Director of Public Prosecutions v Towers

[2016] VCC 335

Pages 1 - 28   IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised Not Restricted  Suitable for Publication

AT WARRNAMBOOL
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-15-01281
CR-15-01282

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BRADLEY TOWERS
SCOTT HAWKINS

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE COHEN
WHERE HELD:	Warrnambool
DATE OF HEARING:	9 March 2016, 17 March 2016 (for further plea and sentence)
DATE OF SENTENCE:	17 March 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Towers & Anor
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 335

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:  Sentencing; trafficking drugs of dependence

Catchwords:  Pleas of guilty; no prior convictions; low purity & comparatively low level of supply motivated by own use

Legislation Cited:     Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 6AAA
Cases Cited:

Sentence:Towers -TES: 32 days imprisonment (reckoned served), three concurrent CCOs for a total duration of 2 years with a total of 325 hours unpaid community work and rehabilitative conditions

Hawkins - TES: Aggregate CCO for 12 months with 120 hours of unpaid community work and rehabilitative conditions.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr. P. Triandos	OPP
For Accused Towers	Mr. A. McCulloch	Taits Legal
For Accused Hawkins	Mr. P. McComish	Brown McComish Solicitors

HER HONOUR:

1Bradley Noel Towers and Scott Anthony Hawkins, you have each pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, namely methyl-amphetamine and one charge of trafficking in cannabis.  Mr Towers, you have also pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in cocaine.  Mr Hawkins, you have also pleaded guilty to a charge of attempting to traffic in MDMA. 

2The maximum penalty for each of these offences is 15 years imprisonment.  Neither of you will be receiving a sentence anywhere near that maximum even for all charges.  However, the maximum penalty reflects the objective seriousness with which Parliament on behalf of the community, regards offences of this nature, namely trafficking in drugs of dependence, and I have taken that into account in my assessment of the overall criminality of each of you in relation to these charges. 

3I shall first deal with the circumstances of the offending and then turn to your individual roles in that, and then to your personal circumstances. 

4In May 2012, you, Mr Towers, became the focus of a major drug investigation commenced by Warrnambool police.  From 19 September 2014, pursuant to a warrant, police were intercepting calls to and from your mobile phone number, as a result of which they found evidence of dealings in drugs by you.  They also identified Mr Hawkins as being involved with you in the trafficking of methyl-amphetamine, and a Mr Todd Bolden as being involved in the trafficking of cannabis. 

5As a result of an intercepted call between you, Mr Towers and your supplier, police had you under surveillance when you met that supplier in Colac at about 7.30 pm on 17 November 2014, and the supplier was observed to get into your vehicle with you and then return to his own car holding a white envelope.  Police intercepted you on your drive back to Warrnambool but did not locate any drugs.  You subsequently admitted that methyl-amphetamine obtained by you on that occasion had been hidden behind the front tray of the vehicle. 

6The next afternoon, 18 November, you were intercepted by police as you drove away from your residence in your black Nissan utility.  On interception, you admitted that there was a quantity of drugs in the car.  Police found approximately three ounces of methyl-amphetamine powder concealed in a UHF radio box, as well as a set of digital scales and numerous small zip-lock bags.  There were three bags each containing approximately one ounce or 26.8 grams of methyl-amphetamine. On subsequent analysis there was found to be a total of 80.8 grams at a purity of 9 per cent methyl-amphetamine.  On the basis that the street price at the time was $200 per gram, the value of this quantity of drugs was just over $16,000.  The police then searched your house.  They found and seized a zip-lock bag containing one gram of pink methyl-amphetamine powder with the estimated street value of $200; yours and your partner's mobile telephones, and $1000 cash in $50 notes.

7You, Mr Towers, were taken to Warrnambool Police Station where you voluntarily engaged in a recorded interview in which you made extensive admissions about your involvement in the trafficking and use of drugs.  You admitted to having purchased methyl-amphetamine powder which you called “Speed”, on approximately six occasions over a 12 month period.  You said you would meet your supplier in Colac or Lara and transport the drugs back to the Warrnambool area.  This conduct is the basis of Charge 2 against you, of trafficking methyl-amphetamine over the 12 month period up to the date of your arrest.

8In the course of your record of interview you revealed to police that you had also acted in a role that you called being a drug-mule for an associate in Geelong.  You said that you had twice, in 2013, driven to Sydney for him in order to drive back to Melbourne with what you knew were large amounts of cocaine.  On both occasions, you drove to Sydney and back within 24 hours and it was solely for this purpose.  You say that for doing this, you were paid for your petrol for the return journey, and also provided with an amount of cocaine, two grams on the first occasion, and a line of cocaine on the second.

9The amount of cocaine conveyed on each occasion is unknown.  You had no direct contact with the supplier of the cocaine but enabled your associate to store it in your car for you to drive back.  Your involvement in these events is the subject of Charge 1 against you of trafficking in cocaine.

