Director of Public Prosecutions v Pratt, Paul Robert

[2013] VCC 231

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

CR-12-02258

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

PAUL ROBERT PRATT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE PUNSHON
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	19 March 2013
DATE OF SENTENCE:	19 March 2013
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Pratt, Paul Robert
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2013] VCC 231

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  Armed Robbery
Catchwords:            
Legislation Cited:    
Cases Cited:            
Sentence:                4 years and 6 months with 3 year non-parole period

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Ms M. Zammit	OPP
For the Accused	Ms Y. Pratt	VLA

HIS HONOUR:

1       Paul Robert Pratt, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of armed robbery.

2       The circumstances of the offending, which occurred in the early hours of 24 July 2012, were opened by the prosecutor, Ms Zammit.  You used a knife to threaten a cashier at a 7-Eleven convenience store in North Melbourne. Your partner Ms Kirkham was with you at the time however, you told police she was not party to the armed robbery.  She was subsequently charged with receiving stolen goods being money obtained by you.  You held the knife against the victims right arm and demanded ‘fifties, twenties, tens and fives’.  You obtained $330. You told police the money was to pay for an ultrasound for Ms Kirkham, who was pregnant, albeit not to you.  The offending was captured on CCTV and this led to your arrest in September.  There was another person present in the store at the time of the crime but it is not clear to me that he was aware of what occurred.

3       There is no victim impact statement but the victim’s statement to police makes it clear that he was fearful as one would expect.

4       When arrested you made admissions.  You said you had done “somethin’ stupid”, that it was not planned and you did not know why you did it.  You attributed your conduct to Prozac and alcohol.  Your counsel told me you and your partner had been taking ‘ice’.

5       You pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and must benefit from this.  I accept that your plea also reflects remorse.

6       I will make the Compensation and Disposal Orders sought to which, to your credit, you consented.

7       You are 41 years old and have a criminal history dating from 1989.  Your history includes dishonesty and violent offending and two prior appearances are of particular importance.  In 1994 you were sentenced to 6 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4 years for intentionally causing serious injury.  In 2009 you were sentenced to 3 years imprisonment with 30 months of this sentence being suspended for 3 years for armed robbery, recklessly causing injury, intentionally threatening serious injury, common law assault and theft.

8       Your counsel, Ms Pratt, who is of course no relation, tendered material which had been tendered in the 2009 hearing.  It consisted of a letter from the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, a brief report from Eastern Health, and a psychological report from Warren Simmons.

9       Your counsel sketched your background emphasising mistreatment by your mother, who seems to have suffered manic depression, your limited education, the death of a sister from a drug overdose, and a serious motor vehicle accident in 1990 which set you back.  You had an unhappy and deprived childhood, although you were well fed, and you have no current family support.  You have had a variety of jobs.

10      You have three children aged 11, 10 and 7.  Their mother and your former partner of 11 years suffers schizophrenia and you have had a close relationship with your children until the months leading up to the current offending.  Indeed, at times you have been the primary carer.

11      Your counsel told me that your prior criminal history was drug related.  She noted that you seem to have made commendable progress after being sentenced leniently by Judge Rizkalla, of this court, in 2009.  However, in about March 2012 you formed a relationship with Ms Kirkham, who had been recently released from prison and both of you abused drugs.  You ceased taking your heroin substitute, buprenorphine, which you had been receiving for the previous 2½ years.  There seems to have been a spate of offending, involving both of you, in the middle part of 2012.  There are summary charges pending in the Magistrates' Court to be heard soon.  You were arrested on summary matters in early September and released on supervised bail but soon arrested on the current matter and returned to prison.

12      You only have limited contact with your children at the moment and are keen to have them visit so that you can play a part in their development at this crucial stage in their lives.  I accept that you are motivated to do as well as possible in prison to achieve this objective and that your relationship with your children is likely to be a positive influence on your rehabilitation.  Despite your criminal history I accept that you have shown that you are capable of rehabilitative progress.  The key, as so often, is for you to remain drug and alcohol free.  Judge Rizkalla was optimistic about your rehabilitation prospects.  Despite the fact that you did well for some years, you have a long history of poly drug abuse and your counsel conceded that it will not be easy for you to remain substance free.  You are currently being prescribed Prozac in custody.  You have a long history of anxiety and panic disorder which have been treated by antidepressant medication.

13      The prosecution relied upon the fact that past experience made you aware of the deleterious influence of drugs and alcohol on your conduct.  Your counsel conceded this.  Additionally, the offending for which you were sentenced by Judge Rizkalla included the use of a knife to threaten your victims, one of whom actually sustained a cut when she tried to grab the knife.

14      The prosecution submitted that you should be sentenced to between 4 and 6 years imprisonment and that a non-parole period of between 3 and 4 years was appropriate.  Your counsel put no argument in opposition.

15      In all the circumstances you will be convicted and sentenced to 4 years and 6 months imprisonment.

16      I fix 3 years as the period you must serve before being eligible for release on parole.  I fix this period with a view to encouraging you to once again commit yourself to rehabilitation in prison and on release with focus on your current determination to play a positive role in your children’s development.

17      I declare that you have served 188 days pre-sentence detention and that this period is to be reckoned as time already served under the sentence I have imposed.

18      Had you not pleaded guilty I expect I would have sentenced you to about 6 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of about 4 years and 6 months.

19      Thanks Mr Pratt, you can sit down.

20      Is there anything I've overlooked or got wrong that counsel can identify?  Ms Zammit?

21      MS ZAMMIT:  No, Your Honour.

22      HIS HONOUR:  I've signed those orders so I'll hand them down to you Ms Zammit.  I'll leave the Bench, thank you.

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