Director of Public Prosecutions v Phillis

[2025] VCC 1614

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT BENDIGO

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-24-01601

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

MARK PHILLIS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DOYLE
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	31 October and 5 November 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	6 November 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Phillis
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 1614

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  Criminal Law - SENTENCE

Catchwords:      Guilty by jury verdict – Recklessly cause injury – Victim neighbour of the offender – Fishing spear used by offender causing injury to victim’s head requiring a staple - Relevant prior convictions.

Legislation Cited:     Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic); Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).

Cases Cited:

Sentence:                 10 months’ imprisonment.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. Cordy	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr N. Rolfe	Rolfe Criminal Law

HIS HONOUR:

1Mark Phillis, on 30 September 2025 at the County Court in Bendigo, you were found guilty by jury verdict of one offence of recklessly causing injury.  That was an alternative charge to an intentional injury of which you were acquitted by the jury.

2On that indictment, you also faced serious injury offences, where the prosecution allege the principal offender was your son, or the person who inflicted the injury was your son, Jason Phillis, and that you were complicit in his offences.  I entered verdicts of not guilty in relation to charges in respect of that incident, because in my opinion, there was insufficient evidence, or there was no evidence on which a jury could have inferred complicity with that conduct.

3It is true that this matter, in retrospect, could have been dealt with in the Magistrates' Court, as a indictable offence, triable summarily.  In my opinion, the Magistrates' Court would have had sufficient sentencing power to deal with the offence.  So it is now more than two years since the commission of the offence in this case.

4The circumstances of the offence were the subject of evidence at the trial from the victim Trevor Rosendale and other witnesses, Barbara Stewart, Zoe Petty, Robert Asia, whose statement was read to the jury and Mary Andrews, similarly.  Most of those witnesses were able to describe the incident which gives rise to the reckless injury.

5The background to the offence in this case is that you and Trevor Rosendale were neighbours in a street in Maryborough and you had been neighbours for an extended period.  There is not any doubt that there was bad blood between the two of you.  In fact, one of your prior convictions relates to throwing a brick through a window of Mr Rosendale's house.  That offence was dealt with in September 2022 and on that date, as well as being punished for the offending, an intervention order was made against you in respect of Mr Rosendale and his wife, Lauren.  That order was in place at the time of this offending.

6On this day, 16 September 2023, an argument broke out between you and Mr Rosendale.  That argument was captured on video taken by your son Jason, which was played during the trial.  You abused Mr Rosendale, calling him a paedophile.  He was outside the fence of your property, and he started to yell back at you.

7His evidence was that he was sick tired of your abuse, of which this was another example, and that you had called him a paedophile before.  Mr Rosendale gave evidence, which I accept, that he saw a bike in the front yard that he believed belonged to his son.  He entered your property for two reasons: firstly, to take possession of the bike and secondly, to have a verbal confrontation with you about your ongoing abuse.

8You were inside your property, behind a screen door.  Mr Rosendale's evidence was that he walked into the front yard and bent down to pick up the bike.  At around that time, you came out of your house carrying a five-prong fishing spear which you jabbed towards him.  In my opinion, he was in no position to defend himself at that stage, because he was bending down to pick up the bike.  The fishing spear made contact with his head and caused a cut to his head.  There was medical evidence in respect of that cut, and a photograph which showed the injury after treatment with a staple in it.

9It may well be that the fishing spear also made contact with his hoodie, because there are several puncture marks in the hoodie, consistent with the fishing spear coming into contact with his clothing, but I sentence you on the basis that you jabbed towards his head and made contact, causing an injury.

10What followed was a struggle between you and Mr Rosendale over the weapon that you had brought outside from inside your house, after which your son Jason became involved and he stabbed Mr Rosendale to the back at least a couple of times, which caused a pneumothorax.  Mr Rosendale had to be taken to hospital and received emergency treatment.

11Jason Phillis was found guilty of recklessly causing serious injury in relation to that conduct.  You are not to be punished for that, but it seems to me your conduct in initiating the verbal altercation with Mr Rosendale and then the physical altercation caused this situation to get very much out of hand.

12You are 54 years old.  You have had a very lengthy criminal history, which starts all the way back in 1990.  You have got prior convictions for dishonesty offences, multiple offences of assault, offences relating to weapons.  You have received several periods of imprisonment over the years.  You have been placed on community correction orders, which you breached.  You have prior convictions for contravening a personal safety intervention order as recently as January 2023.

13I have been provided with summaries of quite a few of your prior convictions for assault.  I have already referred to the previous criminal damage offence, which involved Mr Rosendale.  You have several other previous convictions for assault offences relating to neighbours and on a number of occasions, you seemed to have some grievance against neighbours for supposed sexual transgressions.  I do not accept any of your offerings about the supposed conduct of your neighbours.  It seems to me you have been a major nuisance in your neighbourhood, not only in relation to Mr Rosendale, but in respect of other people as well.

14Of course, you are not to be punished again for your criminal history, but it is highly relevant to a number of sentencing principles.  It is relevant to the assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation.  It is relevant to your moral culpability for this offending.  You have been to court many times for assault.  You know what the score is and yet, here you were, initiating an altercation with Mr Rosendale, who you had offended against before and in relation to whom there was a current intervention order in place.  Those matters are relevant also to the assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation.

15I also need to take into account the victim impact material in this case and several victim impact statements were tendered: from Mr Rosendale, Lauren Rosendale as well and others. have read and have regard to what is in those victim impact statements.  It is somewhat hard to disentangle the consequences of the other assault involving your son, with your conduct, but nonetheless, it seems to me that your behaviour towards Mr Rosendale has had a significant impact on him and his partner and the other witnesses, including Ms Stewart, who were present at the scene.  The impact on the victims is a significant matter in forming just punishment for these offences.

