Director of Public Prosecutions v Thorneycroft, Stephen
[2013] VCC 716
•31 May 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-12-02332
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| STEPHEN THORNEYCROFT |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE RYAN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 22 May 2013 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 31 May 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Thorneycroft, Stephen | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 716 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr J Ayres (Plea) Ms V Prapas (Sentence) | OPP |
| For the Accused | Mr P. Guggenheimer | Melasecca Kelly & Zayler |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Stephen Thorneycroft, you have pleaded guilty to an indictment containing three charges being:
· Charge 1 - aggravated burglary;
· Charge 2 – recklessly causing injury; and
· Charge 3 – theft.
2 These offences are punishable by maximum penalties of 25 years, 5 years and 10 years imprisonment respectively. You have admitted four prior convictions from two court appearances.
3 The facts that support the charges are set out in the plea opening that was read aloud in court and tendered as Exhibit A on the plea. In summary, in the small hours of Monday 2 April 2012 you broke into your former home, via one of your children’s bedroom windows, you ran into your estranged wife’s bedroom and punched her to the face. You were dragged away from her by a friend who was present in the home. After he left, you again assaulted your wife by hitting her head against a wall a number of times. Prior to leaving the unit you stole your wife’s mobile phone.
4 Your wife was treated at hospital, she had swelling to the left side of her face and a small laceration to the bridge of her nose. She was tender over the front of her left ear.
5 At about 9.30 that morning, you were observed by your brother-in-law, Zac, driving along Mount Dandenong Road. He got you to pull over and when the two of you spoke you appeared to him to be off your head; you were rambling and crying. He persuaded you to go to the Croydon Police Station where, at 12.46 pm, you were interviewed under caution. Your interview was a rambling affair during which you said you would not strike a female as that would be a cowardly thing to do, that you could not remember hitting your wife, that you were alcohol and drug affected the previous evening and that you were addicted to speed. You were remanded in custody and granted Court Integrated Services Program (CISP) bail on 3 April 2012. A bundle of CISP reports were tendered on your behalf as Exhibit 4 on the plea.
6 In the week prior to your offending you visited your children on an almost daily basis but your visits were marked by argument between you and your estranged wife. On the day prior to your offending, you had attended a wedding with your wife. After the wedding, and in your presence, your wife was dropped home with a male friend. You suspected your wife of infidelity. Some hours later you broke into the unit to have your suspicions confirmed.
7 In the weeks immediately prior to your offending, you had separated from your wife but had been living away from home for only one week. Your relationship with your wife had deteriorated in the previous months because of your drug abuse.
8 According to a psychological report dated 19 February 2013 from Makayla Heard and tendered as Exhibit 1 on the plea, you first consulted her on 6 March 2012 prior to your offending. You consulted her in respect of your drug abuse. Throughout this therapeutic relationship which continued until 12 February this year, you continued to use speed and/or ice. Ms Heard reports that your mother and father are dead and that you are estranged from the remaining members of your family. It appears that your wife and mother-in-law were the only real supports in your life until this offending and that support is now gone.
9 You grew up in the Croydon/Boronia area. Your parents separated when you were 8 years old. After the separation you lived with your mother and there were periods of homelessness for you and your family. You were close to your mother and her death in 2010 was a severe blow to you.
10 You are educated to Year 10 standard. From the age of 18 you worked for Trend Windows and remained in their employ for 9 years and during that time you lived with your mother in Wantirna. You worked at Baker Glass from 2007 to 2012 but intermittently so in the latter years because of your drug abuse.
11 You met your wife in 2007, were married in 2010 and you have 2 young children together. Fortunately your 2 children were not at home at the time of your offending.
12 It seems that your recent abuse of amphetamine type drugs (speed and/or ice) stems from the disharmony between you and your wife and particularly your belief that your inheritance from your mother has been frittered away at the behest of your wife. With your increased use of speed and/or ice you became increasingly suspicious of your wife with the consequent deterioration of your marriage.
13 According to a report from Eastern Health, dated 20 February 2013 and tendered as Exhibit 2 on the plea, you were under a mental health plan for anxiety and depression and drug abuse from January 2011. In February 2012 you became an involuntary inpatient at Maroondah Hospital after the involvement of the Maroondah Community Assessment and Treatment Team (CAT team). You were diagnosed as suffering from drug induced psychosis.
