Director of Public Prosecutions v Talidas
[2013] VCC 1375
•30 August 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-13-00279
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ELIAS TALIDAS |
---
JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE RYAN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 29 April, 28 May, 25 June, 22, 24 July, 5, 7, 26 August 2013 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 30 August 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Talidas | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 1375 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms N. C. Burnett | OPP |
| For the Accused | In person |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Elias Talidas, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of theft of wine valued at $87,820.
2 The maximum penalty for the crime of theft is ten years’ imprisonment.
3
Elias Talidas, to get to the position where I am able to sentence you today has taken a long time. You have deliberately avoided this day. You initially came before me on 29 April. On that day, you were arraigned and pleaded guilty.
A victim impact statement was tendered as Exhibit B. Your counsel was without instructions and the matter was adjourned to 22 July.
4
Two mentions were held, one on 28 May and another on 25 June to confirm your representation. Counsel originally retained by you withdrew and, through the good offices of the Crown, you were put in contact with Legal Aid who retained the services of Slink & Keating Solicitors to act on your behalf.
Mr Keating of that firm appeared on 25 June and informed the Court that the plea would proceed on 22 July.
5 On 22 July you failed to appear. Mr Keating informed me that you had been taken by ambulance to the Monash Medical Centre that morning. Your matter was adjourned in your absence to 24 July to ascertain your state of health and to set a new plea date. On that day a new plea date of 5 August was set. Your bail was extended in your absence.
6
On 5 August you failed to appear. A medical certificate from the Centre for
GI Health was sent to the Court representing that you had been admitted to hospital on 4 August. Investigations with that organisation revealed that you had been booked in for investigatory procedures to take place on 6 August but that you had moved the procedures forward to 5 August, which necessitated you being admitted to hospital on the previous evening 4 August.
7 The matter was adjourned to 7 August for mention and your bail was extended in your absence to that day. On that day, you failed to appear once again. Mr Keating withdrew and Mr Milder, solicitor, appeared on your behalf. He tendered a medical certificate from your general practitioner that stated that you were too unwell to attend court and that you required some weeks of bed rest. The matter was adjourned for plea to 26 August and once again your bail was extended in your absence.
8 On 26 August you appeared. Mr Milder was granted leave to withdraw and you made an application to adjourn the plea. Your application was refused.
9 The facts that support the charge on the indictment are set out in the summary of prosecution opening, Exhibit B, on the plea that was read aloud in court. I will not repeat them, save to say that you sold a large quantity of wine held at your employer’s premises for a fraction of its cost, and in order to effect this theft you physically loaded the wine onto a truck sent to your place of employment by the purchaser.
10 By your conduct, you have caused considerable monetary loss to your former employer who had to reimburse the owner of the wine for its loss. As well you former employer lost income because the owner of the wine ceased to use their services. Your former employer spent time and expense investigating the discrepancies that appeared in their books as a result of the rightful owner becoming aware that its holdings of wine at your employer’s premises was short by in excess of 500 cases. As well, suspicion fell on other employees and this caused them anxiety. Finally, by your conduct, Parton Wine Distribution came close to going out of business (see Exhibit A on the plea.)
11 The excuse that you gave to investigating police for this act of dishonesty was that you were trying to help your father out of financial difficulty that he had got himself into (see record of interview question and answer 25.)
12 Whilst the discrepancy in stock held by your employer was relatively quickly ascertained, it took some time and much effort by your former employer to audit its records. Thereafter, complaint was made to police in August 2011, which ultimately resulted in you being interviewed on 9 March 2012. You made a complete confession.
13 You were charged on summons by police on 15 November 2012, and pleaded guilty at committal mention on 18 February 2013. Accordingly, you are to be treated as having pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and you are entitled to benefit of your plea, both because of its utilitarian value but also because it demonstrates your remorse.
14 You are 39 years of age, having been born on 16 June 1974. You have two older sisters, Maria and Gina. You were educated at Wheelers Hill Secondary College to Year 11 standard. You commenced Year 12 but left halfway through that year at age 18 to commence an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker. You left that apprenticeship after about eight or nine months. You started work in your parents’ sandwich shop in Cheltenham. At this time, your parents lived in their own home in Mulgrave. Your mother had been unwell for many years and at about this time her health declined markedly. From the time that you started to work, you have been in regular employment.
15 You worked with your father and sister from about 1994-1998. For a further two years, you worked a second job to keep the family business afloat. The sandwich business eventually folded because the factories around it closed.
16 You next worked for Mills-Elastomer an automotive cable coating business for a period of some three to four years. Through a fellow employee you met Tanya, your wife.
17 Throughout this period you paid your parents’ mortgage and your sisters contributed to the other household expenses. At this time, you and your sister, Gina, lived at home with your parents.