10As a result of the telephone intercepts between 19 September and 18 November 2014, police ascertained that Mr Bolden was supplying cannabis to you, which you sold to a man named Darryl Brown, on a regular basis. 

11Brown, when subsequently arrested and interviewed, admitted to purchasing it regularly from you over a four month period, the largest amount being seven grams for which he would pay $80.  During your record of interview, you admitted to your involvement in this trafficking of cannabis, that is, obtaining it from Bolden and selling it to Brown.  This is the basis of Charge 3 against you, of trafficking cannabis.

12Mr Hawkins, your involvement in the trafficking of methyl-amphetamine was less extensive than that of Mr Towers.  The Charge for this against you, Charge 4, is only in respect of the two month period before your arrest, that is, the period during which Mr Towers’ telephone calls with you and others were being intercepted. The role to which you have admitted is that of facilitating drug transactions on behalf of Mr Towers, either by putting drug buyers into direct contact with Mr Towers, or by yourself collecting money from buyers and exchanging it for methyl-amphetamine for them.

13Mr Hawkins, it seems that you made no actual money profit from any of these transactions, but would receive methyl-amphetamine to support your own drug habit.  During your involvement, Mr Towers travelled to meet his supplier on at least three occasions, on each occasion purchasing, he says, about two ounces of methyl-amphetamine powder, so the total he acquired during your involvement over that two month period was calculated as 170 grams with a street value at $200 per gram of approximately $34,000.

14Two other men who were identified during intercepted telephone calls as purchasing methyl-amphetamine through you, made statements to Warrnambool Police implicating Mr Towers and you in the trade of methyl-amphetamine. 

15On the night of 18 November 2014, you were arrested by police at your home in Warrnambool.  You voluntarily participated in a record of interview and made admissions to facilitating drug transactions on behalf of Mr Towers.

16Charge 5 against you, Mr Hawkins, is that you attempted to traffic MDMA known as “Ecstasy” pills.  This charge is based on intercepted conversations between you and Mr Towers on 25 September 2014.  You sent him a text message that afternoon asking if he could get any pills and how much.  About two and a half hours later he telephoned you, and during that conversation you told him that you had a friend who wanted Ecstasy and if he could get Ecstasy pills this friend wanted $1000 worth.  Mr Towers said he would find out from his supplier, but in further messages it was clear that he could not and you were unable to facilitate the supply of these Ecstasy pills. 

17Charge 6 against you, Mr Hawkins, is that on 28 September 2014, you trafficked cannabis.  This is based on an exchange of text messages between you and Mr Towers that afternoon in which you requested a couple of buds from Mr Towers and you received $20 from someone called Jacko, for the supply of cannabis. 

18I must assess the level of criminality and seriousness of each of your roles in each of these offences. 

19In relation to the trafficking of methyl-amphetamine, your role, Mr Towers, was clearly at a higher level and over a considerably longer period than that of Mr Hawkins.  You were involved over a 12 month period in trafficking in this drug by travelling out of Warrnambool to pre-arranged meetings with your supplier to purchase it, and then returning with it to Warrnambool where you made at least some of it available to be purchased by others, either directly from you or through Mr Hawkins.  I accept that that was at a relatively low level in the supply chain for this drug, but you knew what you were doing and you were prepared to traffic in this drug. 

20I accept that you became involved through your own use of the drug, and not as a purely profit-making activity, nor in detached disregard for the effects of the drug on its users.  You were not seeking to expand the market of users, but only supplied it to friends who requested it.  It was also at quite low purity, that is, 9 per cent, indicating a low level in the distribution chain, and there is nothing to indicate that you bought it in a more concentrated state to cut or dilute it for more profit. Nevertheless, people performing the role you did are responsible for the spread of the use of this drug which causes harm, not only through physical effects, but emotional and financial impact on users and their families, as you yourself had experienced.

21As for your involvement in the trafficking of cocaine, the objective seriousness of this offending is considerably offset by the fact that this conduct would not have been known to police if you had not disclosed it as it occurred many months before your activities in drug-trafficking were being investigated and monitored by them.

22On two occasions, you knowingly became, as you call it “a drug-mule” for an associate.  You apparently refused to do so on a further occasion when asked, so I infer that there was no overwhelming pressure on you to agree to be involved. On the other hand, there is nothing to indicate that you planned or instigated these arrangements, nor that you did this for any financial gain, let alone for any share in the ultimate profits.  You role as a carrier of a significant quantity of this drug was, however, an essential link in the chain of distribution, and you must bear responsibility for that role.  Even that role must attract a stern enough sentence to thoroughly denounce and punish it, and discourage you and others from being tempted to do similar in the future.

23So far as your trafficking in cannabis was concerned, it seems to have been confined to supplying one customer, Mr Brown, for whom you purchased the drug from one supplier, Mr Bolden.  I have just realised that there is material that you were intending to supply the two buds through Mr Hawkins to another customer.  I nevertheless regard this as at a very modest level for the trafficking of cannabis. However as with Mr Hawkins, it shows that you were willing to become involved in trafficking a selection of different illicit drugs. 

