Director of Public Prosecutions v Sammutt
[2025] VCC 1343
•15 September 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-24-01955
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| WAYNE SAMMUTT |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE HOGAN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF PLEA HEARING: | 6 August 2025 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 15 September 2025 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Sammutt | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 1343 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords: One charge of aggravated burglary and one charge of damaging property – 27-year-old offender with intellectual disability – history of significant anger management and behavioural issues – prior history of violent offending.
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991, Confiscation Act 1997
Cases Cited:Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571, R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269
Sentence: Aggregate sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment and a Community Correction Order
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr P Pickering | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms Naomi Low | Victoria Legal Aid |
HER HONOUR:
1Wayne Sammutt, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment and one charge of intentionally damaging property, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.
2Your offending is detailed in the Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea, being an amended opening dated 5 August 2025.[1]
[1]Exhibit “A”.
3The circumstances of your offending are that you were residing in a block of units, where your victim, Mr Hopman, also resided in a unit. There was one unit in between your respective places of residence. The offending for which I must sentence you occurred on 1 June 2024, however, there was some relevant lead up context to that offending. On 16 April 2024 at 2.00am you knocked on Mr Hopman’s door and were holding an axe in front of your face. He told you to go home and sleep and did not report the matter to police. You left as requested, but, later that day, when Mr Hopman went to your door and spoke to you and asked that you not come to his unit with weapons in the middle of the night, you replied “fuck off you Indian bastard”. About a month later, on 12 May 2024, at 5.45am, Mr Hopman was sitting on his back verandah. You opened the gate and came into the yard, stating “I didn’t come with the axe today”. You walked towards Mr Hopman, who went inside and closed the door. You tried unsuccessfully to open the door. Mr Hopman called 000. Later, at 7.00am you came to Mr Hopman’s front door and knocked, but he did not open the door and, again, called 000 before you left.
4Your offending on Charges 1 and 2 occurred on 1 June 2024 at about 11.10am. Mr Hopman heard a bang and then saw you standing at the window next to his front door. You were holding an axe, which you used to break the flyscreen and, then, the window. You then struck the security door with the axe. Mr Hopman opened the internal wooden door and you told him “I want to kill you”. The axe you were holding fell inside Mr Hopman’s unit and you tried to reach through the broken window to open the door. When you were unsuccessful, you went around the back and used a chair to smash the window and, by this stage, you were holding a hammer.
5Charge 1, aggravated burglary, comprises you entering Mr Hopman’s unit without Mr Hopman’s permission and whilst intending to assault him and being armed with a hammer. You entered his unit and damaged his television with the hammer. Although not part of any charge, in the course of the incident, Mr Hopman’s microwave, toaster, kettle, plates and glasses were also damaged.
6Charge 2, damage to property, involves you intentionally and without lawful excuse damaging two windows of Mr Hopman’s unit, one with an axe and one with a chair, and also damaging his television set with the hammer.
7Mr Hopman fled from his unit and called 000. Police attended and made a number of attempts to have you leave Mr Hopman’s unit. You continued to hold the axe and yelled to police, “your gonna have to come in and fucking get me”, “your gonna have to fucking shoot me dogs”, whilst laughing hysterically. You ultimately opened the front door and said “I’ll come at you guys with the axe”, while holding the axe in your right hand. Police produced a taser and requested that you drop the axe. You retreated into the unit and left through the back door, but were arrested a short time later. The axe and the hammer were found by police inside Mr Hopman’s unit. You were taken to Dandenong Police Station, but, upon being medically examined, were assessed as unfit to be interviewed. The cost of repairs to the windows at Mr Hopman’s unit was $410.30 and to the security door was $242.00.
8You are presently aged 27 years, having been born in June 1998. You come before the Court with a criminal history dating back to 2015 in Melbourne Children's Court. On 3 March 2015, 13 November 2015 and 11 December 2015 you appeared in Children's Courts charged with violent offending comprising a number of different types of assaults, various charges of damaging property, making threats to kill and bail offences. On each of those dates you received a without conviction Good Behaviour Bond.
