Director of Public Prosecutions v Scarpaci
[2019] VCC 2212
•19 December 2019
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-19-01671
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ANGELA SCARPACI |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 19 December 2019 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 19 December 2019 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Scarpaci | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 2212 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr P. Pickering | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms E. Clark | James Dowsley & Associates |
HER HONOUR:
1 Angela Scarpaci, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of conspiracy to attempt to pervert the course of justice and one charge of perjury. The facts underlying your offending are as follows.
2
In early July 2017, you began a full-time role as an Electorate Officer with the Victorian Parliament, reporting to the member of the Legislative Council for the Western Metropolitan Region, Mr Khalil Eideh. Before working in a
full-time capacity, you worked at the Cairnlea Electorate Office of Mr Eideh on a casual basis. You were an active Australian Labor Party (“ALP”) member, the secretary of the ALP Deer Park Branch, and a close associate of a
co-offender, Justin Mammarella, the ALP candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Melton for the then upcoming State election.
3 There are three co-accused in this matter. Firstly, Robert Mammarella, now aged seventy, who on 16 March 2007, was appointed Electorate Officer of the Victorian Parliament, reporting to Mr Eideh. Secondly, Justin Mammarella, his son, now aged forty-four, who has spent most of his working life in politics and has been an active member of the ALP at both Federal and State levels. He was President of the ALP Deer Park Branch and served as Mayor of Melton City Council from 2007 to 2012. He was also the Community Liaison Officer for the Federal Member for Calwell. Thirdly, Jeffrey O’Donnell, aged fifty-four, an active member of the ALP for many years. Mr O’Donnell is a close associate of Mr Mammarella and has spent most of his time at the Cairnlea Electorate Office as a volunteer.
4 On 15 November 2007, Justin Mammarella was nominated as a pre-selected ALP candidate for the Legislative Assembly seat of Melton in the then upcoming State election.
5 On 6 September 2017, the ‘Herald-Sun’ published a story about false printing, invoicing and branch-stacking allegations, the focus of the article being FM Printing and the Cairnlea Electoral Office of Mr Eideh. The article made allegations against Robert Mammarella. This prompted the Department of Parliamentary Services Secretary, Peter Lochert, to commission an internal audit which led him to form the suspicion that false invoices may have been submitted for payment to FM Printing by Robert Mammarella. Mr Lochert spoke to Mr Eideh and they agreed to close the Cairnlea Electorate Office during further investigation.
6 On 15 September 2017, Department of Parliamentary Services Security Coordinator, Grant Williams, went to the Cairnlea Electorate Office to change the locks and close the office. Robert Mammarella attended during this time with you and Mr O’Donnell. Mr Williams told you all you could only collect personal items and noticed you had a plastic bag of envelopes, which he instructed you to leave in the office, and you returned them.
7 On 18 September 2017, Robert Mammarella was suspended by Mr Lochert due to misconduct allegations and he was directed not to speak to any other employees of the Parliament about the investigation. On 22 September 2017, you were notified by Mr Lochert that the Cairnlea Electorate Office had been closed temporarily while the misconduct allegations were investigated. You were also told you were not required to attend the office during this period of temporary closure and that you were expected to assist with any investigation initiated by the Department of Parliamentary Services and/or IBAC.
8 On 12 September 2017, IBAC obtained surveillance device warrants for the private home and motor vehicle of Robert Mammarella and, on 18 October, obtained a telecommunication interception warrant for services used by Robert Mammarella. On 19 October, IBAC officers executed a search warrant at the Cairnlea Electorate Office and seized Robert Mammarella’s computer and the main reception desktop, along with a quantity of ALP documents and invoices. During the search, the plastic bag containing three bundles of stamped, addressed envelopes, being a total of 713 envelopes, were located in Mr Eideh’s office and a document entitled “Q and A Justin Mammarella” was also located in the office photocopier.