14 I was informed, and it appears from Exhibit 2, that even after the events the subject of the charges on the indictment, you received some support from your wife and mother-in-law.
15 You are presently medicated with the anti-psychotic Risperidone Consta by way of Depo injection, as well as the anti-depressant Venlaxafine (Efexor).
16 Whilst on bail for the present offending, you breached an Intervention Order granted in the favour of your estranged wife in October 2012 and again in April this year. The details of this offending are set out in Exhibit E on the plea which was accepted as accurate by your counsel. Surprisingly, you were granted bail in respect of this subsequent offending but this came to an end when you failed to attend the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on 7 May 2013. An arrest warrant issued and it was executed on you on 9 May 2013 and you were remanded in custody until 21 May 2013, the day before you appeared before me on your plea.
17 Tendered as Exhibit B on the plea was your wife’s Victim Impact Statement sworn on 21 February this year. It is a document that shows her to be an understanding person and you to be a loving father and a person, who until this offending, had never been violent in the marriage. During the plea hearing the Crown indicated that the complainant may wish to make a more up-to-date victim impact statement and I gave them leave to file such a statement on condition that it was served on your legal advisors prior to sentence. Forwarded to the Court on 29 May was a further statement from your wife sworn on 27 May 2013. Immediately prior to your sentence I informed Counsel of my view of the document and invited and heard submissions about it. The tenor of this second document is far less understanding than its predecessor. In my view it reflects the effects of your subsequent conduct on the victim rather than the consequences of the instant offences. The new document simply demonstrates that whatever sympathy and understanding your estranged wife had for your personal circumstances in the past has now completely disappeared.
18 Your offending is a serious example of the offence of aggravated burglary. Unable to accept the breakdown of your marriage, suspecting your wife of infidelity, you broke into her home in the small hours of the morning and assaulted her.
19 Your subsequent conduct demonstrates that you are still unable to accept your situation and that you blame your wife for it and bear her real animosity.
20 The situation in which you find yourself is a direct result of your drug abuse.
21 You are thirty-seven years of age and have no real supports within the community.
22 You have pleaded guilty and are entitled to the benefit of your plea. As to the issue of remorse your subsequent conduct means that I can make no finding in your favour. However, by your plea you have accepted responsibility for your offending and have facilitated the course of justice.
23 You have no prior convictions for offending of this kind.
24 Your offending is referrable to your drug abuse and, whilst not mitigatory, it does explain your offending and demonstrates that you viewed your situation through the prism of a drug affected and damaged mind.
25 By this sentence I must punish you, publicly denounce your conduct and deter you and others from committing these kinds of crimes. Taking into account the circumstances of the offences and their effects, with 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 as follows.
26 In respect to Charge 1, aggravated burglary, I sentence you to three years' imprisonment.
27 In respect to Charge 2, recklessly causing injury, I sentence you to 12 months' imprisonment.
28 In respect to Charge 3, theft, I sentence you to one months' imprisonment.
29 I order six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 2 to be served cumulatively upon Charge 1. Accordingly, I sentence you to a total effective sentence of three and a half years and I set a non-parole period of two years.
30 I declare that you have spent 10 days by way of pre-sentence detention not including today.
31 Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that but for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to five years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years.
32 Ms Prapas, will you tender the subsequent victim impact statement?
33 MS PRAPAS: I do and I do have a correction to make in relation to the PSD. I did omit to count the date of his first remand, Your Honour, on the day of the plea.
34 HIS HONOUR: And it is 11.
35 MS PRAPAS: So it was - the date. So I apologise, Your Honour, for that.
36 HIS HONOUR: That is all right. Then I declare that you have spent 11 days by way of pre-sentence detention, not including today.
37 MS PRAPAS: And I do have the original of that subsequent victim - - -
38 HIS HONOUR: Thank you very much. I will simply add that to the existing Exhibit B.
39 MS PRAPAS: As Your Honour pleases, thank you.
40 HIS HONOUR: I do not recollect asking you, Mr Guggenheimer, in respect of this retention order - - -
41 MR GUGGENHEIMER: It was consented to, Your Honour.
42 HIS HONOUR: Thank you very much. Mr Thorneycroft, I have made an order that the forensic sample that was taken from you be retained and I make that order because of the seriousness of the circumstances of the offending, the order is consented to and that the granting of the order is in the public interest.
43 You may remove the prisoner.
44 MR GUGGENHEIMER: As Your Honour pleases.
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