9Since then, you have been before adult courts for similar violent offending. On 17 December 2018 at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court you were sentenced to 40 days’ imprisonment together with a Community Correction Order of 12 months, which included a Justice Plan and rehabilitative programs. On 16 October 2020 you came before Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court for more similar offending and were sentenced to an aggregate of 90 days’ imprisonment together with a Community Correction Order for 12 months which, again, included rehabilitative treatment and programs and a Justice Plan. On 15 December 2021 you apparently made an application to vary the latter order at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court. The court ordered that the Community Correction Order made on 16 October 2020 be varied and extended it to a period of 18 months, again with rehabilitative conditions as directed by Forensic Intervention Services. On 14 April 2022 you were before Dandenong Magistrates’ Court for contravention of the Community Correction Order made on 15 December 2021. You were convicted and the Order was confirmed for a period of 18 months, again, with rehabilitative treatment and program conditions as directed by Forensic Intervention Services and a Justice Plan.
10In a plea on your behalf by Ms Low, the Court was told that you suffer an intellectual disability within the meaning of the Disability Act 2016. A statement from the Department of Health and Human Services dated 13 December 2018 was tendered to this effect, noting that you have significant sub-average general intellectual functioning and, also, significant deficits in adaptive behaviour, each of which had become manifest before the age of 18 years.[2]
[2]Exhibit “1”.
11Also tendered was a Client Overview Report from the Department of Health and Human Services dated 12 December 2018. It noted that an assessment of your cognitive abilities had been conducted back in March 2010, indicating that your level of functioning fell within the moderate intellectually disabled range.
12The Client Overview Report noted limited numeracy and literacy skills and the need for support to read correspondence and comprehend complex information. It noted difficulty with learning new words, and reduced capacity to process information and the need for additional time when presented with information. Further, it noted difficulty with problem solving and monitoring your own behaviour, particularly when in social situations; some display of inappropriate sexualised behaviour at times; and that you were vulnerable to negative social influences and find it difficult to ascertain when you are being manipulated by others.
13The report noted that you were the youngest of three children and grew up with your mother and two older brothers. Your mother had advised that you had witnessed domestic violence between your parents early in life and that, when you were four years old, you father burnt down the family home and, shortly after, committed suicide. You resided with your mother and two older brothers until January 2014, when your mother was no longer able to manage your aggressive behaviour and relinquished care of you.
14You have experienced significant anger management issues and behavioural issues throughout your life. In January 2014, with the assistance of the police, you were admitted to Casey Hospital and, after discharge, were placed in a residential unit. You attempted to set fire to your room and were unable to control your anger. You damaged property and were arrested, again, later in January 2014, and placed in temporary supportive accommodation. Your concerning behaviour continued and you were referred to Early in Life Mental Health Services (ELMHS), where it was determined that your behaviour and presentation were due to intellectual disability rather than mental health issues.
15You had attended Aspendale Gardens Primary School for two years and were then transferred to Katandra Special School and, later, when your family moved, to Marnebek Special School in Cranbourne. From mid-2013, you engaged in school refusal. Your mother enrolled you at Frankston Developmental School in late 2013, but neither this step nor a return to Marnebek Special School resulted in you re-engaging in education. Apparently, you have not engaged in any education since.
16The Client Overview Report noted that, at that stage, you had a current National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) package in place. It is unclear what support services were provided to you. However, a number of referrals by the then Department of Health and Human Services to different programs appear to have been unsuccessful. You declined to engage with Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Services (DFATS) or any other offending behaviour program. At the date of the report, you were living independently in government housing in Dandenong and self-caring, and your mother was visiting most Sundays.
17At the plea hearing, two reports were tendered by Ms Pamela Matthews, forensic psychologist, respectively dated 1 June 2025 and 22 July 2025.[3] In her first report, Ms Matthews noted that, when she interviewed you on 3 March 2025, you were accompanied by a support worker. She found your thought stream to be disorganised albeit not indicative of a formal thought disorder or psychosis; that your thought stream, language and conceptual understanding were concrete, consistent with your intellectual disability; that your mood state presented as depressed; and that, although you had some insight into your feelings, overall, your insight was limited by your limited cognitive abilities.
[3]Exhibit “3”.
18She noted that the Weschler Intelligence Scales are “aging” scales and applied “the Flynn Calculation”, upon which she estimated your overall IQ to be 56 or lower, placing you at the low end of the mildly intellectually disabled range of ability. On applying neuropsychological sub-tests, she noted that you had a limited short-term memory and were unable to manipulate information stored in short-term memory, that is, working memory. Further assessment revealed general adaptive functioning to be in the 0.1 per centile, conceptual skills to be in the 0.3 per centile, social skills to be in the 0.5 per centile and your practical skills to be in the 0.1 per centile.
