Director of Public Prosecutions v Stamper (a pseudonym)
[2021] VCC 770
•11 June 2021
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| REED STAMPER (a pseudonym) |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE HIGHAM | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 9 April 2021; 8 June 2021 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 11 June 2021 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Stamper (a pseudonym) | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2021] VCC 770 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sentence — kidnapping — rape — threat to kill — threat to inflict serious injury — theft — plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) ss 20, 21, 74(1) and 38(1); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)
Sentence: Total effective sentence of 9 years and 8 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 6 years
Section 6AAA declaration: 12 years and 10 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 9 years and 8 months
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms D Caruso | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms J Swiney | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
1Reed Stamper,[1] you have pleaded guilty to:
·One charge of kidnapping, for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 25 years (Charge 1);
·One charge of making a threat to kill, for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 10 years (Charge 2);
·One charge of making a threat to inflict serious injury, for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of five years (Charge 3);
·Two charges of theft, maximum penalty 10 years imprisonment (Charges 4 and 7); and
·Two charges of rape (Charges 5 and 6), for each of which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 25 years. Rape is a standard sentence offence. The standard sentence is a term of imprisonment of 10 years.
[1] Reed Stamper is a pseudonym.
2You have also pleaded guilty to the following summary offences:
·Summary Charge 7, assault with a weapon, maximum penalty two years' imprisonment;
·Summary Charge 10, driving while suspended, maximum penalty two years' imprisonment; and
·Summary charge 11, using unregistered motor vehicle, maximum penalty 25 penalty units.
3Tendered on your plea was an amended summary of prosecution opening, Exhibit 1, which sets out the agreed facts of your offending.
4In brief, the circumstances of your offending were as follows.
5Marlyn Beatty[2] was born in October 1995. You and she had met at high school and maintained intermittent contact over the years. In around May 2019, Ms Beatty moved into a mental health residential support facility. She needed that support to address long-standing issues, including post-traumatic stress arising from her experience of a past sexual assault.
[2] Marlyn Beatty is a pseudonym.
6Around mid-June 2019, you and Ms Beatty began an intimate relationship. Initially you were kind and supportive and keenly aware of her vulnerabilities. But in the following weeks you changed, becoming aggressive, violent, and controlling. Twice, Ms Beatty attempted to end the relationship but without success. Ms Beatty blocked your phone number, but you continued to make contact, leaving messages alternatively threatening and begging.
7On 12 August 2019, after having made clear your intention to do so, you turned up at Ms Beatty's residence. You sent her many text messages stating that you were outside and would not leave until she came out to meet you. Workers at the facility were concerned for Ms Beatty but she nonetheless agreed to go outside and meet you in the hope of calming the situation and persuading you to go home. Once outside her nightmare began.
8You tried to persuade her to come and stay with you for one more night. At first you were charming; however, when she refused you slammed her into the side of the car door and threw her into the passenger seat. You told her that if she tried to get out of the car, she would be dead. Getting into the driver's seat, you produced a screwdriver, held it to your victim's head and again told her that if she tried to get out she would be dead and that she had to go with you (Charge 2, threat to kill, Summary Offence Charge 7, unlawful assault). You then drove off towards the city (Summary Charges 10 and 11), all the while threatening and intimidating your victim by stating that: ‘as you had nothing to live for, she would not live either'. You gave her the choice of a bullet in the head or a body bag (Charge 2 continued). Ms Beatty believed that her end had come and that she was never going to see her family again. You drove for approximately four hours to Glenthompson (Charge 1, kidnapping). During the drive you made numerous and various threats to injure your victim, the graphic detail of which are set out at paragraph 13 of Exhibit 1 (Charge 3). During the course of the drive you stopped for petrol, making your victim fill up the car at the bowser. You threatened that if she told anyone what was happening, she would be placed in the boot. You then drove off without paying for the petrol (Charge 4).
