Director of Public Prosecutions v Te Ohaere

[2022] VCC 977

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 21-02387

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

URIAH TE OHAERE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	23 June 2022
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 June 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v TE OHAERE
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 977

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:

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Legislation Cited:

Cases Cited:

Sentence:  Total effective sentence, 12 months imprisonment

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms H. Anderson	Ms L. Altoon
For the Accused	Ms T. Stokes	Mr D. Barrese

HIS HONOUR: 

1Uriah Te Ohaere, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of armed robbery  and one summary offence of committing an indictable offence on bail.  The facts of your offending are set out in Exhibit A, the summary of prosecution opening.  I was informed by your counsel that I could treat that document as an agreed statement of fact.  I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence and sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein.

2Very briefly stated, on 16 January of 2021 you arranged for a number of items to be delivered from a pizza shop to premises in Williams Landing.  The people at that address had not ordered the pizza.  As the delivery man was leaving the address you bailed him up with a knife and took the items that had been ordered by you to be delivered to that address.

3You have admitted a prior criminal history which is extensive and commences in 2010.  Significantly, you have prior convictions for theft and dishonesty.  You have a prior conviction in 2016 in this court for armed robbery and theft where you were sentenced to 119 days which was the period that you had spent in custody, plus a community corrections order.  You then continued offending in a similar way by stealing motor vehicles, stealing from shops, being pursued by the police and using methylamphetamine, which was one of your problems.  Ultimately you obviously breached the community corrections order imposed in this court and received a period of imprisonment for subsequent offences and that breach.

4Your counsel provided written submissions, Exhibit 1, and listed the matters that she said were relevant on your plea.  Counsel pointed to the value of your plea in the circumstances where the Crown case was not the strongest, but your plea has cured any deficiencies in that regard.  She pointed to and I accept that you are entitled to a reduction in sentence to reflect your pleas of guilty in this case.  Those pleas of guilty have more value because of the effect COVID has had on our legal system and increase the utilitarian value of your plea.  Your time in custody has been made more onerous because of the effect of COVID and I am told that you are suffering from your second bout of COVID today.  That again will make your time in custody more onerous, and I have taken that into account.

5You have had a history of non-compliance with community corrections orders.  I was minded to impose a combination sentence but I am of the view that your prospects of completing any community corrections order are slim and I would be perhaps setting you up to failure if I were to impose a combination order.

6The armed robbery you committed was a low-level example of a serious offence.  Armed robberies come in all shapes and sizes.  Yours is a bottom level offence.  You stole $105 worth of pizzas and food at knifepoint. Nonetheless, with your prior history there is obviously nothing other than a term of imprisonment appropriate and, for the reasons I discussed with your counsel before your plea, I am of the view that a straight term of imprisonment to reflect the seriousness of that offending is appropriate.

7I have taken into account the psychological reports tendered and the neuropsychological reports.  Your personal circumstances are set out therein.  You are now 34 years of age; I do not have to dwell on them extensively.  You are a New Zealand citizen and came here when you were a young man.  You have had a displaced and deprived background.  You had post-traumatic stress as a result of the problems you had as a child, and you have cognitive issues which are reflected in the reports and described as a mild intellectual impairment.  I take all those factors into account in arriving at an appropriate sentence for your offending.

8You have been in custody now for approximately 17 months, serving remand time on this but also other sentences that were imposed post your being placed in custody.  That is a long period of time, and it is to be hoped that that has cured you of your methamphetamine habit.  You profess to be keen to stay drug-free.  I hope that is the case because if you continue to behave in the way you did you will find yourself back before the courts and getting even longer sentences.

9There is a possibility that you may be deported.  I have not taken that into account in arriving at a sentence because that is an executive function which is not relevant to this sentencing exercise; however, I do accept that your concern about being deported may have weighed upon your mind whilst you were in custody and made your time in custody more onerous.  I propose to impose, as I said, a straight period of imprisonment and to declare time that you have served as part performance of that sentence. 

10The sentence of the court is on the one charge of armed robbery you are convicted and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of 12 months.  On the summary offence of committing an indictable offence on bail you are sentenced to one month's imprisonment to be served concurrently with the sentence imposed on the armed robbery.  That is an effective term of imprisonment of 12 months, and I declare 306 days of that sentence not including today has already been served by way of pre-sentence detention.

11Are there any other orders I need to make, Madam Prosecutor?

12MS ANDERSON:  Just in respect of 6AAA, Your Honour.

13HIS HONOUR: Yes. Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act I indicate that but for your plea of guilty I would have imposed a term of imprisonment of two years with a non-parole period of 15 months.  Is that all, Ms Anderson?

14MS ANDERSON:  Yes, Your Honour.

15HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Mr Te Ohaere, do you understand the effect of what I have just said?

16OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

17HIS HONOUR:  I gave you 12 months less 306 days, less any other lockdown-type matters you may receive, all right?

18OFFENDER:  Yeah.  Thank you, Your Honour.

19HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  I will terminate the links and I will stand down till 2.15 for the next matter.

20COUNSEL:  As Your Honour pleases.

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