9 Analysis of the records retrieved from the Cairnlea Electorate Office showed the documents relating to Justin Mammarella’s pre-election campaign were printed from the office printer, and records also indicated a sharp increase in the number of documents printed on the two printers in the electorate office in August 2017, a time when campaigning for pre-selection had been very active. In other words, it was suspected that publicly paid services were being used for private means, that being the pre-election campaign of Justin Mammarella.
10 Inspection of the three bundles of stamped, addressed envelopes showed that the first bundle contained 237 envelopes, and the second and third contained 238 each. The addresses on each envelope were on a printed label, with each bundle containing identical names and addresses, and the second and third bundles containing the same name twice. It was also discovered that each of the names appearing on the envelopes were ALP members of the Melton Branch eligible to vote for nominees for the pre-selection of the Melton Legislative Assembly seat. The process for pre-selecting an ALP candidate involved nominees contacting ALP members to introduce themselves and completing mail-outs leading up to the ALP vote on 15 November 2017. Justin Mammarella was officially selected as the ALP candidate for Melton after two other nominees withdrew before the vote. Therefore, the staff of the Cairnlea Electorate Office were suspected of apportioning public resources, as I have said, that is, stationary and photocopying resources to support the ALP pre-selection campaign on behalf of Justin Mammarella. No charges have ever been laid against any staff member in relation to this allegation.
11 Charge 1, conspiracy to attempt to pervert the course of justice, occurred in the following way. On 1 December 2017, IBAC investigators left a voice message for you to contact them, and immediately after this call, a telephone intercept established that you contacted Robert Mammarella to discuss the message IBAC had left. You then contacted the investigators and arranged to meet them at your home on 8 December 2017. During a further telephone intercept conversation, you immediately contacted Robert Mammarella and told him what you had discussed with the IBAC investigators. On 6 December 2017, a listening device recorded conversation revealed a discussion between Robert and Justin Mammarella and you, where it was detailed what you were going to tell IBAC investigators. On 7 December 2017, another conversation recorded on the listening device revealed that you and Justin Mammarella attended Robert Mammarella’s home to brief him on what a past staff member, Gordana Ostojic, had discussed with IBAC investigators. They also discussed the information you were to provide to IBAC regarding the printing of the DL cards at various festivals, they being standard envelope size promotional brochures used by electorate officers and printed by FM Printing. You and the two Mammarellas discussed about festivals where you had handed out DL cards and you were instructed to highlight these to IBAC. It is alleged these conversations showed that the three of you formed an agreement on that day to deny IBAC a truthful account of events, thus misleading and perverting the investigation into fraudulent activity at the Cairnlea Electorate Office.
12 On 8 December 2017, you met with IBAC investigators and provided them with information that was identical to what had been agreed with the Mammarellas the previous evening. A listening device recorded conversation then revealed that you had attended Robert Mammarella’s home to debrief him on what you had told IBAC investigators, telling him you were intentionally vague on who you handed the DL cards out with, and that you gave IBAC misinformation about the falsification of time sheets about another electoral officer, Sarah Tawil, who you suspected of providing IBAC with information.
13 A conversation recorded on a listening device on 14 December 2017 between the Mammarellas and Mr O’Donnell revealed a plan for Mr O’Donnell to contact IBAC and meet with them to provide misinformation about the investigation, and further conversations recorded on the listening device captured discussions about what Mr O’Donnell was to tell IBAC investigators when he spoke to them. On 2 January 2018, a listening device recorded were conversations revealing that you, Justin Mammarella and Mr O’Donnell met with Robert Mammarella to discuss what Mr O’Donnell should tell IBAC investigators in his meeting with them the next day. You all then discussed providing investigators with misinformation about Ms Tawil, Mr Eideh and his associates to detract from the allegations surrounding Robert Mammarella.