16The offence of reckless injury carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment.  This example of it was an unprovoked attack, in my opinion, on your neighbour, against whom you have a history.  You escalated events by bringing out a weapon from inside.  You then poked the weapon towards his head, which is an inherently dangerous action.  The use of the weapon, in my opinion, necessitates emphasising general deterrence in sentencing for this matter.

17I regard this as a reasonably significant example of a reckless injury offence and having regard to your prior convictions, an example of this offence that requires a period of immediate imprisonment, as we have discussed on the plea.

18In terms of your background, you are now 54 years old.  You were born in Carlton.  You have three brothers, and you have a good relationship with all of them, I am told.  When you left school, you started a painting apprenticeship, but you did not complete that, although your main employment has apparently been as a house painter and commercial painter.  You also worked as a slaughterman and a factory hand.

19At the time of this offending, you had been living in Maryborough for about 20 years, and you were at the property for 18 years.  You have had two significant relationships, the first from 1995 to 2010.  You had two children from that relationship, a daughter Tahlia and a son Jason.  You separated from your wife some time ago and your wife moved to live in Marong, I was told, with your daughter.  Jason remained living with you, although since this incident, I was told he has moved away and lives now with his mother in Marong as well.

20Since the incident, you have also moved from the property in Maryborough, and I am told you have been living in Bendigo yourself at Flora Hill with a friend, and you had had periods also living with your mother.  Your residence in Maryborough was a ministry residence, which you were required to leave, because of the ongoing issues with the Rosendales and you have not been able to source accommodation since then.

21Healthwise, I am told that in 2013, you had a pushbike accident and broke your hip and because of that, you have struggled to work on a full-time basis since, because you find it difficult to stand up for long periods of time.

22Your counsel, Mr Rolfe, told me that you have had problems with alcohol since your teenage years and that your prior convictions have often stimmed from your excessive drinking.  It seems as though you were drinking on the day of this incident as well.  You have in recent times been receiving a Newstart benefit.

23Now, in terms of sentencing principles, general deterrence and just punishment are both important, but in your case, having regard to your repetitive assault offending, specific deterrence is also significant.  I need to try and impress on you again that if you continue to assault people, you will receive sentences of imprisonment.

24As far as I can tell from your priors, the sentence I impose today will be the longest period of imprisonment you have thus far received.

25I need also to take into account the time that has passed since this incident.  This occurred in September of 2023.  So, over two years ago. The reason for that is that your charges were bound up with those against your son Jason and his charges necessarily required a trial.  In the end, the charge that you faced could have been dealt with in the Magistrates' Court and if that had happened, this case would have been disposed of some time ago and you would probably have already served whatever punishment the magistrate required you to serve.

26So, delay is a matter I do need to take into account and the loss of the opportunity for summary jurisdiction.  I do not regard you as a candidate for a community correction order at your age and having regard to your significant criminal record.

27On the other hand, the maximum penalty for this is five years and it could have been dealt with in the Magistrates' Court and I am inclined to the view that I can impose a straight sentence without a non-parole period, but a sentence which will be the longest period of imprisonment you will have served, as I read the prior convictions.  So that is what I have decided to do in this matter.

28I must have some regard to your rehabilitation.  Mr Rolfe submitted that perhaps a period of imprisonment in which you are separated from alcohol might be a circuit breaker and that when you get out from the period that I will impose, you will be in a better position to lead a life where you do not get drunk all the time and commit offences as a result.

29You are now 54 years old.  It is really going to be a matter for you, whether you have the wherewithal to address your alcohol problems.  If you do not, it seems to me highly likely you will reoffend and you will be back before the courts and no doubt you will receive further sentences of imprisonment, if that is the way it goes, but it is up to you.

30You need to stop drinking.  If you can do that, your prospects of rehabilitation would improve considerably.  In the end, what I decided to do is impose a straight sentence of imprisonment.  I do not have any doubt that given all the matters I have referred to, that is justified in this case.

31I have imposed the minimum period I believe is reasonable in the circumstances of the offence and the sentence I impose is that you are convicted and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of 10 months for this offence of recklessly causing injury.  What is the PSD today?

32MR ROLFE:  Seven days, Your Honour.

33HIS HONOUR:  All right.

34MR ROLFE:  Not including today.

35HIS HONOUR: I will allow seven days presentence detention, which will be administratively deducted from the 10 months that I have imposed under s18 of the Sentencing Act.  Do I need to make forfeiture orders?  Did we do that last time?

36MR CORDY:  Yes ‑ ‑ ‑

37HIS HONOUR:  So you want - you want the fishing spear forfeited?

38MR CORDY:  Yes Your Honour.

39HIS HONOUR:  All right.

40MR CORDY:  I'll make sure that a draft order is forwarded to Your Honour's chambers.

41HIS HONOUR:  Yes, yes, all right.  Yes, all right, anything else I need to order, Mr Cordy, or Mr Rolfe?

42MR ROLFE:  Not from my perspective, Your Honour.

43HIS HONOUR:  Mr Cordy?

44MR CORDY:  No, Your Honour, thank you.

45HIS HONOUR:  All right, okay and I'll strike out the alternative summary charges that made their way up to this court.

46MR CORDY:  Yes.

47HIS HONOUR:  I'll do that.

48MR CORDY:  Thank you, Your Honour.

49MR ROLFE:  Thank you, Your Honour.

50HIS HONOUR:  All right, thank you both for your assistance in this matter and I'll now stand down.  Have we got - until 1 o'clock, yes.  Thanks.

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