Director of Public Prosecutions v Thompson

[2023] VCC 1661

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:	13 September 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 September 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Thompson
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1661

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMNAL LAW – Sentence – Plea of Guilty.

Catchwords:             Attempted armed robbery – unsophisticated offending - low level seriousness – apologised immediately – remained at scene and gave full account to police - early plea of guilty – good prospects of rehabilitation.

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

Cases Cited:Brown (aka Davis) v The Queen [2020] VSCA 60; Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169.

Sentence:                 Community Correction Order with conviction for 12 months.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	A. Dearman	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	G. Connelly	Rainer Martini & Associates

HIS HONOUR: 

1Aaron Thompson, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted armed robbery (Charge 1).

2On 12 February 2022 at about 6.45 pm, noting it was daylight due to daylight saving hours, you were out riding your bike. You did not seem well and in fact you fell off it.  After that, you walked into the 7-Eleven on Napier Street in Essendon. You waited as others were served and when it was your turn, you asked the attendant for money, $250.  You said, 'I need your cash.'  The money was refused, and you made some comment about them calling police. 

3You did not get any money.  You had a hammer with you, and you hit the screen that was protecting the attendant, whereupon that attendant, who knew you, at least by sight, challenged you.  You apologised.  You agreed to pay for the damage you had caused. When they asked you to, you left the store. You stayed around and when police came, within about 15 minutes, they spoke to you and took you to the station and interviewed you. However, you were unfit, due to being unwell.  They took you to hospital, concerned about any injuries you might have sustained.

4The next day, 13 February 2022, you were charged and given bail on the offence that is now before me.  I do not have a statement from the attendant at the shop, but given the description of what occurred, I am satisfied that it would have been a shock to them and frightening.  It should not have happened.  This kind of behaviour is just not appropriate.

5You pleaded guilty at an early stage of the case when it was mentioned in the Magistrates' Court. After about a year delay, through no fault of yours, the matter is now before me for sentencing.  The significance of the last 18 months is that I am able to assess whether or not you are regular troublemaker – that is, whether police have arrested or charged you again. It seems that that is not the case.  That goes in your favour. 

6The prosecution agrees that you apologised immediately; that you seemed to be in a bad way on the day; that it was a low-level attempted armed robbery; and that it was an unsophisticated one.

7Personally, you are now 40.  You have had little engagement with the criminal justice system over the years, and that is significant.  If I might suggest, you are a decent person, albeit you have some challenges that you face.  That seems to be apparent in your conduct on the day of this offence. Realising what you had done, you apologised and offered to pay for the damage. You were honest with police. You were willing to admit what you did and did not try and hide behind some excuse. You are to be commended for that. Your guilty Plea is also to your credit.

8Over the years, you have been a worker.  You are a qualified carpenter.  You have had the satisfaction of making things.  Some would regard that as a gift.  You have a good relationship with your mother who supports you.  You are respected by an uncle who provided a character reference (Exhibit 2). A psychologist assessed you earlier this year (Exhibit 1), providing a developmental history and commenting that you grew up in Melbourne with a difficult home life when you were a child.  Your father was a drinker and there was violence at home. I accept this was likely to have made you anxious, not only for yourself but also your mother. That anxiety is a trait that has carried on and during your teenage years made you vulnerable to forming bad habits, including with drugs. 

9To your credit, however, you did not let that get on top of you.  You completed Year 11. After that you became a worker.  You engaged in an apprenticeship; not everybody succeeds in completing those, but you did.  You have, over the years, resisted temptations to just give up. Those are things you should be proud of. 

10Alcohol and methamphetamine, of course, have been a problem, as you have admitted.  You have engaged in rehabilitation before and that shows some attitude on your part that you are not going to let it get on top of you. 

11As to mental health, you have had two admissions in recent years, to the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Broadmeadows Hospital.  I expect the reasons for those admissions were complex and I will not do you the disservice of trying to diagnose you or suggest any simple answers.  Perhaps the significance is that you sought help or at least, having been referred, you accepted help when you needed it most.  That is a good character trait. 

12With the onset of COVID and the decrease in work, you ran out of jobs, and increased your alcohol and drug use.  Since then, you have spent times being homeless and you are currently homeless, spending time living with friends or in your van. 

13In all of that, it would seem that you have not abandoned honesty and that is to your credit. This is a significant reason why I am imposing an order without locking you up. 

14As to the appropriate sentence, given your 18 months of staying out of trouble, albeit there is ongoing difficulties with drugs; your guilty plea; including that it comes during a COVID period; the problems that you had on the day; and that you are continuing to see and be honest about your drug problems, I am willing to say that at this stage, gaol is not the answer for you.  It may be, down the track, but not at this stage. 

15You have been open with others and indirectly, therefore, with the Court.  If you are willing to work on difficulties that you face, including your homelessness and the reasons for it, and I accept that that's at least possible, then a community correction order rather than a custodial correction order, in my view, is appropriate at this stage. 

16These orders are flexible, they can require you to engage in treatment and attend appointments and I expect that you will attend.  If you do that and at least are honest and engaged, then you will get credit under this order. 

17I will give you the good news.  If you are upfront and honest with the Corrections workers, even if that means admitting things are not going well or you are making mistakes, if you are upfront and honest, I will give you credit for that, and I will make orders that help you, rather than hinder your life. 

18To be clear, if you are not upfront with them, you lie to them, you hide things from them and you get into further trouble and it proves that that is what you have done, then gaol is on the cards. 

19So, that is the secret; you be honest and upfront, and you engage with them.  Go to the appointments.  If you do not need drug and alcohol counselling, you be honest with them and let them come to that conclusion, but if they say they want you to go to a further screening assessment, you go.  Are we clear? 

20OFFENDER:  A hundred per cent. 

21HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you.

22On the charge of attempting to commit an armed robbery, I sentence you with conviction to a community correction order for 12 months. 

23The conditions will be that you are to be assessed for and engage in treatment, if recommended, for drug and alcohol use. You are to be assessed for and engage in treatment if required for your mental health. The same goes for programs. 

24The way that Corrections monitor your engagement in all of that is by them supervising you.  I will order that you be supervised.  That means if you attend appointments for supervision and you garner their trust and you turn up, then instead of it being weekly, it will become fortnightly, and then perhaps monthly.  But if you do not turn up and you do not do what they ask you to, then they will probably stay weekly, and it will be a bigger burden for you.  Does that make sense?

25OFFENDER:  Yes.

26HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Do you agree to comply with that order?

27OFFENDER:  Yes.

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