Director of Public Prosecutions v Tirant
[2016] VCC 2104
•14 December 2016
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTIONCR 16-01710
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| SKYE TIRANT |
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| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE STUART |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 12 December 2016 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 14 December 2016 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Tirant |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2016] VCC 2104 |
EX TEMPORE REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D. Weavers | |
| For the Accused | Ms M. Harris |
188799 Pages 1 - 20
HIS HONOUR:
1Skye Tirant, you have pleaded guilty to 15 charges of obtaining property by deception, being Charges 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 19 which carried with them a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
2You have also pleaded guilty to four charges of attempt to obtain property by deception, Charges 2, 7, 8 and 18 which carry with them a maximum penalty of 5 years' imprisonment, one charge of a prohibited person possessing a firearm, Charge 24, which carries with it a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment, one charge of handling stolen goods, Charge 27, which carries with it a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment. In addition you have pleaded guilty to three charges of possess a drug of dependence, Charges 22, 25 and 26 which carry with them a maximum penalty of 12 months imprisonment. You have also pleaded guilty to a number of summary offences, Charge 8, carrying a prohibited weapon without exemption or approval which carries with it a maximum penalty of 2 years' imprisonment, summary Charge 39, possessing a controlled weapon without lawful excuse which carries with it 6 months imprisonment and summary Charge 94, being an unlicensed person, possess ammunition being two shotgun cartridges which carries with it a maximum penalty of 40 penalty units.
3At the time of the commission of these offences you were 26 years of age. You are now 27 years old. The circumstances of the offending are set out in the Crown opening on plea which became Exhibit 1. Those circumstances are as follows: On 29 November 2015, Rotem Rotenberg's wallet containing his driver's licence was stolen from his unlocked vehicle whilst parked in Collins Street Melbourne by unknown persons.
4One month later on 29 December 2015 at about 9.45, you attended at the Westpac Bank at Main Street Greensborough and handed a teller Mr Rotenberg's driver's licence which had been altered to display a photograph of you with Rotenberg's date of birth and address. You requested and provided with a printout of all the bank accounts in Mr Rotenberg's name.
5According to the statement of the teller, Mr Nassim El‑Masri, who had been employed by the Westpac Group for a period of 22 months as at approximately three and a half months later with a date of signing his statement, 15 March 2016. He stated that:
"A person claiming to be Rotem Rotenberg approached me and requested for a statement on his credit card but then changed his mind and requested balances on all of his accounts.
I then asked him for his driver's licence for identification in which he produced (sic). I then verified the licence in which I checked the name (Rotenberg), date of birth and address. The front of the licence contained a South Yarra address but on the back of the licence it had a sticker which contained an address in St Kilda East Victoria.
We then spoke about the local area being Greensborough and the surrounding suburbs, as he was asking questions about buying property.
I then printed a summary sheet of his Bank accounts, which contained account numbers and account balances in reference to Rotenberg's personal and business accounts.
He then offered to get his credit card statements and left the branch to retrieve (sic). When he returned he did not have the statement.
I then referred him to my colleague Annastazia Ioannou to process the withdrawal.”
6Pausing there, it is plain that the teller was a junior teller and you sought to put that person at ease by discussing matters about the local area in Greensborough. It appears that the teller did not make any further request of you in order to validate the legitimacy of the driver's licence such as by asking you to provide a PIN number or a card or a statement of the accounts that you had with the Westpac Bank or any other way of identifying you as being the true client of the Westpac Branch such as asking you to nominate what accounts there were and in whose name. None of this was done. Indeed it does not even appear that there was an attempt to identify your signature as being the signature of the client, Mr Rotenberg. This extraordinary state of affairs is lamentable.
7However you were then armed with two items, one; the false driver's licence and two; the statement of the affairs and accounts of Mr Rotenberg. I am told that the accounts held by Mr Rotenberg at that time contained millions of dollars. Continuing this transaction, Ms Annastazia Ioannou, in her statement said the following:
"On the 29th December 2015 at the Westpac Greensborough Branch situated at 65‑67 Main Street Greensborough Vic, a person claiming to be Rotenberg was referred by my colleague Nass El‑Masri advising that Rotenberg was wanting to withdraw $30,000 from his accounts.