14 On 3 January 2018, Mr O’Donnell did meet with IBAC investigators at their office and provided information on the practices at the Cairnlea Electorate Office and false information that had been discussed with the co-offenders about fabricated allegations against Ms Tawil. He also provided information alleging Mr Eideh’s association with Syria in order to deflect the focus of the investigation.
15 After the meeting with IBAC, there were discussions recorded on listening devices revealing several conversations between Robert Mammarella, Justin Mammarella and Mr O’Donnell regarding the IBAC investigation. During those conversations, a fabricated story was developed between them about the three bundles of stamped, addressed envelopes found in the Cairnlea Electorate Office in October 2017. It was agreed they would all say that the envelopes were a mail-out for an Autism Plus project being conducted in the Melton area. It is alleged that this was fabricated evidence because the stamped, addressed envelopes were Department of Parliamentary Services stationery really to be used in Justin Mammarella’s pre-selection campaign.
16 On 15 January 2018, a conversation was recorded between Robert Mammarella, you and Mr O’Donnell where the fabricated story about the stamped, addressed envelopes was discussed and agreed to once more, with you acknowledging that you knew of the fabrication as Justin Mammarella had already told you. Robert Mammarella also told you that Mr O’Donnell had prepared a fabricated Autism Plus letter to show, if need be.
17 You were served with an IBAC witness summons to attend an IBAC office examination on 19 February 2018, which contained restriction conditions matters specified in the attached confidentiality notice, one of which that you were not allowed to disclose the subject matter of the investigation in relation to which the summons had been issued. On the same day, a conversation was recorded between the Mammarellas and you about the summons, both Mammarellas instructing you about what evidence to provide at the examination in an effort to mislead IBAC, influence your testimony and otherwise pervert the investigation. You agreed. Justin Mammarella was served with an IBAC summons on 6 February 2018 and Mr O’Connell was served with an IBAC summons on 12 February 2018. On 17 February 2018, a conversation was recorded between Robert Mammarella, his wife, Rosalia, and you, where you detailed your concern about the impending IBAC examination and where Robert Mammarella coached you on what you needed to say at the examination.
18 Charge 2 on the indictment, perjury, relates to evidence that you gave at the IBAC hearings. You attended an IBAC examination on 19 February 2018, during which you falsely stated on oath that the stamped envelopes addressed to members of the Melton branch of the ALP were intended to be used for a mail-out relating to Autism Plus, and you also falsely stated that no one other than your family knew you were attending the IBAC examination. On 30 May 2018, you were re-examined at IBAC, and you again falsely stated on oath that the stamped, addressed envelopes were intended to be used for the Cairnlea Electorate Office mail-out relating to Autism Plus, and you also falsely stated that you had not discussed the IBAC investigation with Robert or Justin Mammarella.
19 On 5 June 2018, you were again examined at IBAC and repeated on oath the false statements you made on 19 February and 30 May. You also falsely stated that you had not discussed the IBAC investigation with Mr O’Donnell or Gordana Ostojic.
20 Police sought to interview on 16 November 2018 but you declined to be interviewed.
21 The maximum penalty for conspiracy to attempt to pervert the course of justice is 25 years’ imprisonment. The maximum penalty for perjury is 15 years’ imprisonment. It is clear the charge of perjury is a rolled up charge involving three separate occasions of perjury.
22 The matter proceeded by way of a straight hand-up brief at committal on 20 August 2019, and the matter resolved on 26 September 2019 to a plea. It is accepted your plea of guilty was made at an early stage and no witnesses had been cross-examined as a result. Both Robert and Justin Mammarella are contesting the charges against them in relation to this alleged offending, whilst Mr O’Donnell is pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy and a summary charge of making a false statement.
23 I now turn to your personal circumstances.
24 You are now twenty-eight years of age and have no prior convictions. You are the second youngest of seven children. Your father was a panel beater and painter and your mother undertook home duties. You described a supportive and loving relationship with your mother, but told psychologists, David Ball and Stephen Gault, whose reports were tendered on the plea, that you had a difficult relationship with your father who was a short-tempered, anxious man who had difficulty controlling his temper and was extremely critical. You parents separated when you were ten, which you described as a relief, following arguments between them when occasionally your father was physically violent towards your mother.
