Director of Public Prosecutions v Sellick

[2024] VCC 1653

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 24-00591

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

GEORGIA SELLICK

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE HIGHAM
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	17 September 2024
DATE OF SENTENCE:	18 October 2024
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Sellick
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2024] VCC 1653

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:                 Sentence – Theft – Plea of Guilty

Legislation Cited:         Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), s 6AAA

Sentence:  10 months imprisonment & 24 Month Community Corrections Order

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr J. Vassis	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr A. Furstenberg	Doogue & George Lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1Georgia Sellick, you have pleaded guilty to: 3 Rolled up charges of theft (charges 1, 2 and 3) for each of which the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment.

2Exhibit 1 on the Plea was a Summary of Prosecution Opening which set out the agreed facts of your offending. In brief, the circumstances of your offending were as follows.

3The offending occurred during the course of your employment as a bookkeeper for two local businesses over a 30 month period from March 2019 to September 2021 period. The total amount stolen was $261,907.90 broken down as follows:

·        $151,306.85 from JAG Plumbing, owned by Jarrod Gale (Charge 1)

·        $58,978.75 from Campaspe Hydraulics and Engineering owned by Adam Whipp (Charge 2) and

·        $51,622.30 from AW AG Contracting (Charge 3) also owned by Adam Whipp.

4As bookkeeper your duties included paying suppliers, wages, and completing Business Activity Statements. You had access to the owners’ personal and business bank accounts.

5In August 2021, your employment with Campaspe Hydraulics & Engineering and AW AG Contractors was terminated by Mr Whipp, who then employed Sophia Wood as your replacement. On 12 September 2021, Ms Wood discovered an anomaly in the Campaspe account, where regular payments of $1000 had been deposited into an ATO account not associated with Mr Whipp. Upon contacting the ATO, it was confirmed that the money, a total of $23,000 had been deposited into your ATO account, without the knowledge or approval of Mr Whipp (Part of Charge 2).

6On that same day, Ms Wood informed you of the discovery. You apologised and said you would pay the $23,000 back and asked that Mr Whipp not be informed. The $23,000 was repaid by you two days later, on 14 September 2021.

7On 22 November 2021, Mr Whipp attended the Echuca Police Station with Ms Wood and reported the stolen funds. On 7 December 2021, you attended Echuca Police Station, where you were arrested and participated in a Record of Interview. In the interview, you made admissions to the thefts of $1000 per fortnight from the Campaspe Account, occurring 23 times. When asked why you had taken the money, you said you felt under pressure wanting to build a house, and indicated the offending was out of character.

8On 5 January 2022, Ms Wood identified further unauthorised deposits, two transactions of $2000 each, totalling $4000, this time from the AW AG Account. Ms Wood again contacted you, asking if there were any further transactions, in which you responded, ‘that’s all’. You repaid the $4000 the next day.

9On 8 January 2022, Ms Wood identified a further 16 unauthorised deposits of $2000 each from the AW AG account. You paid back the full amount by 13 January 2022. In total, from 21 August 2020 to 23 July 2021 there were 20 separate transfers from the AW AG account, totalling $40,000 (Part of Charge 3).

10In May or June 2022, Mr Whipp contacted Mr Gale, the other victim in this matter, informing him of your thefts. Mr Gale identified that you had, without authorisation, transferred $22,000 from the JAG Plumbing Account to your own account. Mr Gale contacted you and you made admissions to the thefts, paying back the $22,000 within 6 to 8 weeks (Part of Charge 1).

11Investigators engaged Robert Yeowart, a Senior Forensic Accountant with Victoria Police. Bank statements were obtained for the period of offending, and a further $35,978.75 of unauthorised transfers from the Campaspe account to your account were discovered (Part of Charge 2). This amount was made up of 29 separate transactions from 3 February 2020 to 12 July 2021 and were disguised with false payee names.

12Two further fraudulent transactions of $6,922.47 and $4,699.83 were discovered by Mr Yeowart from the AW AF Account, disguised as ATO superannuation payments (Part of Charge 3).

13In relation to Mr Gale and JAG Plumbing, Mr Yeowart identified 164 separate transactions from the JAG Plumbing account to your account, totalling $151,306.85 (Charge 1). Again, false descriptions were used to disguise the payments.

