Director of Public Prosecutions v Thomas, Geoffrey
[2013] VCC 85
•15 February 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-12-01412
AP-12-2514
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| GEOFFREY THOMAS |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MASON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 5 December 2012 & 1 February 2013 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 15 February 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Thomas, Geoffrey | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 85 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: Plea - sentencing
Catchwords: Arson – fail to answer bail – criminal damage – behave in an offensive manner in a public place
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited: R v Verdins, R v Buckley, R v Vo (2007) 16 VR 269
Sentence:Overall total effective sentence over all matters is 2 years and 14 days' imprisonment, 15 months non-parole.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP at hearings For the DPP at sentence | Mr A. Anger Mr M. James | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused on 5/12/12 For the Accused on 1/02/13 For the Accused at sentence | Mr J. Anderson Ms J Munster Ms S. Holloway | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Geoffrey Thomas, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of arson and one transferred summary charge of failing to answer bail on Indictment No. C10832015, Case No. CR-12-01412.
2 You are also appealing, in Appeal No. AP-12-2514, the sentence handed down in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 17 October 2012 on one charge of criminal damage and two charges of behaving in an offensive manner in a public place. There you received a total effective sentence over those charges of 116 days' imprisonment with 116 days already served, together with a fine of $600 for the criminal damage.
3 - Arson carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment.
- Fail to answer bail carries a maximum penalty of 12 months' imprisonment.
- Criminal damage carries a maximum penalty of 2 years' imprisonment.
- Behave in an offensive manner in a public place carries a maximum penalty of, for a first offence, 2 months’ imprisonment or 10 penalty units, and for a second offence, as is the case here, 3 months' imprisonment or 15 penalty units.
4 You are presently 49 years of age, having been born on 20 October 1963, and you were aged 48 when this offending occurred last March.
5 You have a criminal record commencing in the Numurkah Magistrates' Court in 1983 when you were aged 19, where you were convicted and fined on theft and obtain property by deception charges. Four further appearances in various Magistrates’ Courts followed in 1985, 1987, 1989 and 2010, where for the most part you received fines for dishonesty offences and offences against the public order before your appearance at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in October last year, which sentence you are now appealing.
6 The circumstances of the offending as to the arson charge are as follows:
7 You resided at Waratah Street, Thomastown. At the property is a single-level timber house with a rear bungalow close to the back of the house. There are four bedrooms in the house and one in the bungalow. The property is owned by Janusz Pietryszyn. The premises were used for shared accommodation rental.
8 On 26 March 2012 you and four other males resided at the property. Each of you had a bedroom. You had a bedroom in the house. At midday you and two other residents were home.
9 About that time you removed two mattresses and other property from your room and placed it at the rear of the house with the mattresses against the wall of the bungalow. You went to your bedroom, tore up a phone book and lit the torn papers in and around the drawers of a timber unit upon which a television was sitting. You then left your bedroom, closed the door and went to the rear of the house and set alight another couple of torn phone books and the mattresses.
10 The other residents were watching television in one of the resident's rooms when the fire alarm went off. One of them looked in your room and saw that the TV unit was on fire. He then saw you walking around the house. You told him, "I lit my bedroom up."
11 The other two residents filled buckets of water and extinguished the fire in your bedroom.
12 One of them then saw the fire at the rear. It was spreading. It was spreading to a kitchen window of the house and the bungalow, and that fire was too big for the other residents to immediately extinguish.
13 They grabbed some of their property and ran outside. You were already outside. You told them you were burning the house down as you were owed money.
14 One of them called Triple-0. The fire brigade and police attended. The fire brigade extinguished the fire. No-one was injured. However, there was considerable property damage. The damage has been assessed, in fact, at - what was the figure, Mr James?
15 MR JAMES: $268,000, Your Honour.
16 HIS HONOUR: $268,000 and paid by the insurance company to the owner.
17 You remained at the front of the premises when the fire brigade and police arrived. One of the residents told police that you started the fire. You were spoken to by police and you said you lit the fire by lighting the phone books under your television, and that you did it because two of the residents owed you half an ounce of cannabis and you were "pissed off" that you were owed money. You were arrested and interviewed.
18 In your interview you said that:
- you had lived at the premises for a couple of years,
- you were awaiting a big payout,
- you could not walk out of the house freely because people were going to shoot you,
- you could walk out but you always had someone watching you,
- the whole street was watching you,
- the rent was $400 per fortnight: you wanted to burn the house down because the landlord owed you money and the rent was too high,
- you never had an argument with the landlord,
- you were desperate for cash,
-
you decided to light a fire because of all the "shit" that someone called Cook did, and that you knew they were up to something.
