Director of Public Prosecutions v Strojan

[2015] VCC 859

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

AT BENDIGO
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-00525

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

MICHAEL STROJAN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Bendigo
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 June 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Strojan
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 859

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr D. Cordy
For the Accused	Mr C. Farrington

HIS HONOUR: 

1Michael Strojan, you have pleaded guilty to an indictment charging you with three separate offences of intentionally causing injury to your cell mate on 5 October and 8 October 2013 respectively.  The prosecution has tendered an outline, a summary of the prosecution opening, which is Exhibit A.  That sets out the facts.  The maximum term of imprisonment for those offences is ten years.  You have also admitted a number of prior court appearances and convictions, which is set out in your criminal history.  It is apparent that you have a very bad record, even though you are still only 22 years of age, including a number of offences of violence, some involving offences involving serious injury.

2The offending was serious for the reasons that I have just outlined: namely that it was upon a cellmate who was suffering from a mental disorder.  It would seem that you exercised your greater strength, both mental and physical, essentially to overpower him and to commit the offences upon him.  There is a need to deter people from offending in that way and, had it not been for the matters that your counsel has advanced on your behalf, it would seem to me that a term of imprisonment would have been an appropriate disposition.

3However, your counsel has provided me with an outline of submissions, which is Exhibit 1, and a helpful Forensicare record, which is Exhibit 2.  Both of those documents set out a deal about your prior history, which shows that you had difficulties at school and ended up with a very poor education; were introduced to drugs and alcohol at an early age and eventually became an ice user; and of course you have served a number of periods of time in custody in one form or another and were in custody clearly during the period when this offending occurred.

4You have, however, pleaded guilty and both your counsel and Mr Cordy on behalf of the prosecution have acknowledged that, although essentially it is a late plea, it is a negotiated plea in circumstances where the prosecution might have had difficulty in proving the case against you.  I think you are entitled to significant credit for that.  That coupled with the other matters put before me, I am persuaded that the matter can be dealt with by way of a non-custodial sentence.

5Your counsel stressed that you lost the opportunity of parole as a result of this offending and that I should have regard to a period of some 262 days which you spent in custody completing the sentence for which you might otherwise have been on parole.  Obviously that is quite a substantial period in custody and, whilst I cannot give you credit on a precise pro rata basis, it does influence me to impose a sentence that does not involve any further time to be served.

6I am pleased to hear that you are already on a community correction order and it would seem that you are making an effort to fulfil the terms of that order.  You have added responsibilities now as a parent and, although you may not have unfettered access to your young child, it is to be hoped that you will see that as something that will spur you to stay out of trouble in the future and to find work and to settle down to a more settled and honest way of life.

7Looking at your record, it is very hard to think that your prospects of rehabilitation are good, as things stand.  It is to be hoped, though, that you will complete the community corrections order that you are presently on.  In those circumstances I am not inclined to impose any sentence that is going to interfere with that.  What I have in mind is to require you to be a community corrections order for a period of 12 months commencing today and that will run concurrently with the present community corrections order.  I would require you to complete a total of 150 hours of unpaid community work.

8That obviously would have to be done within the 12-month period.  It would be done presumably through the Geelong Community Correction Centre.  Is that right, Mr Farrington?

9MR FARRINGTON:  That's correct, Your Honour.

10HIS HONOUR:  I would impose no other terms or conditions apart from the core conditions to that order. 

11You already know, because it will have been explained to you very carefully, that a community corrections order is still like a suspended sentence hanging over your head, because if you commit another offence during the period when the order is in force then you are up for punishment for that offence, you are up for punishment for breaching he order - up to three months' imprisonment for that - and of course you can be resentenced for these matters.  If it was a serious offence, particularly if it involved violence, the likelihood is that you would lose your liberty for these offences.

12So that is, along with the other core conditions, what you will be required to complete.  I cannot impose that order unless you consent to it.  Do you consent to that order?

13OFFENDER:  Yes.

14HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right.  You will also need to appreciate that, if you are able to complete the 150 hours within that 12-month period, then as soon as you have completed those hours, because there are no other conditions to the order, the community correction order comes to an end.  So if you get on with it and complete the order within a short period of time, that is the end of the community correction order.  The order will be drawn up and in a moment I will pronounce the order, once you have had an opportunity of going through it with your counsel and sighing it.

15Mr Farrington, would you mind accompanying my associate to your client to ensure that he understands what he is being asked to sign.

16MR FARRINGTON:  Yes, Your Honour.

17HIS HONOUR:  Yes, just stand up a moment, please.  Michael Strojan, for the three offences of intentionally causing injury to which you have pleaded guilty, I convict you on each and I impose a community correction order for a period of 12 months, requiring you to complete a total of 150 hours of unpaid community work.  But for your pleas of guilty, I would have sentenced you to 20 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 months. 

18Are there any other orders I need make?

19MR CORDY:  No, Your Honour.

20MR FARRINGTON:  No, Your Honour.

21HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  You may leave the dock. 

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