Director of Public Prosecutions v Taleedi
[2024] VCC 66
•02 February 2024
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
CR 21-02026
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| HASSAN TALEEDI |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE GWYNN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 24 January 2024 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 02 February 2024 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Taleedi | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2024] VCC 66 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Criminal law
Catchwords: Trial verdict of guilty, aggravated burglary, sexual assault.
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 (Vic)
Cases Cited:Bowden v The Queen (2013) VR 229, Rezai v The Queen [2020] VSCA 106
Sentence: Term of imprisonment for four years and two months with 2 years and 10 months before being eligible for parole.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D. Plummer | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr B. Johnston | Doogue George Defence Lawyers |
HER HONOUR:
1Hassan Taleedi, on 23 August 2023 you were found guilty by a jury of your peers of aggravated burglary and sexual assault.
2In sentencing you for these matters, I am obliged to have regard to the maximum penalty which attaches to the offences you have committed. The maximum penalty for the charge of aggravated burglary is 25 years' imprisonment and the maximum penalty for the charge of sexual assault is 10 years' imprisonment.
3These maximum penalties reflect the seriousness with which Parliament regards these offences.
The offending
4In terms of the offending, your victim is Georgia Bales[1].
[1] A pseudonym.
5At approximately 1:50 am on 1 January 2021 Ms Bales was returning to her apartment in Spencer Street via Uber with her friend, Carla Morgan[2]. Ms Bales was 23 years of age.
[2] A pseudonym.
6Around the same time, you left your apartment building in Rose Lane Melbourne and were walking down Spencer Street towards Latrobe Street. You were on your way to meet your wife, who was at a celebration elsewhere, and taking a pair of shoes more comfortable for walking.
7You were walking in the opposite direction when you passed Ms Bales and Ms Morgan. After passing them you turned and followed Ms Bales and Ms Morgan.
8Ms Bales used a fob key to open the entry doors to her apartment building in Spencer Street and entered the foyer with her friend. Neither of these women were previously known to you. You followed them into the apartment building foyer. At that stage, Ms Bales had no reason to believe that you were not a fellow occupant.
9CCTV footage from the foyer of the building made it apparent that at least Ms Morgan was extremely intoxicated.
10Ms Bales and Ms Morgan waited approximately 30 seconds for the arrival of a lift as Ms Bales resided on the 11th floor. You waited in the foyer with them and did not communicate at that time. CCTV footage shows you standing back from them and staring in their direction.
11When Ms Bales and Ms Morgan entered the lift, you entered the lift with them. Given it was not your building, you did not have a fob key to direct the lift to a particular floor. Ms Bales was trying to manage her drunken friend who was visibly upset and having difficulty remaining upright. She asked you what floor you were on and you moved forward and pressed a button on the lift panel in the pretence that you were in fact entitled to be there.
12On arriving at the 11th floor, Ms Bales assisted Ms Morgan to exit and you, touching Ms Morgan’s arm, exited with them.
13Ms Bales’ apartment was nearby to the lift well. Ms Bales used her key to open her apartment and as she turned to close her door you were standing in the doorway. Your foot or palm in that doorway stopped Ms Bales from closing the door. The offence of aggravated burglary, particularised as entry with an intention to assault (in this case sexually assault) was complete. Ms Bales told you directly, 'No, you can’t be in here, you have to go.'
14Ms Bales’ evidence was that you responded with something along the lines of 'Oh, come on.' She again told you that you needed to leave.
15Ms Bales tried to reach forward to remove you from the premises. On her evidence, the door had closed by that point. As Ms Bales reached towards the door you sexually assaulted her, the subject of the finding of guilt in relation to charge 2.
16Her account was that as you gained entry or during gaining entry to her apartment you had your left hand on her vaginal area. She was trying to muscle you out. She could feel your middle finger stimulating her clitoris over her dress and underwear with light to moderate pressure in clockwise motion for one to two minutes. She started to panic. She managed to get the door open and push you from her apartment.
17Your account at trial, through your record of interview with police conducted 4 January 2021, was that, on the way to meet your wife, you saw two very drunk girls – one skinny and one chubby - that the chubby one was crying and upset and that you thought you would assist to get them home safely. You followed them in, into the elevator, assisted them in the lift, watched and waited for the girls to gain entry to the apartment and then left to meet your wife with her comfortable shoes.
