Director of Public Prosecutions v Vo

[2014] VCC 715

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

AT BALLARAT
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ANH TOAN VO

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Ballarat
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	16 May 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Vo
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 715

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
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Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Office of Public Prosecutions	Ms T Bolton
For the Accused	Mr K Oldis

HER HONOUR:

1Anh Toan Vo, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis.  The facts underlying your offending are as follows.  On 1 September 2013, police raided a residential property in Learmonth where you were found mowing the lawn and police then entering the property using keys found on you.

2On entry to the property, police located a very sophisticated hydroponic set up throughout the house, which included a false wall creating an extra room.  Each room containing sophisticated equipment, the usual lights, fans, charcoal filters and other paraphernalia familiar to this court, required for the cultivation of a cannabis crop.  An illegal bypass had been installed, meaning that electricity powering the equipment was not metered and hence charged, and the total estimate of that electricity stolen was $43,618.87, and 274 plants weighing 53.01 kilograms was seized and on 3 September 2013, in a record of interview, you made no admissions.

3You gave a residential address to police which investigations you had not lived at for at least two years, and the prosecution case is that you had resided at the property since January 2013, lease documents having been signed by you for the bond on 8 January 2013.

4Although you gave no answers in the record of interview, the matter proceeded by way of straight hand up brief.  You entering a plea of guilty on 13 February 2014.  That is a plea at the earliest opportunity.  You have remained in custody since your arrest.  I now turn to your personal circumstances.

5You are 30 years of age, and were born in a fishing port in Northern Vietnam.  Your parents work in the town seafood processing unit.  You completed your secondary education and left home to complete a three year course in Hanoi in the IT industry.  Your older brother and two sisters remained at home with your parents until they married, and the family works in the fish processing plant in the town.

6You then set up a small business as an onsite computer support technician in Hanoi which did reasonably well.  When you were 27, a business contact suggested you go to Australia and obtain a study visa as you had no family or friends to sponsor you.  Through an agent, you arranged the visa and enrolled at Home College.  Fees for the visa and tuition for a year paid in advance via a loan from your parents.  You arrived in Melbourne in October 2002 on a two year student visa, taking up residence in shared accommodation in Sunshine with four other Vietnamese students arranged by the agent.

7After a year, you ceased attending the college as you could no longer afford the tuition fees, thereby breaching your student visa.  You worked in a chicken processing factory for about a year on an evening shift from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.

8At the factory you were offered the job of maintaining the crop, which you accepted, and were shown the house at High Street Learmonth where a hydroponic system was already in place.  Your task was to go to the property every few days maintain it, and be there when your recruiter attended every three weeks.  Your plan was to return home once you had saved the money to pay back your parents. 

9Ultimately that plan was disrupted when police raided the property, where the crop was, and you were remanded in custody.  You have had no visitors in custody, have been held at the MRC, have limited English and I accept that you have been more isolated than other prisoners, and that service of that time has been more difficult for you than other prisoners.  You have enrolled in English, Maths and IT classes whilst in custody.

10Sentencing statistics indicate that generally speaking, a person who has undertaken the role of a crop sitter in a commercial crop can expect a sentence of imprisonment of about two years.  Taking into account the fact that you have no prior convictions, that you have served a fairly extended period of time in difficult conditions, on remand in an isolated state, given your very early plea of guilty and the time and expense this has saved the community, I am prepared to deal with you in a way that will allow you to be released from gaol in the near future.

11The Department of Immigration will be notified of the date of your release, and it is expected you will be immediately deported home to Vietnam.  I therefore sentence you as follow.  Could you stand up please sir.

12On the charge of cultivating a narcotic plant in a commercial quantity, you are sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.  I order that you serve a minimum term of nine months before becoming eligible for parole.  I direct that 257 days of this sentence have already been served by way of pre-sentence detention.  That means you probably got three weeks to a month to serve Mr Vo, and then you will be sent back to Vietnam.

13Pursuant to s.6AAA, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of two years and nine months and ordered that you serve a minimum term of one year and nine months, thank you.  Very well, there is the orders.  I thank counsel for their assistance.  I know it is very frustrating Mr Oldis to be cut off at the socks, but they were really helpful submissions and I think Madam Prosecutor for her assistance as well, thank you very much we will stand down till 10.30.

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