Director of Public Prosecutions v Stewart

[2016] VCC 1296

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

AT SALE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-16-00476

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TERRI-ANNE NICOLE STEWART

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN
WHERE HELD:	Sale
DATE OF HEARING:	26 August 2016
DATE OF SENTENCE:	31 August 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Stewart
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 1296

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr P. D'Arcy	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Mr J. Anderson	Sullivan Braham Pty Ltd

1HIS HONOUR: Terri‑Anne Nicole Stewart, you pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous driving causing serious injury contrary to s.319(1A) of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for that offence is five years imprisonment.

2You pleaded guilty following settlement negotiations with the prosecution and after a jury empanelled to try you in respect of a charge of negligently causing serious injury was discharged without verdict.

3I accept that your plea is evidence of remorse in your case and it has spared the community the expense of a criminal trial.

4I have taken your plea into account in your favour in mitigation of sentence.

5You have admitted a criminal history for minor offences of dishonesty and a traffic conviction which is not significant for sentencing purposes in this case.

6A prosecution opening was read to the court and tendered in evidence and your offending may be summarised as follows -

7At approximately 12.45 am on 13 October 2014 you were driving your 2002 Holden Commodore sedan in a south‑ easterly direction on the Sale Maffra Road in Bundalaguah.  Traffic was minimal, visibility was good and the weather was clear.  Your son, Tate Maxfield, was sitting in the front passenger seat.  Both you and he were wearing seat belts.

8Approximately 100 metres south of Montgomery Road you veered to the wrong side of the road towards another vehicle travelling towards you.  That vehicle was being driven by Mr Timothy Banner.  Mr Banner took evasive action and swerved on to the gravel shoulder on the western side of the road.  He realised that your vehicle was still travelling towards him and so he took further evasive action, swerving to the eastern side of the road to avoid a collision.  You then corrected your vehicle and steered back to the lane in which you should have been travelling and, as a result, collided virtually head on with Mr Banner's vehicle.

9Mr Banner got out of his vehicle and asked you what happened and you told him that you had fallen asleep.

10Emergency vehicles attended at the scene.  You were taken to a nearby oval and transferred by air ambulance to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and your son was taken to the Sale Hospital and later also transferred by air ambulance to the Royal Children's Hospital.  Mr Banner was taken by ambulance to the Sale Hospital.

11Both vehicles were written off.

12At 6 am that morning a blood sample was taken from you and it, upon analysis, revealed that your blood contained 0.95 milligrams per litre of methylamphetamine, which, in the opinion of Dr Morris Odell of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, was a very high blood level of methylamphetamine.  In his opinion, as a result of that methylamphetamine, your driving skills would have been significantly adversely affected rendering you incapable of properly controlling a motor vehicle.

13As a result of the collision, you suffered injuries and your son suffered serious injuries, including bruising to his left lung, a tear to his liver and possible bruising of his pancreas, spleen and kidney.  He also suffered an injury to his cervical spine at levels C5 and C6.  This was treated with a halo brace which he wore until December 2014.  Your son remained in the Royal Children's Hospital for a period of nine days.

14Your offending is clearly serious in nature and you put your life and the lives of two other people, including your own ten year old son, at risk.

15I am unable to conclude from the evidence before me or from the submissions made on your behalf what the actual circumstances are of you driving home from Maffra at 12.30 am with your ten year old son, but I am satisfied that you had probably used methylamphetamine that night and you must have been aware that that would impair your capacity to drive in a safe manner.

16Road trauma causes enormous damage to our society and in this case your child was seriously injured by you.  The sentence I impose must be calculated to deter you and others from offending in this way and the community must be protected from you and you must also be punished for your irresponsible and criminal conduct.

17I have received in evidence two victim impact statements from your son's father and his grandmother.  Your offending has had a deeply disturbing effect on them and they understandably worry about Tate’s future welfare when he is with you in a motor vehicle.

18I now turn to your personal circumstances.

19You were born on 5 February 1973 in Frankston and are now aged 43.  You were 41 at the time of your offending.  As I have said, you suffered injuries to your back, neck and knee in the collision and you continue to be hampered by them.

20Your family moved to Longford when you were young and you attended Sale Catholic College and completed Year 12.  You were a very talented sports woman.

21Following Year 12 you commenced a Bachelor of Nursing degree and completed two years of that course.  More recently, you have also returned to tertiary education. 

22It appears, however, that your personal development has been seriously disrupted by reason of your father's alcoholism and his serious physical abuse of your mother.  This has resulted in you experiencing continuing anxiety and episodes of depression since your teenage years. You have a history of unstable relationships and drug addiction. 

23Despite the fact that you have three children and a relatively stable economic situation, you are clearly in need of treatment for your underlying mental illness and the drug addiction that has developed in response to it.

24In my opinion, however, your prospects for rehabilitation are good if you are in receipt of the appropriate services in respect of your mental illness and drug addiction.

25Whilst your offending is serious and must be the subject of denunciation, and you must be punished, as the Court of Appeal made clear in R v. Boulton [2014] VSCA 342, these sentencing purposes may be achieved by the imposition of a Community Correction Order.

26Accordingly, I had you assessed for such a disposition and you were found to be suitable.  This course was accepted by the prosecution as the appropriate course to follow in your case.

27In the result the sentence of the court is as follows: 

28On the charge of dangerous driving causing serious injury, you are convicted and released on a Community Correction Order for a period of two years on the core conditions provided for in the Sentencing Act 1991 and on the following special conditions:

29(i)  That you be under the supervision of a community correction officer for the period of the order; 

30(ii)  That you appear for judicial monitoring on 2 December 2016 at 9.30 am in Melbourne ‑ I will permit you to appear by way of video‑link for that purpose;

31(iii)  That you undertake treatment and assessment in relation to drug addiction; 

32(iv)  That you undertake treatment and assessment in relation to alcohol consumption;

33(v)  That you undertake treatment and assessment in relation to your mental illness; and

34(vi)  You undertake a road trauma course.

35Do you agree to entering into a Community Correction Order on those conditions? 

36OFFENDER:  Yes.

37HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  I will not make any order in relation to your driver's licence as you have already been the subject of suspension for a period of 15 months.

38Would you just come forward and sign the order, please.

39(Community correction order signed).

40Yes, you can be seated in the court.  Your counsel will explain to you the effect of that order, Ms Stewart, and we will see you for judicial monitoring on 2 December 2016 and Corrections will prepare a report to inform me how you are progressing on the order and hopefully the application for funding for the road trauma course will have been successful.

41Are there any further orders required? 

42MR D'ARCY:  No, Your Honour.

43HIS HONOUR:  No, thank you.  Mr Anderson? 

44MR ANDERSON:  There was the 464 which was applied for.

45HIS HONOUR:  I haven't made that order.

46MR ANDERSON:  Yes.

47HIS HONOUR:  Thank you. 

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