Director of Public Prosecutions v Von Stanke
[2025] VCC 1234
•27 August 2025
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| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-24-01977
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| CODEY VON STANKE |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE D SEXTON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARINGS: | 27 March 2025; 21 May 2025; 17 July 2025 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 27 August 2025 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Von Stanke | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 1234 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Conduct endangering persons; Damaging property; Carjacking; Attempted aggravated carjacking; Theft; Conduct endangering life
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act1958 (Vic); Sentencing Act1991 (Vic); Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic)
Cases Cited:Stevens v The Queen [2021] VSCA 218; R v Verdins [2007] VR 259
Sentence: Five years and Six months’ imprisonment with a Non-Parole Period of Three years and Four months
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms V. Worrell | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr D. Sala | Doogue & George |
HIS HONOUR:
Introduction
1Codey Von Stanke, at a plea hearing before me on 17 July 2025, you pleaded guilty to one charge of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment; one charge of criminal damage, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment; three charges of carjacking, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment; one charge of attempted aggravated carjacking, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment; one charge of theft, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment; one charge of reckless conduct endangering life, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment; and one related summary offence of failing to stop at police direction, which carries a maximum penalty of 120 penalty units or 12 months' imprisonment or both.
2Furthermore, carjacking is a category 2 offence, requiring the court to impose a custodial order in relation to these offences unless an exception applies under s5(2H) of the Sentencing Act 1991. Your counsel did not submit that any of the exceptions applied in your case.
3At your plea hearing, you also admitted your criminal history.
Circumstances of offending
4The circumstances of your offending were set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea dated 16 January 2025, Exhibit 1 at your plea hearing. Your counsel, Mr Sala, confirmed that this document contained admitted facts in relation to the circumstances of your offending.
5Your offending can now be briefly described.
6At the time of your offending, you were 32 years of age and living at an address at Carpenter Rocks in South Australia. At the time you were unemployed, having previously worked as a fisherman in South Australia for the family business.
7Your offending spanned eight incidents, all of which took place on a single date, 29 May 2024.
Incident 1
8At about 6 pm on this date, members of Victoria Police observed you drive out of the driveway of an address in Point Cook. This address was occupied by an associate of yours. You were observed driving a white Ford Ute bearing false registration plates, towing a trailer carrying a Landcruiser on the back. Police attempted to intercept you by taking a position behind you and activating police lights on the unmarked police vehicle. You were then driving very slowly, attempting to get overtaken. You refused to stop your vehicle on police direction, hence your liability for the related summary offence of failing to stop on police direction.
9You continued driving, taking a bend on the wrong side of the road, causing the trailer attached to the white Ford Ute to collide with another vehicle, and causing the trailer to unhitch itself from the Ute. Police rendered assistance to the driver of the other vehicle, AT, who had been driving a white Toyota Corolla. The Corolla sustained extensive damage, as evidenced by photographs taken by police. AT sustained bruised ribs and minor lacerations to his hands. Following this incident, you continued driving off at a fast rate of speed. Your conduct in relation to the collision forms the basis of Charge 1 on the indictment, reckless conduct endangering serious injury.
Incident 2
10You continued driving the white Ford Ute to Little River. At some point on that journey, you drove the Ute through a farm gate at Argyle Street in Little River, this conduct forming the basis of Charge 2 on the indictment, criminal damage. The owner of the property where the farm gate was damaged noticed the damage the next day and reported the incident to police, and reported that a South Australian registration plate, the false registration plates that had been affixed to your white Ford Ute, had been left on the ground near the damaged gate. The owner provided photographs of the scene to police.
Incident 3
11At about 6.30 pm, you drove the white Ford Ute to an address on Little River Road, where you exited the vehicle and approached CF, who was then sitting in the driver's seat of his 2014 white Jaguar sedan with the engine running. As you approached CF, you asked him for a lift, stating that the police were chasing you. When CF refused, you stated, 'Get out of the car or I'll rip you out'. Fearing for his safety, CF complied and exited the vehicle, at which point you got into the white Jaguar and drove away, leaving the white Ford Ute at the scene. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 3 on the indictment, carjacking.
