Director of Public Prosecutions v Versace

[2018] VCC 1292

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-17-01669

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ROCKY VERSACE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MULLALY
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	17 August 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Versace
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 1292

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr S. Devlin	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms E. Anselma	Furstenberg Law

HIS HONOUR:

1What I propose to do is to move, it seems to me, to find that a theft from effectively an employer or another entity which someone has contracted of nearly $1,000 is not to be just seen as trivial.  It is a breach of trust and business can only work on the basis that people are honest.  If people are not honest and seek to secure for themselves some financial benefit, then a punishment will follow by reason of the need to denounce the fact of dishonesty, but also deter others.

2However, in Mr Versace's case there is a very significant mitigatory matter, principally his health, having very sadly suffered a stroke in July of 2011 and continued from that time to have compromised health.  He was a young man, just over 40 at the time, and he is got a long life ahead of him.  But he has got ill-health, which is a burden.  He is doing his best on a disability pension.

3He was paid significant sums of money in respect of a very large case of which he had very little to do with, and that has been reflected by the Crown accepting his plea to one single charge of theft.  However, as I have emphasised, it is not trivial.  What I propose to do is adjourn the case for six months, he being on an undertaking to be of good behaviour.

4The issue of conviction is one that was not really pressed by Ms Anselma, but it nonetheless always has to be considered.   A conviction is a matter that is life-long and it is part of the punishment, and it needs to be propionate to the gravity of the offending.

5However, s.8 also requires me to take into account things such as Mr Versace's character, past history, and prior convictions and the like.  It seems to me, although they are dated and mainly for driving offences, there are some drug and some firearm offences of which he is convicted.  So I propose to adjourn this, as I have said, he giving an undertaking to be of good behaviour for six months.  But that will be with conviction.

6MR DEVLIN:  As Your Honour pleases.

7HIS HONOUR:  Is there anything further?  No, thank you.  We will get a document signed and he will - we will get a document prepared and he will sign it, if he is prepared to.  That will bring this matter to an end.

8MS ANSELMA:  Thank you, Your Honour.  There is just the issue of the forensic sample order.

9HIS HONOUR:  I do not propose to - there is no need to address me.  I do not propose to order that a forensic sample be made.  There is an order that I find I must make, I think, on the basis of compensation of $948, if he has got any money left over from his disability pension.  Then he is to transfer it to Fanissa Pty Ltd, in accordance with this compensation order.  That is a civil dep and he can deal with it between himself and that organisation.

10MS ANSELMA:  As the court pleases.

11MR CHERNOK:  As Your Honour pleases.

12HIS HONOUR:  Just come out of the Dock, Mr Versace and come up behind your lawyer there.  Very grateful for your attendance, Mr Maxwell, if I have got your name right, and I am very interested in the work that your organisation does.  Thank you, if you need to be elsewhere.  So Mr Versace, we have only got your address as care of your lawyers.  So that is on this document, that I am not going to change it for the moment.  So you have got an undertaking that starts today and goes for six months.  It is a promise to the court, to be of good behaviour, and if you are called on to come back to court because of some problem, that you will do that.

13That is the only promise that is required of you.  So continue as you have in recent times, save for the matter that is before Judge Taft.  The key thing is do not be doing anything that would compromise good behaviour.  That certainly would be a criminal offence.  You will breach it, and you will come back here.  Do you follow?

14OFFENDER:  Crystal clear.

15HIS HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  Just sign that and if nothing happens in the next six months, that is the end of that.

16OFFENDER:  Thank you.

17HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  You will get a copy of that, you are free to go thereafter, Mr Versace.  Thank you very much, Ms Anselma and to your instructors or firm for sorting this out in a very sensible way after being engaged in it for not that long.

18MS ANSELMA:  Thank you very much, Your Honour.

19HIS HONOUR:  Thank you, Mr Devlin.  We will return back on the other matter.

20MR DEVLIN:  Yes, Your Honour.

21HIS HONOUR:  As you appreciate, I want there to be significant discussions between you and Mr Chernok about the resolution that - - -

22MR DEVLIN:  They have already started, Your Honour.

23HIS HONOUR:  We will get a plea date and if she wants it next year, we will do that.  Thank you.

24MR DEVLIN:  Quietly confident.

25HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.

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