Director of Public Prosecutions v Quine

[2015] VCC 1470

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JACOB ANDREW QUINE

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	14 October 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Quine
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 1470

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms C Parkes
For the Offender	Mr C D'Alessandro

HER HONOUR: 

1You can remain seated, Mr Quine, until I tell you to stand.  Jacob Andrew Quine, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of recklessly causing injury; one charge of criminal damage; one charge of aggravated burglary; one charge of intentionally causing serious injury; and one charge of intentionally causing injury.  The facts underlying this offending are as follows.

2The victims in this matter were Shannon Blitz, Richard Davies, and Gareth Sheriff.  They were all persons involved on a volunteer basis in the care and maintenance of the South Gippsland Tourist Rail.  Mr Blitz had been doing this for the past 20 years; he was one of the founding members of the tourist rail.  Mr Davies lived at the Korumburra railway station in his role as a voluntary caretaker with the South Gippsland Tourist Rail, maintaining the old station and assisting other volunteers who operated the trains.  Mr Sheriff, a truck driver with a delivery company, is in a relationship with Sarah Davies, the daughter of Richard Davies.

3The Korumburra railway station was decommissioned in the 1990s by the state government, and about 20 years ago a group of volunteers including Mr Blitz banded together to establish the South Gippsland Tourist Rail, which now has become a tourist attraction in Korumburra.'

4For some months before the offending that must be dealt with by this court you, Mr Quine and a friend, Jack Wood, who was then aged 16, were causing trouble at nights for volunteers who were staying at the station.  As a result, Tourist Rail raised funds to install a CCTV at the station in order to deter trouble makers.  Mr Blitz and Mr Davies had frequently encountered you and Jack Wood after hours, and asked you to leave the station because it was closed.

5On the evening of 28 February 2015 you, Jack Wood, and another person came to the station while Mr Blitz and Mr Davies were there.  You were calling out loudly and appeared to be drunk.  Wood began to kick doors and bash on windows as they entered onto the main platform.  When Mr Blitz and Mr Davies heard the noise, they went to investigate, and politely asked the two of you to leave.

6It should be noted at this time that you two were doing this, you were both on bail in relation to other charges arising out of your trespass at the railway station, and had been charged in relation to that.

7Whilst Mr Blitz was speaking to Wood, Mr Davies noticed two other young men walking onto the platform behind him and went to speak to them.  You then ran round to the main entrance and positioned yourself behind Mr Blitz, and held your jumper up in an effort to cover your face from the CCTV.

8Mr Wood continued to harass Mr Blitz and push him in an intimidating way.  Jack Wood then pushed Mr Davis to the chest, causing him to fall to the ground, and kept pushing him while another boy, apparently his friend, tried to separate them.

9You hovered beside Jack Wood, watching Mr Blitz as he retreated to the entrance gates to call police.  You lowered your jumper from your face and approached Mr Blitz, and as he stepped to one side to allow you to walk past, you punched him to the head with your right fist, causing Mr Blitz to drop to the ground.  You then kicked him to the head four times with your right foot, and during this time told Mr Blitz to hang up his phone.

10Wood then ran through the entrance gate and punched Mr Blitz to the head three times while he was on the ground, and Mr Blitz then ran for cover to a nearby room, locked himself in, and called police.  Mr Davies retreated to his room at the end of the station and remained there with James Terry, a 15-year-old volunteer who saw these events.  Your actions in relation to Shannon Blitz underlie Charge 1 on the indictment, recklessly causing injury.

11You and Wood then charged at the locked door of Davies' room, Wood punching and kicking the door, one of them shattering a glass door panel.  Wood sustained severe lacerations to his right foreleg from the glass, and you picked up a large pot plant from outside and threw it at the window, causing about $500 worth of damage.

12The two of you then left the station before police arrived, and went to the home of Wood's mother Geraldine Wood.  Wood told his mother that Mr Davies had stabbed and slashed him in relation to the injuries on his arm.  Ms Wood then wrapped a tea towel around her son's arm to stop the bleeding, did not call a doctor or police, but drove back to the station.  There she had an argument with Mr Davies, culminating in Mr Davies asking her to leave.  After she had gone, Mr Davies and Mr Sheriff lit the open fire in the fireplace of their room. In the interim Ms Davies’ daughter also came to the station and took Mr Blitz to hospital.

