening dated 19 January 2015 which was tendered as Exhibit A on the plea.  I do not intend to recite these complex set of circumstances and the exhibit will be able to be retained in the court file for future reference.

6Suffice to say that for these purposes that in late October you and Granata met J at a party.  After about a week of acquaintance there proceeded consensual sexual intimacy, often involving all three of you.  At that point the lack of violence involved in that activity induced J to believe that her contact with you and Granata was friendly and consensual.

7Granata regularly provided J with the drug ice, which you also took.  In early November 2012 however things changed significantly and Granata became violent towards J and you.  It may be that he had a perceived grievance at that time out of jealousy and a belief that you and J were engaging not just in sexual activity behind his back, but were actively conspiring against him somehow.

8What followed from there to 25 December is outlined in detail and can only be described as a sustained criminal course of conduct of an abhorrent and repulsive nature on the part of Granata.  This conduct encompassed repeated and sustained sexual, physical and psychological abuse primarily of J which included however yourself as well.

9On one occasion Granata assaulted you but cutting a cross on your back with a knife.  On another occasion he slammed your heads together, punching and kicking both of you.  He threatened both J and you with death on many occasions.  J was subjected to abominable treatment at the hands of Granata, including rapes and the infliction of many injuries.

10The two charges to which you have pleaded relates to two discrete occasions as these violent conducts escalated towards a climax.  On the first day, having left J in the shower after a rape Granata forced J out of the shower and forced her to put his penis into her mouth.  You also gave Granata oral sex at this time.

11Granata was enforcing bizarre rules which required you and J not to touch and look at each other, amongst other things.  J accidentally touched you and Granata became enraged and struck her and you grabbed her by the hair and hit her to the head and back.  She was then returned to the shower bleeding from the nose.

12I viewed footage which depicts a harrowing environment of sexual depravity and oppression clearly overlayed by fear and subjugation, in particular of J, but which in my view also encompassed you.  Your naked body and that of J can be seen bearing innumerable bruises, welts and marks of violence on every limb and part.

13Both of you had by that time been subjected to repeated and sustained violent abuse with J the victim of appalling and intense physical and psychological punishment.  The footage makes clear that your reaction and participation indeed in this violence is performed voluntarily and intentionally either in transference for the anger, despair and frustration and fear brought about by Granata, or in response to the extreme situation of violent oppression he had created in this room.

14Similarly on the next day having taken you and J out to the shops Granata became enraged accusing the two of you of planning to share the night together with each other.  He then severely beat J on returning to the hotel and he also hit you.  He told both of you you were maggots and you deserved to die.

15At that time you again punched and kicked J also.  The footage I viewed of your so called interrogation by Granata and his questioning of you demonstrate the way in which you were not just compliant by this stage with his wishes, either as a mechanism of survival, self-defence or prostration to his will, but it appears clear that you engaged in criminal violent conduct yourself in order to appease, please or demonstrate loyalty to Granata.

16In my view your violence on these occasions should be seen as the direct result of sustained oppressive psychological and physical abuse with which Granata induced you to so behave.  This subjugation to Granata was demonstrated when you first provided answers to police on 25 December after J had stabbed him and had attempted to injure herself mortally in her view as to escape finally the depravity she had been kept in by Granata.

17Police noted your injuries on that day, but you were not arrested finally until sometime in January.  During the intervening period police interviewed you and noticed fresh injuries to your hands and head.  It was not till February and a second interview that you found the energy and courage to admit the violence Granata had perpetrated on you and on J.

18It is noteworthy that your situation was so precarious that no bail application was made for you because your reclusion at Dame Phyllis Frost was the first time you felt safe in years.

19You are a person of no prior criminal history who is now chronically distressed, experiencing high levels of anxiety, panic attacks and depression.  You are medicated for these conditions.  You have parents who live interstate but are supportive of you and will no doubt endeavour to sustain you as you attempt reintegration into the community.

20You will be provided a safe and supportive environment which may include the chance to work and have safe accommodation.  I take these factors into account in assessing your chances of rehabilitation.  There are some matters in your history which may have made you susceptible and vulnerable to these offending circumstances.

21They are outlined in a helpful report of Dr Cidoni, which was tendered.  This vulnerability was probably cunningly exploited by Granata, coupled with the use of ice, cannabis and amphetamines.  Dr Cidoni diagnosed you as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a major depressive disorder which have directly related to the relationship with Granata.

22He opines that an emotional bonding with a captor, often referred to as a Stockholm syndrome, as well as a shared delusional folie a deux created the environment in which he was able to exert complete control, impose his bizarre beliefs and rules, and ensure compliance by fear.  This I accept impaired your decision making and exercise of proper judgment.

23Further abuse of the drug ice in these circumstances would have enhanced not just the impulsivity but triggered aggression and psychotic impairment.  It is important to recognise of course that you are not the only highly traumatised individual in this case.

24The primary victim of your offending and the offending perpetrated by Granata is J.  She recited her victim impact statement with an earnest vehemence which belies the long term and profound damage done to her.  Its traumatic impact will be life long and will probably impact on every aspect of her life.

25Her statement is a tragic reflection of the impact of this abhorrent course of conduct in which you have participated.  It was delivered in a dignified and quiet manner where even a scream of injury would have been appropriate.  This measured approach should also be reflected in the sentence of the court in recognition of the plain fact that the main perpetrator of this appalling criminality is Granata with whom the court will deal in the near future.

26Your infliction of injury has not come without consequences to you.  You have now been in custody for some 714 days or a year, 11 months and 14 days.  You have spent that time mostly in protection, a regime which is restrictive.  I accept that that period has resulted in the obvious regret and remorse which you display in court, in particular when you heard the victim impact statement of J.

27The question for the court is not a simple equating of time already served with an appropriate sentence.  The remand period cannot be properly viewed as extra curial punishment, but it should not replace the fact of reclusion already undertaken before a proper consideration of penalty.

28The law and the principle passed to me requires this election of a sentencing option which whilst being the least severe and commensurate to the offence, also achieves the ultimate aim of protecting the community and the purposes of punishment.

29In this case this principle is coupled with considerations of the exercise of mercy in a case in which the accused, you, is to a large extent also a victim.  The other purposes of sentencing in my view are adequately dealt with by requiring you to be of good behaviour for a period.

30When an accused person is in an extraordinary situation, in the situation in which you found yourself, then the principles of denunciation, special and general deterrence, as well as punishment, must be viewed through the prism of the offender in that exceptional reality and must be moderated appropriately to enhance rehabilitative prospects which are in the end to the benefit of the community.

31On the two charges of intentionally cause injury you will be placed on a bond to be of good behaviour for 24 months pursuant to ss.72 and 75 of the Sentencing Act, so you are released in return for an undertaking that you will a) attend before the court if called upon the court to do so during the period of the adjournment; and b) that you will be of good behaviour during that period.

32In exercising my discretion not to record a conviction I have had regard to the matters set out in s.8 of the Sentencing Act, in particular each of the matters outlined in s.8(1)(c). But for your plea I would have sentenced you to two and a half years' imprisonment. Thank you.

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