Director of Public Prosecutions v Steedman

[2014] VCC 2139

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 14-01829

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ROBERT STEEDMAN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	11 December 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:	11 December 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v STEEDMAN
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 2139

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms. E. Broadbent	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Applicant	Mr C. Watson

HIS HONOUR:

1Robert Steedman, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated burglary and one charge of recklessly causing serious injury.  Those crimes carry maximum penalties of 25 years and 15 years respectively. 

2You are 27 years of age and you pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity.  You made a confessional record of interview and I take that into account.  I accept, from the conversations that you had with police, that once you realised the full extent of what you had done, you expressed appropriate remorse.  You must also, of course, get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty in terms of saving a trial.  It is also clear that that plea is on the basis of material provided by yourself against yourself, that being the record of interview.  Without that, it would have been difficult to convict you.

3You have a number of prior convictions extending back over a period of time into your teens.  You were sentenced in this court on 17 August 2009 to five years, with a minimum term of two and a half.  I will return to that shortly.  That was effectively for armed robberies.  It is difficult to work out the Queensland prior history but it seems clear that you have received a number of sentences for assault occasioning bodily harm and some dishonesty.  Since you were 17 and put into adult gaol at that age, it has only been a year or so that you have not been in custody.  Again, I will deal with that shortly.

4The offending is concerning, indeed the victim in this matter, Mr Crowe, was 61 years of age.  On the date of the offence, he was residing in a caravan park in Laverton North.  You were visiting a friend, a Mr Julecevic, who resided there.  Around 12 June apparently, Mr Julechevic had stolen the victim's phone.  He reported it and Mr Julechevic denied it.  He subsequently admitted it some weeks after this offending took place.

5On Friday, 27 June at approximately 2.40 am, you attended the victim's cabin in the company of what's described as an unknown male.  It seems fairly obvious who that male was but there is no evidence to support it and it does not affect this sentencing.  As Mr Crowe opened the door, you immediately entered the cabin and punched him three to four times to the right side of the face and head.  Mr Crowe said, "He smashed me straight away and back me into the corner.  It happened very quickly."  After this, you said calmly to him, "I'm Emile's older brother".  You then left the cabin.  At about three o'clock, Mr Crowe sought assistance.  The police were called but did not attend - I do not know what that was - and at approximately 4.11 am, Ambulance Victoria found Mr Crowe with severe facial trauma.  That trauma was indeed severe. 

6Mr Crowe was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.  He had significant swelling over the right side of his face, periorbital ecchymosis, commonly known as raccoon eyes, sub-(indistinct) haemorrhage in his right eye, his right pupil response was slightly left brisk than the left and his visual acuity was also decreased on the right.  He had increased pressure in his right eye and decreased sensation over his right cheek.  Understandably, he was given a CT scan which disclosed extensive facial fractures.  There was a right inferior orbital rim fracture, right lateral orbital wall fracture, right zygomatic arch fracture and right maxillary sinus fracture.  I have obviously seen the photos of Mr Crowe in hospital and they are a depressing sight indeed.

7He also suffered a right sub-condylar minimally displaced fracture of his lower jaw, impingement of the lateral rectus muscle which caused bulging eye with stretching of the optic nerve, significant emphysema prominent at the orbit, face and neck on the right side, a chipped top front tooth and severe bruising on the upper body and knee.  He was discharged from hospital on 30 June and re-admitted on 4 July for surgery to fix the facial fractures.  On 4 July he had oral and maxillofacial surgery and plates were inserted to correct the fractures around the orbit, cheek and nose.  He suffered from double and blurred vision following that surgery.  As at July, he still had double vision but his visual acuity was better. 

8Shortly afterwards, you flew to Queensland, though I understand the trip had been organised previously.  When interviewed by police, you admitted what you had done and said that the victim did not have a chance to defence himself.  You said, "Just boom and whack and that was it, I wanted to jump on his head and put him in hospital properly.  I wanted to severely hurt him and go a lot further than what I did.  It was enough for a warning."  You also said that you felt bad that you did an old man and wanted to apologise to him.  You told the police that you were not affected by alcohol or drugs at the time of the offending.

9As I have indicated, you subsequently pleaded guilty and I take all those matters into account.