18Your version was that you never entered the apartment and never sexually assaulted Georgia Bales. You painted yourself as a good Samaritan. You painted Ms Bales as being wrong about other things in her evidence and therefore also in her account of the offences. It was suggested she was someone who could not be believed.
19Your account was rejected. The jury believed Ms Bales beyond a reasonable doubt and you were convicted.
Offence gravity
20In terms of the gravity of your offending, it is perhaps trite to say that this is extremely serious offending.
21Your own account was that you observed two intoxicated girls on Spencer Street and then determined to follow them. You could not have known where they were heading when you first observed Ms Bales and Ms Morgan, who you described to police as 'drunk and disorientated'. On your own account you were therefore aware of their intoxication at the moment you decided to turn from your arrangement to meet your wife and instead walk in their direction.
22Whilst I accept the description of opportunistic, your decision making was also predatory.
23You followed them both to Ms Bales’ apartment complex on Spencer Street.
24You were deceptive in your conduct. Once inside the building foyer, you stood back and said nothing until inside the lift. When you were then asked about what floor you were on by Ms Bales you pretended to press a lift button to legitimise your presence. On reaching the 11th floor Ms Bales left the lift trying to support Ms Morgan. You, unsolicited, offered your assistance, again, as a mechanism to remain in the presence of these two young women.
25Your own account also indicates that you were alive to the obvious distress of Ms Morgan and therefore also alive to the distraction that provided to Ms Bales’ attention. You took advantage of your observations.
26Whilst the offending itself was of relatively short duration, the chronology just outlined shows that you had multiple opportunities to desist from your obvious sexual interest in advance of your actual offending, yet, you did not. Your interest was on a level that you were prepared to temporarily forsake your arrangement to meet your wife in order to pursue your interest in the two girls.
27Your unexpected entry to her apartment as Ms Bales was trying to assist her drunken friend added to her vulnerability. One can only imagine her level of fear for herself and Ms Morgan as Ms Bales turned to find you inside her apartment.
28Your offending only ceased when Ms Bales was successful in opening the door and forcibly pushing you from her premises. Afterwards, you were able to meet your wife and presumably give the impression that nothing was amiss. This is all very concerning.
Victim Impact Statement
29I turn now to the victim impact statement. The purpose of a Victim Impact Statement is to give those affected by crime the opportunity to participate in the criminal justice process by informing the court about the effects of the crime on them.
30Ms Bales has provided a Victim Impact Statement I have got noted dated as 24 January 2024, but the prosecutor told me it was the 27th and it was literally just read to the court by the prosecutor. As such, you can be under no illusion as to how your offending has affected Georgia Bales and, sadly, continues to affect her some three years later.
31Ms Bales reports having to attend numerous therapy sessions to help unpack the trauma and give her strategies to cope. She feels it is a lifelong burden that she will now have to carry and, unfortunately, time has not lessened the effects for her of the aftermath of what you have done. She suffers panic attacks when entering the elevator, particularly if a man unknown to her enters the foyer. She has struggled to enjoy herself socially, which she says is all because you preyed upon her and made her a victim.
32Your offending occurred in the building in which Ms Bales resides and in her private residence, both environments in which she was entitled to feel safe.
33You have maintained your innocence. Remorse is not a factor I can take into account.
34Your two offences occurred in close proximity to each other timewise. This is relevant to inform your intent but also to the need for and degree of cumulation between the sentence imposed for each charge. In the circumstances these are separate and distinct offences but there should be limited cumulation between the charges given charge 2 occurred immediately upon charge 1 occurring.
35Totality is of course an obvious consideration.
Personal circumstances
36I turn now to your personal circumstances. These were comprehensively addressed in psychological material tendered and the submissions of your counsel. I have had recourse to those materials, so your personal circumstances will be referred to with some brevity. You are now 37 years of age and are Saudi Arabian by birth. You are presently in Australia subject to a Criminal Justice Visa and will return to Saudi Arabia on completion of the sentence I am to impose.
37You are the third of fifteen children. As is customary in your culture, your father had two wives and you consider each to be your mother as they each breastfed you and played a role in raising you. Your mothers would time their pregnancies to coincide so in each school year there would be a child from each mother in the same class.
38You are of Muslim faith.
