Director of Public Prosecutions v Saunders
[2013] VCC 1767
•15 November 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ROBERT SAUNDERS |
---
JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Smallwood | |
WHERE HELD: | Latrobe Valley | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 15 November 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Saunders | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 1767 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr G Hayward | |
| For the Accused | Mr S Gardner |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Robert Taylor Saunders, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of culpable driving causing death and three charges of conduct endangering persons. Those crimes carry maximum penalties of 20 years and five years respectively. You have also pleaded guilty to two uplifted charges of driving whilst license suspended which have a maximum of one month imprisonment or a fine. It seems to me in this particular situation fines would be of no use to anybody.
2 You are 20 years of age and were 19 at the time of the offending. You are clearly a young offender and need to be sentenced as such. You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity and have expressed appropriate remorse. Indeed you have done so in this court room under oath today. You must also get the utilitarian benefit of that plea, avoiding trials in situations such as this is really important. It is bad enough as a plea, but as a trial they are extremely distressing for all concerned, and you have avoided that for the families of your victims.
3 Importantly, at the age of 20 you have no prior convictions, and that goes very much in your favour as far as rehabilitation is concerned, this dreadful accident having now occurred.
4 On 9 February of this year, your car, a V8, was impounded. It was a car that you should not have been driving and there is indeed a penalty for doing so. On 12 March 2013 you went and collected the car. As I understand it the car had been impounded for improper use of a motor vehicle and that is a matter for a future court hearing as I understand it. In any event, you got it back on 12 March.
5 On 22 March you commenced drinking at some stage in the early evening and continued to do so throughout the night. You went to various places and CCTV, which I have not seen, but do not need to, has indicated you drinking, stumbling, and appearing intoxicated. At approximately 2 am you were seen with a number of other young people outside a night club in Sale, and the determination was to go to Traralgon. You were on the Traralgon-Maffra Road, which you told police was a road that you often used, in the vicinity of Glengarry. You were driving a motor vehicle you should not have been driving, because it was too powerful. You, I assume, knew that. You had your license suspended and you knew that. You were intoxicated and you knew that. Indeed ultimately it will be shown that your reading around that time was in all probability between .15 and .17.
6 Your car was unroadworthy and you knew that. No one had a seatbelt on, and you knew that. You drove in those circumstances and in that condition. It was a Ute, there were two boys in the back, and there were four of you packed in to the cabin. Going along that road, with you in that condition, you lost control of the vehicle. At that moment in time you were doing at least 169 kilometres an hour. The boys in the back were thrown from the Ute and were both killed. The four of you in the cabin were, remarkably, unhurt. It may have been because you were all packed in so tight, I have got no idea.
7 There has been some talk about the unroadworthiness of the vehicle. Certainly the tyres were in a clearly unsafe mechanical condition and you must have known that.
8 Daniel Michael Marinovic Ache was 22 years of age. He was from Sale. He died.
9 Peter William Clark Apple was 18 years of age. He was from Sale. He also died.
10 When you were interviewed by police you, I accept, endeavoured to do your best and had no memory, effectively, as to what had occurred. You accepted that you had been driving and have worn the consequences since.
11 It is hard to perceive, Mr Saunders, how you could have done much more wrong. It really is. I have dealt with many of these matters over the years. I cannot understand how in a situation such as that, with the car in that condition, knowing you are drunk, you could drive so fast. Country people have got to learn, and I am one of those myself, that you cannot have people in the back of a Ute. You just cannot do it.
12 This clearly is a very serious example of culpable driving. The victim impact statements from the relations of the two young men who died bring home clearly the devastation and the dreadful consequences that actions such as yours cause. Those actions go beyond the young men who lost their lives, it goes to their families, and on reading the material I have got no doubt it has gone to your family. Matters such as this, in an area such as Glengarry or Sale, reverberate throughout the whole community. It is not isolated.
13 It calls, obviously, for the application of general deterrence, to a degree specific deterrence, and denunciation. I am well aware of the principles relating to culpable driving. Yours is a situation where the facts show a high gravity of the offence and your moral culpability, despite your age, has to be regarded as high as well. A gaol sentence is inevitable. You are clearly beyond the parameters of a youth justice order, despite being still under the age of 21. However, I do recommend that the Adult Parole Board consider you for being transferred to youth justice because of the matters that I have outlined. It then becomes a matter for them.