10The victim impact statement of Mr Crowe has obviously been read by myself.  He apparently did not wish it to be read out aloud in court, but there are certain aspects of it that I think have to be referred to, to bring home the seriousness of what has occurred.

11Insofar as the fractures are concerned, he describes those.  At the time of making his statement, he could not open his mouth sufficiently for dental work to be done, in terms of the damage to the tooth.  He says he often has to wear sunglasses because of the damage to his eye.  His right eye often weeps and is very light sensitive.  He said, "Four months down the track, the whole side of my face stings.  I'm still in constant pain every day.  I don't like to take heavy duty pain killers so I weaned off them but I still take two Panadol every four hours.  I have a high pain threshold but I would rate the pain on the right side of my face as 8 out of 10.  He refers to an incident that I know nothing of but "When I rescued the girls from the fire and received my bravery medal, I would rate the burns I sustained as 7 out of 10, this pain is worse."

12The situation is that he has been advised that that could be the condition for an indeterminate period of time.  He also describes the psychological effect that this has had on him.  He says he is fearful of anyone obtaining his address in case you should get it.  He has no idea what your motive was and I do not know whether you do.  He said he had no enemies in the park, owed no money, believed that he got on well with all residents he had met and had no dealings in drugs.  He says, "I am now agoraphobic and unable to even catch a bus, I struggle to see a doctor or do anything for my welfare or anything other than buy some food.  I can't walk down the street without constantly looking over my shoulder.  I have spent a lot of money on taxis to get to appointments or I rely on my 86 year old father to assist me to get to appointments."

13His psychologist has told him he is hyper-vigilant and suffering, very understandably I would have thought, from a post-traumatic stress disorder.  He said he only gets about two hours sleep as he wakes during the night.  He describes how, at 61, living by himself in that situation, his future prospects are "horrible".  "As my life has been destroyed by the assault, affecting my relationship with my two young children, my sister and my father.  I have no social or business contacts now and I have not even been back to church since the attack."

14That is what you did and that is what you have to be sentenced for.  Obviously, the offending is, in my view, very serious and calls for the application of general and specific deterrence, denunciation, punishment and, in this particular situation, community protection.  A lengthy gaol term is inevitable but I take into account that gaol term will be served in protection.  I then look to matters personal to yourself.

15It is in these circumstances that the real difficulties in terms of sentencing in the judicial system become apparent.  Tendered on your behalf were reports from Ms Elizabeth Warren, psychologist, and Aaron Cunningham, psychologist.  There is also a reference from your partner who meet you whilst you were in gaol and with whom you are residing in the couple of months leading up to this assault taking place. 

16You are now 27, you were diagnosed with ADHD when you were a young boy and, as you said to one of the psychologists, you have been on speed ever since.  You found it difficult to keep up in school and lost concentration.  You were involved in fighting from a very early age.  Your father was a very violent man, you were placed in to foster care with a sister, as I understand, at about the age of 12.  You went to approximately six different foster homes and approximately the same number of primary schools.  The damage that living in foster care over an extended period of time and that sort of total lack of solidity in an education is, unfortunately, so common in circumstances such as you now find yourself.

17Mr Cunningham has diagnosed a post-traumatic stress disorder.  There were a number of incidents that have occurred in your life which have caused you great distress and, I have no doubt, continue to do so.  One of those was a situation where a cousin was killed in circumstances where you still ruminate on that, taking it upon yourself in terms of having invited him to where his death occurred.  There is no indication of intellectual impairment.  You are described as becoming, at times, really depressed and Mr Cunningham points out that your paranoiac (I think is a fair way of describing it) personality makes it more difficult for you in gaol and that that condition will, in all probability, worsen in the custodial environment.  I accept that and take it into account in terms of the ultimate sentence that I impose.  You have the support of your mother, who has been in court for the last couple of days and, indeed, has come down from Queensland to do just that.

18You have had various jobs over the years, mainly working on cattle stations, abattoirs and the like.  You have not worked since coming back to Victoria.  You describe having been stabbed on a number of occasions whilst in prison and you describe all sorts of other violence that has been inflicted upon you.  It is clear from your criminal history that the violence has certainly not been one way.  You are described as becoming institutionalised and, at 27, that is a real concern.