39Your father supported the family through the family farming business which was in coffee, as I understand it. You grew up with a strong work ethic and an emphasis on education. In the village in which you were raised the population comprised of five families all sharing the same family name. Those who commit crime become an outcast.
40Approximately 10 years ago, your family were displaced due to concerns for their safety as their property was on the border of Yemen and there were ongoing tensions and military action. Your nine month old niece sustained a shrapnel wound damaging her retina and resulting in the loss of one eye. Your family had to relocate and this represented significant disruption to the life that had been known.
41You report a close relationship with all of your siblings, who are high achievers, and each educated to a university level.
42You are also educated to a university level. You completed a Bachelor in Financial Management in 2009 and secured employment at Jazan University where you worked for approximately 13 years. You worked in international scholarships for the University.
43You have been married twice. Your first marriage was arranged for you and an unhappy one, albeit produced two daughters.
44You met your current wife through your work at Jazan University as she completed an undergraduate degree there and was employed as a professor. You married in November 2016 and have a daughter together, Rateel, aged 5 years. Rateel remained with family when you and your wife came to Australia in 2018.
45You migrated to Australia in July of that year on a student visa in order to undertake a master of Cyber Security Business Operations at Latrobe University which you did successfully complete. You also worked as an Administrative Manager of scientific research.
46You came to Australia with your wife who was completing a PhD in accounting.
47Tendered on your behalf was a psychological assessment of you authored by Ms Carla Ferrari dated 26 September 2023. She does, as I have referenced, set out your personal circumstances at length. I have had recourse to the full report which is not the subject of challenge.
48You do not have a history of mental health problems.
49You have had considerable difficulty adjusting to the prison setting. At the time of her assessment in September 2023, Ms Ferrari was of the opinion that you were displaying severe depressive symptoms and also presented with generalised anxiety disorder. This appeared to be directly related to the jury’s verdict and the impacts of your incarceration.
50Ms Ferrari expressed concern for the further deterioration of your mental state given your difficulties adjusting to that setting, limited support in Australia and separation from family. No updated material post her report from September 2023 has been provided.
51Whilst you remain in denial of your offending, this was a factor Ms Ferrari took into account in forming the opinion that you present as a low risk of future sexual offending.
Delay
52I turn now to delay. There has been some delay in the finalisation of this matter which does have relevance to sentencing. Its relevance lies in the period of time you have had the criminal proceedings 'hanging over your head' and the assessment that period offers as to your prospects of rehabilitation.
53You were initially interviewed by police and charged on 4 January 2021.
54Contested proceedings were held on 17 September 2021 and at their conclusion you entered pleas of ‘not guilty’ to charges of rape, sexual assault and aggravated burglary.
55Since that time you have faced three separate trials relating to the same events.
56I note that obviously the victim and other witnesses have also been subject to the protracted events and anticipation associated with each hearing.
57A trial listed in January 2023 saw a successful ‘no case’ submission in relation to the charge of rape. On the remaining two charges the jury were unable to reach a verdict and were discharged.
58A second jury was discharged without verdict in May of 2023 following comments made by the prosecution in the closing address.
59Your third trial was held in August 2023 at which time there were findings of guilt in relation to each charge on the trial indictment.
60Whilst a plea hearing was listed in October 2023, this was adjourned to 24 January 2024 on your instructions so that trial counsel could remain involved. Apart from this final period, the delay occasioned cannot be attributed to you.
61You were to be sentenced on 5 February 2024 but issues arose between the parties as to whether you should be placed on the Sex Offenders Register pursuant to the Sex Offenders Registration Act or declared a serious sexual offender for the purposes of the Sentencing Act. This saw your sentence adjourned until today’s date, 7 February 2024 and the chronology outlines would indicate sentencing some three years after your offending.
62During the time since your arrest and now, you have been required to remain in Australia. You lost the employment you held at Jazan University. Your wife returned to Saudi Arabia since the third trial and you have therefore been separated from all family. You have not been able to be a parent to your daughters.
63Your grandparents died in August 2023 and two lifelong friends have also passed in the last 20 months. By virtue of being required to remain in Australia, you have been unable to attend funerals and participate in relevant events associated with those losses.
64In your particular case, it has also involved the stress of preparing for the proceedings on three separate occasions and the financial and emotional impact of each occasion. This is a factor that I take into account in a general sense.
65You have not offended during this period - relevant to the assessment of your prospects for rehabilitation.