13While Ms Wood was absent, you and Jack Wood decided to arm yourselves and return to the station to have it out with Mr Sheriff and Mr Davies.  When she returned home, the two of you persuaded Ms Wood to take you back to the station in her car, Jack Wood concealing a baseball bat, and you concealing a metal vacuum clear up the sleeves of your jumpers, and you were dropped off about 80 metres away from the station at about 11.30 pm.

14Your actions in relation to the door, both in company and in relation to the pot plant that you threw through the window, underlie Charge 2 on the indictment, criminal damage.

15The two of you went back to the station and ran into the room where Davies was.  You did so with weapons raised above your heads.  Your actions in entering into that room underlie Charge 3 on the indictment, aggravated burglary.

16When Mr Davies saw the two of you with raised weapons, he reached for a wooden stick to try and defend himself, but Jack Wood then hit him to the head with his baseball bat, and you joined in the attack on Mr Davies, hitting him to the legs with the vacuum cleaner pipe, causing him to lose his balance.  The two of you continued to hit Mr Davies on the head with your weapons, causing him to fall to the floor.  Mr Davies raised his left arm to protect himself, and received blows which caused fractures to his left forearm.  As he attempted to get up, Jack Wood struck him to the head with the baseball bat, causing him to fall to the ground, unconscious.

17The question James Terry later told police that he could not bear what he was seeing, and described what he heard as "sickening".  The actions of yourself and Jack Wood in relation to Mr Davies underlie Charge 4 on the indictment, intentionally causing serious injury.

18Mr Sheriff then tried to help Mr Davies, and pleaded with the two of you to stop so he could check that Mr Davies, who was then unconscious, was all right.  But Jack Wood continued to assault Mr Davies with the baseball bat.  The two of you then turned on Mr Sheriff and hit him all over his body with your weapons, causing him injuries to his legs, torso and head.  The two of you only stopped your attacks when you heard Mr Davies' daughter Sarah bringing Mr Blitz back from the hospital, where she had taken him after the first time the two of you went to the station.

19You and Wood disconnected the CCTV hard drive, because you knew it had been recording in the room, and threw it into the burning fireplace, and the two of you ran out of the station carrying your weapons.  Wood threw his baseball bat on the train track, and you threw the vacuum cleaner pole into a garden at the end of the railway station buildings.

20The attack on Mr Sheriff underlies Charge 5 on the indictment, intentionally causing injury to Gareth Sheriff.

21Each of your victims suffered a number of injuries as a result of the attacks that you launched upon them.  Shannon Blitz suffered an abrasion to the scalp, nose, left ear and right cheek.  He had swelling to the nose, bruising to his left forearm, and laceration the left ear, and he was treated at Korumburra Hospital for his injuries, and discharged on the same night.

22Gareth Sheriff suffered a bruised and swollen right eye, and had pain in moving his eye; tenderness to the left side of his jaw and neck; bruising and swelling to the back of his scalp; and large bruising and swelling over both thighs.  He got medical treatment at Leongatha Hospital for his injuries, and was discharged the same night.

23Sarah Davies called 000 when she found her father lying unconscious, and both police and ambulance attended.

24Richard Davies suffered extensive injuries from the assault.  He lost consciousness; he suffered an acquired brain injury caused by the significant blunt force trauma to his skull; he had extensive fracturing of the skull, which required ongoing reconstructive surgery over a long period of time; stitches to the left ear in order to reattach to the skull; stitches to the skull; he suffered loss of hearing to the left ear, which is expected to ultimately improve; bruising and swelling to his upper torso and neck; and a broken left forearm to both the radius and ulna, requiring orthopaedic surgery to mend the breaks; and lacerations to his left leg.

25He was rushed to the Monash Emergency in Clayton by road ambulance, as because of bad weather, the air ambulance could not attend.  On 1 March, he was admitted to Monash Health before being transferred to Dandenong Hospital eleven days later for orthopaedic surgery to his arm.  He was finally discharged from hospital on 13 March 2015.