I then asked him for his identification in which he provided a Victorian driver's licence and a bank document which contained the listing of all the account numbers and the account bank account balances referring to Rotenberg. He then advised of the account numbers in which he wanted to withdraw the money from.
I then processed the withdrawal from the two separate accounts, and recorded the Victorian driver's licence details on the withdrawal voucher. I then handed the withdrawal voucher to the customer and got him to sign it.
I then went to the main safe and took out the cash to be handed to the customer. Before handing the cash to the customer, I counted the cash in front of him and confirmed there was $30,000.00. I then handed the customer the cash and his receipt.
8Extraordinarily, at that point that particular teller was relying in part on a document just provided to you by the first teller as proof of your identity. One may think your boldness could go no further, but this is not where the matter ended. Having obtained the $30,000 in cash, being the subject of Charge 1, you then, shortly thereafter, at 10.20 am attended the Westpac Branch at High Street in Northcote and handed the teller a copy of Mr Rotenberg's false driver's licence and requested $50,000 in cash from Mr Rotenberg's bank accounts. The branch did not have $50,000 in cash and a staff member called the Westpac Branch at Brunswick where it confirmed that $50,000 cash was available. You then attended the Westpac Branch in Sydney Road Brunswick and showed the falsified driver's licence to the bank teller and withdrew $50,000 cash from two of Mr Rotenberg's bank accounts. You placed the cash in a black bag and left the store.
9Your activities at the Northcote branch where you sought but could not obtain $50,000 cash is subject of Charge 2 and the withdrawal of the $50,000 cash from the Sydney Road Brunswick Westpac Branch is the subject of Charge 3. Thus in the period of a little over half an hour you had obtained $80,000 cash from two Westpac branches. However that was not sufficient for you. At approximately 12.09 pm you then attended the Lonsdale Street Westpac Branch in Melbourne and handed again Mr Rotenbergs falsified driver's licence to the bank teller withdrawing a further $50,000 in cash from two of his bank accounts. This is the subject of Charge 4.
10Some 15 minutes later you attended the Lygon Street Carlton Westpac Branch and handed again Mr Rotenberg's falsified driver's licence to the teller and withdrew a further $50,000 cash from two of his accounts. That cash was placed in a brown paper bag by the Westpac staff and you left the branch. This is the subject of Charge 5.
11Later in the afternoon of that same day, you having withdrawn by now something in the order of $180,000 cash and sought to obtain $50,000 cash at the Brunswick street branch you continued.
12At approximately 3.50 you then attended the Westpac branch at Lewis Street in Airport West where you again handed Mr Rotenberg's falsified driver's licence to the bank teller and requested $45,000 cash but you were unable to answer questions about the accounts. This appears to be the first time that any staff member of Westpac had asked anything of you in order to verify who you were. You then informed the teller that your wife was your accountant and she had your ATM card and that she was currently in the shop complex. The bank teller asked you to get the ATM card from your wife and return, but of course, having been challenged, you left and never returned. That is the subject of Charge 6, the second charge of attempting to obtain property by deception.
13In all you obtained in one day $180,000 in cash and sought to obtain a further $95,000 cash but were unsuccessful for the reasons that I have articulated in relation to two of your attendances. The $180,000 in cash and Mr Rotemberg's driver's licence and wallet have not been recovered.
14As I have said that offending occurred on 29 December 2015. In your last court appearance at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 22 June 2015, you were dealt with for, amongst other things, three charges of theft, 15 charges of detaining property by deception, three charges of attempting to commit an indictable offence whilst on bail and two charges of receiving or handling stolen goods. You were sentenced to an aggregate 227 days imprisonment that being your pre‑sentence detention and released on a community corrections order for a period of 24 months. Conditions of that community corrections order included performing 100 hours of community work, that you be supervised and that you receive assessment and treatment for drug abuse and dependency as directed and required to engage in offending behaviour programs as directed.
