Director of Public Prosecutions v White
[2020] VCC 8
•15 January 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
CR-19-02524
Indictment No. C1912845
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| JARRAD WHITE |
---
| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE HIGHAM |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 15 January 2020 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 15 January 2020 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v White |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 8 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sentence – traffick methylamphetamine – plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic), s 71AC(1);
Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), s 88
Sentence: Total effective sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole
period of 10 months.
Section 6AAA declaration: 2 years and 3 months’ imprisonment with a
non-parole period of 1 year and 8 months.---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms S Pillai | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr A Grant | Geoff Clancy Solicitors |
HIS HONOUR:
1Jarrad White, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, namely, methamphetamine (Charge 1), for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of 15 years; one charge of retention of stolen goods (Charge 2), for which the maximum penalty is also a term of 15 years' imprisonment; and a Summary Charge of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, for which the maximum penalty is a term of imprisonment of two years.
2Tendered on the plea as exhibit 1 was a Summary of Prosecution Opening. I annex a copy of that document to these sentencing reasons. Briefly stated, the circumstances of your offending were as follows. In July 2018, Wangaratta Divisional Task Unit conducted a major drug investigation focusing upon the trafficking activity of your co-accused, Mr Bradley Garner. In the course of that investigation, Garner's mobile phone became the subject of a telephone intercept warrant and over the ensuing months drug trafficking activities were revealed involving Garner and other persons.
3You were one of those other persons: indeed, it appears that you were effectively in business with Mr Garner. Analysis of intercepts revealed your involvement between 19 May 2019 and 12 July 2019 in 16 separate instances of trafficking: either selling, agreeing to sell or arranging to sell methylamphetamine to numerous persons, including your co-accused, Garner, for onward sale. Paragraph 10 of exhibit 1 sets out the relevant intercepts and I do not cite them again.
4Following your arrest on 23 July 2019, at your then home address of
432 Greta Road, Wangaratta, police seized various items including your mobile phone. Analysis of that device revealed communications via Facebook Messenger relating to further transactions involving yourself and others in relation to monies owed for drugs supplied, or to be supplied, and the collection of such monies. Paragraph 13 of exhibit 1 again sets out the relevant messages disclosing these transactions.5The lawful intercepts and device analysis provided the factual basis for Charge 1, that between 3 March 2019 and 23 July 2019 (the day of your arrest), you trafficked in a total of 64.6 grams of methylamphetamine, with an estimated street value of between $10,000 and $12,400. Upon the execution of the search warrant at your home address, police located approximately 1.3 grams of a crystal substance believed to be methylamphetamine. This quantity is included in the aggregate figure, 64.6 grams.
6Also located was a city council sign labelled “rough surface” and a set of front and rear Victorian registration plates, RBG55. These items underpin Charge 2, retention of stolen goods. In addition, police found large quantities of tools and expensive pushbikes which have since been identified as stolen from burglaries and thefts and motor vehicles in the Wangaratta area. These items were received by you in payment for drugs supplied. This is Summary Charge 34, dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
7I turn now to your personal circumstances.
8You were born on 19 January 1990 and are just short of your thirtieth birthday. You were 29 at the time of your offending. You were born and raised in Wangaratta as part of a loving family. Your mother and father have been supportive of you throughout the years of your addiction to methamphetamine. Indeed, your mother and your brother are present in Court today. You attended local schools in Wangaratta and completed high school in 2005, after which you commenced a plumbing apprenticeship.
9From 2006 to 2014 you were employed full time with a concreting company until you lost your job due to your growing abuse of, and dependence on, methamphetamine and your consequent unreliability. You began using methamphetamine in your early twenties. Quickly your use of this drug followed the all too common path of greater use, addiction, rising drug debts and resort to criminal activity to pay off the debt and to support your drug habit.
10In March 2014 at the Wangaratta Magistrates' Court, you were dealt with by means of an adjourned undertaking without conviction for dealing in property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, and for possession and use of methamphetamine. You were directed to continue undertaking counselling for drugs and alcohol. However, in late 2013 it seems that you had agreed to sell drugs on behalf of your then suppliers. Eventually you became a valued member of their organisation and continued in that role into 2014. You were arrested as part of a larger police investigation into that criminal enterprise and on 3 December 2015 at the Wangaratta Magistrates' Court, you were dealt with for your role in that trafficking operation.