9You took your victim to a house which was uninhabited and freezing cold, and which belonged to your mother. As she lay close to a wall-heater in an effort to get warm, you lay next to her saying that you were going to take care of her and that she had basically brought this upon herself. You then started kissing her and attempted to put your hands underneath her underwear and then inserted your fingers into her vagina. When she tried to push you away you continued. Not surprisingly, in light of your earlier conduct towards her, your victim was in fear and felt that she had no right to refuse your sexual demands. You then pulled down your victim's pants and inserted your penis into her vagina. The sexual penetration lasted for approximately 10 minutes and you did not wear a condom. After you had finished, both you and your victim went to sleep. (Charge 5, a rolled-up count of digital and penile rape).
10The following day, 13 August, you took your victim to visit a friend of yours, where you took drugs and got, 'stoned'. You returned to the uninhabited house. You told your victim that you both were going to spend the night in the car as the house was too cold. You then broke down, saying that you had ‘fucked up’ and ‘could not get done for kidnapping because you would go to jail’. You started to kiss your victim and demanded that she kiss you back. She did not want to do this and so you grabbed her by her throat with one hand, using the other hand to touch her breasts underneath her clothing and to pull her pants down. You then inserted your penis into your victim's vagina. This sexual penetration lasted for about 15 minutes: you again did not wear a condom (Charge 6).
11You then discussed going back to the Peninsula. Over the next hours you received text messages from your mother, telling you that the victim's family were concerned about her. You sought to negotiate your victim's silence by further threats of physical harm to ensure that she would not go to the police. You left the house at about 10 pm, again filling up with petrol on the return journey, for which you did not pay (Charge 7). Your victim was, all the while, pleading with you to take her home but you did not. Instead you drove to your father's home, arriving at about 2:40am. Later that morning (the 14th August), you gave your victim back her mobile phone, instructing her what to say to her father to explain her absence. After that call you again begged your victim not to tell anyone and made further threats of physical injury if she did. You also demanded that in future if you called her, she must answer and that she must return to you after seeing people at her residence. You then dropped your victim off at a bus stop. Upon her return home, she spoke to the manager of the unit and police were called.
12You meanwhile continued to text your victim. Those text messages became increasingly more desperate and more threatening. These threats are led purely as context. You do not fall to be sentenced for those threats, nor do they aggravate the offending to which you have pleaded guilty.
13On 15 August 2019, you were arrested and participated in a record of interview. You admitted in simple terms, amongst other things, making your victim get in the car, locking the doors, ‘losing it’, being frustrated and angry, making threats to your victim, theft of petrol, and telling the victim to come up with a story about where she had been over the preceding days. As to the allegations of sexual offending, you said that in the house she did not push you away, but you accepted that she would have been scared and, when asked about sexual penetration in the car, you stated that your victim did not say no. You were then remanded in custody where you remained until 17 April 2020 when you were admitted to bail on stringent conditions.
14The victim impact statement from Ms Beatty was Exhibit 2 on the plea. In that statement she writes, simply but compellingly, of the impact of your offending upon her. She details how following her earlier trauma she had worked extremely hard to recover her mental and emotional health and wellbeing, but that your offending has:
led me back to being in and out of psych wards, self-harming, struggling with suicidal ideation, depression, extreme anxiety, psychosis and also becoming dependent on alcohol to try and cope... Due to the trauma I sustained from this crime I have also developed a cognitive impairment and complex PTSD… I struggle and am scared of being in cars and deal with extreme flashbacks daily. I struggle to visit my family as I am scared and don't want to be in the area I know he is in. I don't even feel safe in my own home… I have no friends. I don't feel comfortable or safe to even attempt to make friends. Due to this I have become very isolated. I struggle and find it extremely hard to be intimate and don't like being touched. I feel hopeless and as though I don't deserve a happy successful life… I feel like the impacts I have gained through these incidents will be with me forever, but I am trying my hardest to move forward with my life.
15Now, Mr Stamper, whilst of course the impact of your offending on your victim cannot be permitted to overwhelm the sentencing process, there can be no doubt that that your offending has had a lasting and traumatic impact upon your victim.
I turn now to your personal circumstances.
16You were born in July 1994 and are now 26 years of age and were 25 at the time of this offending. You have one prior criminal matter of damaging property at your mother's home during a ‘methamphetamine rage’. That prior matter is not relevant to my sentencing exercise.
