Director of Public Prosecutions v Skinner
[2019] VCC 1626
•4 October 2019
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-19-00915
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ANTHONY SKINNER |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE RYAN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 25 September 2019 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 4 October 2019 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Skinner | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 1626 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sentence – Armed robbery – Plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991
Sentence: Community Correction order for a period of 2 years with conditions; 6AAA declaration: 4 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 2 years and 6 months; Section 5(2AB) of the Sentencing Act noted.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr L. Harrison | Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr B. O’Sullivan | Haines and Polites |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Anthony Skinner, on 25 September 2019, you pleaded guilty to an indictment containing two charges of armed robbery in circumstances where your co-offender had with him an offensive weapon, namely a knife. The maximum penalty for armed robbery is 25 years’ imprisonment.
2 You are presently 26 years of age and are without prior conviction.
3 Tendered as Exhibit A and read aloud in court was the Summary of Prosecution Opening. Your offending can be summarised in short compass.
4 On 23 October 2018, together with your co-offender, Harley Barnes, and whilst extremely adversely affected by alcohol, you left your home, which was a caravan located at the rear of the residence of your co-offender’s father, and attended with your co-offender at the Puma Petrol Station on the corner of Murray and Albert Roads in Preston. You stopped at the carwash within sight of the door of the service area, whilst your co-offender went inside. Your co-offender moved towards the drinks fridge before approaching the attendant, Mr Neyland, who was at the counter. Your co-offender produced a knife from his left sleeve and pointed it towards Mr Neyland, stating, 'This is a robbery, give me all your money and a pack of smokes.'
5 Mr Neyland gave your co-offender the cash from the register and a pack of cigarettes, Barnes then left the store and met up with you, and you both walked away from the scene, with you discarding a high visibility jumper that you had been wearing. Thereafter, you went home and your co-offender gave you some cigarettes and $50.
6 In respect to Charge 2, on Friday, 28 December 2018, you were at home in your caravan and approached your co-offender, who also had a caravan at the rear of his father’s property. You asked your co-offender for a smoke. You said to Barnes jokingly, 'Too bad we couldn’t do another servo', to which he responded, 'Let’s go'.
7 At about 1.00 am, you and Barnes left your residence and walked to the Puma Petrol Station. Again, you waited outside the service station while Barnes went inside and committed the armed robbery. Barnes once again produced a knife and said to the attendant, 'Give me all your money and your smokes.' The attendant, a Mr Gaurigari, gave your co-offender all the notes from the till and four packets of cigarettes. Your co-offender met you outside the service station area, and together you ran home, this time you discarded a black zip-up jacket and hat that you had been wearing. On this occasion, your co-offender gave you a packet of cigarettes and $150.
8 On Tuesday, 8 January 2019, police executed a search warrant at your address and your co-offender was arrested. You were not at home at the time of the search. Later that day, you attended the Croydon Police Station and admitted your role in the two armed robberies. You told the police that you were to 'watch out' and stood on the corner and waited. Effectively, you were the 'lookout' or 'cockatoo'.
9 In respect of the second armed robbery, you said that you were sober at the time and that later you had seen yourself on the news and thought that you had better hand yourself in to the police. You were arrested on 8 January 2019 and remanded in custody until you were bailed on 29 January 2019. Accordingly, at the time of your plea, you had spent 22 days by way of pre-sentence detention.
10 Tendered as Exhibit B was the Victim Impact Statement of Mr Neyland. Mr Neyland is a university student and works at night to earn an income. The consequences of your actions and those of your co-offender have been to place him under stress as he is anxious when he goes to work at night, and this anxiety has added stress and strain to his performance at university. Whilst at work at night, he anticipates that every customer that walks in to the service station will have a knife that could be pulled on him at any moment. His previous practice at work was to be happy to step out from behind the counter to assist a customer, now he only comes out from behind the counter when it is absolutely necessary. The fear he experiences has put a strain on his ability to work, especially when he is rostered at night.
11 When your co-offender was arrested and interviewed under caution, he denied any knowledge of you or the armed robberies. You, however, made admissions as to your involvement and also made a statement to the police setting out your involvement and that of your co-offender in each of the armed robberies.
12 On the plea, you entered the witness box and gave an undertaking on oath to assist the prosecution authorities in respect to the prosecution of your co-offender, Barnes.
13 Additionally, the informant, Detective Senior Constable Antonelli, gave evidence that the evidence that you were capable of giving in respect to the prosecution of your co-offender strengthened considerably what was, until your statement, a weak case. Accordingly, your assistance to the prosecuting authorities is of real value.
14 You have lived in and around Melbourne and Geelong all your life. Your mother is aged 50 years whilst your father is aged 55 years. Your parents separated when you were young and your mother re-partnered and you grew up with your mother and step-father, together with two siblings, Casey and Cain. You have had very little to do with your father.
15 You had a very disadvantaged childhood with your mother and step-father both being heavy drug users. Your step-father was violent towards you and your siblings. Your counsel, Mr O’Sullivan, recounted an incident where you were chased by your step-father, while he was armed with knives, which brought about the intervention of the Critical Incident Response Team of the Victoria Police.
16 I was told that you moved around a lot when you were younger, and that the Department of Human Services had involvement with your family, particularly in respect to your younger siblings.
17 Your secondary schooling was significantly interrupted when your parents kept you away from school in Year 7 so that you could run the home and look after your younger siblings. At 16 years of age, you left home and obtained an intervention order against both your mother and step-father, and commenced to live in a refuge. With the involvement of Youth Services, you attended the Barwon Youth School between the ages of 16 and 18 and managed to complete a Certificate II in General Education, which I take to be the equivalent VCAL.