19Although Ms Matthews assessed you as being fit to stand trial in the Magistrates’ Court, she thought you would require reassessment if you were to appear in a higher court, and that you would be unfit to plead in a complex trial.
20In her later report dated 22 July 2025, Ms Matthews considered that you were fit to plead in the current matter albeit that this did not imply that you would be fit to plead in any future matters.
21In her first report, Ms Matthews stated that, during your earliest years, you were exposed to adverse role models relating to anger. Thus, you had no template or skills to manage your dysphoric emotions like anger, anxiety and depression, other than through anger and violence. She considered that impairment to your intellectual, cognitive and adaptive abilities are such that you would not acquire mental health, emotional or behavioural skills through insight or “talking therapy”. Rather, she considered that you required behavioural treatment such as the “New me/old me program” and, in particular, treatment and support from Disability Forensic Services.
22Ms Matthews noted that, if you are homeless, as is currently the case, and if your support is unstable, it will be difficult for you to develop new mood and behaviour skills. She thought you would benefit from depot medication, such as Haloperidol, and it would be beneficial if you were examined by a disability psychiatrist. She stated that institutionalisation tends to reduce the skills of those with an intellectual development disorder and, should you spend any time in custody, this would be likely to increase your future burdens and limit your capacity to cope across life skills upon your release.
23In her second report, Ms Matthews reiterated that you have a concrete approach to problem solving. She stated that your executive functioning in such matters as planning, setting priorities and being flexible, as well as your short-term memory, and functional use of academic skills (reading, money management), are impaired. She opined that your intellectual disability severely limits your capacity to problem solve and impairs your capacity to regulate emotions and behaviours in an age-appropriate fashion.
24Ms Matthews noted that you rely on solutions that you learned by repeated examples of emotional and behavioural dysregulation associated with family violence throughout childhood. She considered that your offending behaviour is related to your concrete and restricted problem solving and entrenched learned behaviour. She stated that your presentation in terms of moral development was consistent with someone below the age of 10 years, in that it is driven by concepts of reward and punishment, even though you know from past experience that hurting someone or damaging something is wrong and you will be in trouble for it. She opined that, because punishments often occur many months or years after your behaviour, the lack of connection makes them an ineffective means of behavioural change, as temporality of action and response is very important in effecting behaviour change for intellectually disabled individuals.
25She reiterated her earlier view that you require intensive and on the spot relevant assistance to help you make changes; that talking therapy would not be effective; and that you require both pharmacological and concrete behaviour therapy. She considered that you would benefit from a referral to Disability Forensic Services and an NDIS plan focused upon appropriate accommodation and emotional and behavioural support. She recommended the appointment of a public guardian to manage your housing, financial and therapeutic needs.
26Tendered as Exhibit “4” at the plea hearing was a report from Ms Joana Barry, National Manager of Professional Services for the ONCALL Group Australia. She is your NDIS support coordinator, who apparently took over that role relatively recently. It is not at all clear what had been achieved in the many years since you had been granted an NDIS package. This report provided figures for various aspects of your plan but, worryingly, I note that the $67,560, which relates to assistance with social, economic and community participation, is now largely exhausted. She noted that the plan did not include funding for either Specialist Disability Accommodation (“SDA”) or Supported Independent Living (“SIL”).
27In her report, Ms Barry stated that, in May 2025, your previous NDIS support coordinator had submitted “a Change of Circumstance” to the NDIS, requesting an additional six hours of support worker assistance. She noted that an occupational therapy report had recommended increased support in a variety of areas in terms of social, economic and community participation. However, she stated that, even if an additional six hours per week of assistance were to be approved, that would not assist your situation as far as housing eligibility is concerned. As you would still not meet the criteria for SDA or SIL, you would need to connect with homelessness support services or crisis accommodation providers, and begin applying for public housing.
28Your counsel, Ms Low, argued that your dysfunctional childhood and intellectual disability both reduced your moral culpability for this offending in accordance with the principles of Bugmy v The Queen.[4] The prosecution did not take issue with this proposition. The Court acknowledges that your childhood has been a sad one in which you were exposed to violence and anger during crucial developmental stages, and that the impact of that has been enduring. In this sense, what has been described as the “more specific” expression of the principles in Bugmy has application. In other words, your childhood exposure to violence explains your recourse to violence when frustrated, in that your learned behaviour and the inability to control your impulse for recourse to violence is likely to be substantially reduced. Your cognitive impairment also contributes to this behavioural problem. However, as pointed out in Bugmy’s case, the inability by you to control your violent impulses may increase the importance of protecting the community from you.[5]
[4](2013) 249 CLR 571.
