Director of Public Prosecutions v Rodger

[2018] VCC 387

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-17-02511

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BOHDAN RODGER

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:	28 March 2018
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 March 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Rodger
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 387

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms N. Burnett	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr D. Gray	CDA Lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1Bohdan Rodger, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice and one charge of persistently contravening a family violence protection order.  Those crimes carry maximum penalties of 25 years and five years respectively.

2In this particular situation, the breach is the conduct which gives rise to the attempt to pervert, so the matters will be treated concurrently in any event.

3A summary of the offending, again, in short compass.  In April 2017, an intervention order was issued against you for offending which occurred as I understand it in around about March.  You were remanded in custody and between 21 April and early May, you contacted a number of people by telephone to endeavour to get your then and now, as I understand it, partner to change her story about what had occurred.

4In fact it was matters relating to family violence, I am now informed that in fact she had not made a statement at all and the matters had been brought up by somebody else. In a sense there was nothing to charge.

5Nevertheless those phone calls were intercepted and they give rise to the offence of attempt to pervert and that you were endeavouring to get an outcome that may well have not been in the interests of justice.  This is clearly in my view at the lower end of attempt to pervert. It may not have ever been made out. There were no threats in the phone calls at all.

6They are always difficult, these situations, the court intervening in something which it is quite clear, that there is a significant history between you and your partner going back some years.  There have been prior court appearances.  You have had CCO's for violence towards her and now you have had gaol for violence towards her.  If that occurs again, well obviously I will be incarcerating you too.

7You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity.  Remorse is problematic in this situation but you clearly must get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.

8Back in September 2017 you were sentenced to 12 months imprisonment in the Magistrates' Court for the offending for which you were endeavouring to interfere with this offending.  I have no doubt that had this matter come on in the Magistrates' Court back then when it, potentially at least could have, that it would have made very little or any difference to the 12 months that the Magistrate composed.

9Accordingly I now have to sentence somebody who has been in gaol for 12 months.  So totality becomes an important aspect of it. 

10You have not been incarcerated previously and I am sure the 12 months has been a salutary lesson to you.  You have lost something in the order of six months insofar as lost opportunity for concurrency is concerned and that is another factor which I take into account in determining whether an active custodial sentence is appropriate.

11So far as your personal circumstances are concerned, you are 38, you do have significant and in a couple of cases, very significant prior matters.  You do have work available to you on your release which will be on Sunday of next week as I understand it.  I take that into account.

12Your partner of the matters for which you were sentenced for 12 months and the person you endeavoured to persuade in so far these matters are concerned has come to court today in support of you.  That is her decision and I am not going to take that any further.  Clearly you do have a stable environment, on the face of it at least, to be released into.

13The prospects of your rehabilitation are really up to you and the risk of you reoffending in this would appear to me to be quite significant, but you have just done a year.  I am making it very clear to you that I am going to impose a community corrections order and if you breach it for reasons of family violence, I will lock you up; it is as simple as that.

14Accordingly the community corrections order is with conviction which is a punishment in itself.  I will give him, in this scenario, 150 hours.  It will be over two years.  I make no other orders.  Once the 150 hours is done, the CCO will conclude.

15MR GRAY:  As Your Honour pleases.

16MS BURNETT:  As Your Honour pleases.

17HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Where is he going to live?

18MR GRAY:  He will be living - I will need the nearest ‑ ‑ ‑

19HIS HONOUR:  You have got something to organise ‑ ‑ ‑

20MR GRAY:  I just need the nearest Corrections office.  I will find out, Your Honour.  In Morwell.

21HIS HONOUR:  Morwell.

22MR GRAY:  Thank you.  He will not be living with ‑ ‑ ‑

23HIS HONOUR:  Well, yes.  I am assuming the intervention order has lapsed anyway, has it?  It lapsed in December. 

24MR GRAY:  I do not know, with respect, Your Honour.

25HIS HONOUR:  It was a 12 month that was given in March, was it?  No, still got a couple of months to go.  Subject to this, obviously it is important, upon his immediate release too, which I have not mentioned, I will revise it, tack a couple of things in.  That is the gist of it.  All right.  So it is a CCO, you need to report within a couple of days.  It is Monday, Tuesday next week when you are released.

26I just make it really clear to you, that if you breach it by not doing the hours, that is one thing, but if you breach it by offending like this, I will be locking you up, no questions asked, all right? 

27All right, yes, thanks for that.  Yes, he can go now, thank you.  Thank you
Mr Gray and Ms Burnett.

28MR GRAY:  Thank you, Your Honour.

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