25 You were educated at primary and secondary Catholic schools in the western suburbs, completing Years 11 and 12 at Catholic Regional College in Sydenham. You were not particularly interested in school or studying, but had a good group of friends and were generally well behaved. In Years 11 and 12, you undertook the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), at the same time attending Footscray TAFE for 18 months and obtaining a Level III Certificate in Childcare. In 2010, on leaving school, you undertook a Bachelor of Youth Work at Victoria University. While at school, you worked part-time as a sales assistant at women’s clothing store, where you worked for five years on Thursdays, Fridays and weekends, eventually becoming manager and leaving the store when you were nineteen.
26 In 2010, you worked in a voluntary capacity at the Visy Cares Hub in the Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) program, which involved you taking youths to hospital to visit people injured in car accidents, helping clients fill out forms, and providing attendance reports for court.
27 In 2011, as a requirement of your Victoria University studies, you completed a 500 hour internship with Melton City Council, being interviewed for this position by Justin Mammarella. He was then the mayor of Melton City Council. You completed your university studies in 2012, and in 2013, had a number of part-time voluntary positions, including the Visy Cares Hub, and a one day a week attendance at Headspace, which work you undertook for about six months. You worked voluntarily one day a week at the Cairnlea Electoral Office and worked for one and a half days a week as a youth services project coordinator, a position created for you by the Keilor MLA member, Natalie Hutchins. In that year, you also did voluntary work at the Migrant Resource Centre in Footscray, working alongside two co-workers from Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand (“GSANZ”), and then took up a paid position there as a youth engagement worker for newly arrived refugees, which was your first full-time paid employment. You worked at GSANZ for five years in a variety of roles.
28 In July 2017, you began full-time work at the Cairnlea Electoral Office, holding this position for about six weeks until the office was closed by the Department of Parliamentary Services.
29 In 2007, you began your first relationship with a young man, whom you met through friends who in 2009 was involved in a gang fight in which his brother committed a homicide, and for which your boyfriend received a seven-year sentence of imprisonment. You visited him twice a week during this time until he was released in 2015 and came to live with you at your family home. You told Mr Gault this boyfriend was a different person after his release and was abusive and at times violent towards you, and the relationship ended in 2017. You are currently in a relationship with another young man, with whom you had been friends for a number of years, the relationship becoming serious in about May 2018. You described him to Mr Gault as calm and supportive. The two of you purchased a house in June this year and plan to marry next year next year. You suffered a miscarriage in May this year.
30 You told Mr Gault you had always been an anxious person who worried about “everything”, was unsure and under-confident in decision-making, preferring others to make decisions for you. You have attended on about five counsellors for these problems over the years, beginning in your early teens, in particular a counsellor when you were in a relationship with your first boyfriend. You have recently completed 10 sessions with a private psychologist in Cairnlea. You currently take Diazepam daily to manage your anxiety. You do not drink alcohol or use illicit substances, although you smoked cannabis on a regular basis for about 12 months when you were a teenager.
31 You are currently employed delivering home schooling programs for children with behavioural problems and work as a tutor at Victoria University to students with learning disabilities. You are studying a Certificate Level IV in Training and Assessment at Victoria University and your counsel informed me it is your ambition to work in education with children with behavioural difficulties and intellectual disabilities.
32
You met Justin Mammarella when he was Mayor of Melton, interning for him, as I have said and following that, you worked for Ms Hutchins after being introduced to her by Justin Mammarella. Eventually, you were offered
full-time work at the Cairnlea Electorate Office by Justin Mammarella’s father, Robert.