24Mr Hawkins, I regard your role in the trafficking of methyl-amphetamine as at a less serious level than that of Mr Towers, as it was over a much shorter period, as charged only two months, and as you apparently had no direct contact with any supplier of the drugs other than Mr Towers himself.  Your involvement was as a go-between in order to obtain some of the drug for your own use, which you could not otherwise afford.  Your role was not minimal in facilitating sales of methyl-amphetamine by Mr Towers, but there is nothing to indicate that you would have been involved if you had not been assisting him in this way in order to obtain some of the drug for your own use.

25In relation to the other charges against you Mr Hawkins, they are, in my view, relatively minor, one being a failed attempt to obtain $1000 worth of Ecstasy tablets at the request of someone willing to buy them, and the other charge being of you having earnt $20 for the supply of a couple of buds of cannabis to someone you knew who wanted to purchase it. 

26In my view, the most serious aspect of these two offences is that you were apparently prepared to engage in trafficking any illegal drug for which you knew of a potential buyer.  I am satisfied that your level of criminality overall should be classified as at a relatively low level and that of a person whose sole reason for involvement in drug trafficking was to fund his own drug use. 

27I take into account in your favour that both of you were cooperative with police, and made extensive admissions.  You then both pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage.  Your pleas of guilty entitle you to considerable credit towards your sentences, for the utilitarian value of saving the community the time and cost of disputed hearings, and witnesses the inconvenience of attending court.  Your pleas reflect that you were prepared to facilitate the course of justice and accepted responsibility for your offending, as I say, at a quite early stage. In both of your cases, I also accept that your pleas of guilty reflect genuine remorse by each of you.  That remorse is also reflected in other aspects of your behaviour since.  I shall tell you after I impose your sentences, what they would have been if you had not pleaded guilty but been found guilty of these charges after a trial.

28I turn now to your personal and individual circumstances. 

29Mr Towers, you are now aged 41 and live in Warrnambool with your partner and her child.  You have two children with whom you also have considerable contact and involvement in their lives.  I am told that you grew up in Leeton, New South Wales, where your mother still lives.  Your father apparently died very young when you were only seven.  You undertook an apprenticeship which led you into the trade of welding, and I am told that you are now, and have for a number of years, been a specialised stainless steel welder in considerable demand for your skills. 

30I am told that you first came to live in Warrnambool at age 23, to build Speedway sprint cars which you did for some five years.  You met your first wife in Warrnambool where your eldest child was born, but after about five years you moved back to Leeton when the employment here ceased.  Your second child was born there in Leeton. 

31You then came back as a family to Warrnambool for work.  Your marriage ended but I am told that you still see a lot of your two children, and indeed, I gather that on the day you were arrested, your son was either visiting or staying at your home.  You subsequently formed a relationship with Ms Erin Stephen who was in court to support you, as was her father.  Ms Stephen and her daughter live with you and you are regarded as a father-figure to her daughter. 

32I am told that you started occasional use of methyl-amphetamine in 2012, but that increased, and it was also being used by your partner, Ms Stephen. By the time the police were intercepting your telephone calls, your use had escalated to approximately one to two grams per day and that was also the amount used by Ms Stephen.  Your own use of this drug led you into obtaining it in larger quantities from a supplier, and selling some of it.  I am told that you never set about finding buyers, but sold it only to friends or acquaintances who requested it from you or through Mr Hawkins, and that you did not always even have enough to satisfy requests. There are some messages reflecting that you would slow down your own use to make it last.

33When you were arrested and charged, you made frank admissions and it seems that being confronted with what you had done did cause you to face your situation and resolve to cease altogether both your drug use and trafficking of drugs. 

34You were remanded and spent 32 days in custody which I accept would have been a very confronting and a salutary experience for you.  With no prior criminal record, you were in custody for the first time in your life at age 40.  It interrupted your ability to work, and forced abstinence from drug use and necessarily became known to your wider family and Ms Stephen's family, and to your friends and work associates. 

35As I have said, you have a long sustained work history and I am told are only not working at present because you needed to be back in Warrnambool for this court case and awaiting its outcome.

36I have read character references for you.  There was a letter written middle of last year, and another recently from Mr Hardy, the project manager of the engineering company for which you had been working as a sub-contractor.  This included that you were sent to New South Wales to work on a water waste treatment plant until recently, a job which you undertook having obtained a variation of your bail to enable you to leave Victoria.  It is clear that you are well regarded as a reliable and highly skilled contractor, and that there is plenty of work, both in Victoria and interstate, awaiting you when the sentences I impose have been served. 

37I have also read personal references about you.  Your current partner, Ms Stephen describes you as a hard-working man who is dedicated to being a strong and supportive father to your own two children, and that you have been a father figure for her daughter, and a very caring and supporting partner to her.  It is clear that both you and Ms Stephen were using methyl-amphetamine on a daily basis during the period of the offending that brings you before me, although you are not charged with using that drug.  Ms Stephen says, looking back, that she can see how many stupid decisions you were both making in your lives at that time.  She describes you as extremely regretful for the time and money wasted on drugs and the choices you made while involved in that lifestyle.  She says that both of you have been completely free from drug use since your arrest, and from anything related to that way of life, which has also enabled you both to see its impact on your children, your finances, and each other.