14In July 2023, the investigation was transferred to Detective Senior Constable Shane Kervin at the Campaspe Crime Investigation Unit. On 6 November 2023, you attended the Echuca Police Station and conducted a further interview. You made full admissions to the thefts from Campaspe Hydraulics and Engineering, AW AG Contracting and JAG Plumbing. You stated that no one else was involved in the thefts, including your partner. You stated that you did not know why you committed the thefts, and confirmed you were attending a psychologist to get to the bottom of why you committed the offences. You said you were not really under financial strain and the money did not go to gambling or drugs.

15You were charged on 27 December 2023 and bailed. The matter quickly resolved and on 10 April 2024 it was committed to the County Court by way of straight hand up brief. The plea hearing took place on the 17 September 2024.

16Exhibit 5GS on your plea was a Psychological Report authored by Patrick Newton dated 22 July 2024. He assessed you in late June 2024 and had access to all relevant materials.

Personal Circumstances

17Turning now to your personal circumstances. You are 31 years old and at the time of the offending you were between 26 and 28. You have been married to your husband Dean for ten years, and you share three children. You are the eldest of four children; you spent your early childhood in Shepparton before moving to Kyabram in your early teens. You attended Nagambie Primary School and later, Euroa Secondary College. Your father worked as an interstate truck driver, and your mother worked at a roadhouse before later training as an accountant. You recall your parents devoting long hours to their work, and that you often had to care for your younger siblings due to their absence.

18When you were 13 years old, your parents separated. As a result of your parents’ separation, you moved to Kyabram with your mother and your younger siblings, where you attended Kyabram P-12 College for the remainder of your schooling. You told Mr Newton (Exhibit 5GS) that it was at this time that you ‘suffered a significant drop in (your) financial wellbeing’, which continued throughout your secondary school years.

19During your teenage years, you recall experiencing significant bullying from your peers due to your ‘family’s poverty’, leading to a period of ‘short-lived’ rebellion. You also worked in various retail roles throughout secondary school to help support your family.  Despite these greater commitments you managed to remain in education. 

20Upon completing Year 12, you commenced an accounting degree at Latrobe University, whilst also working as an accounting assistant. You had to discontinue your studies part-way through your second year when you fell pregnant with your first child.  You later returned to your studies, completing a Certificate IV in Accounting, then working primarily as a self-employed bookkeeper.

21I note that with the exception of this offending, your work history has been both positive and stable. You report no history of drug or alcohol abuse and you have no prior criminal history.

22Mr Newton estimated your intelligence to fall within the high end of the average range – although he did not formally assess you. There was no indication of psychosis or thought disorder. In his report, Mr Newton confirmed your personal history. You told Mr Newton that your childhood was ‘happy’, and that you had a ‘fairly normal family life.’

23Mr Newton noted that you suffer from ‘poor self-esteem’ and ‘unresolved distress’, which cannot be separated from the financial difficulties you experienced in your younger years. It is clear from Mr Newton’s report that you have frequently carried the burden of caring and providing for those around you, and that you set ‘harsh and unrelenting standards for yourself’ that are difficult to meet.

24Mr Newton referenced your experience of post-partum depression following the birth of your second and third children. He notes your symptoms as being relatively mild in their intensity and that you did not seek professional treatment at this time, rather you just tried to ‘get through’.

25Mr Newton notes that your ‘poor self-esteem’, stemming from the challenges faced in your adolescence, form the foundation of your depression. However, your symptoms are primarily ‘reactive’ having developed in response to these legal proceedings. As a result, you have withdrawn from much of your previous activity, becoming isolated and fearful of the response of others in your small community. This has only worsened your mental health. You have begun engaging with a psychologist to manage your symptoms (Exhibit 11GS) and, whilst you have been prescribed antidepressant medication, you ceased using this at the beginning of the year.

26Diagnostically Mr Newton notes that your current symptoms would meet the criteria for the diagnosis of an adjustment disorder with depressed mood.

‘The typical course of an adjustment disorder is for the symptoms to resolve once the precipitating stressors are addressed. Counselling can assist with this process through training in appropriate stress-management skills and by mobilising supports. Conversely exposure to prolonged stress and disruption of social networks significantly increase the risk for the development of more severe emotional problems. Thus, were she to face the increased stress of a custodial sentence together with the inevitable reduction in the level of support available to her, there would be a significant risk that Ms Sellick would experience a deuteriation in her mental state. It would be important that she had access to medical and psychological care in such circumstances.’