33 The plea hearing in this matter was adjourned in order to obtain more information about your relationship with both Justin and Robert Mammarella. That information was contained in a further psychological report by clinical psychologist, Stephen Gault. You told Mr Gault that you met Justin Mammarella through a high school friend who was studying journalism and who, in an interview with him in his capacity as Mayor of Melton, told him she had a friend, you, who was interested in youth work. She arranged for the two of you to meet. Eventually, as a result of this meeting, you began your internship at Melton City Council where you developed more continuing contact. You told Mr Gault that you found Mr Mammarella charismatic and charming, and you often had lunch with him. He would discuss various community projects with you and talk about personal matters and he invited you and your friend, the journalist student, Ashley, to his family home. You subsequently became friends with Justin Mammarella's wife and children, and told Mr Gault you thought they were the perfect family. The relationship between you and Justin Mammarella's family progressed to the stage where Mrs Mammarella would call you when she was at work, asking you to do things such as go around to the family home to get Mr Mammarella out of bed and ensure he got to a meeting.
34 Between 2011 and 2018, you were constantly in contact with Justin Mammarella speaking to him every day and seeing him two to three times a week. You described him to Mr Gault as your “security blanket” and eventually came to see him as an older brother who was very positive about your ability and who would praise you. You told Mr Gault:
“He made you feel like you were the most special person in the room. Back then, whenever he would say something [positive] to me, I’d say ‘Oh my gosh’ because I couldn’t see it in myself. He made me start to have pride in myself. If he praised something I was wearing I’d want to go out to buy more clothes like the clothes I was wearing.”
You said if you were ever criticised by him that you would try hard to get back into his good books.
35 You told Mr Gault that Mr Mammarella asked you to join the ALP in 2011 or 2012, which you did although you had no interest in politics because “I took his lead on everything". You said he told you it would look good on your resume. You said Mr Mammarella had 300 ALP members at his branch, and if one called about a problem, either you or your girlfriend, Ashley, would take care of it, at times leaving family functions or birthdays to help Mr Mammarella with ALP matters. If you refused on the basis of family commitments, either Mr Mammarella or his daughter would ring saying you were needed and that, on occasion, if you acceded to the request, would discover in fact it was a non-urgent matter such as organising volunteers for a mail-out happening in a few weeks.
36 You said you would never refuse if Mr Mammarella made a direct request for help, and that he would make out as if it were a life and death matter. You said that if you did something wrong Mr Mammarella would ignore you and then make you feel as if you were not worthy to be around him. You said there were a group of about four girls that used to help Mr Mammarella, including yourself and Ashley, another girl, Charmaine, and Gordana. You said the four of you would often be out with him until two or three in the morning, and you were then dependent on him for a lift home. You said that if you ever did something wrong, Mr Mammarella would not invite you to places and you would find out from the other girls who had been invited that you had been left out. You said Mr Mammarella assisted you to get work, such as your original internship, your part-time work at the Cairnlea Electoral Office in 2013, he introduced you to Natalie Hutchins, with whom you worked as a youth service project coordinator, and he introduced you to the Migrant Resource Centre, leading to the job at GSANZ. Finally, he assisted you in getting full-time work at the Cairnlea Electoral Office in 2017, where his father had been working for some years.
37 Along the way, you also formed a close relationship with Robert Mammarella, attending at his house, at family functions, stating that, “he’s a compassionate person, good-hearted. With that family, you don’t get in their way if they’ve got a goal.” You have now severed all contact with the Mammarellas.
38 You told Mr Gault that prior to being interviewed by IBAC, you did not know what it was.
39 At paragraph 44 of Mr Gault’s report, he recounted your version of how you came to go to investigators and to the IBAC inquiry. In essence, you said that before being interviewed by IBAC in December 2017, you did not know what it was and that you were told by Justin Mammarella that there was an internal Parliamentary investigation which was taking place because your girlfriend, Ashley, had provided them with information. You were taken by him to a meeting with his father and his wife, where you were told people from Parliament were coming to speak to you, and you were told what to say.