38I have also read a reference from Ms Stephen's father, a retired teaching manager at South West TAFE who describes you as honest and trustworthy, and who admires your craftsmanship and work ethic, and your role as his daughter's partner, mentor to his granddaughter and loving father of your own children.

39Finally, I have read a letter from your eldest brother, a mechanical engineer himself.  He describes your family background, including the loss of your father at a young age, and that although it affected the whole family, he believes you suffered most as you were only seven when he passed away after a long illness, and had not had the chance to get to know him well.  Your brother believes in that way you missed out on some of the moral guidance your father would have provided.  He has discussed these charges with you and describes you as very embarrassed about what has happened, and that you did not want any of the rest of your family to know that you had been arrested and charged.  He personally put up a significant money surety for you as part of your bail. 

40I take it from each of these references that there is strong personal support for you from family in the community. 

41You come before the court with no prior convictions which is a matter of real significance for a man of your age.  You are regarded by the law as being of previous good character and entitled to credit for that, although as I mentioned during the hearing, when I am told in cases such as this, that an offender has been using illicit drugs for a considerable period, that puts some less shine on a lack of formal prior criminal record.  It is not the same as never having previously engaged in any illegal activity, but so far as your record is concerned, you come before the court for the first time. 

42As I have already said, for both you and Mr Hawkins, I take into account that you pleaded guilty to these charges, you were cooperative with police from the time you were arrested and voluntarily gave a long and candid recorded interview.  Indeed, in it you revealed to police your involvement the previous year in the conveying of cocaine from Sydney on two occasions, the conduct the subject of Charge 1 against you.  As you have revealed information constituting an offence, indeed a serious offence, about which police had no other source of information, you are entitled to significant reduction in your sentence on that charge for that reason. 

43I am to sentence you on the facts set out in the Summary of Crown Opening.  It states that the total methyl-amphetamine trafficked by you had a value of $84,376.  I take that to be approximate.  That consists of the value of the three ounces found in your possession when intercepted, and the estimated amount you admitted purchasing over the preceding 12 months. 

44In that regard, you told police that you usually purchased two ounces at a time, the equivalent of 56.68 grams and that it was mainly for personal use, but if you had not been paid or needed a bit of cash, you would sell it and you said it was only on the occasion you were intercepted, that you purchased three ounces rather than two.

45It was submitted on your behalf that most of the estimated amount of just over $68,000 relating to the preceding 12 months was for your personal use or the use of your partner so the amount trafficked should be taken as very much less than that.  Your own use was said to have escalated to your using between one to two grams a day in the two months prior to your being intercepted and arrested, and there was said to be similar usage by your partner.  As I have too-little information to enable me to make a finding beyond reasonable doubt that you in fact purchased much more than $68,000 worth of methyl-amphetamine over the previous year, I cannot sentence you on the basis of any higher amount.  However, I am not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that only that amount was purchased by you, nor that only a small portion of $68,000 worth was trafficked.  The amount you admit purchasing over the preceding 12 months was only a total of approximately 340 grams and even though your usage is said to have been escalating over the period, a quick calculation indicates that that would not have been enough for an average of one gram per day for one person over that period, let alone for both you and your partner, with some for Mr Hawkins’ use, and there being any available for you or Mr Hawkins to sell to others. 

46As I say, I sentence you only on the basis of this estimated amount, but I am not prepared to conclude that only a very small portion of that amount was actually trafficked.  I accept that you did not on-sell all of the methyl-amphetamine you acquired over that period and did use a significant quantity of it yourself, or provided it for your partner. But as I say, I do not accept that there was only a small portion of $68,000 worth trafficked.

47How you were able to keep working to the satisfaction of the engineering company for which you did work, whilst sustaining a drug habit of the level you say yours had reached, is not explained, but it is probably ultimately to your benefit that you were discovered before you could ruin your life by losing your high reputation in your work.

48I am told that since being arrested you have wholly ceased using the drug which had become a heavy habit in the months leading up to that arrest.  There were two clear drug screens tendered, one from July and another August last year, when I gather the case was expected to reach court. Continuing with drug tests of this type would have been expensive, but I am told that you have been subject to possible random tests, although none have in fact been conducted on you, through your work over the intervening period.

49That you have abstained from further drug use is certainly to your credit.  You would certainly by now have wholly detoxified.  It is usual for people with a sustained drug habit of the duration I am told yours was, to need to address the psychological reasons for it,  to maintain abstinence, but I am told you have not felt that need, although you would be willing to undertake it if it were mandated by any order I make.

50I take into account that almost 16 months have passed since you were charged after your arrest on 18 November 2014.  This delay was not of your making.  You were initially remanded in custody, as I have said, for 32 days before being granted bail.  I am told that the first committal mention was adjourned for plea negotiations and on 19 May last year, all matters resolved as pleas of guilty. 