27Your assessed intelligence suggested to Mr Newton that you should have good potential to complete professional training and engage in professional employment provided you were motivated and permitted to do so.

28As to this offending you told Mr Newton that due to your professional background you took responsibility for the financial management within your family. However, as your family grew, it became more difficult to manage both your family’s expenses, and your expectations of the lifestyle that you believed your children deserved. It is within this context that your offending occurred.  I note in this regard that in fact your family had two incomes, and you were in the process of building a house.

Submissions of counsel

29On your behalf Mr Furstenburg conceded that this was serous offending.  His primary submission on sentence was for a standalone Community Corrections Order, or, in the alternative, a sentence combining a term of imprisonment with a community-based order.

30In support of this submission, he urged the following matters upon the court.

31Firstly, as to the offending itself, the offending was not particularly sophisticated: you left behind a paper trail. This was not a case of firewalls and off-shore accounts of which the beneficial ownership was concealed. You could not say where the money went. Some may have gone on the property you were then building, some may have gone on daily living expenses. The money just went over time. Certainly, he submitted there was no evidence of an incredibly lavish lifestyle.

32He conceded however that your offending was difficult to explain when subjected to any close scrutiny. Subjectively you believed you were doing the right thing by your children. You wanted to give them financial security, wanting to ensure they did not face the apparent material challenges to which you were exposed during your adolescence.

33Secondly, your plea of guilty was entered at the earliest opportunity, bringing with it the practical benefit of saving the community the time, cost and trauma of a trial, and facilitating the course of justice and as a further indication which, together with full restitution made, should be given sufficient weight.

34As to your frankness once your offending was discovered, he submitted that you had forgotten how much of your employers’ money you had stolen. He noted that in January 2022 you provided all your account numbers, thereby enabling the full extent of your thefts to be discovered.

35Thirdly, you have made full restitution, selling your car and securing a parental loan on strict terms of repayment in order to do so. This lessens the objective gravity of the offending to some extent and is a clear indication of your remorse. I accept that submission.

36Fourthly, he pointed to your previous good character, which, while having less relevance in cases such as this, nonetheless spoke to your prospects of rehabilitation which were excellent. You enjoyed the continued support of your family, you have continued to work for employers who know of this offending.

37He submitted that there had been significant delay in this matter which has had a significant impact upon you.

38Fifthly, as a mother of three young children there would be constant concern for your family’s welfare should you serve any sentence.

39You were, he concluded, someone in great need of assistance and, if given the opportunity, would grasp it with both hands.

40Mr Vassis on behalf of the Director submitted that general deterrence, denunciation and just punishment were all highly relevant sentencing purposes in this case. The only appropriate disposition was a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period.

41He conceded that your offending was not overly sophisticated, but it represented a gross breach of trust, it was protracted and persistent over a long period of time and that the motive was your own self-enrichment. You were effectively stealing from two employers at the same time.

42Any delay in finalising this matter was of no greater length than is often encountered in offending of this kind, with the necessity for forensic accountancy investigation. He did however accept that the delay would have impacted you.

43You were not immediately forthcoming as to the extent of your offending but rather your admissions were staggered.

44Your remorse, which I understood him to accept, was relevant to your prospects of rehabilitation and specific deterrence. You had been able to make full restitution, which reduces the objective gravity of your offending in a limited way. Prior good character was of less significance in offending of this kind.

45Both Counsel provided me with many authorities, for my assistance.

Objective gravity

46Ms Sellick, theft from an employer is serious offending as is clear from the maximum penalty that Parliament has seen fit to impose. The gravity of the offending lies in the breach of trust by those who have been placed in positions of responsibility, and who have a duty to act in the best interests of their employers. As the victim impact statement of Mr Whipp (Exhibit 3) makes clear, the impact upon your victim goes far beyond mere financial loss, leaving a lasting sense of personal betrayal.

