Director of Public Prosecutions v Stuart

[2023] VCC 1857

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-23-01175

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

MATTHEW STUART

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	13 October 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 October 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Stuart
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1857

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:Plea - sentencing

Catchwords:          Negligently deal with proceeds of crime

Legislation Cited: 

Cases Cited:

Sentence:Without conviction, 18-month CCO + $10,000 fine

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms D. Gang	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr I. Hill KC with Ms Martin	Anthony Isaacs Criminal Lawyers

HIS HONOUR: 

1Matthew Stuart, you have pleaded guilty to three offences of negligently dealing with proceeds of crime, Charges 2 and 3 being rolled-up charges reflecting the components of the sums of money in Charges 2 and 3.  The total sum of money that was dealt with in that way is $315,000; $79,500 of the $100,000 the subject of Charge 3 was recovered.  Otherwise the monies were lost. 

2The victim impact statements show the misery to which your conduct contributed.  Your part was to become involved unwittingly in a scam.  Those responsible for the scam have not been identified or apprehended.  You do not get the blame for that.  But nevertheless, your negligence was to the criminal standard, as you have indicated by your pleas of guilty to those three offences.

3You have no prior convictions.  You are now 40 years of age and I accept that you are a person with excellent prospects of rehabilitation.  You are fortunate to have the support of your partner.  There is no doubt that your respect for your father and your father's friend, who suggested your involvement in this scheme to which they had attached themselves, was a significant contributing factor to you being drawn into this offending conduct.

4I do not propose to repeat what is in the prosecution opening - that has been read to the court already - and I do not propose to repeat what has been said by your counsel.  Reliance is placed on the written outline of his submissions, which were referred to in the previous hearing in which I gave a sentencing indication.

5The first point that I dealt with in that sentence indication was the question of whether you should be the subject of convictions for your offending. Section 8 of the Sentencing Act 1991 requires consideration of the seriousness of the offence, your good character and the effect that a conviction may have on your future prospects of employment. I indicated that whilst the offending itself would militate in favour of a conviction, the other two components that I had to consider militated against that. I think it would be very unfortunate for a man of your age with good prospects of rehabilitation and otherwise excellent prospects for the future to be handicapped in that pursuit and particularly your job which may require you to travel overseas, by having a conviction hanging over your head.

6Having been persuaded of that, I then had to consider the degree to which your offending required punishment in the form of a community correction order and a financial penalty.  I think you should not escape without a financial penalty.  The financial penalty will be nowhere near the loss that was occasioned in part by your conduct.  It is not designed to be reflective of that.  But it is designed to punish you adequately along with the punitive community correction order for this offending, to denounce your conduct, and to send a message to others that offending of this kind is serious and that it will be visited by punitive measures.

7It is an offence at the lower end of the spectrum of offences of dealing with property the proceeds of crime, but it played its part in causing the loss to the victims, each of whom has provided an impact statement today.

8I am now ready to impose sentence upon you.  For each of Charges 1, 2 and 3, I propose to make a community correction order for a period of 18 months commencing today, the mandatory terms of which are as follows:

-    you must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned, during the time that the order is in force;

-    you must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed by regulation 15 of the Sentencing Regulations, that is, not turning up to your place of work under the unpaid work component drunk or drug-affected or late, and otherwise to cooperate with Corrections in discharging your obligations under the order;

-    you must report to and receive visits from the Secretary of the Department of Justice or his/her delegate;

-    you must report to the Community Corrections Centre at 50 Franklin Street, Melbourne within two clear working days after the order commences;

-    you must let a Community Corrections officer know within two clear working days of you changing your address or your job;

-    you must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the Secretary of the Department or his/her delegate; and

-    you must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary of the Department and his/her delegate.

9In addition to those mandatory conditions:

- you must perform 150 hours of unpaid community work over the period of 18 months as directed by the Regional Manager. If you fail to comply with this order, the Secretary of the Department of Justice or his/her delegate may give you a direction to perform additional hours of unpaid community work in accordance with the Sentencing Act.

10Do you understand the terms of the order?

11OFFENDER:  I do, I do, Your Honour.

12HIS HONOUR:  Do you consent to be placed on that order?

13OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

14HIS HONOUR:  In addition, in respect of the three offences on the indictment, I impose an aggregate fine of $10,000.  I grant you a stay of three months before that must be paid.

15Are there any other matters counsel?

16MS GANG:  Not from the Crown, Your Honour.

17MR HILL:  I am not certain Your Honour specified without conviction?

18HIS HONOUR:  I did not, you are quite right.  Without conviction in respect of each of the three offences.

19MR HILL:  Thank you, Your Honour.

20HIS HONOUR:  If you breach the terms of the community correction order, either by committing further offences during the period the order is in force or by failing to complete the terms of the order, you could be brought back before this court, probably before me, and for breaching the order you may be the subject of a term of imprisonment of up to three months; and if you have committed another offence which puts you in breach of the order, you would be up for punishment for that particular offence as well.

21I am required to make an order under s6AAA of the Sentencing Act.  If you had pleaded not guilty and been found guilty of these offences, I would have sentenced you to a community correction order for a period of two years with an unpaid community work component of 250 hours and an aggregate fine of $20,000, with conviction.

22MS GANG:  May it please the court.

23HIS HONOUR:  Now you will need to sign the order and then I will sign it and then the order is in place.  You can leave the dock now.

24I thank counsel for their assistance.

25MR HILL:  Thank you, Your Honour.

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