40 You said that everything the Mammarellas told you was true, but that there were “bits and pieces” added in that were not true. For example, you were told to remember handing out those DL cards when you knew that you had not handed them out. You said that when you questioned what you were to say, the Mammarellas would tell you to listen, but that no one ever told you that this was a lie and that you had to say that. You said Justin Mammarella told you to record your conversation with the two IBAC investigators that came to your home on 8 December, which you did. You said you knew that something was not right, but that you did not ask questions. You said that both Mammarellas made out that the IBAC investigation was nothing and that everything was okay but, as things proceeded, you realised the matter was getting bigger and bigger.
41 You also said that although IBAC investigators kept pressing you about what was going on, you did not have knowledge of the Mammarellas’ criminal behaviour. You said you could not give an exact time when you knew you were being required to lie to IBAC by the Mammarellas but, by the time that you did, it was too late and then you stuck to your story.
42 The situation is of course that you did make contact with Robert Mammarella on 1 December 2017, immediately after IBAC investigators left you a voice message and discussed that message with him. Following your meeting with those investigators on 8 December 2018, you also immediately contacted Robert Mammarella and briefed him on what you had discussed with them. There was a listening device recording of the conversation you had on 6 December 2017 with Robert and Justin Mammarella but, on 7 December 2017, you also participated in a conversation with Justin and Robert Mammarella at Robert Mammarella’s house to brief him on what a past member, Gordana Ostojic, had discussed with IBAC investigators. There was also a discussion about the information you were to provide IBAC regarding the printing of DL cards at various festivals.
43 The prosecution summary notes that you were instructed in that conversation to highlight festivals where they had handed out DL cards. As the summary states, it is alleged by the prosecution that those conversations showed that the three of you formed an agreement on 7 December to deny IBAC a truthful account of events, thus, misleading and perverting the investigation into the alleged fraudulent activity within the Cairnlea Electorate Office. Therein lies your offending in relation to Charge 1 on the indictment. Ultimately, on 8 December 2017, you did provide investigators with information that was identical to what had been agreed with the Mammarellas the previous evening.
44 It was submitted by your counsel and, on the materials provided, it would seem to be the case and I do accept that others did formulate false evidence that you ultimately gave at the IBAC hearings.
45 You told Mr Gault that your primary relationship was with Justin Mammarella rather than his father. Mr Gault’s opinion was that your background revealed the formulation essentially of an anxious person with low self-worth and personal insecurity, who found Justin Mammarella a charismatic person and his family as perfect. Mr Gault said you talked to him about being taken into Mr Mammarella’s confidence, being made to feel a part of his family, being praised, being made to feel worthwhile and of value, and of having little confidence in your own decision making and regularly consulting with Mr Mammarella about everyday decisions in your life.
46 Mr Gault stated:
“She gave an account of being acutely conscious of not wanting to displease Mr Mammarella and attempting to remain in his good graces. From a description of her relationship with Mr Mammarella, there appears to have been an element of emotional manipulation on Mr Mammarella’s part, as a means of maintaining Ms Scarpaci’s cooperation and willingness to assist him with family members and his political operations.
47 He further stated:
“I find it credible that Ms Scarpaci as a dependent and anxious person with low self-esteem could have formed an emotional dependence on Mr Mammarella as a figure of security and authority. There was a difference in age, experience, power status and access to resources which worked to Mr Mammarella’s advantage in the relationship.”
48 It was also Mr Gault’s opinion that the relationship you were in with Mr Mammarella was one where he was invested with a significant level of trust and authority and which entailed "a substantial degree of psychological dependence on Ms Scarpaci’s part”.
49 Ultimately, it was Mr Gault’s view that it would have been “psychologically difficult” for you to refuse to follow the Mammarellas’ directives on giving false testimony to the IBAC stating again that “they were figures of trust and authority which she was in the habit of listening to for guidance and direction”. He noted that by your own admission to him, there was a time when it became clear to you that you were deceiving IBAC and were in a significant degree of trouble, so that there was an element of self-interest in your decision to continue to lie to IBAC.