47Your position as bookkeeper in small local companies was not subject to any immediate supervision or audit. Thus, you were able to transfer your employers’ money into your accounts without, it appears, fear of immediate detection. Whilst I accept that it was not particularly sophisticated offending, it was neither impulsive nor spontaneous. It required forethought, some degree of planning, a false entry as to the identity of the payee, and on each occasion a decision by you to complete the fraudulent transaction. It represents practised deception, and it involved the repeated and deliberate taking of monies that belonged not to you but to your employers. Your offending covered a period of over two years, with transfers being made on a regular basis and for both same and varying amounts (see exhibit 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Hand Up Brief). You obtained a sum in excess of $260,000. It was a gross abuse of the trust that had been placed in you by your employers.

48When first challenged as to why you had stolen money you could provide no reason and that, it seems, remains the position. In your first Record of Interview dated 7 December 2021 you stated:

‘I just – I don’t know, I felt so under pressure. Money was getting tight, we were, yeah, wanting to build the house.’

49Neither did you initially make full admission as to the amounts that had been stolen by you but rather waited until your further thefts had been discovered. I accept there did come a moment of apparent complete disclosure of the amount taken by you (see exhibit 12 and 13 GS).

50All that has been advanced on your behalf by Mr Furstenberg is that you had some subjective desire that your children should not be exposed to the apparent poverty that you experienced during your own adolescence. However, as became clear on the plea, at the time of this offending both you and your husband had employment. You were in the process of building a new home. You were not in financial straits nor had any pressing material or financial needs that could not be met by your joint incomes. I am quite satisfied however that you applied the money for your own personal gain. Nor could you provide any assistance as to where the money had gone. Clearly some of the money sat in your account as demonstrated by your ability to repay the $23000 on 14 September 2021. Your joint incomes did not meet your expectations of the lifestyle that you believed your children deserved: thus you used your employer’s business as an extra income stream for yourself for reasons that remain largely unclear. You knew full well what you were doing and knew full well that it was wrong. You had ample opportunity to cease your offending, but you did not. You have made full restitution and that is a matter I can take into account. Nonetheless your moral culpability for this offending is plain.

51The courts have made clear that general deterrence is of particular importance in offending of this kind. It is precisely because offending of this kind is easy to commit and may be difficult to detect, and is usually committed by persons who hold a position of trust and who are otherwise of good character, that the message needs to be sent to anyone contemplating exploiting or abusing their employed position so as to dishonestly enrich themselves: be careful if you are caught you will be punished.

52Ms Sellick in sentencing you I must have regard to a range of different factors. I must give effect to the principal of general deterrence that is, to deter others from behaving as you did, and to specific deterrence, that is to deter you from ever repeating such offending. I must consider the need to protect the community. I must express the community’s denunciation of your conduct.  I must take into account the effect of your crimes upon your victims. I must have regard to current sentencing practices and the statutory maximum penalties for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty. I must ensure as far as possible that you are rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.  In short, I must try to balance your personal circumstances with the circumstances of your offending. I must also pass no greater sentence than is necessary in all the circumstances of the case as I find them to be.

53Clearly principles of general deterrence and denunciation are the primary sentencing considerations in your case. I give full effect to all of the mitigatory factors to which I have been referred. For the avoidance of doubt, I have particular regard to the following: -

(i)your plea of guilty entered at the earliest opportunity.

(ii)your genuine remorse.

(iii)your eventual admissions to your offending.

(iv)the restitution you have made.

(v)your engagement in counselling so as to address what underlines your offending behaviour and to attempt rehabilitation.

(vi)your mental health challenges including the risk of a deterioration in your mental health in a custodial setting.

(vii)the keenness with which you will feel any separation from your children.

(viii)your excellent prospects of rehabilitation.

(ix)in so far as is appropriate the opprobrium to which you and your family have been subject in your community.

(x)the delay in this matter.

(xi)the fact that this will be your first time in custody.

54However, in my view all relevant sentencing purposes for this offending could not be sufficiently met by a standalone community-based order.

Sentence

55On Charges 1, 2 and 3 you are sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 10 months imprisonment and Community Corrections order of 24 months.

56There will be a condition on the Community Correction Order of supervision and mental health assessment and treatment.

57Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), this Court states that but for the accused's plea of guilty, a total effective sentence of 3 years and 3 months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 2 years and 3 months would have been imposed.