19You were sentenced in 2009 by Judge Wilmoth I have had the benefit of reading her sentencing remarks.  At that point in time when she sentenced you, you had served 151 days of that sentence.  She noted that you had, whilst in custody, completed a drug course and your drug screens had been clean, that you had discovered an artistic talent and that you were then studying a TAFE course in art appreciation.  What she endeavoured to do was give you a minimum term which would have afforded you the opportunity of an extended period of supervision after being released from prison. 

20I turn to the chronology of your criminal history.  In 2001, you left school in approximately Year 8 after attending numerous primary schools, as I have indicated, and more than one secondary school.  You were, for the first time, placed in juvenile detention.  On 24 August 2005, you were given your first term of adult imprisonment in Queensland as a 17 year old.  You were paroled in February 2007 and came to Melbourne.  You committed offences in August 2008 for which you were sentenced in 2009.  On 10 February 2009, you were again sentenced in Queensland to 18 months, suspended for three months after serving six months.  That was effectively time served.  On 20 March 2009, you were discharged from Queensland prison and extradited to Victoria to face the matters for which you were sentenced by Judge Wilmoth.  On 17 August 2009, as I have indicated, she sentenced you to be imprisoned for a period of five years, with a non-parole period of two years and six months. 

21In May 2011, you were relocated to Queensland to serve the remainder of your prison sentence.  Having tried to do the arithmetic here, it seems to me that you had done approximately five months of that two years and six months before you were sentenced and it would seem you only had a matter of a few months to go before your eligibility for parole was complete in Victoria.  I am told from the Bar table, and have no reason not to accept, that you had done the programs prerequisite to your release, but that you were sent back to Queensland.  Why they did not simply give you parole in Victoria and then transfer it to Queensland, I do not know.

22The end result was that with only a couple of months away from the opportunity for parole that Judge Wilmoth had endeavoured to give you, you were taken back into custody.  You were not paroled and did the rest of the sentence.

23On 18 March 2014, almost exactly five years after you were discharged from the Queensland prison, your prison term was completed.  You came to Victoria and for reasons I do not understand, went back to Queensland on a number of occasions and this offending occurred in June, so you had only been out from the five year sentence for a few  months when you inflicted these injuries on a totally innocent elderly man.

24Yours is the so often dreadful history of being the subject of violence, of living in many homes, of there being drug and alcohol abuse and a totally itinerant and very low form of education.  You have clearly suffered a deprived background and I take that into account.  There is also reference in the medical material to you suffering from auditory hallucinations.  Your reasons for why this offence occurred are bizarre, to say the least, and I am at a loss to understand how this came about.  In the end, I suppose, it does not matter but I am concerned in terms of the drug psychosis that may have been in existence at the time, though there is no material before me to support that.  You are not what could be described as a particularly accurate historian, but I take into account all the matters contained in those reports. 

25Obviously, the question of totality is important in your situation and I am very concerned, as I often am with these circumstances, of institutionalisation.  The prospects of your rehabilitation are really up to you and the risk of you re-offending, bearing in mind your past history, would have to be regarded as, at least, moderate. 

26You have been in custody for 140 days.  I have gone into more detail than I might normally when going into the victim impact statement to bring home very clearly the consequences that occur from offending such as this.  It is not just a matter of someone getting over injuries, it can ruin lives and I suspect that what you have done here has achieved just that.  However, you are still 27, I should not regard your prospects for rehabilitation as being extinguished and whether or not they give it to you is another matter, but I propose to give you an opportunity for parole.

27It is a serious example of aggravated burglary and, in my view, a very serious example of recklessly causing serious injury.  Obviously, I have to be cautious of double punishment but it seems to me in this situation that there has to be a degree of cumulation.  In the circumstances the assault is the major offence, though they have different maximum penalties, and I intend to make some of the aggravated burglary cumulative upon the sentence for the recklessly cause serious injury.  It could just as easily have been the other way round. 

28In any event, on Charge 1, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of four years;  on Charge 2, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for four years.  I direct that one and a half years of the sentence imposed on Charge 1 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed on Charge 2, which gives a total effective sentence of five and a half years.  I direct that you serve three and a half years before becoming eligible for parole.  I direct that 140 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

29So that you understand the benefit of having pleaded guilty and not put Mr Crowe through the horrors of a trial in this situation, I declare that I would have imposed a sentence of eight years, with a minimum of six years to be served. 

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