15It was further a part of that community corrections order that you engaged in judicial monitoring, the first of which was to be on 5 August 2015. Thus within a period of shortly over six months of that order having been made and four months having attended, assuming you did, the judicial monitoring in August, you committed this offending. I should note that there are other charges that I have not referred to that were dealt with by the learned Magistrate on 22 June 2015 which I have set out in your criminal history report.
16A month and a day later, that is, on Friday 29 January 2016, you resumed your offending. Earlier, between Monday 25 January 2016 and Friday 29 January, a burglary occurred at an address in Kew where a large amount of property was stolen including personal bank cards and documents in the name of the victim which included an American Express card, bank cards and documents from businesses in the name of Soapbox Pty Limited and UXC Keystone of which the victim was an account operator. The documents stolen included the victim’s bank account details.
17On 30 January 2016, a month and a day after your previous escapade, you attended the Commonwealth Bank at High Street in Kew and presented yourself to be the victim and provided bank documents in his name. You also handed the bank teller a falsified boat licence in the name of the victim with your photograph on it. You then changed the personal identification number PIN on the Commonwealth Bank card linked to a business account of the victim and sought to withdraw $16,000. That is the subject of an attempt to obtain property by deception, Charge 7. You were told by the bank teller that there were insufficient funds in that business account and so you changed it to $10,000. However, again there were insufficient funds so you asked to withdraw $8,000. You were asked to sign for the cash. However your signature was not the same as the victim’s and the teller became suspicious. The teller walked you over to their supervisor to explain the situation. You then left the bank without obtaining any cash. This is the subject of an attempt to obtain property by deception, Charge 8.
18The day before on 29 January at 2.39 you attended at the Woolworths Caltex service station in Abbotsford and used the victim’s credit card to withdraw $320 cash from his account. This was captured on CCTV and is the subject of Charge 9, obtaining property by deception.
19Returning to the events of the 30th January 2016, at 8.38 am you used the victim’s stolen American Express card to purchase $40 of Optus telephone credit. The mobile phone number credited was yours and the SIM card connected to this mobile was located on you at the time of your arrest. That is the subject of Charge 10, obtaining property by deception. Shortly thereafter, still on that same day, 30 January at 8.59 am you attended the 7‑Eleven convenience store at the corner of Victoria and Smith Streets in Fitzroy, and used the stolen American Express card to purchase a gift valued at $54.95. These actions were again captured on CCTV footage and that relates to Charge 11 obtaining property by deception.
20Between Tuesday 16 February 2016 and Saturday 20 February a burglary was committed on a house at Balwyn North. At this time the owner was was travelling overseas with family. Among the stolen items were a Commonwealth Bank American Express card and a driver's licence in his name. On Sunday 21 February at approximately 4.58 pm you attended at the BP service station at the Calder Freeway at Calder Park and used your victim's American Express card to purchase petrol. You filled a grey Audi motor vehicle with false registration plates bearing AGE 707. The number plates AGE 707 belonged to a 2012 grey Audi TT Coupe belonging to Carlin’s Automotive of 60 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne. The Audi TT Coupe still had both its plates attached and is currently listed for sale on the Internet with photos depicting the car's registration. The service station attendant asked for identification from you to conduct a PayPass transaction. You produced a Victorian probationary licence in the name of another person. This licence had again been falsified and was bearing a photo of you. That licence had been stolen sometime between Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November 2015 from the victim's Toyota Hilux that had been parked outside a premises in South Yarra. That transaction is the subject of Charge 12 obtaining property by deception.
21A photocopy of the licence was taken by BP staff members. The transaction was processed without a PIN and $59.95 worth of petrol was purchased. The photocopy of the driver's licence was supplied to police. You and the vehicle registration, AGE 707 was captured on CCTV at the BP service station.