19 Further, you said that:
- you were upset with two of the residents because they did not give you your cannabis or money,
- you took the mattresses to the back of the house because you did not want to burn them in your bedroom,
- you lit the phone books in your bedroom, then walked out the back,
- you lit the mattresses at the back, and after lighting the mattresses, you sat out the front and watched.
20 You also said you were not worried about the danger to the other residents, you did not think anyone would be injured by your actions, that they would have gotten out, and you believed that you may have caused a couple of thousand dollars of damage.
21 You were charged and then bailed on 27 March 2012 to attend the Magistrates' Court on 17 April 2012. You failed to appear on that date.
22 The circumstances of the appeal offending are as follows:
23 On Thursday 22 June 2012 you were in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy drinking alcohol with friends and you were extremely intoxicated.
24 At about 4.45 pm you walked along Brunswick Street, swearing and yelling profanities at people who walked by. This conduct constitutes Charge 3, behave in an offensive manner.
25 You came to a local newsagent that had two metal A-frame signs at the front. You kicked the signs multiple times, causing significant damage to them. Both signs needed to be replaced, at a total cost of $600. This conduct constitutes Charge 1 of criminal damage.
26 You then walked to the Tankerville Hotel in Johnston Street, where you made numerous abusive comments to hotel staff, smashed a number of glasses and glass ashtrays and refused to leave when requested to do so by staff. The police attended and you continued to act offensively.
27 You were arrested, conveyed to the police station and allowed time to sober up before being interviewed. You made full admissions when interviewed and gave your reason for damaging the signs as "I'd rather do that than kick a person."
28 The warrant for your arrest after failing to answer bail was executed after you were arrested in Fitzroy on 22 June 2012 and you have been in custody since.
29
You pleaded not guilty at committal mention on the indictment matters on
6 August last year. Defence counsel indicated that the plea was entered in order to explore possible defences of mental impairment or fitness to plead.
30 On 17 October last year you pleaded guilty at the Magistrates' Court to the criminal damage and behave in an offensive manner charges.
31 There was a further directions hearing on 2 November when a guilty plea was indicated. You pleaded guilty to the arson and fail to answer bail offences in this court on 5 December last year.
32 I now turn to your personal circumstances.
33 You have reported a good childhood in Numurkah and you speak well of your parents. Tragically your father died from suicide some 20 years ago, soon after the passing of your mother from cancer.
34 You proceeded through to Year 10 at school, but your schooling was characterised by frequent truancy. You worked for a time with your father as a mechanic before moving to Melbourne.
35 When you returned to Numurkah, after a broken relationship, you descended into substance abuse and dependence. You have since lived and worked in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, holding a variety of unskilled labouring positions, including fruit picking and tyre fitting, and last worked more than 15 years ago, being placed on a disability support pension due to your alcohol and drug use.
36 You have had no significant relationship for more than 20 years and you have not seen your three children from that relationship since that time.
37 You have endured a long history with alcohol and drug use. You started drinking at 13, were drinking daily by 18 and would drink to the point of passing out. In recent years you have been drinking up to a cask of wine or a bottle of bourbon a day. You have smoked cannabis daily for many years from age 15 until approximately four years ago, and prior to your current incarceration you were using cannabis intermittently. You felt that the cannabis helped you relax. You have used amphetamines, including speed and ice, since 16 and have been using intravenously until early 2012.. You used every one or two weeks. You state that the ice makes you feel more active, but you deny any other regular substance use.
38 Reports have been tendered as to your mental health. I am satisfied that you suffer from chronic paranoid schizophrenia, your condition exacerbated by substance abuse.
39
The offence of arson is very serious offending. In addition to the instant property destroyed, there is the attendant risk of fire spreading to the wider damage of other properties. There is also the risk of, perhaps unintended, but consequential serious injury and loss of life. Fortunately in this case
no-one was injured, but you knew others were present and they were clearly at risk. The damage was extensive.
40 In mitigation, I do accept that your motivation was precipitated by your mental health condition. Although you gave mixed reasons when spoken to and interviewed by police, I accept that this extreme action was not motivated because your landlord owed you money as the rent was too high or because other tenants owed you half an ounce of cannabis.
41 In your record of interview you spoke of believing people were going to shoot you, you always had someone watching you. You said the whole street was watching you and you believed the other tenants were up to something. There are references to being upset because of the television and a show on television. You quoted the television "shooting my eye", being scared, the TV having cameras in it and the landlord putting a camera or cameras in the room. The fire had been lit around the timber unit upon which the TV was sitting. You also told Dr Ong that the TV was talking to you, you believed that there was a camera in the TV watching you, there were strange cars driving past your house looking in and that spirits had been talking to you since the death of your parents over 15 years ago.
42 A review of your prison medical file revealed three different psychiatric practitioners on three separate occasions recording presentations indicating schizophrenic disorder. You have been responsive to anti-psychotic medication.