51The intention was for application to be made for summary jurisdiction, so the matter could be heard in the Magistrates' Court.  The application was made late July last year, but you and Mr Hawkins were refused summary jurisdiction although it was granted to your co-offender, Mr Bolden, who was dealt with less than two weeks later, that is, on 7 August 2015. 

52You, however, were required to have your matters heard in the County Court and there was a delay while both sides awaited forensic testing of the drugs found in your possession.  I am told that those test results were only formally notified in January of this year, which is why the case could not be heard before this sitting of the County Court in Warrnambool. 

53I take into account that there has been a delay of that duration and six to seven months of it is between when the matters could otherwise have been heard. You have had these charges hanging over you for 15 to 16 months.  During that time, you have not known whether you would be required to serve further time in prison, and that has obviously been of strain to you and your family.  You have been restricted in the work you could undertake, although you have continued to work and even had your bail conditions varied to enable you to take up some work in New South Wales.  Further, I can take into account to your credit that in the intervening period you have managed to totally cease your own use of methyl-amphetamine which was clearly a very significant reason for you becoming involved in this offending.  The protracted uncertainty and strain, and the rehabilitative steps you have taken in the meantime, are factors in mitigation of your sentence. 

54I am satisfied that with your sustained history of hard work, support of your children and partner, lack of prior criminal history, and your having abstained from drug use since your arrest, your prospects of rehabilitation are good.  You have every prospect of returning to the community as a law-abiding and responsible and hard-working member of it.  I take into account that facilitating your rehabilitation is ultimately in not only your and your family's best interests, but also that of the community generally. 

55I regard the extent of your trafficking of illegal drugs under these charges, particularly Charge 2 of trafficking methyl-amphetamine over a 12 month period, to be serious enough to normally require a significant period of imprisonment to adequately denounce it, and to adequately achieve general deterrence. 

56In your case, I have decided in all the circumstances, that taken together with the 32 days in custody that you initially spent after your arrest, which forms the start of deterrence to both you and to others, sentencing requirements of denunciation, just punishment, and general and specific deterrence, can adequately be achieved through a Community Corrections Order from this stage onwards. 

57Under that there will be a substantial penalty component of unpaid community work, which can convey denunciation and general deterrence.  In addition, I shall impose conditions for your supervision and for a period of the order and that if assessed and directed to undergo drug rehabilitation programs you must do so. 

58I turn now to you Scott Hawkins.  You are now aged 42.  You are married and have six children, the four youngest of whom are still living with you and your wife.  You were born in Leeton, New South Wales, left school at age 17 and worked at various jobs until commencing work as a motor mechanic. 

59You have sustained continuous employment all of your adult life, and worked as a mechanic for the last 20 years.  That was mainly in Leeton but you came to live and work in Warrnambool I believe in 2012 most recently, but had on one earlier occasion in 2003. 

60You have known your co-accused, Bradley Towers, for most of his life, having both grown up in Leeton.  You came to Warrnambool when he did some 20 years ago, except that you returned home after a short stay while Mr Towers remained for some five years.

61You and your wife, Mr Hawkins, have been married for 20 years and have known each since childhood.  You have six children ranging in age from 20, to twin three year olds. 

62There was some friction apparently between your wife and your parents in Leeton, and about three years ago, you decided to relocate to the Warrnambool region with your family for a better life and to put some distance between your wife and your parents.  On arrival here, you were able to rekindle your friendship with Mr Towers with whom you had had occasional ongoing contact in the intervening years. 

63I am told that you had been suffering from some depression while in Leeton, although you were concealing it, and had not sought any treatment.  However, it came to the fore after your relocation to Warrnambool, with the strain of lack of sleep due to the young twins waking you at night, the social isolation in Warrnambool for your whole family, your school-age children finding it hard to settle into new schools and make friends, and with your trying to work two jobs to support your family financially.

64You had apparently used drugs in the past occasionally. After the move to Warrnambool, your drug use increased, the methyl-amphetamine appearing to assist you to stay awake to be able to maintain two jobs and cope with all of the family circumstances.  You were acquiring your methyl-amphetamine for your use through Mr Towers, and then became involved in the offences of trafficking as already described. 

65After your arrest on 18 November 2014 for these charges, you were remanded and spent 17 days in custody until being granted bail.  That must have been a shock and confronting to you too.  I am told that it did at the time, and since has, put further strain on your family. Your 17 year old daughter returned to New South Wale to complete her HSC year.  Your eldest daughter is living in Melbourne.  I am told that your relationship with your wife is under further strain, and that you are considering returning to New South Wales, however you understand that the sentence I impose might prevent that for some time.