12Police arrived at the scene soon after you had departed and after enquiries confirmed that the white Ford Ute had previously been stolen.
Incident 4
13Once in the stolen white Jaguar, you drove at high speeds and into oncoming traffic, pulling up in front of a Subaru WRX on Little River Road, about 1 kilometre from the freeway onramp. Your next victim, ZE, was in the driver's seat of this Subaru with his wife, SD. SD was sitting in the front passenger seat and their four month old son was seated in the rear of the vehicle. You got out of the Jaguar and approached ZE, who wound down his window to speak with you. You then pulled out a black metallic pistol and pointed it at ZE’s head and made multiple demands for him to get out of the vehicle. The gun was seen by both ZE and his wife.
14ZE managed to drive around you and the white Jaguar and escaped. As he began to drive away, you pushed the firearm into his right shoulder causing a minor laceration, as seen in the photograph produced at your plea hearing. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 4 on the indictment, attempted aggravated carjacking.
Incident 5
15You drove off in the white Jaguar at high speed, and shortly after you stopped in front of a vehicle trying to leave the Cherry Creek Youth Justice facility at 201 Kangaroo Drive, Little River. TM was attempting to drive his brown Ford Focus hatchback out of the Youth Justice facility following the conclusion of his shift. You approached TM at the driver's window and made multiple demands for TM to get out of his car. You then reached in through the open window and took off TM's seatbelt. You opened the driver's door and grabbed TM by the collar of his shirt and pulled him out of the vehicle. TM was thrown from the hatchback and punched. You then entered the hatchback and drove it through the outer gate of the Youth Justice facility by smashing the gate. This incident was captured on CCTV at the Youth Justice facility.
Incident 6
16You drove the stolen hatchback onto the wrong side of the road on Duncans Road in Werribee before stopping in front of your next victim, KN. KN was driving his Jeep Cherokee. You blocked the path of KN in order to get him to stop. You got out of the hatchback and ran towards the driver's door of the Jeep whilst yelling at KN. The Jeep was fitted with a dashcam which recorded the audio and visual of this entire incident. You made numerous demands of KN to get out of the Jeep. When KN initially refused, you stated, 'Do I need to get the gun out?' KN then got out of the Jeep and you argued with him for a period of time before taking his phone. You then returned the phone and entered the Jeep and drove away. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 6 on the indictment, carjacking.
Incident 7
17You then drove the stolen Jeep at very fast speed down the Princes Highway, arriving at the Colac BP Service Station at about 7.30 pm. You filled the Jeep with 34 litres of diesel fuel, valued at $73.11, before driving away without making any attempt to pay for the fuel. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 7 on the indictment, theft.
Incident 8
18You continued to drive down the Princes Highway towards Colac. Police dashcam footage showed the speeds at which you were driving at all times. On numerous occasions, you overtook vehicles using the emergency lane in excess of 180 kilometres per hour. You crossed double white lines on the wrong side of the road and at one stage reached a speed of 190 kilometres per hour in a 60 kilometres per hour zone in Colac. Your driving at these speeds and in this manner placed other road users at the risk of death.
19You travelled from Duncans Road in Werribee to Allansford in 1 hour and 40 minutes, notwithstanding that police estimate that the usual travel time would be in the order of 2 hours and 21 minutes. Your conduct in this regard forms the basis of Charge 8 on the indictment, reckless conduct endangering life.
20You finally dumped the Jeep at an address in Warrnambool at about 8.30 pm, before getting into another vehicle with South Australian registration and fleeing the area, some two and a half hours after your spree of offending commenced.
21After making various enquiries and conducting investigations, you were ultimately arrested by police on 6 June 2024 at the Riversdale Hotel in South Brisbane by the Queensland Police Service. The following day, you were remanded at the Brisbane Magistrates' Court and extradited to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 11 June 2024.
