Director of Public Prosecutions v Thompson

[2024] VCC 1236

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-22-01690

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

AARON THOMPSON

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MOGLIA
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	14 August 2024
DATE OF SENTENCE:	14 August 2024
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Thompson
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2024] VCC 1236

REASONS FOR SENTENCE ON CONTRAVENTION OF CCO

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Subject:Criminal Law – sentence – guilty plea

Catchwords:              Sentencing – attempted armed robbery – contravention of community correction order – low level armed robbery – substance abuse – homelessness – no criminal history – medium risk of re-offending – drug treatment crucial to the management of risk

Legislation Cited:      Crimes Act 1958 (Vic); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)

Cases Cited:

Sentence:Total effective sentence 64 days imprisonment plus 12 months community correction order; 64 days reckoned as already served; 6AAA: 15 months with a non-parole period 9 months.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	L. Crosbie	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	V. Nath	Rainer Martini & Associates

HIS HONOUR: 

1Aaron Thompson, you pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted armed robbery which occurred on 12 February 2022.

2I remember you coming to court with counsel last year and pleaded guilty.  You did not have a criminal history to speak of and I agreed to sentence you, notwithstanding some concerns about you being effectively homeless at the time and living out of your car, to a corrections order without any imprisonment.

3As has become clear in this proceeding now, the return of that charge but also the alleged breach of the corrections order, it seems clear that there were too many difficulties at the time for you to engage in a CCO.

4On 10 May 2024, you were in court and said that you could comply with the CCO. I required you to attend every Friday at lunch time at the corrections office here in the city, as a test, in an attempt to see whether or not a CCO fit your circumstances.

5On 11 June, you returned to court and Ms Bartlett and Ms Arslan appeared at that time and they said that you did turn up during that month, but there were concerns about your willingness to engage in the order.  I had some concerns about what was going on for you and your stability in the community and your ability to comply. 

6I needed an assessment of your situation, and I remanded you and ordered corrections to provide a full assessment, which has been provided. It included your attitude and history with drugs, your relationship with your supporters, mainly that consists of your mother, and the kind of risks or challenges that you face that I need to consider when deciding what sentence to impose.

7Armed robbery regularly attracts gaol time and a parole-type sentence, namely you go to custody and only are released by the Parole Board when they are satisfied you have served and demonstrated that you are not a risk to the community.  I was considering that kind of sentence because of your lack of engagement on the CCO that I ordered.

8The corrections assessment found you not to be a high risk but rather a medium risk – that is not a low risk – and that your problem with ice has been very significant to you at various times. 

9I am satisfied now that after two months in custody you are now free of that drug but the question that I cannot answer is whether you will be faced with temptation to relapse and whether or not you will fall back into that habit, and therefore create risk to yourself and others.

10I could impose a sentence of more than a year and set a non-parole period and allow the Parole Board to decide whether your release is a risk worth taking.  Or I can, as your counsel Mr Nath suggests, record the time you have served and set a release date, which I decide rather than the Parole Board, and that you recommence a corrections order, which in some respects might seem similar to a parole order.

11Given the view I took of the armed robbery which I agreed was a low-level armed robbery and that you had a good history and that you had fallen on hard times, and this was an act of desperation, I do not change that view. 

12However, you must repay the community for this offence by doing what I order you to do with corrections.  That involves you going to see the drug counsellor and working on the risks you face with drugs. 

13I will not let you go interstate until you can show that you have got a handle on your drug habit and that you are safe and managing those risks.  You can do it, I am sure of that, and once you have demonstrated that you are doing it for a period of months in the community then I will monitor your progress on the order, and I will revisit the question of whether you can go interstate.  Is that clear?  Do you agree to that kind of an order?

14MR THOMPSON:  Yes.

15HIS HONOUR:  All right. 

16On the breach of CCO I find the breach proven.  I cancel the CCO, and I resentence you on both the original offending and the breach.

17On the original offending I resentence you to a combination sentence of 64 days' imprisonment plus a 12-month CCO.

18On the breach of the CCO I impose a 12-month CCO. It will be the one community corrections order.

19The conditions of the CCO will be:

i.That you undergo supervision.  So that means in the first instance you will have weekly appointments with Ms Arslan or Ms Bartlett.  If you demonstrate to them that you can be trusted to turn up that will become fortnightly, I am sure, and so it is in your interests to do what they want so that the conditions will be relaxed.

ii.You must engage in assessment and treatment for drug abuse.  You have been candid with corrections in the assessment.  You told them about ice, you've talked to them about the habits you have had. That is good, well done.  Your job now is to continue that and be open and honest with who they refer you to, so that you can put this behind you.  So, you must engage with drug assessment and treatment.

iii.And I accept that mental health is an area that many of us find difficult to talk about or to accept that it really applies to ourselves.  I am going to nevertheless make it a condition of your order that you engage in assessment, and if they say it is necessary, treatment, which usually consists of counselling.  It may consist of medication, but I am going to leave that to the experts and you to work out together. 

20Just to be clear, this order means you must attend and you must engage in assessment.  I am not ordering you to agree with everything the doctor tells you, but I am ordering you to turn up and talk to them. 

21His HONOUR: Is that clear?

22MR THOMPSON:  Yes, sir.

23HIS HONOUR:  If you do that, that will be compliance with this order.

24I will also set a condition of judicial monitoring and I will set a date for you to return to court and tell me how this has gone, in a month's time.  I am going to make that at 4.15 on Thursday 12 September.  If everything is going well, you can appear at Coolaroo with your corrections worker.

25If things are not going well and there are problems, they will tell you and you should talk to Mr Nath, because if there are problems on the order you will need your lawyer here so that I can deal with the legal issues.  So, if there are problems you need to be here in person, but if you are turning up, then you can go and appear online for a quick review from Coolaroo.

26I declare that you have served the 64 days, which means that you will be released from this building today. 

27When you are released from here, Mr Nath will help you to find either a worker in this building or over the road at the Magistrate's Court, who might be able to provide you with a bus ticket to get you out to Mickleham or maybe you have cash with you that you are able to do, I do not know, but this is a challenge, your first challenge.  You have got to get from here to home, support your mother, she will no doubt support you because of what has happened in the family recently, and you have got two days to get into Coolaroo to talk to corrections.

28Your mum has got the phone on, I take it?  Call her.  You will leave here with papers.  Call corrections, make an appointment and I will see you back here on the 12th.

29If you did not plead guilty to the armed robbery and the breach, then I would be thinking of a sentence in the order of 15 months with a nine-month non-parole period.  So instead of getting out today, you would be still in custody for another six months. 

30This means that I am being lenient again today like I was last year.  If you demonstrate on this CCO that you are dealing with your challenges, including homelessness and drug use, then I will respect that, and I will keep you out of custody.  But if you do not turn up and you do not engage with the people assessing and treating you, then I will have no option but to make you serve something like the sentence I just spelt out.  Is that clear?

31MR THOMPSON:  Yes, sir.

32HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you, Mr Thompson.  I know you have spent the last two months in custody and that has been tough.  Let's see how we go this time.

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