66Since your arrest on these charges, you have sought treatment for your depression and what has been diagnosed as anxiety as well.  You have been prescribed anti-depressants by your GP, Dr Singh, and referred for counselling.  In late May last year you commenced counselling sessions with psychologist Ms Scheflo and had attended nine sessions up to her report of 31 October last year.  She considered that you had concerningly high levels of anxiety as well as a tendency to depression.  She understood that you had not touched drugs since your arrest that she thought was in December 2014, but I know to be November 2014.  Maybe December was when you were granted bail, and she was told by you that you wanted to be, and remain, drug-free. 

67You had apparently not told your wife of your drug-use before your arrest, as you were too embarrassed to share that with her, and also knew that she would be very angry that you had sacrificed your family's wellbeing when you started to take and sell drugs.  You felt your behaviour had stigmatised your family as you told her and that there was some stress in them continuing to live in Warrnambool.

68At the stage Ms Scheflo last wrote, your then 15 year old daughter was still in Warrnambool, but had withdrawn from the family, spending long hours in her room and her wellbeing was of considerable concern to you. 

69Ms Scheflo recommended ongoing counselling for you, estimating that a further 18 to 20 months from July 2015 would achieve the goals set.  In her second report of late October last year, she noted that the drawn-out court proceedings had proved difficult for you to deal with as the uncertainty of the outcome confounded your personal and family relationships and your anxiety level remained very high.  You had withdrawn from communicating with your wife and she had become angry and worried.

70Ms Scheflo regarded as to your credit that you continued counselling and had remained drug-free since the end of 2014, despite anxiety and stress.  She reported that you no longer suffered withdrawal symptoms from the drugs, and also that you were remorseful over your offending and the consequences of your actions on your family. I am told that, due to financial strain, you have not continued with that counselling, as you would have had to fund it yourself although you would like to recommence it as you did find it helpful. 

71I have read references tendered on your behalf.  One, written in July 2015, was from the then Leeton Shire Mayor who had known you for 30 years, and described you as being very remorseful and embarrassed by your offending, having become mixed up with the wrong group of people. 

72I have also read a reference from your employer as to your employment with Warrnambool Off-Road.  He had been impressed by your keenness to obtain employment on answering an advertisement for a vacancy.  You had started working there in February 2015, and subsequently revealed the charges that you were facing, describing yourself to the employer as "an idiot."  You are described as showing responsibility in your work, both to dealers and private customers for their vehicles, taking pride in your work and completing it to a quality standard. 

73You are also known at work as a proud family man, talking regularly of your family.  You apparently still have ongoing employment there.

74There was also a reference from your former manager who said that he found you to be a reliable, honest and hard-working employee who got on well with all staff members. He describes how, when you were charged with a drug offence, you were deeply shocked and you apologised for it. I understand that that employment required you to be approved by a head contractor who ceased to allow you to work on its jobs once you were charged with trafficking drugs. 

75You too come before the court with no prior criminal history.  As with Mr Towers, that is to your credit and the law regards you as being of good character.  As with him, that picture is a little diminished by you having apparently been using some illicit drugs in the past and in the lead-up to this offending, although never having been charged in respect of them. 

76I have already said that your cooperation with police, frank admissions to them, and the effects of your early plea of guilty all entitle you to some leniency in your sentence. 

77The delay since you were charged also attracts some mitigation in your circumstances.  First, there has clearly been strain and uncertainty for you during the last 16 months awaiting this hearing, and as I have heard, that has put further strain on your family situation which in turn has added to your own anxiety. You are also entitled to have taken into account how you have used the intervening time.  You too have managed to abstain from drug use since being charged.  You have also tried to address underlying problems by seeking counselling and have continued to work, although I understand you have suffered a recent hand injury which limits that at present.

78Although there are ongoing tensions within your family which continue to cause you anxiety, I accept that you have attempted since being charged with this offending to rebuild your life without using drugs or engaging in trafficking them, and to try to provide both financial and personal support for your family. 

79I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as sound, especially in light of you having no prior criminal history, but probably likely to be harder for you than for Mr Towers, because of the strains within the family situation. 

80Taking all these matters into account, I consider that a sentence which facilitates your rehabilitation is in your own, and the community's, best interests.  While you clearly knew that your involvement in trafficking drugs was wrong, your role was at a relatively low level in the trafficking of methyl-amphetamine and even lower for the other two charges.

81I take into account that it is understandable, although not to be excused, in the context of your experiencing anxiety and depression as a result of family and social dislocation at the time, and that having led you into self-medicating with illegal drugs yourself, and into company with other drug users and your associations with Mr Towers being your source of drugs for your own use.

82The 17 days spent in custody on remand was both salutary to you and should be taken as some general deterrence.  In my view, sentencing factors of denunciation of involvement in drug trafficking, and general deterrence can be adequately applied in your circumstances by a sentence that leaves you in the community and does not require you to serve any further period in custody.  You will be placed on a Community Corrections Order. 

83Finally, in relation to both of you, I note that I was advised that for his involvement in supplying cannabis to you, Mr Towers, but also for some other charges concerning drugs, Mr Bolden was sentenced in the Magistrates' Court to a Community Corrections Order for 12 months. 

