Director of Public Prosecutions v Pedretti

[2018] VCC 259

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY

CRIMINAL DIVISION

CR-18-00175

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ROHAN PEDRETTI

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JUDGE:	His Honour Judge Smallwood
WHERE HELD:	LaTrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	7 March 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Pedretti
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2020] VCC 259

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Catchwords:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Crown	Mr D. O'Doherty	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr A. Kennedy	Dowling McGregor Solicitors

HIS HONOUR:

1       Rohan Pedretti, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted armed robbery, a crime which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. 

2       You are 18 years of age and were 18 years of age at the time of the offending.  You do have a prior criminal history but that is, in fact, in the Children's Court and this offending is not that far out of the Children's Court.

3       You have 52 days of adult remand for this matter and I take that very much into account.  You are currently in Youth Justice System at Malmsbury undergoing a six month sentence which commenced on, as I understand it, in January of this year.

4       A summary of the offending can be done very briefly.  On 30 September 2017 the victim, who was 19 years of age, left his father's house in Sale and was approached by you.  You asked him for a cigarette and he said he did not have any.  He recognised you and asked you to go away effectively.  You said, "Give me your smokes", and then removed a pocket knife from your jacket, without having said anything to that effect, obviously physically menacing.  He was able to walk backwards, turned and ran to his father's house.  You apparently chased him.  He was clearly frightened.  There is no victim impact statement before me.  That gives to rise to attempted armed robbery.

5       In the circumstances of it all I regard it as being at the lower end of armed robbery but nevertheless one which requires a sentence which is appropriate to the seriousness of it.  It obviously calls for general deterrence and in your situation specific deterrence as well, as I have indicated, an appropriate punishment.

6       Your personal details are contained within a number of reports.  You have been in the area of youth justice and DHS for a large part of your life.  Those reports I will direct remain on court file for anyone with a genuine interest.  I think it is sufficient to say this.  That you had a very difficult childhood.  That you are partly of Aboriginal background.  That you apparently have no real interest in that.  Your parents separated when you were around about seven or eight and you have had a volatile relationship with certainly your mother since then.

7       A neuropsychological assessment in 2014 indicated that you have cognitive function within the mild intellectual disability range and I obviously take that into account.  You have also been, when you were younger, diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder, a childhood behavioural disorder and ADHD.  It is also the situation, I will accept this being so common with young people from your type of background, that you suffer from anxiety and in all probability a post-traumatic stress disorder.  You have great difficulty functioning within the community without assistance and you have difficulty with social skills, interpersonal relationships, self-esteem and the following.

8       A lot of your capacity to function in this community is at a low level.  You are still very young.  You have real difficulties.  You are now in a situation where you will be subject to, I trust, youth parole when that is deemed appropriate.  I wont be telling them how to operate but all the reports that I have before me they will clearly have before them as the parole board and they will endeavour to make the appropriate decisions and put you in the appropriate circumstances that may give you some assistance.

9       The prospects of your rehabilitation are problematic and the risk of you re‑offending has to be regarded as at least significant in this sort of situation.  I have taken all those matters into account and you are only going to be sentenced for what you have done.  I take into account, as I have indicated already, a very dysfunctional, very difficult and underprivileged background.

10      I also take into account, as I have indicated, the 52 days of adult custody.  I am unable to declare that in this situation because of the way in which it is operated with you already undergoing a sentence.  So I have reduced the sentence I would otherwise have imposed by the fact that you have done 52 days of adult.

11      Accordingly, on the charge of attempted armed robbery I sentence you to be detained in a Youth Justice Centre for a period of seven months.  That is obviously to start today which puts a couple of months on top of what you are already doing bearing in mind the 52 days that I have already taken into account in respect of that.  As I say but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to be detained for a period of 12 months.

12      The summary charge I cannot do that cumulatively.  What is the summary charge?  Seven days youth justice concurrent.

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