Director of Public Prosecutions v Traycevska

[2019] VCC 439

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Revised
Not Restricted
 Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 18-00050

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

LILLIANA TRAYCEVSKA

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	2 April 2019
DATE OF SENTENCE:	3 April 2019
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Traycevska
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2019] VCC 439

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Sharp	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms C. Lynch	Leanne Warren & Associates

HIS HONOUR: 

1Liliana Traycevska, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of robbery.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment.  You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity to a settled indictment and you must get the benefit of that.

2I accept that there is now appropriate remorse and you get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty and you are still only 27 years of age.  You were 25 years of age at the time of the offending.  You have no prior convictions which are of concern to me and as I understand it you have nothing pending.

3The summary of the offending is that you were with a co-accused, Sian Hakaroa, who had previously been your partner and against whom you had an intervention order.  I accept on the material before me that he was extremely violent towards you and that you were afraid of him.

4But in any event on 29 April 2017 a Mr Anand went to Altona Meadows to pick you up from an address.  The Crown summary says that was after being invited to a catch up but I have got absolutely no doubt it was drug related.

5After spending some time at your house the two of you left and went in
Mr Anand's hired vehicle.  At approximately 12.30 am on the next morning he drove to a BP station in Point Cook, he purchased cigarettes and other materials, including cleaning wipes.

6Upon leaving the service station you began cleaning the vehicle.  At approximately 3.44 am the two of you arrived at Saltwater Promenade in Point Cook.  Shortly after that the co-accused, Mr Hakaroa, arrived in a white Nissan Navara utility bearing false New South Wales registration plates.  It is clear from the material that you had been in touch with him via text messages and you had lured, if that be the correct word, Mr Anand to that spot.

7At that point Mr Hakaroa had a brief conversation with Mr Anand and you and got into the rear passenger seat.  He gave a false name and requested the two of you to accompany him to Campbells Cove.  After Mr Ananad declined
Mr Hakaroa returned to his own vehicle and undoubtedly at that stage in my view retrieved a firearm.

8A few minutes lapsed before he returned to Mr Anand's vehicle and again sat in the rear passenger seat.  He had a brief conversation with you and then produced a firearm which looked like a mini rifle looking gun described to be like a small wooden shotgun.

9He said to Anand, "Look at this", and Anand looked at the firearm and Hakaroa pointed at his neck and Anand asked, "Why are you doing this?"  Hakaroa then replied, "Because you were disrespecting me", and said, "Give me all you've got".

10Mr Anand handed over his Apple iPhone, his wallet containing bank cards and other personal cards in his own name, keys to the vehicle and a bag in his lap which Mr Hakaroa reached around and stole from him.

11At that point in time Mr Hakaroa demanded that Anand get out of the vehicle.  It is clear on the material before me Mr Anand himself said that you appeared petrified. You at that point ran away and did not return.

12Mr Hakaroa then performed other criminal activities including a police chase and driving at police and various other criminal offences which are of not my concern.  The Crown opening has been tendered for anybody with a genuine interest in it but it seems clear that you were complicit in what was going to be at least a robbery in a drug rip off and it got completely out of hand.

13The situation is that Mr Hakaroa for the actual armed robbery that he pleaded guilty to received, a sentence of five years' imprisonment.  Obviously there was a very significant difference between the nature of your offending and the nature of his.

14Your offending must still be regarded as serious and calls for the application of general and specific deterrence as well as denunciation and appropriate punishment.  The submission on your behalf is that a community corrections order would be sufficient and in my view that is correct and the Crown do not demur from that position.

15You have done, as I understand it, 21 days on remand in any event and so there has been a significant wake up call for you so far as that was concerned.  So far as parity is concerned Mr Hakaroa was 31 and you were only 25.  He had a very extensive criminal history and you had virtually none.

16He had far greater involvement in the offending.  I have got no doubt that he was dominant of you and you were afraid of him.  It is clear from his previous history and the materials that have been provided that in fact he has been, as I understand it, done six months gaol for belting you.