18 In about 2004, you moved to TNT Express where you worked as a dock supervisor, earning about $40,000 per annum. You advanced in your employment to become a fleet manager and your income increased to about $55,000 per year. You remained with TNT until some time in 2007. In 2008, you moved out of your parents’ home for the first time to live with Tanya. This lasted for about a year and was not a success, as your financial assistance to your parents was not accepted by Tanya and was a source of friction between you.
19 During this period, you left TNT and worked on a casual basis for Staff Australia as a dock supervisor for Chrisco Hampers in Mount Waverley, earning about $26 per hour. You remained there for about two and a half years. There you met David Raddon, son of one of the owners of your victim, Parton Wine Distribution. David Raddon was the catalyst for your move to Parton Wine.
20 In 2008, your parents’ home was sold and they realised little from the sale. Your parents moved to a rented unit in Noble Park and you and your sisters supported them financially, supplementing their pensions.
21 You married Tanya in September 2009. You have a daughter, Zahlie, who was born in September 2011. You and your wife initially lived in a rented unit in Dandenong North but thereafter your moved to a house owned by your wife in Lysterfield.
22 You were dismissed from Parton’s for reasons not connected to your offending and found work with Mr Boilerman from February 2011 to July 2011. In July 2011, you commenced work with Lock Logistics as a transport supervisor, earning $60,000 per annum. You remained there until October 2012, when you moved to Red Express as a fleet coordinator, finishing there in February of this year.
23 You kept the fact that you had been charged with the instant offence from your parents till sometime in 2012 and from your wife until February this year.
24 You are separated from your wife but the two of you live under the one roof. You told me that if you are imprisoned, your wife will divorce you but if you remain at liberty she will see how things progress between you.
25 In October 2012, you were placed on a Community Corrections Order for 12 months for offences of dishonesty committed by you when you were employed by Mr Boilerman.
26 I am told you have been charged with further offences of dishonesty arising out of your employment with Red Express.
27 Tendered as Exhibit 1 on the plea were two reports from Dr Richard Young, psychologist, and Exhibit 2, references from Gina Sulfaro, and your niece, Stephanie Karavasil. Your sister, Maria Karavasil, gave evidence on your behalf and attested to the truth of the answers that you gave to me concerning your personal history and that of your parents.
28 You are 39 years of age and until the commission of the instant offence, were without prior conviction. However, you have a subsequent conviction for dishonesty. You have a laudable work history. You have supported your parents through hard times. You have the support of your sisters. Your marital situation is tenuous to say the least and you are the father of a small child.
29 On your application to adjourn this matter, Ms Carly Tsotros gave evidence on your behalf. She swore that she was the chief operating officer and founder of Oracle CMC, a company based in Spencer Street, West Melbourne, that runs a call centre that employs over 200 people. She swore that she would employ you on a full-time basis and that you could expect a salary of between $40,000 and $50,000 per annum.
30 Your offending is a serious example of the offence of theft. You caused great harm to your employer. You breached the trust that your employer placed in you and, to make matters worse, some of your former workmates were suspected of you offending.
31 I take into account:
(i) your plea of guilty and the time that it was entered;
(ii) your lack of prior conviction at the time of your offending;
(iii) your work history;
(iv) your support for your parents;
(v) that you have the support of your sisters;
(vi) your personal family situation;
(vii) your ability to commence work immediately; and
(viii) your health, both physical and psychological.
32 Your conduct must be denounced and you must be punished for it. Taking into account the circumstances of the offence and their affects, your personal circumstances and antecedents, endeavouring to produce a sentence which reflects and promotes the purposes of sentencing in a manner appropriate to you and your offending, I sentence you to 12 months’ imprisonment which is wholly suspended for an operation period of three years.
33 Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 I declare that but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to 12 months imprisonment to be immediately served.
34
Further, I make an order that you pay to Parton Wine Distribution, of
Unit G/215 Browns Road, Noble Park, compensation in the sum of $116,151. I make that order.
35 Mr Talidas, from this day for the next three years, you are on a suspended sentence of 12 months' imprisonment. If you commit an offence punishable by imprisonment during that period of time, you will breach your suspended sentence. You will come back to me, and unless you can show exceptional circumstances, you will go to gaol for 12 months; do you understand?
36 OFFENDER: Yes.
37 HIS HONOUR: You may step down out of the dock. Is there anything further, Madam Prosector?
38 MS BURNETT: No, thank you, Your Honour.
39 HIS HONOUR: I have an unmarked copy of my reasons. They are unrevised. Would you like a copy of them to advise the director?
40 MS BURNETT: Yes, thank you, Your Honour. I appreciate that, Your Honour.
41 HIS HONOUR: You are perfectly entitled to it.
42 MS BURNETT: Thank you.
- - -
0
0
0