Director of Public Prosecutions v Sonnet

[2019] VCC 683

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 19-00860

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SEAN SONNET

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:	16 May 2019
DATE OF SENTENCE:	16 May 2019
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Sonnet
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 683

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr S. Devlin	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms E. Turnbull	Emma Turnbull Lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1Sean Jason Sonnet, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted armed robbery.  That carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.  You also pleaded guilty to one uplifted charge of driving whilst disqualified, which carries a period of imprisonment.  I say from the outset, I will simply - on that charge, sentence to be one month imprisonment to be served concurrently.  There is also, in this situation, a discretionary loss of licence.  What I will do is, that whilst - I think it is applicable.  I will only make that a six month disqualification. 

2All right.  The situation, Mr Sonnet, is that you are now 50 years of age.  You pleaded guilty at an early opportunity.  I accept that within limited capacity, there is remorse involved.  There is certainly a utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.  I do not believe we have ever met before, but I am certainly aware of your history, as has been put before me and certainly there would not be too many criminal lawyers in the State who were not aware of parts of it.

3The fact of the matter is that I do accept that for you to plead guilty in circumstances such as this, is an effort on your part and shows and attempt to, at least comply to a certain extent, with the situation.  The utilitarian benefit, as I have indicated, is important.  In this situation it would have called for the calling of two distressed women as witnesses and it would have been an ugly experience for them, even though it was not, in that sense, an identification case.

4You do have a very extensive criminal history over a long period of time and you have done numerous gaol sentences of quite extensive duration.  It is clear that you are institutionalised and that is always going to be an ongoing problem.

5The circumstances of this offending are contained in the Crown opening, which has been tendered and I do not need to go into any detail.  What had occurred was, that you had been released, as I understand it, some months earlier from a very long sentence without any supervision at all.  You had been reclaimed on parole and were put into the community with no supports.  You went into a situation where you were with a partner that formed on a - an earlier short release and a child and you being, as your counsel described, a flagged person, were under enormous pressure.

6There was basically nobody to back you up.  You were endeavouring to get assistance from mental health people, from what I can gather, in Wonthaggi and that was something at least you were trying to do.  It was in those circumstances that you became unable to cope and then went back to live with your mother and grandfather.  You had been offered accommodation in Sale and all sorts of what would have been unsatisfactory situations.

7In any event, in all those circumstances, you were clearly mentally unwell. 
I have a report that I will read in a moment, and you reverted to alcohol.  Those circumstances were all very unfortunate then.  As a judge in the criminal jurisdiction, not all that uncommon. 

8In any event, in the early hours of - sorry, at 9 am roughly on 8 October 2018, you got the equipment from your mother's house to do an armed robbery.  You made a balaclava out of the sleeves of a jumper.  You got a hammer from the garage.  You got a knife from the kitchen.  And you wore your mother's gardening gloves.  You had on a hoodie.  It was clearly an attempt to disguise yourself and in some respects, a rather amateurish one.  Now that is a strange word to use where you are concerned. 

9You then, in your own car, attended at the Bendigo branch of the local bank at around 10.40 am and you went into the bank and demanded money.  You presented to these two innocent women as a man wearing a black balaclava, gloves, carrying a backpack, the hood of your jumper pulled up and you have got a weapon in each hand.  It is undoubtedly a terrifying experience for each of them and in this situation, it counts very much in the sentencing process.  You demanded money.  They said they only had coins and you left.  That reduces the crime from armed robbery to robbery, but it still remains a pretty serious example of it, bearing in mind the victims and the circumstances of it.

10After you had left, police then found various items.  DNA was eventually found which clearly implicated you.  Upon your finding out of the results of that DNA, you pleaded guilty without further attempts to defeat the purposes of justice,
I suppose.  In those circumstances, it has to be regarded as a serious offence.  Of course the application of general and specific deterrence, as well as denunciation and appropriate punishment.  I am very aware of the circumstances under which you committed this offending, but it remains one which, in my view, can only carry a custodial sentence with a minimum term. 

11A submission was raised by your counsel, quite properly, that I might consider a community corrections order.  The simple fact of the matter is, there is no way known they would accept you.  I think you would struggle with one.  In any event and the length of the sentence, not by a long way, but the length of the sentence, I think determines that such a combination sentence is simply not open. 

12I then looked at matters personal to yourself.  As I have indicated, I am aware of the history.  Four days after this offending, you went for a check-up, or a regular appointment to Flynn Unit in Traralgon.  It was a planned admission.  It was your mental state medication and risks, in the context of recent deterioration in medication compliance and mental health.  You were clearly not travelling well at all.  It says that you were under increased social stressors and substance abuse and had effectively been in serious mental problems in recent times.

13You reported to them that you had recently overdosed on heroin.  You had been found by a friend.  You reported to them that you were hearing voices that you could not understand.  You were receiving messages from the TV.  You were behaving in a way that was certainly scary to yourself.  You believed that you were ill with paranoia and you wanted help and medication.  You told them that you were wanted by the police.  It was in that fairly desperate situation that police, quite appropriately, came to the Flynn Unit, arrested you and charged you with this offending.

14It is hard to know where all this was going to head and I have had a very quick look during the break of the sentencing remarks of Justice Lasry and I could not agree more. He has got the same concerns that I have, albeit he was sentencing you for a far more serious offence than the one I have to sentence you for.

15The prospects of your rehabilitation have got to be regarded as bleak, I think.  The risk of you re-offending, however, is totally dependent on rehabilitation. 
I am going to give you an opportunity for parole. 

16I am not allowed to anticipate whether or not that parole is ever granted, but
I simply put this in the sentencing remarks, that I do not know what people expect, that if someone with your background, with your institutionalisation, your mental health issues is released into the community without any form of support, there is going to be a disaster.  I know that there is all sorts of opposition to that line of thinking, but that is the way I see it.  However, in the end, you have got to get the benefit of that plea of guilty, but you have to be punished for what is a serious example of an attempted armed robbery, particularly bearing in mind the circumstances of the victims.

17Accordingly, as I have indicated on the driving whilst disqualified, it is a month to be served concurrently.  On the charge of attempted armed robbery, three with a two. 

18So that but for your plea of guilty, so you understand the benefit you have obtained from this, I would have sentenced you to be imprisoned for a period of five years, with a minimum term of four. 

19I direct that 216 be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

20MS TURNBULL:  As Your Honour pleases.

21HIS HONOUR:  All right, do you want to talk to him or - I can leave ‑ ‑ ‑

22MS TURNBULL:  If I could, just to make sure he's heard everything.

23HIS HONOUR:  Yes, yes.

24MS TURNBULL:  Thank you, Your Honour. 

25HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thanks for that.     

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