66The balance lies, amongst other factors, in the significance in this delay against the gravity of your offending.
Prospects for rehabilitation
67In terms of your future prospects, you have no prior criminal history alleged.
68You have no matters, as I have already said, since January of 2021.
69Your personal history is one of attaining high level education and one which in the main has a solid work history.
70Your family is extensive and a source of support. You have had some contact with them via electronic means whilst you have been on remand.
71On any return to Saudi Arabia you will return to a relationship with your wife, your three daughters and other family members. Your wife attended your plea hearing from Saudia Arabia via remote access and is present for your sentencing by the same means.
72You abided by bail conditions between 5 January 2021 until your remand on 23 August 2023 upon the jury's verdict. You had spent 24 days in custody prior to the grant of bail.
73These factors augur well for your rehabilitation.
74Your experience of the criminal justice system which has seen you subject to bail conditions, experience three separate trials relating to the one matter, and your difficulty in the custodial setting carry with them a degree of both sanction and deterrence and add to your prospects for rehabilitation.
75According to Ms Ferrari’s report, your time on remand from 23 August 2023 until her assessment of you in September 2023 was particularly difficult for you due to a combination of factors which include:
(a) Your lack of familiarity with the custodial setting;
(b) Being stood over by other prisoners;
(c) Your lack of English;
(d) Your separation from family; and
(e) A set of cultural beliefs, outlined in Ms Ferrari’s report, which have been in conflict with your experience of custody and added to the difficulty faced.
76Whilst I accept there may have been some adjustment by you since Ms Ferrari’s report from September of 2023 I also accept that, in undergoing the sentence to be imposed, difficulties for you in the custodial setting outlined are likely to continue to some extent. I take that into account in a general sense but, apart from separation from family, it is of limited weight to the sentencing task.
77Ms Ferrari’s assessment as to your future risk, and the other factors referred to as to your prospects for rehabilitation lead me to form the view that those prospects are good. This lessens the weight to attach to the principles of specific deterrence and protection of the community.
78The concern I have is with your failure to acknowledge your wrongdoing and your corresponding lack of insight.
79The context for your offending remains unexplained.
Serious sexual offender
80I have received written submission from both parties conceding that you are to be dealt with as a serious sexual offender.
81Those submissions are not maintained.
SORA
82Application is made by the Crown for you to be placed on the Sexual Offenders Register pursuant to the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (the Act).
83The purpose of the Act is to require certain offenders who commit sexual offences to keep police informed for a specified period of time as to their whereabouts and to provide other personal details principally to further three objectives, namely:
· to reduce the likelihood of the person re-offending;
· to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of any future offences that person may commit; and
· to prevent registered sex offenders from working in child-related employment.
84A person who is a registered offender must comply with the various reporting obligations specified in the Act. The conditions are seen as onerous. Failing to comply with reporting obligations without a reasonable excuse is an offence, as is knowingly furnishing false or misleading information.
85Such an order is discretionary in your case. Both charges of which you have been found guilty are Class 4 offences under the Sex Offenders Registration Act, given the victim was an adult. The Act operates in a way that generally requires registration of sexual offenders who have committed offences against children but provides for registration of other sexual offenders only when so ordered by a sentencing court.
86Whilst your offending is not subject to mandatory registration, it is the prosecution’s position that the court should exercise its discretion under s11(1) of the Act to make a sex offender registration order.
87A court in these circumstances may only make an order, after taking into account any matter that it considers appropriate, if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that a person poses a risk to the sexual safety of one or more persons or of the community. It is not necessary for the court to be able to identify a risk to particular people or a particular class of persons. The evaluation of risk is directed to the risk upon an offender’s release into the community assessed by what is presently known.
88The onus is on the prosecution to meet that burden. The application is opposed.
89It is submitted by the Crown that the sexual assault is a ‘high level’ example of such an offence, with you posing a significant risk to the sexual safety of the community.
90Section 11 extends the scope of ‘registrable offenders’ to those sentenced for Class 3 and Class 4 offences. By virtue of s8(2) and schedule 4, Class 4 offences are sexual offences of which, generally speaking, penetration is not a necessary element, committed against an adult by a ‘serious sexual offender’. A ‘serious sexual offender’ for these purposes is a person sentenced for at least two offences listed in a schedule to the Act in accordance with s8(3). You are such an offender. This much is conceded.
