Director of Public Prosecutions v Weribone
[2021] VCC 567
•10 May 2021
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
KOORI COURT
CR 20-01081
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ANTHONY WERIBONE |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE LAWSON |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 13 April 2021 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 10 May 2021 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Weribone |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2021] VCC 567 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr P. Atkinson | Ms A Cornish |
For the Accused | Mr P. Coleridge | Mr H Middleton |
HER HONOUR:
1What I propose doing this morning is to go through each of the sentences and make orders in relation to each of them and then I will give some very short reasons.
2I have already made some relevant orders in relation to the appeals, but I will start off with the matter that I sentenced Mr Weribone to in relation to the combination sentence, which is the CR 20-01081 matter, where there is one charge of attempted armed robbery and the two related summary charges, being Summary Charge 4, contravene a conduct condition of bail, and Summary Charge 6, commit indictable offence whilst on bail.
3I made an order that Mr Weribone serve 285 days to be followed by a 12-months Community Correction Order. That order has now been contravened by way of breach of conditions and further offending, so I find that contravention proven. I will not take any further action in relation to the contravention. I will proceed to resentence.
4In relation to the one charge of attempted armed robbery Mr Weribone will be convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. In relation to the related summary charges he will be convicted and sentenced to 14 days' imprisonment in respect to both of those charges. That sentence is to be concurrent, so the total effective term is 12 month's imprisonment. The pre‑sentence detention declaration is 314 days and that will be recorded in the records of the court. Therefore, there is a balance of a number of days in relation to that sentence.
5I do not propose to fix a non-parole period, because it is academic in the circumstances. In the past I made a s.6AAA declaration of 15 months to serve nine months. That is but for the plea of guilty that would have been what I would have imposed, I will just repeat that declaration (in the final orders).
6I do not think there are any other orders I need to make on CR 20-01081, is there, Mr Atkinson?
7HER HONOUR: I don't believe I need to make any further orders in relation to that matter.
8MR ATKINSON: No, Your Honour. No.
9HER HONOUR: All right, good. I shall now move to AP 20-1145. In respect to that appeal an order was made, that was the adjourned undertaking of six months. I will cancel that undertaking and resentence. Mr Weribone will be convicted and sentenced on all charges to an aggregate term of seven days' imprisonment and I declare seven days' pre‑sentence detention.
10I shall now move to AP 20-1146. That is in relation to the matter where I have ordered a rehearing pursuant to s.104B of the Sentencing Act 1991 and I will resentence in relation to those charges. They are Charges 1, 5, 6 and 8, as I understand it.
11MR ATKINSON: That's correct, Your Honour, yes.
12HER HONOUR: Because of the earlier CCO breach, the CCO was cancelled and new orders were made, and it was on the basis of the sentence, that I revisited that sentence on the earlier occasion. In relation to that, the contravention is found proven. The community correction order is cancelled, and new orders are made.
13In respect to Charges 1, 5 and 6 Mr Weribone will be convicted and sentenced to 30 days' imprisonment, which runs concurrently with the sentence I have imposed this day. The PSD in relation to that was 41 days. I still declare the 41 days, don't I?
14MR ATKINSON: Yes, Your Honour.
15MR COLERIDGE: I need to defer to Mr Atkinson. I honestly don't know.
16HER HONOUR: Right. He has served 41 days on that. In the event that the order is only for 30 days, the 11 days, which is effectively dead time, that can be taken into account, can it not, in relation to the earlier matter on my part.
17MR ATKINSON: I believe so, Your Honour. In terms of the totality of the pre‑sentence detention it ought to go into the calculation, yes.
18HER HONOUR: All right. So what I propose to do is - the orders have not been entered in respect to CR 20-0181, so I can take into account that dead time by effectively sentencing him to 354 days in relation to the attempted armed robbery.
19MR COLERIDGE: Three-hundred and twenty-five I think is 11 plus 314.
20MR ATKINSON: Yes, 25. Yes. I'm just doing my sums, yes.
21HER HONOUR: Sorry, what ‑ ‑ ‑
22MR COLERIDGE: It's 41 minus 30, which had been declared as against the CCO.
23HER HONOUR: Right, that's 11.
24MR COLERIDGE: And so it's 11 plus 314, so it's 325.
25HER HONOUR: Three-two-five, all right. What I will do is convict and sentence him to the 12 months on the attempted armed robbery and declare 325 days PSD. In relation to AP 20-1146 the declaration of PSD will be 30 days.
26I do not believe I need to make any ancillary orders in relation to both the appeals.
27MR ATKINSON: My recollection is there were none on the ‑ ‑ ‑
28MR COLERIDGE: No, Your Honour.
29MR ATKINSON: ‑ ‑ ‑ original orders, Your Honour, yes.
30HER HONOUR: That's correct, all right. And the reasons for my sentence are that I have had regard to the personal history and circumstances of Mr Weribone. They are still relevant and my original sentencing remarks sets out in full the complex history of trauma that Mr Weribone has had to endure over his very short life. The principles of Bugmy really come into play in this matter.
31But also on both occasions, Anthony Weribone, you have appeared before your elders and respected persons and you have listened and engaged with them in a way that I think is genuine and I do consider that you are on the cusp of wanting to change.
32OFFENDER: Yeah.