26You were both arrested in the early hours of the morning of 1 March at Jack Wood's home, and taken to the Wonthaggi police station.

27You cooperated to some extent with police and made partial admissions.  You told them that you were with Jack Wood at the railway station at about 10.30 when the two of you began to argue with Mr Davies, and said that Wood had started fighting with Richard Davies.  You first denied seeing Shannon Blitz, but later admitted to the assault on him, saying you kicked him because he would not hang up the phone, and saying you left the station because you knew you were "fucked", and that you and Wood then returned to Wood's mother's house.

28You told police Geraldine Wood had driven to the railway station to confront Richard Davies with what had happened, and that when she returned she told the two of you that they punched a window, and Jack had not been stabbed as he had told her.  You said that Wood got a baseball bat from his mother's house, and that when they walked into the room, Mr Davies went for a big wooden stick.  You said you hit Mr Davies in the legs with your vacuum cleaner, causing him to fall down to the ground.  These were partial admissions only.

29The device that you threw in the fire was so damaged that the events in relation to Mr Davies and Mr Sheriff were unable to be recorded.

30You also pleaded guilty to a rolled up summary charge of breach of bail conditions, and that is because, as I have said, on 26 February 2015, you were charged with recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault in relation to an earlier incident at the station, and you were released on bail conditions which included 1) that you not attend the Korumburra railway station; 2) that you not contact prosecution witnesses; and 3) that you not commit any offending whilst on bail.

31I now turn to the victim impact statements.  I received a victim impact statement from Sarah Davies, the daughter of Richard Davies, who was the most seriously injured person on that night.  Unsurprisingly, she has suffered a strong emotional reaction to finding her father unconscious, particularly as she had already attended at the railway station after the first incident and had to take Mr Blitz to hospital.

32She is angry and frustrated, fearful for her father; has enormous difficulty sleeping and eating; and has found it extremely difficult to handle situations at work; and overall she has become very secluded.  This is a particularly common reaction to persons who are victims of violent crime.  Their sense of wellbeing and safety in the community is enormously compromised, and it is entirely unsurprising that Ms Davies has responded in this way.

33She said,

"Socialising outside my home is non-existent, as I do not know who to trust and cannot deal with attention, questions and judgments." 

34She is scared of being alone in her workplace, and she feels that she requires counselling.  In her aims for the future - and this is something that is very much to her credit, she states,

"I would like to get my stuff sorted and somehow forgive the offenders for their sanity and my sanity."

35In his victim impact statement, which I must say was a remarkably restrained victim impact statement, given how much damage he suffered, Mr Davies notes that he is extremely cautious when he leaves the home; feels very angry; he says,

"We tried to give them a lot of chances to behave themselves". 

36He said he often has nightmares about being chased by people; he has less sleep; he has constant worry and fear; he cannot drive; he has no energy due to sustained injuries; and mentally and physically only has use of one arm, and has no appetite.

37He has staples in his arms.  He talked about the very extensive injuries that he suffered to his skull.  He had fractures to both eye sockets; he had staples on a right side laceration; he had a left eye laceration; he has had a vision loss of 20 per cent in his left eye, and these injuries are ongoing.  He said he cannot do any more of his volunteer work.  He said he needs assistance with showering.  He has enormous mental and physical impairment in just leaving the house to do his ordinary chores.  He is undergoing long term recovery.  There is still concern about his eyesight, the injuries to his head, and to his arm.

38He is unemployed, because he is unable to look for work because of the injuries he suffered.  He has got ongoing medical costs, transport costs.  He had to install security cameras at home, simply to feel safe, and had other financial outlays as a result of your offending, which includes the replacement of his phone.  His glasses were broken.  His keys were stolen, so he had the locks at his house.  You have caused him an enormous amount of damage.

39In the third victim impact statement, Mr Sheriff said that he was emotionally left frustrated and angry,

"That these boys were able to commit this crime after the trouble that they had already caused." 

