Director of Public Prosecutions v Radcliff

[2022] VCC 827

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 21-00846

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JAMES RADCLIFF

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE WILMOTH
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	6 June 2022, 8 June 2022
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 June 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Radcliff
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 827

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject: Criminal Law - sentence

Catchwords: Pleaded guilty to one charge theft of motor vehicle, one summary charge of using fraudulent registration plates –  dysfunctional  childhood -  remorse and insight into offending -  drug use - 2 years on remand. 

Cases Cited: Verdins v R [2007] VSCA 102

Sentence:  13  months imprisonment – 393 days pre sentence detention

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms A. Peek	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr P. Bloemen	Haines & Polites

HER HONOUR:

1James Radcliff, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of theft of a car and one summary charge of using fraudulent registration plates.  The circumstances of the offending are that you used a stolen car on 16 February 2020 and it was recovered by police on the same day.  The police found your fingerprints on the car and DNA that matched yours was found on the steering wheel.  You had fixed false numberplates to the car.  You were arrested on 17 March 2020 and remanded in custody where you have remained for over two years.  During that time, you served a sentence for other offending and so the pre-sentence time referable to this matter is 393 days or about 13 months.

2You are now aged 28 and you were 26 at the time of the offending.  You already had previous convictions for the same offending, for theft of a car, as well as other offences of dishonesty, consistent with a longstanding dependence on methamphetamine.  You had not been in trouble as an adolescent and many of the features commonly found in cases like this, are absent.  Despite some learning problems at school, which were observed but not treated, you completed an apprenticeship in boiler making and metal fabrication.  You have a fairly solid work history and you are confident that you will be able to find employment when you are released. 

3Some issues concerning unhappiness and dysfunction in your childhood and teenage years at home, were noted by the psychologist Ms Alison Maynard in her report dated 12 November 2019, which was prepared for a bail application at that time.  Ms Maynard's detailed report provided her opinion as to diagnosis for several mental health conditions, which should provide a basis for further investigation and treatment, but that will be a matter for you Mr Radcliff.

4Ms Maynard also noted your remorse about your offending and drug use, indicating a positive approach and insight into your choices in life and your wish to do better in the future.  She stated that you have found every day functioning in prison difficult, and that your mental health issues, which include post-traumatic stress disorder and a generalised anxiety disorder, make prison life more onerous for you than for others.  This enlivens the fifth limb of the Verdins principles and the prosecution takes no issue with that.

5In addition, the Covid pandemic has placed severe restrictions on prison life, restricting visits, requiring prisoners to spend time in their cells, making many courses and programs unavailable.  Your time in custody has been marked by those restrictions and made more difficult by that and I take that into account.  You have pleaded guilty at a late stage, but given the resolution of the indictment, it was entered at the earliest possible stage in the circumstances.  It still has important utilitarian value, as it has avoided the trial and freed up resources which would otherwise be used in the trial.  At this time, when the Covid pandemic has caused an enormous backlog in the courts, that time can be used now for other cases.  Delay is a further factor to be taken into account, in that you have had this matter hanging over your head for a long time. 

6As to your prospects for rehabilitation, Ms Maynard's report notes your remorse and some insight, as I think I mentioned a moment ago, and the capacity to reflect on your behaviour and life choices.  She considers that your risk of reoffending would be reduced by you engaging in treatment and learning strategies to assist you with the type of difficulties which may have led you to offend. 

7Your capacity for work and your good skills are very important in this regard and equally important, is the family support you have been offered, with a home provided by your mother.  Your criminal history did not commence until you were 25, which is relatively late and it can be readily attributed to your drug use, rather than any other type of criminal tendency.  That suggests that your offending may not be a deeply entrenched pattern and that rehabilitation is more readily achievable, dependent almost entirely on your success in dealing with drug abuse.  I can conclude that your chances of rehabilitation are reasonable.

8Finally, there is a high need for general deterrence in a case like this, given that car theft is a very prevalent crime and can lead to significant loss and disruption for people in the community.  The same applies to the fraudulent use of registration plates.  The maximum sentence for car theft is 10 years imprisonment and for the summary charge, it is two months. 

9Mr Radcliff, I sentence you to 13 months imprisonment for Charge 1 on the indictment and to one month's imprisonment for the summary charge, which is to be served concurrently with the first sentence.  That results in a total effective sentence of 13 months.  There will also be an order on your driving licence, that will be cancelled for 12 months, to run concurrently with the existing suspension or cancellation, whichever that might be.

10Were it not for the long period you spent in custody, and the need for the principles of both totality and proportionality to have effect, I would have given careful consideration to a Community Correction Order, in addition to a short period of imprisonment.  That leads me to declare that if you had pleaded not guilty to these charges, I would have sentenced you to two years imprisonment.  Are there any other matters Ms Peek?

11MS PEEK:  No, Your Honour, that's all.

12HER HONOUR:  Thank you.

13MR BLOEMEN:  No, Your Honour.  I think Your Honour indicated the declaration to be made is 393 days pursuant to ‑ ‑ ‑

14HER HONOUR:  So 393 days pre-sentence detention to be reckoned as already served and I will note that on the court record.  Mr Bloemen, a copy of Ms Maynard's report should be made available to Mr Radcliff.

15MR BLOEMEN:  Yes, Your Honour.

16HER HONOUR:  If he does not already have it.  So I wonder if you would make sure that happens?

17MR BLOEMEN:  Yes, Your Honour.

18HER HONOUR:  Thank you. 

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