[5]Ibid, page 595, paragraph [44]
29In addition, your counsel submitted that your cognitive impairment contributed causally to the offending and attracted the application of principle 1 in R v Verdins (Verdins),[6] to reduce your moral culpability, and also principle 3, to moderate general deterrence, and principle 4, to moderate specific deterrence. She also submitted, in accordance with what was contained in Ms Matthews’ report, that principle 5 in Verdins had application, given your risk of being manipulated by others. In addition, the application of principle 6, was said to be apposite in the light of Ms Matthews’ opinion that institutionalisation tends to reduce the skills of those with an intellectual disability.
[6](2007) 16 VR 269.
30There is no issue that you have been assessed by Ms Matthews as suffering an intellectual disability in the mild range. However, the analysis as to whether the principles in Verdins should apply is somewhat more complex, given that you seem to have had some form of grievance with your victim (which is not borne out by anything other than your assertion). Also, the context of the lead-up to the offending shows your repeated menacing behaviour towards him.
31In oral submissions, your counsel did not submit that your victim had done anything on the day of offending to trigger your behaviour towards him, although you had given a history that you were sleep-deprived because the victim had somehow been noisy. (I here interpolate that you subsequently gave a history to the authors of an Extended Pre-Sentence Assessment Report for a Community Correction Order that you had not slept in 48 hours because you had been online playing videogames and studying cults and demonology).[7] Ms Low ultimately made an oral submission that “in (your) mind there was a problem to be solved, an issue bothering (you) and, because of your intellectual functioning and learned behaviours, you overreacted”.
[7] Exhibit “D”, page 2.
32It is a somewhat unusual situation. I do note that, in her first report under the heading “Mental State”,[8] Ms Matthews speaks of your thought stream being quite disorganised and concrete. This, together with reported symptoms of nervousness or shaking inside, trouble remembering things and many others, led her to believe that you presented as depressed, and to conclude that, although you had “some insight into (your) feelings, … overall, (your) insight is limited by (your) limited cognitive abilities”. She later concluded that you have “no template or skills to manage (your) dysphoric emotions, for example anger, anxiety and depression, other than anger and violence”.[9]
[8]Part of Exhibit “3”, page 3, paragraphs [17]-[19].
[9]Ibid, page 9, paragraph [61].
33Further, in her second report, Ms Matthews stated that, as a mildly intellectually disabled person you have “a somewhat concrete approach to problems and solutions compared with age mates”. Your level of intellectual disability severely limits your capacity to problem-solve and to regulate your heightened or dysphoric emotions and behaviours in an age-appropriate fashion. Hence, she considered that your offending behaviour was directly related to both your concrete and restricted problem-solving and also the entrenched learned behaviour acquired by examples of violence in childhood.[10]
[10]Part of Exhibit “3”, page 2, paragraphs [a]-[c].
34Viewed in this way, I accept, that principles 1, 3 and 4 of Verdins should be engaged to moderate your moral culpability and the emphasis upon denunciation, general deterrence and specific deterrence. I also accept that principle 5 has application due to the risk of you being manipulated in prison and your likely clashes with others due to your concrete thinking, limited problem-solving skills and difficulty regulating your emotions. However, Ms Matthews’ opinion relating to the application of principle 6 is too generic. There is a huge spectrum in intellectual disability and, in order for this principle to be engaged, there would need to be specific evidence as to which of your skills would “tend” to be reduced by serving a term of imprisonment and in what circumstances and over what time frame.
35Mr Sammutt, your offending against Mr Hopman was very serious. Everyone should have the right to feel safe in his own home and you violated that right in a terrible way. It is plain that you were obsessed with confronting your victim and announced that you wanted to kill him. You tried to violently enter his home by breaking the flyscreen window, and then striking the security door with an axe. When you lost control of the axe as it fell inside Mr Hopman’s unit, you tried to reach into his home to retrieve it. Undeterred by your lack of success, you then went around the back of his home and used a chair to smash a window and, also, had possession of a hammer with which you entered his unit and set about damaging his television set.
36You were in a very heightened state of aggression and agitation, and it took some time for police, whilst you were threatening them with an axe in your hand, to manage to arrest you.