22You have remained in custody since this time, a period of 447 days.
Victim impact
23Victim Impact Statements were provided by three of your victims. SD is one of the victims of the attempted aggravated carjacking, Charge 4 on the indictment. She was seated in the vehicle when you pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her husband's head whilst making demands for the vehicle and whilst the couple's four-month-old son was seated in the rear of the vehicle.
24In her Victim Impact Statement dated 16 January 2025, Exhibit 2 at your plea hearing, SD describes feeling haunted by the incident every time she thinks about it. She feels that she cannot leave the house with her baby because she fears that it may happen again. Every time a car approaches her, she feels anxious and scared. She has trouble sleeping at night. She refers to feeling unable to find happiness anymore and fears talking to people she does not know.
25TM was the Youth Justice facility worker who was the victim in relation to the carjacking outside Cherry Creek Youth Justice facility, Charge 5 on the indictment. He was physically removed from his vehicle by you and then punched, before his vehicle was stolen.
26In his Victim Impact Statement dated 24 January 2025, Exhibit 3 at your plea hearing, TM refers to feeling anxious and having panic attacks in the weeks following the crime. TM refers to the stolen vehicle being a complete write-off and losing many personal belongings that were in the car. He has needed additional security, both at home and in his car, which has been costly for him. Overall, the carjacking has caused him tremendous stress amongst his family and friends, in addition to the personal impact on him.
27CF was the owner of the Jaguar, which was the subject of the carjacking, Charge 3 on the indictment. In his Victim Impact Statement dated 11 November 2024, CF outlined the very considerable financial costs associated with the repair of the vehicle, and associated expenses with regard to hiring a replacement vehicle and insurance excesses. He also refers to the crime making him wary of all individuals he comes into contact with, and he refers to adverse impacts upon sleeping and increased anxiety.
Nature and gravity of your offending and your level of responsibility for it
28Overall, I regard your offending as being extremely serious and concerning. Over an intense period of just a few hours, you engaged in a brazen crime spree which was both determined and sustained. As a result of your outrageous behaviour, six victims have been very much adversely affected. Virtually nothing appeared to stop you in your determined efforts to evade police. Your behaviour was completely lawless, and any resistance on the part of your victims was met with menacing conduct, including actual violence. Whilst all instances of carjacking are inherently serious, your conduct in throwing the Youth Justice employee to the ground and punching him is particularly concerning.
29Likewise, the production by you of a pistol when you attempted to carjack the vehicle occupied by ZE, his wife and infant, pointing it at ZE’s head, and ultimately causing a graze to the shoulder of ZE as he managed to drive away, is particularly serious and concerning, and represents a serious example of the crime of attempted aggravated carjacking. Similarly, your objectively dangerous driving throughout the incidents is self-evidently concerning.
30These types of offences are sadly prevalent in the community, and in sentencing you I am rightly called upon to denounce your serious criminality, send a message to other like-minded offenders of the significant punishment that is warranted for such behaviour, and to appropriately protect the community from you.
31The Victim Impact Statements in this matter vividly highlight the seriousness of your conduct and the impact it has had on members of the community. A motor vehicle is often one of the most significant assets owned or utilised by members of the community. Loss of a vehicle can cause real inconvenience and hardship. In this case, the violent and menacing methodology employed by you has no doubt caused considerable fear and apprehension on the part of your victims, as highlighted by their eloquent Victim Impact Statements.
32Victim Impact Statements are an important means through which victims of crime can meaningfully participate in the sentencing process, by informing the court of the often long lasting and catastrophic impacts of crimes upon them.
33In formulating an appropriate sentence in your case, I have taken into consideration, as one of the many sentencing factors applicable, the impact of your offending upon your victims.