22Later that same day at approximately 5.23 pm, you attended at the Sunbury FoodWorks, located at 80 Evans Street Sunbury and purchased cigarettes, a chocolate and tampons valued at $56.83 using the same stolen credit card. You again were captured on the store's CCTV footage. This is Charge 13, obtaining property by deception.
23On Monday 22 February 2016 at approximately 11.44 am you attended at Intersport Bicknells shop at 44‑46 Williamson Street Bendigo and purchased Nike pants valued at $82 using the stolen credit card and this relates to Charge 14, again a charge of obtaining property by deception. On the same day at approximately 3.59 pm you attended a Bunnings Warehouse in High Street Kangaroo Flat and conducted four transactions across a period of 25 minutes. You purchased various tools, a gas torch, three textas, gloves and acetone valued at $380.19 using the stolen credit card. Again, you were captured on CCTV footage and this relates to Charge 15 obtaining property by deception.
24On the same day at approximately 4.44 pm you attended at the Coles in Lansell Plaza High Street Kangaroo Flat and conducted five transactions across a period of 17 minutes. You purchased gift cards and various grocery items valued at $294 using the stolen credit card. Again you were captured on CCTV footage and this relates to Charge 16 obtaining property by deception.
25A little later at 4.48 pm you attended the Safeway at Lansell Plaza Kangaroo Flat and conducted three transactions across a period of three minutes. You purchased gift cards and cigarettes valued at a total of $172.93 using the stolen credit card. Once again you were captured on the CCTV footage and that relates to Charge 17 obtaining property by deception. A little later at 5.05 pm you attended at the Cotton On business at Lansell Plaza and attempted to purchase an item for $60 using the stolen credit card but the card was declined and that relates to Charge 18, attempt to obtain property by deception. Undeterred, ten minutes later at 5.15 you returned to Coles at Lansell Plaza and purchased Cotton On gift cards valued at $80 and then left Coles and re‑attended at Cotton On and purchased clothing items using the vouchers. You then left and proceeded to the car park where you were seen by a staff member entering a grey Audi sedan with registration AGE 707. This relates to Charge 19 obtaining property by deception and again, of course, you were captured on CCTV footage returning to Coles.
26On the first day of the following month, 1 March 2016 you were observed by police in Little Collins Street Melbourne approaching and unlocking a black Mercedes sedan, registration AYV 80X. You then walked towards a grey Audi vehicle registration number AGE 707 with a key and went to open the door. This is the same Audi that you were driving on 21 February at the BP service station and on 22 February 2016 when you left Cotton On. You were then arrested by police before you entered the vehicle and were found to be in possession of the keys to both the Mercedes and the Audi. The Audi was bearing false registration plates. The correct registration for the Audi was ABY 756. It had been stolen from Park Street in South Yarra on 8 February 2016. This relates to Charge 20 negligently dealing with proceeds of crimes. As to the Mercedes, it too was bearing false registration plates, the correct registration being YWA 432.
27In relation to that vehicle, on 25 February 2016, a burglary was committed in St Kilda West and the keys to a vehicle were stolen during the burglary. This in relation to Charge 21 the second charge of negligently dealing with proceeds of crime. Two days later on 27 February 2016 that vehicle was stolen from the driveway of the St Kilda West address. During the course of the burglary several items were stolen including an international driver's licence in the victim's name of Cecile Coreless, a gold medallion a $5 collector's coin, ten 50 cent pieces made in 1966 and a white diamond solitaire ring. At the time of your arrest all proceeds of crime were found in your possession, either in your bag or in the Audi vehicle. These items included a Samsung tablet, tool box, black bag containing various tools, radio scanner, two Swiss military watches, two gold coloured bracelets, gold coloured chain, gold coloured bracelet with hearts, two gold coloured rings, silver coloured ring, two gold coloured plaques, two gold coloured bracelets, two silver necklaces, two silver bracelets, blue jewellery and ten silver 1966 50 cent pieces all of which relate to Charge 23 negligently possessing proceeds of crime.