14 I then look to matters personal to you, in terms of determining the appropriate length of the sentence. You, as I have said, are 20 years of age with no priors. So, unfortunately, are a number of young people who come before the courts for this offence. Tendered on your behalf was a report from Dr Aaron Cunningham, a psychologist, who is known to me. Also a CISP bail report from Ms Bell and some references.
15 You were born in Victoria, you grew up around Traralgon, your father was a truck driver, your mother works as a personal carer. You, on any basis, have had a childhood without abuse or trauma. You have strong family and community support here today and those things auger well for you. You left school during Year 10 and took up an apprenticeship. You have worked full time and you have just been made redundant, not long, before this proceeding has taken place. You clearly have a good work ethic and that augers well for the future. Importantly you do not appear to have any illicit substance abuse and that again augers well for the future.
16 You told Dr Aaron Cunningham that you report social use of alcohol. You told the police you can drink up to $200 worth in a night. If you think that is social use Mr Saunders, I think you probably should rethink it.
17 I accept that you have had psychological trauma since this incident occurred. You feel guilt and you try to distract yourself from it. You have been, I have no doubt, depressed but not suicidal. You have been receiving support from a number of areas. Your guilt, I think is clearly apparent, and I take that very much in to account in terms of your own insight.
18 You are of average intelligence, there is nothing psychotic about you, there is nothing abnormal. You have gone through the usual "I have survived and they have died" trauma, and you now come here today to face what the criminal courts must impose as an appropriate sentence.
19 The references that have been provided indicate that you are clearly a good worker and that in the normal course of events you are a sensible and loyal young man. You have done trauma counselling since all this occurred. When you did the CISP bail for a number of months, Ms Bell, who gave sworn evidence on your behalf, said that you had by and large complied and done everything you could. You were under very onerous bail conditions and with one or two minor exceptions you have been able to cope with those. Considering what you have done, in terms of maintaining that position with the bail, you have done well. You would not have been the first young person in this situation to totally toss the towel in, facing what you unfortunately must face.
20 The references also confirm the view that I hold that you have suffered yourself grief and guilt and also point out that you have been involved in community matters.
21 With no priors and no drug use I think the prospects of your rehabilitation should be good. I think that ultimately if you can avoid the use of alcohol the risk of you re-offending should be low. The situation in these matters is, however, this: it was originally in the case of The Queen v Neethling, which I recall quite clearly, said:
"Driving is an adult responsibility. That responsibility involves the necessity to make adult decisions and choices and awareness at a failure to do so will result in the same consequences that apply to mature adults. Those who have the privilege of holding a driver's license must ensure that they make decisions carefully and responsibly, because the failure to do so may have catastrophic consequences, including the death of others."
22 That is exactly what has happened here. So I take in to account your previous good character, I take in to account very much your youth, the support, accommodation that you have upon your ultimate release, and your work ethic.
23 Taking all those matters in to account, I sentence you as follows.
24 On Charge 1, five years.
25 On Charge 2, five years.
26 On Charge 3, six months.
27 On Charge 4, six months.
28 On Charge 5, six months.
29 For the reasons I outlined during discussion I see no reason why 3 to 5 should be cumulative. On each of the drive whilst unlicensed you are imprisoned for a period of one month. I direct that two years and three months of the sentence imposed on Count 2 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed upon Count 1, giving an effective head sentence of seven years and three months.
30 For all those reasons that I have outlined and because of the succinct submissions put on your behalf by your counsel, I think that your prospects of rehabilitation allow the court to impose a minimum term which should be less than might otherwise be the circumstance. I make it very clear to you that I would not be doing this if you had driving prior convictions or anything along those lines. It becomes a matter for you. In any event I direct that you serve a minimum term of four years before becoming eligible for parole.
31 So far as a driver's license is concerned I have discussed this before with counsel, I simply on the two charges of culpable driving disqualify any license that you hold for a period of three years.
32 Just so that you understand the benefits about pleading guilty in these circumstances and expressing your remorse have had, had you not pleaded guilty and had this matter gone before the jury and had you been convicted of these matters I would have sentenced you to be imprisoned for a period of ten years with a minimum of seven. Are there any other orders, gentlemen, that I have to make?
33 MR GARDNER: PSD.
34 HIS HONOUR: Sorry, PSD of three days.
35 MR GARDNER: Yes Your Honour.
36 HIS HONOUR: All right. You will go in to custody now. Just adjourn Johnny.
- - -
0
0
0