50 It was Mr Gault’s view that, as a young person with no significant criminal history who did not have an antisocial personality and a good employment record, and who was in a stable relationship that your prospects of rehabilitation were good. He believed the experience you had been through as a result of your offending appears to have been a salutary lesson for you. He noted, and indeed your counsel reiterated, that you have completely severed your connections with the Mammarellas who you no longer trust or see in the same light as you did prior to your offending. Mr Gault said you also expressed that you were extremely ashamed of your offending and the fact that you had put yourself and your family in the current situation.
51 He believed you met the DSM-V criteria for a diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder, you having had troubles with anxiety for many years, and now taking medication for it. He rated the severity of this condition as being moderate rather than severe, as you are currently maintaining a reasonable level of social and occupational function.
52 It was the prosecutor’s submission that I should deal with you by way of a combination sentence, that is by the imposition of a term of imprisonment to be immediately served followed by release onto a Community Correction Order. It was the prosecutor’s submission, and I agree, that the primary principle to which this Court must have regard in the sentencing exercise in cases of this kind is general deterrence. Actions such as yours undermine the operations of an institution set up to protect the community from corrupt activities by, amongst others, persons holding political power. It is a public institution with an important protective community function.
53 The offences to which you have pleaded guilty are serious and, ordinarily, this type of offending would immediately lead to the imposition of a term of imprisonment to be immediately served.
54 The prosecution also correctly, in my view, pointed out that the expressions of remorse which you have made, both to Mr Gault and psychologist, Mr Ball, related more to the situation you now find yourself in with the associated public humiliation and what is for you the terrifying prospect of serving a term of imprisonment, rather than expressions of remorse for the wrongdoing undertaken by you. However, you entered a plea of guilty at an extremely early stage, have saved the community the time and expense of a trial and this is a factor which entitles you to moderation of any sentence.
55 Further, I do accept that the aftermath of your offending, that is your arrest, your being charged, and facing these serious offences, has had an extremely salutary effect upon you. Also, I am satisfied that whilst an active participant in the deceptions practiced upon those involved in the IBAC investigation, you were in a subordinate position to the prime architects, that is the Mammarellas, both by reason of your inferior personal status and considerably younger age. I am also satisfied that Justin Mammarella, in particular, was a person upon whom you had become both personally and professionally dependent over a number of years.
56
I do accept that your difficult relationship with your father had resulted in a generalised anxiety disorder, and reasonably acute feelings of low
self-esteem and self-worth, which then underlay the formation of a then increasingly dependent relationship you formed with Mr Mammarella over a period of almost a decade.
57 I accept you regarded him as a mentor in your life, that you had a level of trust in him and dependence upon him, which yet led you to behave unquestionably in the way you did notwithstanding your growing realisation that what you were being asked to do was not just wrong but seriously wrong. I am satisfied this behaviour was out of character for you.
58 You are a person without prior criminal history. You have a good work history, and I received a wealth of material, both via references from family and friends, as well as documentary evidence of your participation in a large number of programs aimed at assisting underprivileged and disabled youth. You are undertaking study and working, you are now in a relationship with a pro-social and supportive partner, and you continue to enjoy the support of your pro-social family.
59 I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as very good, and it was my personal observation that you indeed found the court proceedings terrifying. As I stated, ordinarily, persons who offend as you did can only expect a stern response from the courts. However, I am satisfied also that the only gain to you in undertaking this uncharacteristic criminal offending was to please Justin Mammarella. It is not suggested that you were engaged in any of that alleged criminal behaviour yourself, apart from the activities involving the IBAC investigation or indeed had any particular knowledge of the alleged criminal behaviour by the Mammarellas.