91Should the application be granted then the length of the reporting period is for 8 years.
92According to the decision of Bowden v The Queen (2013) VR 229, the test is twofold:
(a) the first question is whether the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you pose a risk to sexual safety as defined;
(b) if so satisfied, the second question is whether the order should be made in all the relevant circumstances.
93The second stage involves then balancing the identified risk with regard to the purposes of the Act and restrictions imposed on an offender’s right to enjoy freedom and autonomy of action. The balancing exercise therefore involves considering the magnitude and nature of the risk, including the degree of likelihood of the risk eventuating and the gravity of the harm. This is to be balanced against the consequences for the offender.
94In your case in addressing the considerations globally, the Crown points to the following circumstances in its support of the application to have you placed on the sex offenders register:
(a) the random predatory nature of your offending against a person unknown to you;
(b) that the offending has caused significant harm;
(c) your lack of insight into your offending given your continued denial of it; and
(d) therefore the unexplained circumstances and reasoning which led to your offending.
95It is argued that the high level nature of your offending and the magnitude of the harm should it re-eventuate, together with the likely impact on any future victims, outweighs the imposition of onerous restrictions upon you by the making of an order. The Victim Impact Statement of Ms Bales speaks of the potential impacts.
96I have had regard to submissions filed by both parties. Your Counsel submits, again doing the submissions no justice and referring to the submissions somewhat globally:
(a) That you have no prior matters and no matters since, hence I could not be satisfied to the requisite standard that you do pose a risk to the sexual safety of one or more persons or of the community;
(b) In any event, the unchallenged expert evidence is that you present with a low risk of future sexual offending, hence the making of an order is not justified and would be disproportionate to the risk with which you present.
97I am genuinely concerned with the unexplained aspects of your resort to the offending, your predation and the way that you did offend.
98However, on balance the application by the Crown falls at the first hurdle. On the evidence before me I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you do pose a present risk to the sexual safety of one or more persons or of the community.
99Whilst not relevant to the application, any registration would have little work to do given you are to be returned to Saudi Arabia upon your release from custody.
Sentencing
100The basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence include punishment, general and specific deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community. In sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of matters, which include the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of any victim. I do assess your culpability as high and express my denunciation.
101I am also required to balance the interests of the community in denouncing criminal conduct with the interest the community clearly has in seeking to ensure, as far as is possible, that offenders are rehabilitated and safely reintegrated into society.
102I have taken into account the sentencing guidelines referred to in s5 of the Sentencing Act where relevant to your case. I have taken into account current sentencing practices for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty and the principles of totality and proportionality.
103The Crown referred me to a decision in Rezai v The Queen [2020] VSCA 106 to assist with the assessment of the sexual assault charge and I have had recourse to that decision. Mr Plummer and Mr Johnston, I am about to turn to the actual sentence. Are there any matters that have arisen?
104MR JOHNSTON: (Indistinct words.)
105HER HONOUR: Mr Plummer?
106MR PLUMMER: (Indistinct words.)
107HER HONOUR: Well, I do not know that until you raise it. I would appreciate it if you raised it now.
108MR PLUMMER: (Indistinct words) - - -
109HER HONOUR: No, that is all right.
110MR PLUMMER: - - - I just want to confirm, it makes no difference, but the victim impact statement was made on 27 June - - -
111HER HONOUR: I must have read the seven as a four. Sometimes it is an easy - - -
112MR PLUMMER: I am not trying to (indistinct words).
113HER HONOUR: No, no, no, thank you.
114Hassan Taleedi, on charge 1, aggravated burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to three years and eight months' imprisonment. This is the base sentence.
115On charge 2, sexual assault you are convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Six months of this sentence is cumulative on the sentence imposed on charge 1.
116Your total effective sentence is therefore one of four years and two months' imprisonment. I direct that you serve two years and 10 months before you are eligible for parole.
117One hundred and ninety-two days are reckoned as having already been served in accordance with this sentence. Thank you to you, Mr Plummer and Mr Johnston throughout this matter, it's been a long journey, but I believe that at this stage, that completes the matter.
118MR JOHNSTON: Your Honour pleases.
119MR PLUMMER: Your Honour pleases.
120HER HONOUR: Thank you, I'll close the court until 11.30 tomorrow.
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