17You were born and raised on the Mornington Peninsula and have one older brother. Your father worked in various unskilled labouring jobs and your mother worked delivering meals on wheels. Your parents separated when you were four years old, but both ensured their separation did not impact upon their children. You had a happy and unremarkable childhood, brought up in a loving, caring and law-abiding family environment. You manifested some behavioural problems as a child and were diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and treated with antidepressant medication. You did not suffer from mental health problems in adolescence or early adulthood. You left secondary college at the end of Year 9, completing the equivalent of Year 10 and 11 at TAFE. In your own words, 'I wasn't a big fan of school and I was in a bit of trouble.'
18You completed a butcher's apprenticeship and then commenced an apprenticeship in marine motor mechanics, where you were certified in 2016. You worked in that field up to 2018 but lost your employment due to your drug use. You then did occasional casual work which became less frequent as your drug use increased. At the time of this offending, you were unemployed and, I understand, an almost daily user of methamphetamine.
19Since being on bail you have, it seems, taken a different path: you have ceased using drugs and you have been working full-time. I was provided with references from both your mother, Dora Love[3] (Exhibit 7RS), who spoke of the change you have made to your life, and your new partner, Yvone Duggan[4] (Exhibit 8RS), who speaks of the gentle and kind man that she knows.
[3] Dora Love is a pseudonym.
[4] Yvone Duggan is a pseudonym.
20Exhibit 4RS on the plea was a report by Jeffrey Cummins, clinical forensic psychologist, dated 26 February 2021. Exhibit 13 on the adjourned plea was a court ordered report from Professor Michael Daffern, principal consultant psychologist at Forensicare, dated 25 May 2021.
21Both reports confirmed your personal history. Professor Daffern noted that you appear to be of average to slightly below average intellectual ability. You do not have an intellectual disability, nor do you have a personality disorder or any associated traits.
22Perhaps the most salient feature of your history is your methamphetamine use. As you told Professor Daffern, you began using methamphetamine in 2017 and within weeks you became dependent on it. You began to associate with a criminal cohort and started selling methamphetamine to support your own habit. I stress again, you do not fall to be dealt with for such matters; they do not aggravate the offences to which you have pleaded but rather are a part of your personal history. You were also able to describe to Professor Daffern the significant adverse impacts of your methamphetamine use. Professor Daffern noted:
his attitude was poor and antisocial and he “Didn't give a fuck”. He started to believe that he was “invincible”, that he would not be caught by the police and that he could not be hurt. He reported problems with anger and irritability, as well as paranoia, and he started to carry a knife to protect himself. He said that he drew his knife on one occasion after a man deliberately damaged his car.
23You also spoke to Professor Daffern of auditory and visual hallucinations when intoxicated on methamphetamine.
24Your relationship with your family, perhaps not surprisingly, deteriorated during this period, with you becoming angry with your mother and on one occasion damaging her property, which led to your prior court appearance in 2018 and to your mother asking you to leave the family home. This unfortunately for you was not a sufficient wake-up call. You then lived in your mother's rental property in Glenthompson (which I understand to be the same property to which you took your victim) with a girlfriend, Jenny,[5] who was also a methamphetamine user. When that relationship came to an end, you re-established contact your victim Ms Beatty.
[5] Jenny is a pseudonym.
25Professor Daffern notes your insight into the impact of your methamphetamine use upon your life, and also your expressed regret for your actions. You stated to him ‘It kills me to think I could have done something like that'. There was nothing in your presentation to suggest any cognitive distortions when you talked about your offending behaviour. Professor Daffern wrote:
He appreciates that his behaviour was wrong and harmful, and that the victim would have been scared and that she would have felt forced to comply with his demands. He understands that the victim may be suffering from some long-term harms as a consequence of his behaviour.
26Professor Daffern states that your sexual offending appears:
to have occurred in the context of methamphetamine dependence, associated personal and social decline, and distress and anger associated with the feared breakdown of his relationship with the victim... In my view he was dependent on methamphetamine at the time of the offence. He reports significant psychosocial disturbance, he was fearful that his relationship was deteriorating, and he was upset and angry with his former partner.
27Professor Daffern concludes your level of risk for future sexual reoffending is low to moderate. He writes:
His risk level would increase, and risk may become imminent if he relapses and returns to use drugs or alcohol and his intimate relationship deteriorates or is conflicted.