28In addition two zip lock bags containing a small quantity of methamphetamine were found, this relates to Charge 22 possessing a drug of dependence. Later you were conveyed to the West Melbourne police station where it was confirmed that you were residing at 312/95 Wellington Street Collingwood. Whilst you were in custody a search warrant was executed at that address and the following items were seized: A zip lock bag containing MDMA, a zip lock bag containing methamphetamine and a zip lock bag containing 5 ecstasy tablets. These items together with the items that were found upon your arrest relate to charges of possessing a drug of dependence being Charges, 22, 25 and 26.
29In addition upon the search of the Audi vehicle, a jemmy bar was discovered in the front seat area and this relates to summary Charge 39 possessing of a dangerous article and a black backpack which contained a loaded .22 calibre handgun which is a pen pistol, a photograph of which I have been shown and that relates to Charge 24 being a prohibited person possessing a firearm. In addition it was discovered an extendible metal baton and that relates to summary Charge 8 possession of a prohibited weapon.
30Returning to the search of your premises, other items were discovered during of the course of that search. Those items were a Toshiba 16 gigabyte USB containing wedding photos and international driver's licence in the name of the victim, both stolen in the burglary at St Kilda West on 25 February 2016, a driver's licence in the name of another victim with your photograph on it which was stolen from the victim's motor vehicle between 24th and 25th November in South Yarra 2015 and a Mercedes Benz manual in the name of a further victim stolen from her vehicle on 28 January 2016 in Kew. These items relate to Charge 27 handling stolen goods.
31Finally at your premises was also discovered two unused shotgun cartridges and that relates to summary Charges 94 possess cartridge ammunition without a licence. Throughout all these matters, when put together, it is plain that you carried out with a degree of determination and considerable success your acts of dishonesty. You had no compunction in using false identities in order to achieve your ends. Your most serious offending, of course, revolves around the events on 29 December Charges 1 to 6. As I have stated none of the moneys have been found. It has been suggested through your counsel that perhaps others were involved but there is no evidence of this. That you obtained $180,000 in one day speaks to greed. Whether there were others involved or not is unknown to me and my focus is not on speculating about such matters but rather looking at what you did and how you achieved your aims.
32All of this offending occurred whilst you were under a community corrections order for a period of two years. This demonstrates to me that you had a complete disregard for the law, not only in terms of what you did, but you did it having done it in breach of a court order in relation to similar offending.
33I now turn to examine your prior criminal history in more detail. Between 4 June 2010 and 22 June 2015, a period of some five years, you have been before various Magistrates' Courts on no less than eight occasions being dealt with for, on my calculations something in the order of 81 criminal offences. Forty five of those offences are offences of dishonesty, including four charges of burglary, nine charges of theft, eight charges of handling stolen goods, 17 charges of obtaining property by deception, three charges of dealing in proceeds of crime; three charges of false name and a miscellaneous singleton charge of no moment.
34You have been the subject of breaching nine court orders including four charges of driving whilst disqualified or whilst you have been suspended, three charges of failing to answer bail and two charges of contravening a community corrections order which of course does not include the third community corrections order occasioned by this further offending. You have been gaoled on two separate occasions. You have been fined without conviction on your first three court appearances. In addition you have been dealt with in relation to 12 drug related offences being 11 charges of either possessing or using drugs of dependence and one charge of trafficking. You have been dealt with for other miscellaneous offences including a charge of failing to stop and report after an accident, entering private property without authorisation, one charge; two charges of violence and five charges of attempt to commit indictable offence.
35To have accumulated such a number of court appearances and offences in such a relatively short period of time speaks to the high need to deter you from further offending. You have been given opportunities in the past on no less than three separate occasions when community corrections order have been made. You breached two and you squandered your third chance given to you on 22 June 2015. One might have thought that having spent 227 days in custody and being on a community corrections order would deter you from further offending. It did not. Indeed your level of offending has accelerated dramatically since June of 2015.