40He writes of having a sore head, arms, shoulders, back and legs.  He was unable to work at that time he compiled his victim impact statement; he has trouble sleeping; and had stopped seeing his children, because he did not want them to see the injuries that he had suffered.  He lost a week's wages, that is $1,200, and incurred a number of medical expenses.

41And I would like to refer back to other parts of Sarah Davies' victim impact statement, because I neglected to mention what she wrote about the horror that she felt when she saw her father lying unconscious on the ground.  In summary she says,

"I sleep a maximum of five hours a night.  Laying down at night is an effort.  The minute I close my eyes, the scene I saw on that night plays over and over again."

42She said she struggles to eat and is constantly worried for her father and the future, what it would bring.  She was terrified that her father was going to die.

43Now, I hope you realise from these victim impact statement, Mr Quine, just how extraordinarily serious your offending was.  Since this offending, you have been remanded in custody, and you remain in custody to this time.  And indeed, Mr Quine, as I think was made perfectly clear during the plea hearing, it is conceded that nothing else other than a gaol sentence is appropriate in your case.

44You are 19 years of age.  You had a fairly difficult history.  You are the only child born to your parents, who then separated when you were very young and both re-partnered, each then having two more children each.

45I made the comment during the plea hearing that it seems to me that you somehow got lost in terms of parental attention when you were growing up, largely because each parent then became involved in a new relationship and in raising more children who were somewhat younger than you.  You essentially grew up with your mother, but had very little contact with your father for many years, even though he lived in Korumburra.  It appears that he had some difficulties with alcohol for a number of years.

46I noted at the plea that your mother was not present in court on this most serious occasion, and it was explained to me that she seems to have some sort of mental illness difficulties herself; extreme anxiety, and simply was unable to handle the situation that you are now in, to the point that she could not attend court and support you.

47In a psychological report dated 18 September 2015, forensic psychologist David Ball noted that you described a history of drinking alcohol when you were 14, and describing what he called "patterns of consumption consistent with binge-drinking".  It seems that on this night, you and Wood had become drunk and decided to go back to the station and carry out the violent actions that you did, as some sort of revenge for the fact that you had been previously dealt with in the Magistrates' Court for similar offending at the station.  You also at one stage used up to two grams of cannabis every day.

48You have had very little employment since leaving school in year nine.  It does not seem that you are on Centrelink.  You seem to float between both your mother and your father's houses.  It seems that since you left school for the past three years, you have had minimal employment, and it is interesting to me that a 19-year-old boy would be knocking around with, if you like, a 16-year-old boy, Jack Wood.

49It appears you have far too much time on your hands; that no concerted effort was made to remove you from the lifestyle which you were in, which was basically one of idleness and unemployment, and hanging out with similarly idle youths in the area.

50You have had a difficult time in gaol.  You are a young man.  You have very little in the way of prior criminal history, and it appears that you fall into a category that you usually only see in the Children's Courts, that is, as an immature young person with nothing to do, no proper adult supervision, who began associating with other unemployed, although much younger, people in the area, and that one way in which this group of you all decided you were going to spend your time was by building up some sort of fake war with the volunteers at the railway station.

51I was informed by your counsel that you had previously regarded the railway station as some sort of hangout accommodation or some sort of hangout place for you and your friends to gather, and there was resentment by you over those who were volunteering and caring for the railway station when they told you to clear off.

52At some level, I can regard this offending as offending which arose from extreme immaturity, a lack of proper supervision, even though are 19 and by rights should be far more responsible for yourself, and bearing the hallmarks of an immaturity which I have just described, which could perhaps in some way militate against your moral culpability for what you did.

53However, that is not good enough.  At the end of the day, you are big, strong bloke.  Your attack on the volunteers with Jack Wood at the station was cowardly.  It was extremely violent; extremely dangerous; caused very serious injury to Mr Davies which is ongoing; and was absolutely appalling and lawless.

54A court in sentencing people who commit offending like you has to have regard to a number of things.  I have to have regard to your personal history.  I have to have regard to the fact that at law, you are considered a young offender.  I have to have regard to the fact that there have been deficits or problems with your upbringing, which as I have said was one where both your parents seemed to be more involved with their new families they had formed than with you.  That only goes so far.