34In terms of your moral culpability for the offending, your counsel did not submit that your moral culpability was reduced in any way by virtue of any mental impairments, in accordance with the Verdins’ principles. Whilst of course you are not to be sentenced twice for earlier offending, your criminal history reveals a significant prior conviction from South Australia in 2018, for offending which included driving-related offending, for which you ultimately received a sentence of imprisonment. By virtue of this particular prior conviction, you must have known of the significant consequences for engaging in serious criminality. Your decision to nevertheless offend in the manner I have described, enhances your moral culpability for the current offending, which I regard as significant.[1]
[1]Stevens v The Queen [2021] VSCA 218 at [23]
Personal circumstances
35You are currently 34 years of age. Details with regard to your personal circumstances and background were set out in your counsel's written Outline of Submissions dated 28 May 2025, Exhibit A at your plea hearing, and the detailed psychological report of Dr Hannah Dawson dated 21 May 2025, Exhibit B at your plea hearing.
36You were born and raised in the Carpenter Rocks area near Mt Gambier in South Australia. You have an older brother and a younger sister. You clearly have a loving and supportive family, with both of your siblings and your parents being present in these current proceedings.
37You grew up in the Carpenter Rocks area, where you father has worked as a fisherman catching crayfish for some years. Your brother has also followed him into this industry. Your sister owns and operates a café in Mt Gambier. You appear to enjoy a particularly close relationship with your father, who gave evidence at your plea hearing before me on 17 July 2025.
38You spent much of your childhood accompanying your father in his lobster fishing business in which you have been gainfully employed, working your way from deckhand to skipper.
39You attended the local primary school and then Mt Gambier High School, leaving at the Year 8 level, before you began working in the fishing industry. You have previously worked with your uncle, that is your father's brother.
40You reported to Dr Dawson that you worked with your uncle for three years before you started working for your father, and then another three years later you started to drive your own boat. You reported working up until about one month before you were arrested.
41You have reported a problematic history of polysubstance use and abuse. You started drinking alcohol around the age of 15 or 16, and this was often to excess in a social setting. At around the age of 17, you began abusing prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, which you would source illicitly. You then commenced using Ecstasy at around the age of 18, mainly in a social context with friends, and you also apparently started using amphetamines at the same age, with you quickly developing an unhealthy passion for this drug, and your usage escalated to daily.
42Around the age of 21, you started using cocaine and kept this up until around the age of 26.
43The Oxycodone, according to Dr Dawson, came in the context of you initially being prescribed this strong painkiller following a broken collarbone at the age of 15. You apparently liked the feeling when using this drug, and referred to this snowballing into your use of Benzodiazepines and further Oxycodone illicitly.
44You reported to Dr Dawson that substance use gave you energy and you believed you were functioning well, noting that you were still able to work.
45You informed Dr Dawson that you had attempted rehabilitation about 10 times, reporting that you would leave and relapse as methamphetamine made you feel like you could cope with your circumstances. You have referred to your longest period of previous rehabilitation being for about 60 days.
46I have already referred to your criminal history. Whilst very limited in Victoria, you have a number of driving-related prior convictions from South Australia. In April 2018, at the District Court of South Australia, you were sentenced in relation to two sets of offences, one involving serious violence and property damage from March 2015, and one involving causing harm by reckless driving from December 2016. I have read and considered the Reasons for Sentence of the Adelaide District Court dated 11 April 2018. You were sentenced to a period of three years and five months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 24 months but, pursuant to South Australian law, this sentence was suspended before it was ultimately activated when you breached that suspended sentence in December 2020. I understand that you served that sentence and completed the subsequent parole period in around January 2024, just five months before the current offending.
47Whilst you managed to complete your parole period, I accept that you were very much impacted by the loss of three people with whom you were very close within a 12-month period between late 2022 and the middle of 2023. Your best friend, Lyle, died on 14 November 2022, and you apparently found him and called emergency services. In addition, your cousin, Danny, died on 24 April 2023. Finally, your uncle, with whom you had been close and with whom you had worked, passed away on 6 July 2023.