36Ms Kaddeche in her careful plea put forward everything that could have been sensibly put forward on your behalf. Your background is comprehensively dealt with in both the report of psychologist Ms Carla Lechner in her report of 16 February 2015 which became ST1 and the neuropsychological report of Ms Jane Lofthouse dated 21 November 2016 which became exhibit ST1.
37Turning to those reports Ms Lechner summarised your background in this way:
"I note that he has a prior history of offending. Mr Tirant presents with symptoms of Stimulant Use Disorder (DSM 5) - in early remission and in a controlled environment. His drug use was participated by the grief associated with his father's long‑term illness and untimely death in 2007 at age 42 years. Mr Tirant was close to his father and thereafter assumed the parental role in relation to his younger brothers. He did not manage his grief and soon found comfort in Ice, that seemed to numb all emotional responses. He developed an addiction problem that escalated after an incident after which he was held hostage and his ear was partially cut-off.
“Prior to becoming dependent on Ice, Mr Tirant achieved well at school and at sport. He is still motivated to remain abstinent from drug use. He stated he became involved in these matters after relapsing to drug abuse attendant to a relationship break‑up. He deeply regrets his actions and is keen to attend treatment services upon his release from custody. With support he presents with a favourable prospect for remaining drug-free and therefore out of trouble."
38She notes that you describe yourself as being an above average student with no social or behavioural problems. She noted:
"He stated, ‘dad's illness was huge… saw him go from an elite dad to being on a ventilator… he died in hospital… I supported my brothers, took brother to school, footy training etc... I was helping mum… the financial side of things got really bad."
39As to your history, Ms Lechner notes:
"He began abusing Ice at the age of 18, ‘and everything fell to shit… at first it was only on weekends, and then 20-23 years old really bad about a gram a day and ever since battling to get off it’. He was attending counselling at Moreland Hall that he found helpful but wasn't able to work commitments."
40 She quotes you as saying, among other things:
" I'm ashamed of what I've let myself into… ashamed that I'm in this situation, I look at my record and it's appalling… I was a good big brother, I'm kind… I wouldn't hurt people… I think ‘what happened to me?’ … when I'm off Ice I'm me, myself."
41Later on she notes:
"He reports that he has previously remained clean of ice for eight months. I thought I could have a little bit and I was wrong."
42She assesses you as being in the moderate range of the Beck Depression Inventory and in the concluding two paragraphs writes:
"Mr Tirant expresses shame and regret for his offending. He finds it hard to reconcile his behaviour with ‘the person people used to look up to’. His offending is inextricably linked with his Ice addiction that adversely affects his judgement, decision‑making and capacity for impulse inhibitions. Research has indicated that Ice undermines executive brain functioning.
Clearly the consequences of this offending are a matter for the Court to determine. From a purely psychological perspective, Mr Tirant's rehabilitation would be facilitated by his involvement with treatment services as outlined above. His recovery from drug use is in its infancy but Mr Tirant is well motivated to succeed this time around. He presents with a reasonably favourable prospect if he's able to connect with good counselling supports."
43I will in due course turn to my assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation.
44In the neuropsychologist report of Ms Lofthouse she notes that you stated that you progressed to daily use of cannabis by age 15, a pattern that continued on until age 18 when you ceased using cannabis "when he commenced using ice." She assesses your full scale intelligence quotient as falling within the average range. As to your executive function she assesses, she says:
"Examination of Mr Tirant's behaviour does not suggest that he experiences behavioural deregulation related to intellectual impairment, but rather as a result of his drug use. He is also noted to be able to formulate a plan to address the issues he faces and take responsibility and express remorse for the behaviour that resulted in these current charges.
45In the summary section she notes:
"This pattern of problem solving and behavioural deregulation may be accentuated in the presence of intoxication related to his drug use. Mr Tirant did however have insight into his criminal behaviour, the effect it had on his victims and was able to recount a plan to address the issues that he faces. These aspects of executive function appear to be intact and may allow Mr Tirant to understand and develop new and appropriate means of behaviour aside from ongoing drug use and related criminal offending."