28Both sex offender treatment and substance abuse treatment are indicated as part of a strategy for future risk management and I note you are willing to participate in such treatment.
Submissions of counsel
29Ms Caruso on behalf of the Director, submitted that general and specific deterrence, denunciation and just punishment were all highly relevant sentencing purposes warranting a sentence of immediate imprisonment and the fixing of a non-parole period. She reminded me of the standard sentence provisions and the serious offender provisions. She did not seek a longer than commensurate sentence.
30As to the objective gravity of the offending she submitted that:
·Ms Beatty was an extremely vulnerable young woman, the survivor of a past kidnap and rape, struggling with her mental health, all of which was known to you. The impact of your offending upon your victim has been significant and protracted.
·Charge 5 was a rolled-up charge consisting of both digital and penile penetration. After you had digitally penetrated her, your victim tried to push you away. Your response was to ask why she was acting in that manner, and then to continue the sexual assault upon her.
·When your victim showed unwilling, you grabbed her by the throat before you committed the penile rape in Charge 6. On neither occasion of penile/vaginal penetration did you wear a condom.
·She further submitted that the rapes were to be assessed in the context of the earlier kidnapping, threats, and prior controlling behaviour. Your victim submitted to your sexual penetration due to fear. She submitted these were serious examples of such offending.
·The threats and kidnap were also serious examples of such offending.
·She submitted that although pleas of guilty were indicated to the non-sexual offending at an early stage, the pleas of guilty to the rapes, that is Charges 5 and 6, came late in the day. Nonetheless, there was a utilitarian benefit in the plea.
She accepted that you are a relatively young man with a supportive partner and that you enjoy the continued support of your family.
31On your behalf, Ms Swiney, learned counsel, realistically accepted that this was serious offending and that general and specific deterrence and denunciation had an important role to play in my sentencing discretion. She also acknowledged the part that methamphetamine had played in your offending and in your personal decline in the weeks and months leading up to it. In mitigation of sentence she relied upon:
·your plea of guilty and both the utilitarian and further value that a plea of guilty brings in the time of COVID;
·your relative youth and the absence of any relevant prior or pending matter;
·your developing insight into your offending, a process which has been slow, but which has led to a real understanding of what consent means;
·your developing regret and developing remorse for your offending;
·your prospects for rehabilitation for which, she submitted, there were substantial grounds for optimism based upon the steps you have taken since your arrest and your release on bail towards remaining drug-free, and the continued support of your family and your new partner;
·the assessment of your low risk re-offending.
Objective gravity
32Mr Stamper, in the area of intimate relationships everyone has autonomy, freedom and choice. That means the freedom to say, 'I want to have sex with you', and the freedom to say, 'I do not want to have sex with you'. Freedom to say, 'I want to go out with you', and freedom to say, 'This is not working for me, I no longer want to go out with you'. By early August 2019, and as a direct result of your controlling and aggressive behaviour towards her, Ms Beatty decided that she no longer wanted to be in an intimate relationship with you. But this was, however, something that you could not or would not accept. You sought to make her change her mind by a combination of threats and pleadings. You knew of Ms Beatty's traumatic past. But that knowledge did not alter your determination to have your way. Ms Beatty blocked your calls, but you continued to harass her.
33On 12 August 2019, driven by a monstrous sense of entitlement and affront, you decided that you would show Ms Beatty who was boss: she would bend to your will or she would suffer the consequences. Whilst your methamphetamine use may explain the extreme nature of your response to being told that the relationship was over, it does not and cannot excuse it.
34Announcing your intent by sending threatening text messages to another resident, you turned up at Ms Beatty's address, a residence for the vulnerable. Paying no heed to the impact of your acts upon others, you demanded that Ms Beatty come out to talk to you. Despite the fears of support staff, Ms Beatty went out to see you, attempting to calm you down. Then began her terrifying ordeal which lasted for nearly 40 hours. By the use and threat of force, you kidnapped her, ensuring her compliance by graphic and continued threats to kill her and to cause her serious physical injury. As if to emphasise the control you were exercising over her, you made her fill up your vehicle with petrol before driving off without paying. By the time you arrived at the property in Glenthompson, Ms Beatty felt herself to be your prisoner: from then on, her actions were driven by fear and self-preservation.