48According to your counsel, whilst the parole had provided you with a framework and supports to enable you to avoid old habits and associations, once the support of parole fell away you became overwhelmed by the depression and sadness in your life and fell back into old friendship circles which quickly led to a relapse. You stopped working in the period shortly prior to the offending and your lifestyle was overwhelmed with your addiction.
49You reported to your counsel that you had been on a three-day ice binge at the time of the offending; essentially, that you had been using this substance constantly for three days and had not slept.
50In your account of your offending to psychologist, Dr Dawson, you reiterated your substance abuse history and relapse following the expiration of your parole period. You referred to being withdrawn and isolated from your family as a result of your relapse and that you were associating with other substance users. You referred to episodes of panic and paranoia as a result of your substance use, and that you had been awake and using methamphetamine for three consecutive days up to the time of the offending. You described feeling paranoid and threatened at the time of the offending. Whilst this may well be attributable to your substance use, it in no way excuses your serious criminality that followed.
51You were arrested by police some days after your offending in Queensland. You must surely have known of the extent of your criminality when you left the jurisdiction. However, having heard from your father at your plea hearing, I am satisfied that your family were making what can only be described as desperate efforts around this time, and in ignorance of your serious criminality, to facilitate your rehabilitation. Your father referred to spending a considerable sum of money organising and paying for rehabilitation in Queensland. He referred to seeing you in South Australia and then travelling with you part of the way to Queensland for the rehabilitation, before you were ultimately arrested by police.
52As I have indicated, you were the subject of a comprehensive psychological assessment from Dr Dawson, with her findings set out in a report dated 21 May 2025, Exhibit B at your plea hearing. Dr Dawson referred to you recently having been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the custodial setting. She also referred to a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following on from a serious assault upon you by associates in 2020.[2]
[2]Paragraphs 46 and 47
53Dr Dawson opined that imprisonment would likely weigh more heavily upon you than a person without your conditions as, in individuals with trauma and underlying mental health challenges relating to bereavement, a period of imprisonment would trigger additional deterioration of mental health, and there is potential for significant mood fluctuation.[3]
[3]Paragraph 114
54Notwithstanding your personal difficulties, I accept that you have made the best of your time in custody. You have obtained employment as a food billet. I was not made aware of any behavioural issues on your part in the custodial setting. You have, I understand, undertaken urine screen testing, all of which have been negative. You have maintained close contact with your family, including extended family, who visit you and contact you regularly. You are now on the Methadone program within the custodial setting.
55The character references tendered on your behalf all support a finding that you are well-supported and well-regarded, notwithstanding this serious criminality and your personal problems.
Applicable sentencing factors
56In formulating an appropriate sentence in your case, I am required to have regard to various sentencing factors and purposes. I have already referred to the relevant maximum penalties, the nature and gravity of your offending and your level of culpability for it, and the need for any sentence to give appropriate prominence to the sentencing principles of general deterrence, just punishment, denunciation and protection of the community.
57Given your relevant criminal history, and notwithstanding your pleas of guilty, specific deterrence also has a role to play.
58As accepted by the prosecution, you have pleaded guilty early in these proceedings at the committal mention stage. Your early pleas of guilty reflect your acknowledgement of wrongdoing and a willingness to facilitate the course of justice. Your early pleas of guilty have saved the court and the community the time and expense of contested proceedings, and witnesses have been spared cross-examination. A sentencing discount is warranted due to the utilitarian value of your early pleas of guilty.
59I am also satisfied that a further sentencing discount is warranted by virtue of your remorse. Whilst the level of such a discount is impacted somewhat by your decision to leave the jurisdiction after the offending, I accept that your family was attempting to organise rehabilitation for you. Furthermore, there are articulations of your remorse in the psychological report of Dr Dawson. These, coupled with your early pleas of guilty, warrant, in my view, a mitigatory allowance on the basis of your remorse.
