Director of Public Prosecutions v Verma
[2018] VCC 2164
•18 December 2018
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 17-01921
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MUNISH VERMA RANJIT DHILLON |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE CAHILL |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 6 December 2018 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 18 December 2018 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Verma & Anor |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2018] VCC 2164 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: Aggravated burglary and common assault
Catchwords: guilty plea – to offenders entered bungalow to collect money owed – one armed with a baseball bat – relatively low-end offending – 1st offenders – remorse – very good prospects of rehabilitation –Dhillon lesser role
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:Verma: three-year community correction order with 250 hours of unpaid work
Dhillon: 2-year community correction order with 165 hours of unpaid work
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr P. D'Arcy | |
For Accused Verma | Mr S.Tovey | |
For Accused Dhillon | Mr D. Sala |
HIS HONOUR:
1Munish Verma, you have pleaded guilty to one count of theft and one count of common assault. Ranjit Dhillon, you have pleaded guilty to one count of common assault. The two of you have pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated burglary.
2The circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary of prosecution opening, which was tendered as Exhibit A.
3The two of you are friends. Mr Verma, you have shared a house with Depak Meta at Sunshine. You had loaned Meta money which he had not repaid. Owing you that money, which I was told was around $4,000, Meta moved to a bungalow at Epping where he lived with Dalwinder Baines.
4On 23 October 2016, around 3.15 pm, Verma, you went to the bungalow looking for Meta. Baines was there, but Meta was not. You telephone and messaged Meta informing him you were at his home. At your request, Baines took you to Meta's room. From the room you took a bag which contained certificates belonging to Meta and told Baines if Meta did not pay the money he owed you, you would harass Meta and his family. Taking the certificates constitutes the charge of theft.
5You left the flat. Later, Meta called you. He told you he did not have any money to repay you.
6About 20 minutes later, you, Dhillon, telephoned Baines. You told him you were coming over to the bungalow and you would smash him. Meta called 000. Around that time, the 2 of you, with a friend, drove to the bungalow. You, Dhillon, entered the bungalow while Meta was talking to the 000 operator. You slapped Baines several times to the face. That conduct constitutes the common law assault charge against you.
7You, Verma, followed Dhillon into the bungalow. You were armed with a baseball bat. The entry of the two of you into the bungalow, expecting Meta to be present, with the intention to steal from him constitutes the charge of aggravated burglary.
8The two of you slapped Meta. You, Verma, struck Meta once to the left shoulder, causing pain and redness to that area. You went to the kitchen and found a knife. You returned to the lounge room and pointed the knife towards Meta's torso. That conduct constitutes the common law assault charge against you.
9Meta grabbed hold of the blade of the knife and sustained minor lacerations to his right hand. You, Dhillon, and the friend took the knife from Verma and the three of you then left the bungalow.
10Police arrested you, Verma, on 3 November 2016. When questioned, you said you had gone to the bungalow when only Baines was there. You denied taking anything. You denied attending the bungalow a second time. When the police showed you evidence your phone was in the Epping area when you went to the bungalow the 2nd time, you admitted you did attend the bungalow uninvited.
11You, Dhillon, surrendered yourself to police on 11 November 2016 and were arrested. You said on 23 October 2016, you had a few beers at home after work. You said Verma and a friend arrived at your home and the three of you went to an Indian restaurant. There, Verma spoke to Meta on the phone. Verma and you went to the bungalow. You said you slapped Baines, but almost immediately afterwards you felt very bad and apologised to him.
12Under sub-s.2(a)(c) of s.5 of the Sentencing Act, I am required to take into account the impact of your offending on any victim, the victim's personal circumstances and any injury or loss caused to the victim. To assist the court in determining sentence, the court can receive a victim impact statement which allows the victim to tell the court about the impact of the offence on him or her.
13At the victim's request, his or her victim impact statement can be read aloud in the course of the sentencing hearing. Mr Meta's victim impact statement was read to the court.
14Because of the gross exaggerations contained within it, I found Mr Meta's victim impact statement to be of very limited assistance. As Mr D'Arcy, who appeared on behalf of the prosecution, properly acknowledged, Mr Meta's assertions that Verma tried to stab him with a chef knife, that his shoulder was dislocated, causing him excruciating pain for days and the episode was a near death experience are all unsupported by the evidence. More, they are contrary to the evidence.
15Neither of you has any criminal history.
16Mr Verma, I turn now to your personal circumstances. You were born in Ludhiana, India, on 2 October 1986. At the time of your offending, you were aged 29 years. You are now 32 years of age.
17You are the oldest of three sons. Your mother is a doctor. Your father was a soldier. In India, you completed your schooling and then two years of a three-year electrical engineering course before immigrating to Australia in 2009.
18In Melbourne, you obtained a Diploma in Hospitality Management. I received a number of academic certificates in relation to hospitality courses you completed at the Imperial College of Technology and Management at Abbottsford [Exhibit V3].
19You have worked in hotels and then as a taxi driver, and later, a chauffeur.
20In 2016, when you applied for a temporary residence visa, you were forced to stop work, because you were put on a bridging visa whilst your application was considered. In the context of your loss of work and consequent financial hardship, you committed this offending.
21I have read the psychological report, dated 3 December 2018, of
Martin Axelsson [Exhibit V1]. Your treating doctor referred you to Mr Axelsson for counselling in October 2018. You have seen him four times. He has diagnosed you as suffering depression, anxiety and stress. In his opinion, your symptoms are directly related to your offending.22Mr Axelsson wrote you have expressed sincere regret for your actions and that you are making considerable effort to improve your functioning. You are actively seeking work and have volunteered at your local Sikh temple serving meals.
