Director of Public Prosecutions v Sianas

[2020] VCC 524

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

 Revised

Not Restricted

 Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 19-01303

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ANDREAS SIANAS

---

JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE LACAVA
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	30 April 2020.
DATE OF SENTENCE:	30 April 2020
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Sianas
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2020] VCC 524

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

---

Subject: possession of a firearm being a prohibited person.

Sentence: 18 months imprisonment to be served concurrently with sentences currently undergoing.

---

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr M. Fisher
For the Accused	Mr A. Chernok

HIS HONOUR:

1Andreas Sianas, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of a firearm being a prohibited person.  The date of the offence is 9 September 2016 and the firearm in question is a rifle that was used by you to wound a person named Murphy against whom you and a co-offender, Shane Hodgson, committed a number of offences on 9 September 2016.

2I was the trial judge in a trial between 7 July and 12 July 2018 and because of reasons which have nothing to do with you there was a delay in the conduct of the plea which I heard on 27 June 2019.

3On 3 September 2019, I sentenced you and Mr Hodgson each to significant terms of imprisonment.  My sentencing remarks have been transcribed and one of the charges that you were convicted by the jury of and which I sentenced you in relation to was Charge 13, which was the charge of intentionally causing injury in respect of which I sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of 2.5 years.

4I later directed that 12 months of the sentence imposed on that charge accumulate upon the base sentence.  The total effective sentence I imposed on 3 September 2019 was a sentence of nine years' imprisonment and I directed that you serve a minimum term of six years and made appropriate declarations relating to pre-sentence detention.

5The charge before the court today to which you have now pleaded guilty was to proceed as a separate trial.  The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years' imprisonment and you can see from that this offence is regarded as a serious offence by the Parliament.  In your prior criminal history, you have a number of prior convictions for weapons offences.

6Mr Chernok, who appears again today on your behalf, has filed a helpful outline of submissions and it may be summarised that he submits that in regard to the sentence that I imposed on 3 September 2019 and especially having regard to the fact that I have imposed a sentenced and accumulated some of the sentence in respect of Charge 13, and also having regard to the fact that you have pleaded guilty, albeit not at the earliest opportunity to this charge, but you have saved the time and cost of a further trial, he submits in all the circumstances especially having regard to delay and the recent onset of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus which is making life more difficult for all of those both in and out of prison but especially those serving sentences, he submits that I should impose a sentence which is made wholly concurrent with the sentence you are presently undergoing.

7The position of the prosecution is that this is a serious offence where the weapon was possessed for the purposes of criminal activity.  There should be at least a small measure of cumulation.

8When I sentenced you on 3 September 2019, in my sentencing remarks on that occasion at paragraph 65, I referred to the issue of totality.  Having given the matter considerable thought, if this charge were before me sentencing as I did on 3 September 2019 and having regard to all of the circumstances, I probably would not have altered the total effective sentence that I then imposed.

9In my view, having to sentence you again now on this separate charge, I should not alter my position.  There has been some delay from the time that I originally sentenced you.  You have pleaded guilty and all of the facts and circumstances relating to you contained in my sentencing remarks of 3 September 2019 still apply.

10I do note, having reread my sentencing remarks which are said to be revised, that I did not pick up on the revision that in paragraph 58, it is recorded that your prospects for rehabilitation must be regarded.  That should read, 'Your prospects for rehabilitation must be guarded', not, 'Regarded'.  That is still the position.  In my view, the appropriate sentence here should impose a sentence which reflects the gravity of the offending but which should be served wholly concurrently with the sentence that you are presently undergoing.

11On Charge 1, being a prohibited person to possess a firearm, you are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months.  That sentence is to be served wholly concurrently with the sentences that you are presently undergoing.

12For the purposes of s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, had you not pleaded guilty to this charge, I would have imposed a term of imprisonment of three years and I would have made part of that sentence cumulative upon other sentences imposed.

13MR CHERNOK:  If it please the court.

14MR FISHER:  If Your Honour pleases.

15HIS HONOUR:  I do not think there is any need for any further orders, is there, Mr Fisher?

16MR FISHER:  No, there is not, Your Honour.

17HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Very well.

18That completes the matter, Mr Sianas.  I will have my tipstaff terminate the transmission.  Did you wish to speak to your client, did you?

19MR CHERNOK:  If I could ‑ ‑ ‑

20HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

21MR CHERNOK:  ‑ ‑ ‑ but before I do so, Your Honour, could I seek an appeals cost fund certificate for 1 July 2020 when this matter - pardon me, 1 April.  Sorry, 1 April of this year when the matter was adjourned.  It had come on for the plea and then we received notification that it wasn't able to be accommodated and it was adjourned.

22HIS HONOUR:  I did not know about that but I will grant you a certificate ‑ ‑ ‑

23MR CHERNOK:  If it please the court.  Thank you, Your Honour.

24HIS HONOUR:  ‑ ‑ ‑ for that day and have my associate prepare that.

25MR CHERNOK:  Thank you, Your Honour.

26HIS HONOUR:  I will leave the transmission on if you or Mr Sianas' parents wish to converse with him, by all means do so.

27MR CHERNOK:  Thank you for that indulgence, Your Honour.

28HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Adjourn the court till next Tuesday at 10.30.

‑ ‑ ‑