55The court also has to have regard for safety of the community, and what you did was incredibly dangerous.  And it also showed a complete contempt for the law.  You had already been charged and taken to Korumburra Magistrates' Court because of the offending that had previously taken place at that very spot in relation to those very people.  You were released on bail; you were given strict instructions about how you were to behave, and the two of you as a pair of hooligans decided you were going to take the law into your own hands, if you like, but not for any particularly noble cause; you were going to launch a revenge attack.

56Those people at the station were there on a volunteer basis.  They were assisting the township.  The Tourist Railway station is a source of income because of tourists to Korumburra.  They had every right to be where they were, and to do what they were doing.  You had absolutely no right to behave in this way.

57Because of the type of offending you engaged in, and because, as I have

said, you were on bail for exactly the same sort of offending, and what you did simply upped the ante, I have to have particular regard to imposing a sentence of imprisonment which sends out a message to the community and to young men like yourself, that this sort of appalling, violent behaviour, hooligan behaviour, will not be tolerated.

58It is my view that what you did was so serious that even though you are young enough to be considered for a youth training centre disposition, this is not appropriate in this case.  In my view, you are too old and this is simply too violent.

59Your time in gaol, as I said, has been difficult.  You have had no visits.  Your father has got an older criminal history, and that has meant that he has not been allowed to visit you.  Your mother has been unable to visit you.  And indeed, you were being held at the Melbourne Remand Centre at the time of the riots, as a result of which, you were placed in your lockdown, and the time you have spent in gaol, particularly for someone who has never been to gaol before and is young, has been extremely difficult.

60On the plea your father indicated that he is confident that when you are released from prison he can get you work at the place of his employment and it appears that this whole offending incident has been quite a wake up call to him in terms of the supervision and attention that you need. 

61Ordinarily if you were not a young man, if you had a more extensive prior criminal history and if there weren't the sort of personal circumstances in your background, I would be looking at a lengthy term of imprisonment.  I would be looking at a term of imprisonment something in the region of five years with a minimum of three years to serve or perhaps more.  However, because of your age, rehabilitation has a more important role to play, the law says, in the sentencing process before me. 

62In my view, the community would not be well served by my imposing upon you the sort of sentence of imprisonment that I have just discussed.  You have got the rest of your life to lead - most of your life still lies ahead of you.  Leaving you in a gaol situation where you are subjected to the influence of older, more hardened criminals is not going to help you.  There has to be a sentence of imprisonment because you have to be punished for what you did and the court has to denounce your appalling behaviour.  But at the same time the court has to have regard for your future. 

63I have therefore decided that it is appropriate in all the circumstances that I deal with you by way of a combination, that is, a sentence of imprisonment to be immediately served, upon which you will be released into a community corrections order. 

64That will ensure that even when you are released in the community you are attending in relation to programs which will help rehabilitate you.  It will mean you are still under supervision and it's important that you remember when you are released that you will still be on a community corrections order and if you disobey any of the conditions which attach to the community corrections order, you will be brought back in front of me on a breach of that order and I will resentence you in relation to these original charges. 

65So you are at danger of receiving a further sentence for this offending if you do not abide by the conditions of the community corrections order.  Do you understand what I am saying? 

66OFFENDER:  Yes. 

67HER HONOUR:  All right.  Very well.  Could you stand up please.  I propose to impose an aggregate sentence in relation to the offending.  All the offending arose from the one incident.  It all happened within a space of a few hours and in my view therefore falls precisely into the sort of circumstances where this court can impose an aggregate sentence.  So in relation to all the charges you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment. 

68At the end of the two years I am going to order that you be placed on a community corrections order for a period of three and a half years.  I can only place you on that order if you consent, so I have to tell you what the conditions are, all right, and your counsel will explain this to you. 

69The conditions are that; (1), that once you are placed on the order you must report to the Community Corrections Office within two working days.  So within two days of being released from gaol you must report to the Community Corrections Office.  While you are on the community corrections order you may not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment, either inside or outside Victoria.  What that means is if you commit virtually any offence, if you go into Woolworths and knock off a box of matches, theoretically you can be sent to gaol for that and that would constitute - that would amount to a breach of the community corrections order. 