37The deliberate nature of your conduct, violent means of entry and the use of three different items as weapons (axe, hammer and chair), make it easily understandably that your victim must have been terrified in his own home.
38Mr Hopman has made a Victim Impact Statement dated 27 February 2025.[11] He describes how he had lived in his apartment for three or four years and was happy to have his own space where he could cook, and he had a job which he liked. After your offending, he was so scared that he slept in his car for two nights and, then, at his work. He ultimately felt that he was unable to return to his unit because you lived nearby. Your conduct caused him financial damage and psychological harm. His sleep has been affected by reliving what had happened; he suffers headaches and feels unsafe; he does not feel like socialising; and, generally, feels vulnerable. These are all entirely understandable consequences of your irrational, intimidating, violent behaviour.
[11]Exhibit “B”.
39This is a difficult sentencing exercise. On the one hand, you have significant vulnerabilities by way of your traumatic and sad background and an intellectual impairment. On the other hand, since 2015, you have been before the courts for numerous offences of violence involving various assaults, damage to property and making threats to kill.
40Apart from smoking cannabis every couple of weeks,[12] you have no apparent drug or alcohol abuse issues, but short terms of imprisonment and Community Correction Orders in the past, even attaching a Justice Plan, appear not to have made any difference.
[12] History recorded in Disability Overview Report dated 9 September 2025, Exhibit “E”, page 3.
41On the last occasion that you were before a court for contravention of a Community Correction Order by failing to comply with conditions, the contravention report dated 8 March 2022,[13] detailed repeated manipulative, disrespectful, racist and antisocial behaviour. You refused to engage in any meaningful way with supervision; became self-entitled about what time appointments should be held; and, when you felt unaccommodated, threatened to involve the Regional General Manager of Corrections. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you are capable of being manipulative, demanding, threatening and anti-social in your behaviour, and have little insight into the reasons for it and no current obvious strategies to control it.
[13]Exhibit “C”.
42Interestingly, the Contravention Report noted that you had been referred to a Disability Forensic Assessment and Treatment Services program on emotional regulation, which you completed across seven, one-hour sessions. You were reported to have stated that you had good recall of the material covered in the sessions and were able to apply what you had learned to your own life. The author of the report stated “there was a moderate decrease in difficulties with emotion regulation … likely to be indicative of Mr Sammutt’s understanding of the content and increased emotion regulation skills” (I here interpolate that this view is in stark contrast to Ms Matthew’s opinion about your limited insight and difficulty learning and remembering behavioural strategies). The author stated that the program feedback “suggests a good level of insight and content retention”. However, the author noted that, nevertheless, your ongoing behaviour and attitude were poor and resulted in your order being revoked and you being charged with contravening it.
43When the matter came before Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 14 April 2022, you were convicted and the original order was confirmed, namely a Community Correction Order for a period of 18 months.
44According to your counsel, except for the offending for which I must sentence you which was committed on 1 June 2024, you have not offended again. She stated that, also, you had abided by your bail conditions over the last year. However, when I asked why it was that you had managed not to re-offend and what had been supplied for you under your NDIS package, your counsel was unable to identify what factors had been of assistance. Indeed, she stated that an independent support worker, Mr Dan Gardiner, engaged by NDIS, had suggested that there may have been “misuse” of your NDIS funds in the past, albeit not by whom or in what circumstances.
45In all of the circumstances, I considered it appropriate for the matter to be adjourned so that you could undergo an extended pre-sentence assessment for a Community Correction Order. Ms Matthews has stated you are unlikely to improve through insight or “talking therapy” and that you require particular behavioural treatment and support from Disability Forensic Services. Accordingly, I requested that a referral to Disability Forensic Services be considered, along with the formulation of a Justice Plan.
46I remanded you in custody at the conclusion of the plea hearing, noting that you had no stable accommodation, and that Ms Matthews, in her first report, had stated it would be difficult for you to develop new mood and behaviour skills if you were homeless and your support was unstable.[14] As a result of your offending, an Intervention Order had been obtained against you, with your victim named as the affected person. The conditions of this order meant that you were no longer able to reside in your public housing unit where you had been living for some four years prior to your offending. I take into account that the loss of such housing for a person of your vulnerabilities, is a form of extra curial punishment, particularly as your NDIS package does not include support for housing.
[14]First report page 10, paragraph [63].