46In the concluding paragraph she noted:
"Based on the results of the current assessment it is likely that Mr Tirant will be able to begin to make positive changes to his lifestyle but he will require significant community support on his release from prison to achieve any rehabilitation goals and also to monitor the effectiveness of any treatment programs."
47I have had the benefit of three letters, first your mother's letter, Exhibit ST4, in which she wrote among other things:
"Over the past few years, Skye has been a troubled child, finding it difficult to deal with the death of his father with whom he was very close.
“Obviously bad choices, to say the least, led him to his current situation of being incarcerated.
“However he is not dangerous nor a violent person. Myself, along with his two younger brothers as well as other family members still continue to love and support him.
Upon his release he has a loving home to come to and contact that should lead him to future employment."
48She concludes with this sentence:
"Skye is a bright young capable man who can become a good citizen again."
49Your uncle Jeffrey Ivory wrote similarly of you and spoke of your father's death in the following terms:
"Skye found that as a consequence of withdrawing himself from his social life whilst helping to nurse his father he found himself to be making bad choices in making new friends. Before long he surrounded himself with many somewhat dubious characters."
50Later he wrote:
"I ask Your Honour as Skye's uncle that you take into consideration when passing sentence on Skye that Skye is not a violent person, he's never hurt anyone. I believe he is truly remorseful."
51And in the concluding paragraph wrote:
"Once again I ask your Honour to consider my words and take a chance on being part of enabling a young man with a be troubled past to finally put to rest his demons by facilitating the earliest possible release that your Honour can manage.
“As his uncle I will do whatever I can in my power to help Skye to adjust".
52Finally your ex‑partner Deneile Mete wrote of you:
"Skye and I are no longer together but we remain good friends not only for our daughter, but because I honestly believe he is a good person. Skye lost his father at 17 to a 10 year unimaginably stressful battle with Multiple Sclerosis. Skye has since struggled to come to terms with the loss of his father and whilst searching for male influence and comfort, unfortunately got caught up with the wrong crowd and turned to the dangerous addiction of ice that mixed with his stress, depression and anxiety. Whilst under the influence of Ice, Skye was a completely different person."
53A little later she continued:
"Skye and I have had many discussions regarding why he is where he currently is and I am convinced that he is remorseful, regretful, ashamed and embarrassed for his actions."
53 She concluded with these two sentences:
"I truly believe that once Skye is released it will be his last and final time as if it isn't, he is not only ruining his life he is ruining Summer's life and Skye is finally aware of this." I interpolate Summer is your daughter's name. She continued, "He has had a lot of time to reflect on his actions and has written down goals and plans for his new life changing and drug free future and I look forward to the day he can start to live them."
54 You too have written a letter, being Exhibit ST8, in which you write:
"I am taking this opportunity to briefly express my feelings and deepest thoughts as they are today. First and most importantly I am truly sorry. I am ashamed and I am embarrassed by my actions ... my addiction to methamphetamine has made the last ten years of my life a living nightmare and reflected me as a bad person. I know that I am a good‑hearted person but my actions are shown otherwise."
55A little later you continued:
"Before my ice addiction I watched my dad go from being a fit to then being in a wheelchair, blind and in constant agony. It has taken me until just recently to finally accept the fact and learn to move forward without any drugs. I am no longer a child and am a father myself of a beautiful baby girl named Summer."
56Still later you wrote:
"I have made some terrible decisions and let other people influence me for most of my 20s whilst being addicted to lie."
57And in the penultimate paragraph you wrote:
"When I am released I am looking at enrolling to do a youth services course to I can do something similar as a career. I have been offered to help and possible work with the YMCA so I am excited to have a great organisation around me when the time comes."
58You have in addition whilst in gaol counselled young persons who come to the gaol, obtained two certificates of completion of courses and, as is revealed in the materials, reappraised your life, I would say not for the first time but hopefully successfully on this occasion.