33HER HONOUR: So that is an important consideration, because it leads me to this conclusion. I do consider that you are genuine, and that is reflected in a real desire by you wanting to change. You do however need significant supports in place, and I urge the authorities to give consideration to the recommendations that were made in the report that was received on a previous occasion. That it is really important that there be a proper assessment of your situation.
34Ms Treston, the psychologist, wrote in her report about the need for you to have a proper assessment, so that is really important. Either a full neuropsychologist assessment and/or referral to a psychiatrist for your counselling, for your complex trauma history and also your other behaviour traits related to your neurological situation.
35It is really important that when you do leave prison that you make sure prior to leaving prison that you arrange some help to obtain a proper assessment for the NDIS, because that might enable you to get some good accommodation.
36OFFENDER: I already got connected up with them.
37HER HONOUR: Good. Good.
38OFFENDER: I only just done that recently.
39HER HONOUR: Excellent. Well, that should have been done last time, because I think you are the sort of person that is missing out. You have fallen through the cracks and you really could get some significant assistance if you had a proper plan.
40OFFENDER: Yep.
41HER HONOUR: Yes. That is good to hear that you have done that. I have taken into account all your pleas of guilty. You have entered pleas of guilty at the earliest opportunity, so I have to have regard to that. There is real utility in that and that is really important in times currently with all the restrictions from the COVID pandemic.
42I have taken into account your history and background and the fact that, you know, as a young boy you were exposed to drug taking by your relatives and encouraged when you were a little boy to use drugs from a very early age. So that is a mitigating factor.
43I have also taken into account the recommendations and the assessment of Ms Treston as well, which really explains to a large extent why it is that you keep getting into trouble. But you really are the sort of person whom I think would really respond well to strong support in the community, so I am pleased to hear that the NDIS people are looking at setting you up on a plan.
44But I do encourage you through the counsellor and the Aboriginal well-being officer to explore the possibility of, on your release, being able to participate in a program such as the one out at Warrakoo.
45OFFENDER: Yeah.
46HER HONOUR: Yes. Because I believe that the Wiimpatja Healing Program does offer young men like you a real chance to break the cycle, because otherwise you will just find yourself going in and out to gaol. And ultimately being in jail is not for your benefit or the community's benefit.
47There is a possibility of you getting stronger support in the future, but you need to make those cultural connections. I know Auntie Ada spoke to you a lot about that lats time, didn't she?
48OFFENDER: Yeah.
49HER HONOUR: Do you know Uncle Peter, her brother?
50OFFENDER: Yeah.
51HER HONOUR: Yes. He is always available to support and assist people in community, so it's really important that you start thinking more constructively.
52OFFENDER: I'm locked up with Uncle Peterson's son.
53HER HONOUR: Sorry?
54OFFENDER: I'm locked up with, um, Peterson's son.
55HER HONOUR: All right, yes. Well, it is good that you have support in prison, but it's also good for you to start thinking about what could you do in the community to make you stronger ‑ ‑ ‑
56OFFENDER: Yeah.
57HER HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ so that you're not back on this slippery slope. All right, I believe I've covered everything that I am required to, Mr Atkinson.
58MR ATKINSON: I was just going to raise one other matter, Your Honour. On AP 21-1146 the actual charge is a contravention of the CCO, Charge 8. I presume Your Honour is going to find that proven and make no order.
59HER HONOUR: I find that proven and make no order.
60MR ATKINSON: Yes. Otherwise, Your Honour, I believe we've covered all the matters.
61HER HONOUR: Good. All right.
62OFFENDER: So how long do I have to actually do?
63HER HONOUR: Look, that's a matter for the prison to tell you. I can't tell you because of the situation currently with COVID and the credits that you get when you go back to the prison. It shouldn't be long, should it, before he gets clarification? But you are remanded in relation to the other matter.
64OFFENDER: Yeah.
65HER HONOUR: So that would prevent you from leaving the prison.
66OFFENDER: Yeah.
67HER HONOUR: But that's not to say that some application could be made for you in the future once there's more clarity about what's happening with that Mildura Magistrates' Court matter. But I do encourage you to really pursue the opportunities that are available.
68OFFENDER: Yeah.
69HER HONOUR: You can't do it on your own. You've shown that to us. We tried and it's not really surprising, given that you are homeless, and there were no other options in your mind, that you went on to reoffend and you didn't adhere to the order. But for the future there are other ways of dealing with that situation.
70OFFENDER: Yeah.
71HER HONOUR: And that's why we've spoken to you at length this morning about Wiimpatja. Yes. Before we go, Uncle Mark, did you want to say anything? He's gone, has he? He's dropped out.
72UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Dropped out. Will I try and get him back?
73HER HONOUR: No, that's fine. That's fine. I think it was very difficult this morning for Uncle Mark. He's actually out at Warrakoo and every now and then we have an issue, but this is the first occasion where we haven't been able to see him on screen, so I do apologise for that.
74But he did say to you he does care about young men like you. He's now working there full time and he's giving his all to people like yourself to try and get you on a better path. So all the best. You go downstairs and have a chat. Yes, good. All right. Well, you can go back into custody.
75OFFENDER: Yeah.
76HER HONOUR: Good to see you and all the best. Thank you. And we can adjourn. Thank you for all your help.
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