35In the course of the next 24 hours you twice raped your victim. She submitted to you through fear, a fear that was entirely justified, for when she showed reluctance you either questioned her or used physical force to get your way. You accept, by virtue of your plea, that you had no reasonable belief in your victim's consent to your sexual penetration of her, a fact that would have been obvious to you had you stopped for one moment to consider your actions.
36
At no point did you give thought to the impact of the offending on your victim, although you were aware, I find, of the serious nature of your acts as your,
self-pitying comments immediately prior to the second rape (Charge 6) make clear. All acts of non-consensual penetration are objectively serious. And whilst the rapes were absent some of those aggravating features which are so often encountered in these courts, physical force was used (Charge 6), and on both occasions of penile penetration you did not use a condom. Further, they were committed against a particularly vulnerable partner who, to your knowledge, had experience past traumatic sexual assault.
37Mr Stamper, both kidnap and rape are most serious offences, as is clear from the maximum penalty imposed by Parliament. Rape has nothing to do with desire, it has nothing to do with sexual attraction. It is, quite simply, a crime of invasive violence. It uses the physical expressions of intimacy to exert power, control and dominance. And when used against an intimate partner, it is a betrayal of any loving, mutual, or respectful relationship. When committed in the context of an intimate relationship, both rape and kidnapping constitute most serious examples of family violence. The courts have a duty to protect intimate partners from family violence.
38At the core of your offending was a sense of affronted entitlement. In your case, principles of general and specific deterrence, denunciation, protection of the community and just punishment are all to the fore in the exercise of my sentencing discretion.
39The sentencing process is not about revenge or retribution, nor can it give back to your victim what she feels has been taken from her. Mr Stamper, in sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of different factors. I must give effect to the principles of general deterrence and of specific deterrence. 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 victim. I must have regard to current sentencing practices and to the statutory maximum penalties for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty. I must also take into account that Charges 5 and 6 are standard sentence offences for which the standard sentence is a term of imprisonment of 10 years. I must ensure, as far as possible, that you are rehabilitated and reintegrated into society. In short, Mr Stamper, 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.
40I have considered all matters urged upon me on your behalf: for the avoidance of doubt, I have particular regard to:
·your plea of guilty, which brings with it the utilitarian benefit of saving the community the time and cost, and your victim the trauma, of a trial. I give you full credit for your plea to reflect that utilitarian benefit, and also to reflect the value that your plea has in facilitating the course of justice in the time of COVID even in respect of the late pleas entered on Charges 5 and 6;
·your relative youth: aged nearly 27 you are still a relatively young man;
·your slow but developing insight into your offending and to the devastating impact upon you, your family and perhaps, most of all, upon your victim, of your methamphetamine use;
·your developing regret and remorse;
·the assessment of your low to moderate risk of reoffending; and
·
your prospects for rehabilitation, for which I accept there are grounds for optimism, provided you are able to remain drug free. And that,
Mr Stamper, as I am sure you understand, is a real question, the key question for the future. You can have a life if you remain drug free.
I also have regard, of course, to the sentencing principles of totality.
41Nevertheless, as your counsel has conceded, and as you must be only too well aware, this was most serious offending, which can only be met by a substantial and significant term of imprisonment. I am, however, persuaded that on Charges 5 and 6, all relevant sentencing purposes can be met by a term of imprisonment that falls well below the standard sentence. I have moderated the orders for cumulation that I would otherwise have made and impose a non-parole period as short as I believe is commensurate with the relevant sentencing purposes.
Sentence
42On Charge 1, kidnapping, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years and nine months.
43On Charge 2, making a threat to kill, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 16 months.
44On Charge 3, making a threat to inflict serious injury, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 9 months.
45On Charge 4, theft, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two months.
46On Charge 5, rape, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six years and three months.
47On Charge 6, rape, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six years and two months.
48On Charge 7, theft, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one month.
49On Summary Charge 7, assault with a weapon, you are sentenced to term of imprisonment of three months.
50On Summary Charge 10, driving while suspended, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of one month.
51On Summary Charge 11, using unregistered motor vehicle, you are convicted and discharged.
52On Summary Charges 10 and 11, I make no orders as to disqualification.