43 I also accept that you have been guarded in the past and, indeed, to recent practitioners about revealing your condition, possibly because of embarrassment and wishing to avoid the stigma of being labelled as having an illness, and that you have not embellished symptoms for any exculpatory purpose.
44 It is clear also that the interviewing police officers in the record of interview began to suspect mental illness following some bizarre answers.
45 I take into account, therefore, the matters submitted by your counsel, including your plea of guilty and the circumstances in which it was made. I take into account the fact that practitioners considered the first plea of not guilty to be appropriate in light of their suspicions as to your mental health, the fact that the arson offending was not motivated by the hope of financial gain, accelerants were not used, you did not flee the scene, your admissions at the scene and subsequently in the record of interview, your longstanding substance abuse and your mental illness.
46 I am satisfied that your condition reduced your moral culpability for your act of arson and the application of principles of both general and specific deterrence ought to be sensibly moderated.
47 I am also satisfied, after careful consideration, of the applicability of the fifth and sixth limbs of the Verdins principles.
48 Your currently stabilised condition in custody is very likely the result of continued and well supervised anti-psychotic medication. In my view, the pressures and anxieties of prison life cannot be ignored and your condition is vulnerable to them. There is a risk that your condition may change and, in my view, the fact of that risk should be given appropriate consideration.
49 Your previous record has been restricted to much less serious offending and the majority of that was committed over 20 years ago. You have one recent prior conviction for resist police and drunk in a public place.
50 On the transferred summary charge of fail to answer bail and the appeal matters of criminal damage and behave in an offensive manner, I accept that at that time your life was in disarray, you were mentally ill and untreated and your alcohol use had increased dramatically and you were homeless.
51 Mr Thomas, would you please now stand?
52 As to the charges on Indictment C10832015:
- on Charge 1 of arson, you are convicted and sentenced to 2 years' imprisonment.
-
on Charge 2 of fail to answer bail, you are convicted and sentenced to
30 days’ imprisonment.
53 As to the charges on the appeal, I set aside the orders imposed in the Magistrates' Court on 17 October 2012 and in their stead I make the following orders:
- as to Charges 1, 3 and 4, you are convicted and sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 30 days’ imprisonment.
54 I direct that 7 days of the sentence imposed on Charge 2 on the indictment, that is, fail to answer bail, and 7 days of the aggregate sentence imposed on the appeal charges be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 1 on the indictment, arson, and upon each other.
55 The overall total effective sentence over all matters is 2 years and 14 days' imprisonment, and I direct that you serve a minimum period of 15 months' imprisonment before being eligible for parole.
56 Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, but for your plea of guilty the total effective sentence that would have been imposed on all matters is 3 years' imprisonment with a minimum period of 2 years to be served before eligibility for parole.
57 I declare that the period that you have already spent in custody on the charges, namely 239 days not including today, be reckoned as a period of imprisonment already served under this sentence and is to be deducted administratively.
58 At the plea hearing the Crown sought an order for the taking of a forensic sample of a scraping from the mouth and/or a blood sample, and I have made that order today for the reasons noted on the order, namely, the seriousness of the offending warrants the making of the order, your prior convictions are such as to warrant the making of the order, the order is by consent and the making of the order is in the public interest.
59 I must inform you that if at the time of the request you do not consent to the taking of a mouth scraping under the supervision of an authorised member of the police force, then the sample to be taken will be a blood sample and police may use reasonable force to enable that forensic procedure to be conducted. Do you understand that, Mr Thomas?
60 At the plea hearing the Crown also sought an order for compensation for the damage caused to the signs in the sum of $600, to which you have consented, and I have also made that order today.
61 You may be seated, Mr Thomas.
62 HIS HONOUR: Mr Thomas, if I can mention something to you - it seems that whilst you are under the medications you are currently on, you are doing all right in custody, and that augurs well for your rehabilitation. Now, it is going to be difficult for you when you are released from prison. In light of the problems, you should never feel any embarrassment about the fact that you are suffering from issues that are playing with your mind. Do not be embarrassed about that. The most appropriate thing to do is get treatment for it. I suspect that you have been self-medicating for many, many years because of the issues that you face, and you have being doing it with illicit substances like alcohol and drugs. If you can keep on the proper pharmacological medicine, you are going to be all right.
63 Quite frankly, in light of your condition and the way you have been managing it, you really have behaved very well. I have seen a lot of other people in your position that have committed a lot more offences. So, all that tends to indicate to me that despite the difficulties you have had for many, many years, you are capable of restoring some sort of equilibrium to your life where you do not have to live that way, so if you can continue to apply yourself in prison the way you apparently have been at the moment, since you are being supervised, you are being cared for and you are getting the appropriate medication, you are going to be all right. So, an important thing is to try and do whatever you can to get the assistance with housing and with medication on your release, and I do not think you will be back before the courts. So good luck.
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