60 I am satisfied, as I have said, that whilst it could not be advanced on your behalf that you were under duress in any way insofar as the offending is concerned, you did undertake these activities as a result of the long-term dependent relationship you had with your much more powerful and older mentor. I regard these circumstances as being somewhat exceptional.
61 Additionally, I am satisfied you suffer from a psychological condition which would be worsened by your placement in a custodial sentence, so that the sixth limb of Verdins has application in your case.
62 It is my view that a lengthy Community Correction Order would satisfactorily, in your case, answer both the deterrent as well as rehabilitative factors in your case. I have had you assessed for placement on a Community Corrections Order, you have been found suitable and I intend to place you on a Community Corrections Order in relation to both charges.
63 Could you stand up please?
64 Before I can place you on a Community Corrections Order, I must first outline to you the conditions that are attached to the order. They are that you must report to the Community Corrections Office within two working days of the making of this order, that is by Monday of next week.
65 Whilst on the order, you must not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment. You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections Office. You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of this change. You may not leave Victoria without the permission of the Corrections Office and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections Office.
66 You will undertake 250 hours of unpaid community work. You will be placed under supervision. You will attend programs for assessment and treatment for mental health difficulties. Are you prepared to enter this order?
67 OFFENDER: Yes.
68 HER HONOUR: You are extremely fortunate to be placed on this order, Ms Scarpaci, and I have reached this decision only after a degree of anxious consideration. Primarily, as I have said, the relationship with the Mammarellas, your own personal frailties, your youth and your prior criminal history lie primarily behind my decision to make what, as I have said, I regard as exceptional for offending of this kind.
69 Thank you. Have a seat.
70 MR PICKERING: I am sorry, Your Honour. I missed the length of the CCO.
71 HER HONOUR: Two years.
72 MR PICKERING: If Your Honour pleases.
73 HER HONOUR: Actually, sorry. It is two and a half. I am sorry, two and a half years. One for each charge and they are to run concurrently.
74 I know I am not obliged to make a declaration pursuant to s.6AAA but I think in the circumstances its worth you knew, Ms Scarpaci.
75 Had you pleaded not guilty to this offending, I would not have not hesitated to sentence you to a term of imprisonment.
76 Mr Pickering, as I have said, I regard this offending as extremely serious. I do not know that the provision of a DNA sample is something that is required by this offending.
77 MR PICKERING: Well, if I may say, Your Honour, that is always the tension in these matters because on the one hand, one could say this is not the type of offending which would have been solved by a DNA sample or in the future would be solved by a DNA sample but, on the other hand, the other criteria which includes the seriousness of the offending, militate towards it but of course it is a balance.
78 HER HONOUR: Yes. Look, can I say, I am not going to grant the application but that is not to be taken in any way but I do not regard this offending as other than extremely serious.
79 Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
80 Yes. Thank you. That is all I need to attend to, Mr Pickering?
81 MR PICKERING: Yes, Your Honour.
82 HER HONOUR: Nothing else?
83 MS CLARK: Yes, Your Honour.
84 HER HONOUR: Thank you very much.
85 MR PICKERING: Again, Your Honour, my apologies for being late. It is one of those - - -
86 HER HONOUR: You could not help it - - -
87 MR PICKERING: - - - it is one of those days.
88 HER HONOUR: - - - but I set the hearing at a very awkward time so, look, you know, that is to be expected as a busy counsel as I know you are very busy, Mr Pickering, so please it is no problem at all.
89 MR PICKERING: If Your Honour pleases.
90 HER HONOUR: Thank you, Ms Clark. Thank you very much. Yes.
91 Thank you. Before I go, I am probably repeating myself, Ms Scarpaci. Do not put a fingernail out of line on this order. Do you understand?
92 OFFENDER: Yes.
93 HER HONOUR: You are very fortunate to get the - also, the very particular circumstances of your case, this was extremely serious offending and you do not waste this opportunity is my advice to you. I do not expect that you will but you need to bear that very much in mind. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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