84I am told that the purchaser of the cannabis, Mr Brown, received a Community Corrections Order, and another purchaser of methyl-amphetamine, Mr O'Brien, was placed on a Community Correction Order for 18 months including 150 hour of unpaid work. Another buyer named Forth received a police caution. 

85Although Mr Bolden was charged with you as a co-offender in respect of the trafficking of cannabis, he was granted summary jurisdiction when you were not, however he was not charged with trafficking methyl-amphetamine but only possession of it. 

86It seems to me that as none of these other people were charged as you were with trafficking methyl-amphetamine, which is the charge against each of you that I regard as the most serious, there is no strong basis for parity between your sentences and any of theirs, although I have noted theirs. 

87Would you both stand up now please. 

88Bradley Noel Towers, on each of the three charges against you, you are convicted and sentenced as follows:   On Charge 1, trafficking cocaine, you are placed on a Community Corrections Order to last for 12 months with conditions that you perform 75 hours of unpaid community work and be subject to supervision. 

89On Charge 2, of trafficking methyl-amphetamine, you are sentenced to 32 days imprisonment to be followed by a Community Corrections Order to last for two years with conditions that you perform 200 hours of unpaid community work, be subject to supervision for the first 12 months and attend as directed for assessment and treatment for drug abuse, including testing if so directed. 

90On Charge 3, of trafficking cannabis, you are placed on a Community Corrections Order to last for six months, with the sole condition that you perform 50 hours of unpaid community work.

91I direct that each of those three Community Corrections Orders is to be served concurrently but that the conditions as to unpaid community work be cumulative. 

92I declare 32 days of pre-sentence detention reckoned served in respect of the term of imprisonment imposed on Charge 2. 

93The total effective sentence is therefore 32 days imprisonment which is wholly reckoned served, so you do not have to spend any further time in custody.  There will then be three concurrent Community Corrections Orders' in place commencing today, the longest of which lasts for two years from today.  The conditions of unpaid community work total 325 hours but you can work off first those attributable to the shorter Community Correction Orders and the shortest - the one for Charge 3, will be completed once its unpaid community work condition is completed. 

94The supervision I have imposed as a condition is to last for the first 12 months of the two longer Community Corrections Orders and the condition as to assessment and treatment as directed for drug abuse, attaches only to the longest.  That means it is available to be imposed on you, or for you to be directed to undergo such treatment over the longest, the whole two period, but that is up to Community Corrections officers. 

95Now in addition all usual terms of Community Corrections Orders apply.  I know you have been told of them, but I need to summarise them briefly here.  First, you must report within two working days, that is by 4 pm next Monday 21 March at the Warrnambool Community Corrections Office.  You must obey all lawful directions of Community Corrections officers during the whole of the currency of the Community Correction Orders.  You must, if you have any change of address of where you live or where you work, notify Community Corrections officers of that, within two clear working days of that change occurring, and you must not leave the State of Victoria without prior permission of Community Corrections officers. Finally and most importantly, you must not commit any further offence during the operation of the Community Corrections Orders. 

96If you breach any of these conditions or terms, either by non-compliance or by committing any further offence, and I point out that a further offence includes possession or use of amphetamines, you can expect to be brought before the court for a contravention hearing.  Contravention of a Community Correction Order is itself an offence and could attract a separate penalty, but what you must also be aware of, is that if you do contravene any of these Community Correction Orders, the court's powers include to confirm the Community Corrections Order, vary its terms by extending its duration or increasing the conditions, or by cancelling the order and re-sentencing you on each respective charge on which that order was imposed. What orders would in fact be made would depend upon the circumstances of the contravention, how much of the order had been satisfactorily completed, and also your general circumstances at the time, but you must be aware of these possible consequences of a contravention.

97Now I ask you Bradley Towers, do you understand all of the terms and conditions of these Community Corrections Orders? 

98ACCUSED TOWERS: Yes.

99HER HONOUR: Do you agree to comply?

100ACCUSED TOWERS:  Yes, Your Honour.

101HER HONOUR:  All right.  In addition, I make an order for a forensic sample to be taken from you.  I confine that to a scraping from the mouth which means that a swab is rubbed against the inside of your cheek.  It is not intrusive if you do not resist, but I warn you as I must, that if you do resist, police may use reasonable force to take that sample. 

102The timing of when you are to attend a police station to have the sample taken will be on a copy of the order that I have signed, and you will be given, but effectively you wait 28 days and then you have got a further 28 days in which to go to the police station to have it taken.

103The reason I make the order is the nature of the offending, and also it was not opposed.

104I also make the orders that were sought and were not opposed for forfeiture and disposal. 

105I state for the purposes of s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act that if you had not pleaded guilty but had been found guilty of the same charges after a trial, I would have imposed imprisonment on all three charges with a total effective sentence of two years and six months imprisonment and a non-parole period of 20 months.  From that, of course, the 32 days you have already served would have been deducted, but as you can see, it would have been a substantial period before you would have been eligible for parole. 