47The Court has now received an Extended Pre-Sentence Assessment Outcome Report from Dandenong Community Correctional Services dated 1 September 2025.[15] As previously mentioned, the authors stated that you attributed your offending to having had no sleep for 48 hours as you had been playing videogames and studying online about cults and demonology because you were bored and were in a “toxic mood”. They noted that you had never worked and appeared to be socially isolated, claiming you “didn’t want any friends and don’t really care about people”. You appear to have little or no relationship with your mother and two brothers, although claimed to have the support of an aunt, whom you had not seen for some time.
[15] Exhibit “D”.
48You were assessed as having a very high score for “Pro-criminal attitude/orientation” and “Antisocial Pattern” and being at high-risk for generalised reoffending. You have no accommodation, other than a vague plan to “stay with a friend in the Dandenong area” upon release from custody. The authors could not identify any protective factors. Only with “some reservation” did they assess you as suitable for a Community Correction Order. Their reservation related to your previous history of “problematic, misogynistic, entitled, racist attitudes towards support workers, members of the public and case managers” and because you have previously demonstrated violence towards Corrections staff. The authors emphasised the importance of you being linked with appropriate transitional support services, in particular those for housing, prior to being released from custody.
49The Outcome Report recommends conditions of supervision, unpaid community work, a Justice Plan (including additional support and intervention through Disability Justice) and Treatment/Rehabilitation (involving a referral to Forensic Intervention Services).
50The Court has also received a Disability Overview Report from Disability Justice dated 9 September 2025.[16] I note that, contrary to the history you gave to the Office of Corrections, you claim that you have a “good” relationship with your mother (albeit periods of limited or no contact). The report notes a pattern of offending relating to your preferences not being met or difficulty getting on with those around you. Concern was expressed about your NDIS funding having been exhausted, although you claim that your independent support worker, Dan, helped you engage with “meaningful activities” (unspecified) and to explore accommodation options (not elaborated upon). The authors of the report also provided a Justice Plan dated 9 September 2025.[17]
[16] Exhibit “E”.
[17] Exhibit “F”.
51The Justice Plan envisages that you engage with a Disability Justice Co-ordinator from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing for the duration of any Community Correction Order. It proposes that you be referred to Forensic Disability Client Services (FDCS), which can provide a number of specific rehabilitative programs appropriate to your level of cognitive functioning. Mr Sammut, you may recall having attended a number of sessions of an Emotional Regulation Skills program when you were on a Justice Plan back in 2020 prior to the program being suspended due to restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is one of a number of programs which would be tailored to assist you.
52Subsequent to the receipt of the recent reports, your counsel, Ms Low, filed further plea submissions on your behalf dated 11 September 2025.[18] The nub of the submissions is that there should be no unpaid community work condition to any Community Correction Order which, is a punitive condition, “would be excessive and undesirable”. She refers, particularly, to your “vulnerability to negative social influences” in a group setting. She submitted that the conditions should be only therapeutic.
[18] MFI-2.
53In response to those submissions, Mr Pickering of counsel filed further submissions on behalf of the prosecution.[19] He points out that there is no material before the court suggesting that you have any impediment to undertaking community work and, indeed, you had told the authors of the report that you intended to resume work as a “pick packer”. He submitted that the gravity of this offending and your breach of your last Community Correction Order on 14 April 2022 make an order with therapeutic and community work conditions appropriate as part of a combination sentence of imprisonment and a Community Correction Order.
[19] MFI-B.
54I agree with the prosecution submissions. They accord with the material before the Court. It is apparent from such material that part of your problem in the past has been your isolation and boredom. This, on your own admission, has led you to spend lengthy periods online engaging with anti-social cults. Racist attitudes towards your victim were apparent in the lead-up to this offending and, also, featured in the Contravention Report dated 8 March 2022.[20] Despite having been on an NDIS support package for some years, not one pro-social activity has been mentioned as having been achieved by you, yet your fund of money is almost exhausted. You have expressed a wish to work. It seems to me highly desirable that you should do so and that you start by giving back something to the community by way of unpaid community work. Also, it will help give you the discipline and focus of turning up at a specified time to do a particular task in the context of an order that will have as one of its goals to assist your employability.
[20] Exhibit “C”.