17I can understand why you participated in this way but it does not give rise to a defence of duress but certainly explains how you with virtually no prior convictions became involved in all this.  It is also clear from the material that prior to meeting him you were not a drug user but he introduced you to ice and you became seriously addicted to it ever since.

18I then turn to other matters personal to you insofar as the disposition is concerned and have before me a report from Ms Carla Lechner who is a psychologist and I have also taken that into account.

19The circumstances of your existence are very succinctly described in the submissions that were filed on your behalf.  You had been in a relationship with this man for a number of years and have two children to him.  He is from New Zealand and the two children now reside in New Zealand with his parents.

20You, yourself, are one of five children and were raised in a dysfunctional family.  There was a bitter relationship between your parents.  Your father was a violent and abusive alcoholic man who was unemployed due to injuries and they broke up as I understand it when your mother ran over him.

21In any event older siblings left home when you were still very young and you basically had to put up with the abuse.  When you were 15 years old your 26 year old brother was murdered by his girlfriend.  She was subsequently acquitted so whether it was a murder or not I do not know but you certainly think it was and it was after that you mother then received a significant period of imprisonment for hiring a hit man to kill the girlfriend who had been acquitted.  It is certainly a bizarre situation to have to be brought up in that it was in around about 2010 that she was gaoled.

22You completed Year 8 at school and by 2012 when you were 20 you were in the relationship with the co-accused.  That is, as I said, marred by domestic violence, you became addicted to methylamphetamine and you tried to extricate yourself from that relationship but he continued I accept to harass you and your family.

23You, while your mother was in prison, were the carer for your father despite everything that had happened in the past and the situation now is that you are his carer in any event because he has been diagnosed with lung cancer.  Your mother's new partner committed suicide and obviously this is of real significance in your situation.

24You have feelings of depression and anxiety, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and are in a very unfortunate state indeed.  When you were released on bail after the 21 days you participated in the court integrated services program and it is quite clear from the material again before me that you successfully completed that in October of 2017.

25Unfortunately once that program ceased you were without support and have relapsed from time to time into intermittent drug use as a coping mechanism as discussed with your counsellor and you would have heard me having that discussion.  Be very careful with drug use in the near future because being on a community corrections order if you were to be arrested and charged you would have difficulty getting bail.

26I do not think I really need to go into the detail of the relationship any further than that.  Clearly you remained fearful of him and remain fearful of him.  My understanding is that you have had no contact with him since he was incarcerated and it is to be hoped that you can avoid that though obviously you as co-parents it is not going to be that simple.

27I have taken into account all the matters as I have said in the psychological report.  I accept that you would be presently hopefully motivated by a desire to have your children return to your care and realistically all those matters are going to be up to you.

28The prospects of your rehabilitation are in your hands.  The risk of you reoffending if you can avoid drug use I think would be pretty low in these circumstances.  You have been found suitable for a community corrections order.  Certain programs were recommended and I have discussed those with your counsel and I do not propose to put the mental health program on that order.

29I can understand the circumstances where you have a lot of sorting out to do and one thing at a time I think is probably a much better way of going about it.  There has to be an element of punishment in that community corrections order although you have already done 21 days in custody.

30Accordingly if you agree you will be placed on a community corrections order and it will be with conviction which is a punishment in itself.  There will be 100 hours of community work and the community order will be over a period of two years and will include the condition of treatment and rehabilitation for drugs.

31I direct that any hours spent in programs will be deducted from the community work that I have imposed and you will also be subject to supervision.

32I do not do a 6AAA, do I?

33MR SHARP:  No, Your Honour.

34HIS HONOUR:  Just stand up for me for a moment if you would?  You are on a CCO and I know what is in the report and the difficulties you have got but you have really got to get a hold of this.  If you get brought back here for any offending like this you are going through that door.

35You just cannot risk it and you will get a really significant sentence.  You cannot have a prior like this and then get in this sort of situation again.  Whether you can get your life together is up to you.  I am just giving you an opportunity to do it and your counsel represented you very well in these circumstances I might say so do your best and hopefully you never see me again.

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