106Scott Anthony Hawkins, I now come to sentence you. 

107On Charges 4,5,and 6, you are placed on a Community Corrections Order as an aggregate order to last for 12 months with conditions that you perform 120 hours of unpaid community work; be subject to supervision, submit to assessment and treatment as directed for drug abuse and for mental health treatment as directed.  In addition, I impose a condition that you attend, if so directed, any treatment program to reduce re-offending,, and in particular, I recommend financial counselling, given the circumstances which also contributed to your offending. 

108In addition to those conditions, all usual terms of a Community Corrections Order apply.  You have heard me already outline those to Mr Towers, but briefly I summarise them to you.  You must, by 4 pm next Monday 21 March, attend at Warrnambool Community Corrections Office. You must during the whole of the Community Corrections Order, obey all lawful directions of Community Corrections Officers, submit to visits from them, report to them within two clear working days any change that occurs to the address of where you are living or where you are working, and you must not leave the State of Victoria without prior permission of Community Corrections Orders.  Again, most importantly, you must not commit any further offence during the operation of the Community Correction Order.

109If you breach any of the terms or conditions by non-compliance or by committing any further offence, you can expect contravention proceedings to be brought to bring you back before me, before this court, and you should also be aware that in addition to contravention of a Community Corrections Order being an offence itself, the powers of the court include to confirm the Community Corrections Order, or vary its terms by extending its duration or increasing the conditions, or cancelling the Community Corrections Order and re-sentencing you on the offences to which it applies.

110Again, what would occur would all depend on how much of the Community Corrections Order had been satisfactorily completed and your general circumstances at the time.  Do you understand the terms and conditions of this Community Corrections Order?

111ACCUSED HAWKINS:  Yes, Your Honour.

112HER HONOUR:  Do you agree to comply?

113ACCUSED HAWKINS:  Yes, Your Honour.

114HER HONOUR:  All right.  I make a forensic sample order in respect of you also, for the taking of your DNA.  The reasons I make this order is the nature of the offending, and also it was not opposed on your behalf.  I limit the order to a scraping from the mouth, again the rubbing of a swab on the inside of the cheek and that should not be too intrusive unless you resist, but if you do resist, I must warn you that police can use reasonable force to take the sample.  Again, you wait 28 days and then you have got a 28 day period in which to attend a police station to have it taken. 

115I think there was a Disposal Order sought in respect of your mobile phone and I am going to make that order because it was an instrument of the trafficking of drugs. 

116I state for the purposes of s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, that if you had not pleaded guilty but had been found guilty of the same charges after a trial, I would have imposed a total aggregate sentence of 9 months imprisonment followed by a Community Correction Order for 12 months with the rehabilitative conditions that I have imposed in the Community Corrections Order I have imposed on you.

117All right, you can both take a seat while the orders are prepared.  Let me first check have I covered everything that was sought?

118MR TRIANDOS:  Yes, Your Honour.

119HER HONOUR:  No outstanding matters?

120MR TRIANDOS:  No, Your Honour.

121MR McCOMISH:  I believe you have, Your Honour.

122MR McCULLOCH:  No, Your Honour. 

123HER HONOUR:  All right.  Mr Towers, there are - it seems like a lot of paperwork.  I think you will find that Community Corrections officers will deal with the all three as a concurrent operating system but you have to sign the three because I have made them of different lengths, and impose different amounts of unpaid community work to relate to the seriousness of the offence. They are endorsed at the bottom, that they will operate concurrently but the unpaid community work, which is a substantial penalty, of a total of 325 hours, will be served cumulatively.

124I am not imposing supervision on the six month one, so that once you complete its 50 hours of unpaid community work, it will have been expended, but the others will continue with the supervision and the ongoing treatment under the last one.   When I say last one, the longest one which is on Charge 2. 

125All right, I will have those shown to counsel, your counsel and the prosecutor and if they agree that that they reflect what I have just announced, you will then be asked to sign them and then I will sign them and you will have a copy to take away. 

126MR McCULLOCH:  No issues with that, Your Honour. 

127HER HONOUR:  All right, I will have my - Mr Towers, your lawyer has checked these and I have explained them to you, but you would be wise to read them through and check them and then you will be asked to sign each. 

128I believe the Community Corrections Order for Mr Hawkins is printed off.  The last condition, one cannot separate, it is a global range of matters that has to go into the computer as the form of the order, but it is specifically financial counselling that is what I was recommending there, and was supported by the pre-sentence report. 

129MR McCOMISH:  That's fine, Your Honour.

130HER HONOUR:  My associate will take it to Mr Hawkins to sign.  There is quite a lot of paperwork, in all of these matters, virtually just getting finalised. 

131Mr Towers and Mr Hawkins you are free to leave the dock.  There has been no-one beside you there, and I think the gate is open anyway, but you may leave there and take a seat in the body of the court.   You will need copies of these orders and your lawyers will sort out whether you - which ones go where.  All right, there is another matter listed at 11.30, but I will stand the court down until then.

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