70Whilst you are on the order you may not leave Victoria without the permission of the Community Corrections Office.  You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections Office.  You must inform the Community Corrections Office of any change of address or employment within 48 hours of that change and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections Office. 

71I am also going to order that whilst you are on that order you must undertake 300 hours of unpaid community work.  You are to be assessed and treated, including testing for alcohol abuse or dependency and you are to undertake offender behaviour programs as directed by the Office of Corrections.  You are to be supervised and I will be monitoring you.  Every six months you will be coming back to court and I will be checking on your progress and I will be receiving a report from the Office of Corrections as to your progress.  Are you prepared to enter this order? 

72OFFENDER:  Yes. 

73HER HONOUR:  Thank you.  What's the pre-sentence detention? 

74MS PARKES:  227 days, Your Honour. 

75HER HONOUR:  I direct that 227 days of the sentence of imprisonment that I have imposed have already been served by way of pre-sentence detention.  All right, sir, have a seat and we will have the paperwork prepared. 

76I'm thinking it would be useful to add a professional opinion given by Mr Ball at the end of his report.  His diagnosis was that at the time that you were offending, he believed you were suffering a severe alcohol and cannabis disorder.  He did not believe you had any personality disorder or psychological disorder.  He stated, "In my view, Mr Quine has matured since his arrest and he has expressed regret.  He clearly has the capacity to rebuild his life.  He accepts that given the nature of his offending a custodial sentence is well within the range.  Should that occur he will be at the younger end of the age group for adult prison and is both vulnerable and impressionable". 

77Mr Ball also stated,

"Essential to his management in the community is support, intensive and structured treatment supervision and monitoring.  The necessity of this treatment cannot be overstated". 

78As I have said, in my view, taking into account your youth and the matters I have referred to and the opinion of Mr Ball, it is my view that the combination sentence that I have imposed is appropriate in all the circumstances.  Am I still required to make a s.6AAA declaration? 

79MS PARKES:  Yes, Your Honour. 

80HER HONOUR:  Even though I put him on a CCO?  I'll do it in any event. 

81MS PARKES:  Yes, Your Honour. 

82HER HONOUR:  Pursuant to s.6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of five and a half years and order you serve a minimum term of three and a half years. 

83I also neglected to refer to when the plea of guilty was entered and I also neglected to mention the victim impact statement of Shannon Blitz, which should be also included.  Mr Blitz refers to having a significantly decreased feeling about his safety and welfare as a volunteer.  He says it has clouded his enthusiasm for remaining as a volunteer, that he is less trusting of other people, he is more wary, he is short tempered and less understanding of other people.  He speaks of the pain, the ongoing pain he suffered as a result of the injuries that he received. 

84He stated that,

"I am hoping that with the great support that I have received and am still receiving from friends, fellow volunteers and family that I can return to the thing I have loved doing for 30 years, being a volunteer at the Heritage Railway". 

85Yes, thank you. 

86MS PARKES:  Your Honour, the matter resolved at committal mention on 25 June and Your Honour, I understand on the last occasion Your Honour signed the 464ZF order and the disposal order but not the compensation order and we have draft orders for Your Honour's signature. 

87HER HONOUR:  Thank you.  I am also going to order that you pay compensation to the South Gippsland Tourist Railway of $275. 

88All right, and we have the first date for judicial monitoring for you, sir, for when you are out of gaol, which will be 14 April 2017.  Because you have now been sentenced, Mr Quine, you will be removed from the MRC and you will be placed in the prison itself and hopefully you will make your way into the youth unit.  Have a go at getting to that if you possibly can, all right?  See if you can do some courses there, see if you can do something that will equip you to work when you get out, all right?  This is a very very bad start to your early life and you need to have a think about why it occurred and what you can do about it.  All right.  We will get you to sign the order.  Thank you. 

89MR D'ALESSANDRO:  Permission to approach the prisoner, Your Honour. 

90HER HONOUR:  Yes, certainly. 

91MR D'ALESSANDRO:  Thank you. 

92HER HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  All right. 

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