59Your prospects for rehabilitation are guarded, if not poor. Indeed if you return to using any drugs it is almost certain that you will come before the court and again be sentenced to a lengthy period of time, indeed lengthy and lengthier periods of imprisonment. If and it is an if, you do as you say you will do, as you have told your family and others you will do, and you do as you write, then your prospects of rehabilitation are excellent but it is down to you. The decisions are all yours. No amount of support from your loving family and no amount of counselling can substitute for you making decisions and sticking with them ‑ that's your choice.
60You are still, at the age of 27, a young man. You have come to a crossroad. I accept you are truly remorseful and that your guilty plea is further evidence of this. Your pleas of guilty also have a utilitarian value saving the enormous expense and cost of running what would have been multiple trials for weeks. You have squandered your opportunities in the past as is demonstrated by commencing this offending whilst being on a community corrections order and early into that period of that community corrections order.
61General deterrence, that is, deterring others from offending of this kind and of this magnitude, is the principle sentencing factor but for the reasons I have endeavoured to articulate, specific deterrence is also a significant matter that I must and do take into account.
62Further, the sentences that I impose must involve a component of just punishment and denunciation of your bold offending. I have taken considerable time assessing the most appropriate sentence which is in total appropriate. I should add that your plea of guilty was a plea at the earliest possible opportunity.
63Stand. On Charges 1 to 6 I sentence you to an aggregate sentence of 3 years' imprisonment. This is the base sentence. On Charge 7 and 8, I sentence you to an aggregate sentence of nine months' imprisonment and I direct that three months of that be accumulated upon the base sentence.
64On Charges 9 to 11, I sentence you to be imprisoned for one month and I direct that 14 days be served cumulatively upon those previous sentences.
65On Charges 12 to 19, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of four months and I direct that two months of that four months be served cumulatively.
66On Charges 20 and 21, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months and I direct that six months of that period be served cumulatively upon previous sentences.
67On Charges 22, 25 and 26 relating to possession of various drugs, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of one month and I will direct no cumulation.
68On Charge 23, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months and I direct that six months be served cumulatively on previous sentences.
69On Charge 23, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months and I direct that six months of that 18 months be served cumulatively.
70On Charge 27, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of 14 days and I direct no further cumulation.
71On the summary charges 8 and 39, I sentence you to be imprisoned for a period of two months and I direct that 14 days of that sentence be served cumulatively upon previous sentences imposed.
72On Charge 94 which relates to the summary charge of possession of the two shotgun cartridges which carries with it a maximum penalty of a fine, I find the charge proven and dismiss the charge pursuant to s.76 of the Sentencing Act.
73That produces a total effective sentence of four years, 11 months and 28 days and I set a minimum non‑parole period of three years. But for your pleas of guilty I would have sentenced you to a period of seven years and set a minimum non‑parole period of five years. I declare pre‑sentence detention to be 286 days.
74Thank you, you may be seated Mr Tirant. I believe that I have achieved my object of a sentence of approximately five years with a minimum of three years. It is in fact four years, 11 months and 28 days. If there is any error in that please advise me in due course and I will correct it. Are there any matters that I have overlooked?
75MR WEAVERS: Your Honour, just the ancillary orders.
76HIS HONOUR: Yes I don't know that I've got copies of the ancillary orders.
77MR WEAVERS: I have got copies to hand up to Your Honour. There is a disposal order, a forfeiture order and a firearms forfeiture order. I understand that Ms Kaddeche went through the list on the last occasion.
78HIS HONOUR: Yes (produced) thank you. Ms Harris, is there anything you wish to say about those orders?
79MS HARRIS: No, Your Honour, it's been discussed already, thank you.
80HIS HONOUR: Sorry?
81MS HARRIS: It's been discussed with my client already.
82HIS HONOUR: Yes, I have signed those orders. Thank you Mr Weavers, thank you Ms Harris. Anything else?
83MR WEAVERS: Not from this end of the Bar table, Your Honour.
84HIS HONOUR: Yes I can remove Mr Tirant, please.
85MS HARRIS: As Your Honour pleases.
86HIS HONOUR: Remove Mr Tirant, thank you.
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