23Your parents were involved in a serious motor car accident in India on 1 July 2017. Your father died and your mother was hospitalised. Because of the confinement of your bail conditions, you were unable to travel to India for your father's funeral. According to Mr Axelsson, these events adversely affected your mental health.
24In Mr Axelsson's opinion, imprisonment would have a deleterious impact on your mental health. He offered a positive prognosis for your continued rehabilitation should you not be incarcerated.
25I accept his opinions which were unchallenged.
26I have also read eight impressive references from relatives and friends [Exhibit V2]. They describe you as respectful, friendly, good hearted and trustworthy. They all regard your offending as out of character and wrote of the pain you suffered as a result of not being able to attend your father's funeral and to support your mother.
27Your treating doctor, Onari Ogaji, wrote you are humble, well behaved, soft spoken and kind. He said you appear "really remorseful" and "have taken some hard lessons."
28Mr Dhillon, I now turn to your personal circumstances. You were born on 5 June 1983 at Maragalu in Northern India. At the time of the offending, you were aged 33 years and are now aged 35 years. You completed your education in India where you obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree.
29You arrived in Australia on 28 August 2008 with your wife, on a student visa, to seek better opportunities and, in 2015, you were granted a permanent residency visa. You have two children, a daughter, Lovelin, who is aged seven year and a son, Manmeet, who is aged two years.
30You are a hardworking man. You have washed cars, cleaned offices and delivered mail. Between December 2015 and April 2018, you worked as a truck driver for Cameron Transport. Your former employer wrote you were a trustworthy and very reliable employee, and that during your employment, you were subject to random alcohol and drug tests and never failed any of them.
31When you left Cameron Transport, you purchased a taxi licence and were driving your taxi to support your family.
32In other equally impressive references [Exhibit D1], relatives and friends described you as kind, caring, honest and helpful to others. Your wife wrote you are supported, gentle and kind. You are an active carer for your children.
33You had been drinking during the afternoon of your offending. Your wife wrote, and others confirmed, that you gave up alcohol after your offending and that you are regretful for your actions.
34Mr Tovey, who appeared on your behalf, Mr Verma, in written and oral submissions relied on the following factors in mitigation of penalty: your plea of guilty, although late, as evidence of some remorse and acceptance of responsibility for your actions; you are a first offender and your offending was out of character and has not been repeated; your offending occurred in the context of financial difficulty because you could not work and also, alcohol consumption; you have taken positive steps to rehabilitate yourself; you have suffered the additional hardship of enforced separation from your family in India when your father died, and your future immigration status is uncertain.
35Mr Sala, who appeared on your behalf, Mr Dhillon, in written and oral submissions, relied on your guilty plea, again, although late as evidence of some remorse and acceptance of responsibility; you also are a first offender and your offending was out of character and has not been repeated, and you have advanced your rehabilitation by continued gainful employment and cessation of alcohol consumption.
36Both counsel submitted that I should not imprison the two of you but release you on a community correction order.
37Mr D'Arcy, on behalf of the prosecution, submitted because of the seriousness of the offence of aggravated burglary, I should impose a term of imprisonment upon each of you. He acknowledged your offending was not the most serious example of aggravated burglary and submitted a combination sentence of imprisonment and community correction order was within sentencing range.
38In order to consider all sentencing options available to me, I have had to two of you assessed to determine your suitability for a community correction order. Both of you have been assessed as suitable.
39Appropriately in my view, the assessing officer drew a distinction between the 2 of you, which reflects your greater role, Mr Verma. You had the dispute with Meta. You went to his bungalow to demand repayment of the money owed to you and when you discovered he was not home, you returned later with Dhillon for support.
40I accept in the case of each of you, your offending was entirely out of character and notwithstanding your late plea of guilty, you are remorseful for your offending and that the prospects of rehabilitation of each of you are very good.
41All confrontational aggravated burglaries, as this was, are serious. The appellate courts have stated general deterrence is a prominent sentencing factor.
42In the DPP v Myers, its citation is [2014] VR 86, at paragraph 6, the Court of Appeal said,
"Aggravated burglary which involves confrontation and violence, or threats of violence, should be viewed very seriously, whether the target of the attack is a former domestic partner or a person against whom some grievance is held."
43However, I accept your offending was a relatively low-end example of the offence.
44In all the circumstances and in the case of each of you, I have concluded that all of the relevant objectives of sentencing can be best served by the imposition of a community correction order.
45In particular, I have concluded a community correction order can meet the purposes of punishment, to address the seriousness of your offending and your rehabilitation. See Luke Williams v The Queen [2018] VSCA 171, particularly at paragraphs 41 and 48.
46Mr Verma stand please.
47On the charges of aggravated burglary, theft and common assault, you are convicted and placed on a community correction order for three years.
48You will be subject to supervision for the first 18 months of that order. During the course of the order, you will be required to complete 250 hours of unpaid community work.
49I make an order for the taking of a forensic sample from you by way of a buccal swab, which is a sample of your saliva. I must inform you the police may use reasonable force to carry out that procedure if you do not consent.
50Pursuant so s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I indicate that but for your plea of guilty, you would have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for two years and nine months with a non-parole period of one year and nine months.
51Mr Verma, you may be seated.
52Mr Dhillon stand please.
53On the charges of aggravated burglary and common assault, you are convicted and placed on a community correction order for two years.
54In accordance with the recommendation of the assessing community correction officer, I make no order for a supervision condition.
55During the course of the order, you will be required to come 165 hours of unpaid community work.
56I make an order for the taking of a forensic sample by way of a buccal swab. I must inform you also, the police may use reasonable force to carry out that procedure if you do not consent.
57Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I indicate that but for your plea of guilty, you would have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for two years with a non-parole period of one year and three months.
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