18 Later, you attended the Gordon TAFE in Geelong and obtained a Certificate II in Automotive Technology, and later obtained your first job which was as a lawn mower mechanic. Thereafter, you moved to Ferntree Gully and worked as a labourer cleaning bricks on and off for the last seven years or so.
19 You have obtained a number of permits to operate plant and machinery, namely a bobcat, an excavator and a forklift, and you have worked operating machinery from time to time.
20 Presently, you are unable to work as you recently ruptured your Achilles tendon, you underwent surgery and you will be obliged to wear a 'moonboot' for the next three months. Thereafter, you will need to undergo physiotherapy and rehabilitation in respect of your injury.
21 Of note, is that from a very early age you have been a heavy drinker. At the time of your offending, a typical day for you involved drinking half a bottle of spirits, particularly bourbon, as well as approximately 20 cans of bourbon mixed with soft drink.
22 Since your release on bail on 29 January, you have completed a period with CISP and that involved weekly meetings with your case manager, regular alcohol counselling sessions and re-engaging with a general practitioner, who has prescribed you Mirtazapine for your depression and anxiety. This medication was first prescribed to you when you were 16 years of age. In addition, you have referred yourself and engaged with UnitingCare ReGen for further alcohol counselling.
23 You still consume a few cans or bottles of beer per day, but I was informed that because of your level of alcohol addiction, it would be adverse to your health to withdraw from alcohol consumption completely immediately. This information was supported by one of the documents contained in Exhibit 1, being a reference from Ms Lofaro, Senior Forensic Alcohol and Other Drugs Clinician dated 24 September 2019.
24 Armed robbery is a serious offence punishable by a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment. Whilst your role was one of lookout or cockatoo you, together with your co-offender, committed two armed robberies at night on soft targets, being attendants at a service station. In the normal course of events, such conduct would call for an immediate and substantial term of imprisonment. However, in your case, you surrendered yourself to authorities and made full admissions during your interviews under caution. You made a formal statement to police detailing your offending and that of your co-offender. You pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. You have given an undertaking to the court that you will assist prosecuting authorities in the prosecution of your co-offender, Barnes.
25 In addition, the informant in the prosecution of Barnes considers that your assistance will be of considerable value to the prosecution. You are a young man without prior conviction in circumstances where you have had a very hard upbringing but have made the best of your life by having obtained qualifications that have assisted you in maintaining work throughout your young life.
26 Furthermore, Detective Senior Constable Antonelli informed me that he has attended at the prison where Barnes is presently on remand and listened to the telephone calls made by Barnes to his associates. Contained within some of those telephone communications are threats made by Barnes against you. In my view, should you be imprisoned, your personal safety would be at risk.
27 It was submitted to me by your counsel, Mr O’Sullivan, that in all the circumstances a Community Correction Order was within the range of sentences available for your offending. Accordingly, I had you assessed for a Community Correction Order and you were found to be suitable. Will you please stand. Doing the best I can, taking into account the objective circumstances of your offending and your personal circumstances and applying sentencing principle, I sentence you, should you consent, to a Community Correction Order for a period of two years with conditions.
28 (1) You perform 200 hours unpaid community work.
29 (2) You be subject to the supervision of the secretary of the department or his nominee.
30 (3) You undertake treatment and rehabilitation in respect to your alcohol abuse.
31 (4) You undertake treatment and rehabilitation in respect to any medical problems which you might have as a result of your alcoholism.
32 (5) You undertake treatment and rehabilitation in respect to your mental health.
33 (6) You undertake treatment and rehabilitation by way of programs that would reduce your risk of reoffending and;
34 (7) That any time spent by you undergoing treatment and rehabilitation be credited as hours of unpaid community work.
35 Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I declare that but for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of four years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years' imprisonment.
36 I have imposed a less severe sentence on you that I would otherwise have because of your undertaking to assist law enforcement authorities in the prosecution of your co-offender Barnes. Further, I direct that it be entered in the records of the court the fact that the undertaking was given and its details. Are you prepare to enter into such an order?
37 OFFENDER: Yes, I am.
38 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Please be seated. I have made an error in the 6AAA declaration. The non-parole period that I would have imposed would have been two and a half years, not two years. You may come out of the dock and sit behind your solicitor. Now, Mr Skinner, could you please stand. The order that I have made is that you have been placed on a community corrections order with conditions, and the conditions are set out in the document that I have had provided to you. This order will end on 3 October 2021 and it commences today. You must attend the Broadmeadows Community Correctional Services in 25 to 27 Dimboola Road, Broadmeadows, within two clear working days of today.
39 OFFENDER: Yes.
40 HIS HONOUR: All right. So no later than the end of play on Tuesday. Now, the conditions are as I have read out, that you perform 200 hours of unpaid community work over the two year period, that you be subject to supervision, that all hours of treatment and rehabilitation satisfactorily undertaken by you are to be counted as hours of unpaid community work, that you undertake assessment and treatment including testing for alcohol abuse or dependency as directed by the regional manager, that you must undergo any medical assessment and treatment that may include general or specialist medical treatment or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager. You must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment that may include psychological, neuropsychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager, and you must participate in programs and/or courses that address factors relating to the offending as directed by the regional manager. If you breach this order, you come back to me. I do not advise coming back to me. Thank you very much for your assistance, I will stand down now for the trial at 10.30.
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