53I order that 14 months of the sentence on Charge 1, and 27 months of the sentence on Charge 6 run cumulative to each other and to the sentence on Charge 5. This makes a total effective sentence of nine years and eight months.
54You must serve a period of six years before you are eligible for parole.
55Ms Watson, for the avoidance of doubt, I have had regard to s 11A of the Sentencing Act, and to the matters set out there, all right? I am clearly of the view that justice would dictate no greater a non-parole period.
56MS WATSON: Yes, Your Honour.
57HIS HONOUR: I pass an order, Mr Stamper, so that should you obtain parole, you will have an extended period being supported on parole while you live in the community and rebuild your life.
58On Charge 6, you are sentenced as a serious sexual offender and I direct that this be entered into the records of the court.
59Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act, had you not pleaded guilty, you would have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 years and 10 months, with a non-parole period of nine years and eight months.
60Pursuant to s 18(4) of the Sentencing Act, I declare that you have served 309 days of the sentence I have passed upon you. I direct that this be entered into the records of the court.
61I have also, Ms Watson, signed the disposal order that was sought and that will make its way to your chambers.
62MS WATSON: Thank you, Your Honour.
63HIS HONOUR: That has been attached, I am told, to Charge 2.
64MS WATSON: Correct, Your Honour.
65HIS HONOUR: Ms Swiney, custody management issues. I know that Mr Stamper has returned to custody. Can I ask, is Mr Stamper currently in receipt of medication?
66MS SWINEY: I do not think so, Your Honour. He is nodding.
67HIS HONOUR: He nods. Can I speak directly to Mr Stamper, Ms Swiney?
68MS SWINEY: Yes, of course, Your Honour.
69HIS HONOUR: Can you hear me, Mr Stamper?
70OFFENDER: Yes, I can, Your Honour.
71HIS HONOUR: Yes. Now Mr Stamper, are you currently in receipt of medication?
72OFFENDER: Yeah, I am receiving the Tegretol for the epilepsy.
73HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right. I thought I had read somewhere that that is so. But you are not receiving any antidepressant medication? It is just the Tegretol, it is just your epilepsy medication?
74OFFENDER: Yes, it is just the Tegretol.
75HIS HONOUR: All right. Look, I am going to put that as a matter onto the custody order. I will also put this is the first time he is now serving prison, Ms Swiney?
76MS SWINEY: Yes.
77HIS HONOUR: Yes, all right. And I will note that his epilepsy needs to be consistently monitored and that his medication - - -
78MS SWINEY: That is the most important - - -
79HIS HONOUR: Yes, absolutely.
80MS SWINEY: That is the most important.
81HIS HONOUR: - - - is consistently monitored. Mr Stamper, have you had examinations or consultations with healthcare professionals since you have gone back into custody?
82OFFENDER: Well, for the epilepsy or - - -
83HIS HONOUR: Yes, for the epilepsy, Mr Stamper.
84OFFENDER: Oh, I had blood tests done.
85HIS HONOUR: All right, how often does that happen, Mr Stamper?
86OFFENDER: Ah, every couple of months.
87HIS HONOUR: Every couple of months, all right.
88OFFENDER: Yeah.
89HIS HONOUR: So, look, I will put that on the order as well, Ms Swiney, as that is the template and that should certainly continue.
90MS SWINEY: Yes, Your Honour.
91HIS HONOUR: All right. Mr Stamper, let me say this to you directly. It is a heavy duty that sits on the court to send a young man such as you to prison for a substantial term of imprisonment. I have tried to structure this sentence such that you do not lose hope and that also, you can be able to be supported in the community, should you obtain parole. You will still be, certainly in the mind of this old judge, you will still be a young man. And if you are able to give up and never use methamphetamine again, I am sure you can return to being the man that your mother and your current partner describe. All right, Mr Stamper?
92Thank you, Ms Swiney. Ms Watson. Have I left anything out?
93MS WATSON: No, Your Honour.
94HIS HONOUR: No, all right. Thank you both for your attendance this morning. Both of you, have a good day.
95MS SWINEY: As Your Honour pleases.
96HIS HONOUR: All right, I will stand down.
97MS WATSON: As the court pleases.
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