55In determining your sentence, it must be borne in mind that the aggravated burglary committed by you was a serious confrontational one, involving weapons, property damage and a threat to kill, and came on top of prior confrontations to the same victim. It was somewhat protracted and it took some time for police to bring your presence in the victim’s house to an end. It is beyond mid-range in its objective seriousness, including the impact on your victim. The maximum penalty for this offence is 25 years’ imprisonment. Although I have found that your moral culpability is reduced, it is not eliminated. The same applies to the principles of denunciation, general deterrence and specific deterrence. They still have a role to play. What is particularly concerning is your lack of insight and, hence, protection of the community is a very important consideration in the sentencing process. You need to be made aware that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated and it will be punished.
56Due to your particular circumstances, the sentence of imprisonment which I intend to impose is very modest compared to the objective gravity of your offending. In my view, you should spend some further time in custody before being released. You will not have access to online hate cults there. Nor will you be using cannabis. Although you claim to use cannabis only about once per fortnight, that is not something which is likely to assist your impaired cognition and may make it worse. Both of these factors need to be seriously monitored upon your release. At present, I consider your prospects of rehabilitation to be poor, particularly because of your lack of insight into your offending behaviour.
57It is imperative that some structured supports be in place for your transition back into the community. The authors of the Disability Overview Report have stated that the assessment and transition coordinator at Melbourne Remand Centre can undertake an assessment to determine if you are eligible for post-release supports.[21] This takes time, as does applying for public housing and putting other services in place whether with Disability Justice or the NDIS. For you to be released to “live with a friend” (unspecified) or to reside in a motel is totally unsatisfactory and potentially putting the community at risk. In my view, unless a rigidly structured rehabilitation program, including the discipline of unpaid community work, is implemented and complied with by you, I fear that you will go off the rails very quickly and be an ongoing menace to society. What that means, Mr Sammutt, is that, if you do not do your best to fulfil the obligations of this sentence, you are likely to find yourself in more trouble and back in prison for longer and longer periods and your life will be a wasted one.
[21] Exhibit “E”, page 3.
58On Charges 1 and 2, you are convicted and sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment and also ordered to undertake a Community Correction Order for a period of two years.
59The terms attached to the Community Correction Order are as follows:
(a) you must not commit, whether in or outside Victoria, during the period of the order, an offence punishable by imprisonment
(b) you must comply with any obligations or requirements prescribed by the regulations
(c) you must report to and receive visits from the Secretary during the period of the order
(d) you must report to the Community Correction Centre specified in the order within two clear working days after the order coming into force
(e) you must notify the Secretary of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after the change
(f) you must not leave Victoria except with the permission, either generally or in relation to a particular case, of the Secretary
(g) you must comply with any direction given by the Secretary that is necessary for the Secretary to give to ensure that you comply with the order.
60In addition to the standard terms, the following conditions apply to the order:
(a) You must be supervised, monitored and managed as directed by the Secretary throughout the term of the order
(b) You must undergo assessment and treatment for rehabilitation relating to your intellectual disability, emotional dysregulation and reasons for offending and, in particular, cooperate with a referral to Forensic Intervention Services or any other organisation for this purpose
(c) You must perform 150 hours of unpaid community work over the term of the order
(d) You must participate in the services specified in the Justice Plan dated 9 September 2025 over the term of the order.
61I direct that 50 hours of any treatment or rehabilitation undertaken by you during the term of the order be credited towards the hours of unpaid community work required to be performed by you under this order.
62I declare a period of presentence detention of 44 days to be reckoned as timed served under the sentence imposed today.
Mr Sammutt, you must understand that I cannot make a Community Correction Order unless you consent to it, bearing in mind that it will commence upon your release from custody after serving the sentence of 6 months imprisonment. Are you prepared to consent to such an order?
OFFENDER: Yes.
HER HONOUR: Mr Sammutt, you must also understand that in the event that you contravene the Community Correction Order, unless you have a reasonable excuse, that, in itself, is an offence which is punishable by three months’ imprisonment. Should that occur, it is likely that you will be returned to the court and face the risk that the Community Correction Order will be set aside and, instead, you will be sentenced to a term of further imprisonment. Do you understand that?
OFFENDER: Yes.
HER HONOUR: Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 I state that, had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the total effective sentence imposed would have been 30 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 months.
HER HONOUR: Upon conviction for more than one Schedule 1 offence, namely, aggravated burglary and intentionally damaging property, the court orders pursuant to s 34(1) of the Confiscation Act 1997 that the property referred to in the Schedule be forfeited to the Minister. This relates to one small handle hatchet and one orange claw hammer.
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