60The discount is warranted because this represents an appropriate response to your serious offending, contributes to a relatively favourable finding with regard to your prospects of rehabilitation, and somewhat decreases the need for the community to be protected from you given your prosocial attitude to your misconduct.
61As conceded by the prosecution, I accept that a mitigatory allowance is warranted by virtue of your psychological functioning and the associated hardship in custody pursuant to Verdins’ principle 5.
62An assessment with regard to your prospects for rehabilitation is not straightforward. You have pleaded guilty to very serious and concerning offending. You have a relevant and concerning criminal history. A previous sentence of imprisonment has not deterred you from further serious offending. You appear to have a fairly entrenched substance abuse problem, coupled with issues with regard to your psychological functioning. However, you have utilised your time in custody productively and, importantly, you have maintained the love and support of your family.
63Whilst your prospects must be seen as somewhat guarded, I am prepared to make a relatively positive finding with regard to your prospects for rehabilitation, which are necessarily dependent upon your willingness and ability to wholeheartedly embrace the supports that will hopefully be provided to assist your reintegration into the community after a sentence of imprisonment.
64In my view, the distinct and serious nature of your offending, with multiple victims, requires a degree of cumulation, subject to the overarching principle of totality, in order to appropriately reflect the impact of your offending on your victims and the overall serious nature of your offending over a period of time.
65I am of the view that a healthy parole eligibility component is warranted in the sentencing calculus, although I do not agree with your counsel's submission that a larger than usual parole eligibility component is warranted in the circumstances of your case.
Sentence to be imposed
66On Charge 1 on the indictment, reckless conduct endangering serious injury, you are convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
67On Charge 2 on the indictment, intentionally damaging property, you are convicted and sentenced to three months' imprisonment.
68On Charge 3 on the indictment, carjacking where the victim is CF, you are convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
69On Charge 4 on the indictment, attempted aggravated carjacking, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. This is the base sentence.
70On Charge 5 on the indictment, carjacking where the victim is TM, you are convicted and sentenced to three years and four months' imprisonment.
71On Charge 6 on the indictment, carjacking where the victim is KN, you are convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
72On Charge 7 on the indictment, theft of petrol, you are convicted and sentenced to four months' imprisonment.
73On Charge 8 on the indictment, reckless conduct endangering life, you are convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
74On the related summary offence of failing to stop on direction, you are convicted and fined $300.
75I order that three months on Charge 1, three months on Charge 3, five months on Charge 5, three months on Charge 6, and four months on Charge 8 be served cumulatively upon each other, and upon the base sentence imposed on Charge 4, making a total effective sentence of five years and six months' imprisonment.
76I order that you serve a period of three years and four months' imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.
77Pursuant to s18(4) of the Sentencing Act, I declare a period of 447 days has been served by way of pre-sentence detention, and I order that this period be administratively deducted from your sentence.
78Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I declare that had you pleaded not guilty but been found guilty of these offences, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of seven years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years and two months.
79Finally, I make the forfeiture and disposal orders sought by the prosecution, these applications not being opposed by you. Ms Worrell, anything arising?
80MS WORRELL: Just one matter, Your Honour, in relation to the summary offence it came to my attention that there is a mandatory licence cancellation attached to it, and then a disqualification of not less than six months. That's under s64 of the Road Safety Act, Your Honour.
81MR SALA: That is right, Your Honour, yes.
82HIS HONOUR: In relation to the related summary offence, any licence held by you is cancelled and you are disqualified from obtaining another for a period of 12 months. Any other issues arising, Ms Worrell?
83MS WORRELL: No, Your Honour.
84MR SALA: Thank you, Your Honour.
85HIS HONOUR: Mr Sala, would you like me to leave the link open for just a few minutes? I have got other matters but I can give you a few minutes if you would like.
86MR SALA: No, we have got matters already booked in. I am indebted and I do appreciate Your Honour making that offer. Thank you, Your Honour.
87HIS HONOUR: Thank you.
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