Director of Public Prosecutions v Styles
[2013] VCC 899
•30 May 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR-11-00396
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| BRIAN JOHN STYLES |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD | |
WHERE HELD: | Latrobe Valley | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 30 May 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v. Styles | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 899 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr K. Doyle | |
| For the Accused | Mr R. Davis |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Brian John Styles,, on indictment which I will refer to as A, you have pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary and one count of criminal damage. You have also pleaded guilty to one uplifted charge of contravention of a family violence order and two uplifted charges of unlawful assault.
2 Aggravated burglary carries a maximum penalty of 25 years and criminal damage ten years.
3 You pleaded guilty in an endeavour to resolve the matter and I take that into account. Remorse, I suspect, is deeply problematic but I certainly do not make any adverse findings against you. You must also of course get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.
4 You are still only 22 years of age and on my calculation were 20 and 21 at the time of the two sets of offending.
5 You have a very significant criminal history, though you have never before been sentenced to adult gaol. You have been sentenced to Youth Justice orders but from what I can calculate neither of sufficient duration to have involved you being placed upon parole. You are currently undergoing a nine month sentence which commenced on 13 May. That gives you a release date in February of next year.
6 The ultimate submission was that this being your first adult sentence, and for reasons I will enunciate very shortly, that I should impose a sentence which enabled you to be released on parole at or not very long after the release date that you already have.
7 Firstly, the circumstances of the offending in regard to Indictment A were that on 24 July 2012, one, Ms Kenny, was at home in Traralgon. She had been your partner for a number of months but by this stage had an Intervention Order against you. You arrived at the house and started to "go off his head" about pills. There was then an altercation where she jumped in her brother's car, you jumped in the car as well. You then proceeded to assault her extensively over a period of time. At one stage, as I understand it, you had a crowbar and were chasing her around in the yard.
8 A neighbour walking by, a Mr Aleik, observed you doing this and simply looked at you. You approached him and kicked him in the thigh and attempted to punch him. You then pushed him against the fence of the property. The brother of Ms Kenny broke that up. You then picked up a garbage bin. You then used that to break the two front lounge windows. You picked up a wooden log from the ground and created a hole in the side of the house. You then went inside and Ms Kenny could hear smashing inside. You emerged from the house and got in a taxi. When she went inside she saw that her TV, DVD player, heater and set-top box had all been smashed.
9 She called the police. You returned shortly thereafter and stood at the front door spitting at her and calling her a slut. She saw the police arrive and went outside. You apparently then kicked her in the backside in an attempt to pushed her off the veranda. Constable Duffy says he saw you striking her as he got out of the van. Understandably you were arrested.
10 Indictment B involves a situation where you went to premises to gain admittance to get cigarettes. You were refused and went back to the home where you were living with Ms Kenny. These offences are from September 2011 and obviously pre-date the others. You and Ms Kenny went back to the house after you had picked her up at home. It is prosecuted on the basis that you drove her there in concert that she was going to go inside and assault people.
11 On arriving at the unit Ms Kenny kicked the door in and gained entry. She then said, amongst other things, "Who's the lippy cunt." Understandably an altercation ensued from there, weapons were produced and all sorts of drama took place. At highest, in terms of actual participation, you drove her there and you put one foot inside. What occurred after that is pretty dramatic but not the subject of separate charges. That gives rise, obviously, to aggravated burglary.
12 Aggravated burglary is a serious offence and here must carry a custodial sentence, and nobody is arguing with that. The assaults, I look at them in the milieu in which it took place, and judging by Ms Kenny's conduct back in November it would take a lot to seriously disturb her, I suspect.
13 I think in this scenario I do not need to go into great detail, you have had placed before me a psychologist's report and I do not need to go into your family history. The fact of the matter is that you function at the extremely low end of the intellectual range. You have a mild intellectual disability which, as is pointed out in the case of Muldrock, is very misleading and on my calculation less than two per cent of the population would function better than you.
14 The situation is that an intellectual disability of that nature attracts a significant discount and it will be given. You do have family support for your ultimate release.
15 You are currently undergoing a sentence.
16 Your counsel pointed out on your behalf that you were given a CBO which now unfortunately has been breached. You did get through the work hours and you did do some attending. Your mother has instructed him that your older brother was in strife at one stage at least but he seems to have turned the corner and she is hopeful that you will too.
17 I do not see much point in going into any other personal details about it, you have been drug-addicted and alcohol-addicted since an early age and you function at a low level. I think the opportunity for parole may well be the community's last chance for you to be redeemed, though at your age I would certainly not regard rehabilitation as extinguished and I would be hopeful that, as with your brother, you may be able to get to a stage where you do not offend again.
18 In any event, on Indictment A, the charge of aggravated burglary, 15 months. Criminal damage, six months. On the summary matters, family violence order, three months. The assault on Kenny three months and the assault on Aleik, the innocent neighbour, three months.
19 I direct that two months of the sentence imposed on Count 2, that is the criminal damage, together with one month of the sentence imposed on the assault of Mr Aleik be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the sentence for aggravated burglary. Therefore, on Indictment A, you have a total effective sentence of 18 months.
20 On Indictment B, aggravated burglary, somewhat different circumstances, 12 months.
21 I direct that six months of that sentence be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed upon Indictment A, which leaves a head sentence of 24 months. I direct that you serve 12 months of that sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
22 There is no PSD, as I understand.
23 Pursuant to s.6AAA, I say that but for your pleas of guilty you would have been sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of three years with a minimum term of two years.
24 Are there any other orders I need to make?
25 MR DOYLE: We gave Your Honour the disposal orders.
26 HIS HONOUR: I signed that, did I not?
27 MR DOYLE: Yes.
28 HIS HONOUR: There was no 464 with this one.
29 MR DOYLE: No, I suspect it's probably on it already, isn't it?
30 HIS HONOUR: I would reckon so.
31 MR DOYLE: Your Honour, can I just have a moment?
32 HIS HONOUR: Yes.
33 MR DOYLE: He's got a prior for robbery, Your Honour. Your Honour - - -
34 HIS HONOUR: I am not going to adjourn it for that. If you have not got instructions, that is it.
35 MR DOYLE: Yes.
36 HIS HONOUR: I do not think he is hard to catch. He might be hard to find sometimes but I do not think you need DNA with this bloke. You can check that out, if everyone agrees I will sign one in chambers.
37 MR DOYLE: Thank you, Your Honour.
38 HIS HONOUR: If they do not, I will not. I will stand the matter down, you can have a yarn to him and explain to him what has happened.
39 MR DAVIS: Thank you, sir.
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