11At that hearing you gave a sworn undertaking to give evidence against your co-accused. The Court was also informed of the progress that you had made in your battle against addiction. The Court was told that you had completed the Odyssey House program, that you had left the trafficking operation of your own accord, that you had thrown yourself back into employment on a full time basis and had committed yourself to remaining drug-free. The Court was told that what really kept you on the straight and narrow was your full-time employment, the help and love of your family and your two children, with whom you wished to establish a relationship, and for whom you wished to be a present, rather than an absent, parent.
12You have two daughters, Chelsea and Mackenzie. They are now aged, respectively, 10 and six. Their mother, Amanda Hawke, was present in Court today. I was told by your counsel, Mr Grant, that your relationship goes back nearly 12 years and was described as “on and off again”. Ms Hawke has made it clear to you that you will not be present in her daughters' lives, as long as you are using methamphetamine.
13Your mother Suzanne White gave evidence on your plea of your body dysmorphic disorder. It seems that you first manifested symptoms of that disorder when you were 15, believing your legs to be skinny and in consequence from that age you never wore shorts. You first disclosure this condition, other than to close members of your family, during a rehabilitation counselling session in 2016.
14Unfortunately, you have not been able to remain drug-free. I was told that you had periods in rehabilitation in 2016 and then again in 2018, all paid for by your family. Whilst rehabilitation programmes may have provided a temporary reprieve, you quickly fell back into your drug use.
15In 2019 you commenced the offending for which you fall to be sentenced today. Following your arrest and remand for these offences, it seems that you have remained drug-free, providing urine screens on a regular basis, all of which have showed negative for traces of drugs of dependence. The Court is aware that this reflects a choice made by you. You have also completed various courses; certificates in respect of which were provided on the plea as
exhibit 7JW. I accept that within a custodial setting you have done all that you can to commence your rehabilitation.16Ms Pillai, learned counsel for the prosecution, submitted that general and specific deterrence and denunciation were primary sentencing purposes in this case. She pointed to your conviction in December 2015 for trafficking methamphetamine as elevating the need for specific deterrence in your case. She correctly identified the factors which are to be weighed by the Court in assessing the objective gravity of your offending, namely, the role that you played, the duration of the offending, the motivation for the offending and of course, the quantity of the drug involved. She accepted that your plea was to be treated as an early plea, the matter having resolved at the first committal mention. Her ultimate submission was that relevant sentencing purposes called for a head sentence with a non-parole period.
17On your behalf, Mr Grant of counsel accepted the serious nature of the offending and the relevant sentencing purposes that were thereby engaged. In mitigation of sentence, he urged upon me your plea of guilty which brings with it the utilitarian value of saving the community the time and cost of a trial. He further submitted that I should regard your plea of guilty as an indication of your remorse and insight into your offending and, accordingly, this was relevant to your prospects of rehabilitation.
18He submitted that you were still a relatively youthful offender. He pointed to the continued support of your family. He submitted there were reasonable to good prospects for your rehabilitation, having regard to your family support, your previous completion of residential rehabilitation, your being drug-free in custody, breaking off relations with your erstwhile criminal associates, the remorse that you expressed, not only by your plea but that which was contained in the letter you had written to the Court, exhibit 6JW.
19He submitted that you demonstrated insight into your behaviour as well as into the effect that your actions have had upon the community. He also pointed to prior successful completion of a Community Correction Order in 2016. I note in this regard that the Order did not contain any therapeutic conditions. Mr Grant's ultimate submission was that a sentence combining a term of imprisonment equivalent to time served and the Community Correction Order with punitive and therapeutic conditions would meet all relevant sentencing purposes. His alternative submission was that any head sentence should have a non-parole period close to time you had already served.
20Mr White, those of us who sit in the criminal courts day after day are aware of this one simple truth. Methamphetamine is tearing the heart out of our community and, in particular regional communities. We are quite simply losing a generation. Those who participate in this evil trade, can expect to be severely punished if and when they come before the Courts. Because what might start out as a fun Saturday night, what might be regarded as recreational consumption that can be controlled, can quickly spiral into the horrors of addiction where many lose everything. Your own lived experience must show how near you have come to losing all that you value and hold dear.
21If you do not change your ways you still risk losing everything. You have been fortunate indeed in that you have managed to retain the love and support of your family and the love and support of the mother of your children. She makes clear to you, that as long as you continue to use methamphetamine, you will have no relationship with your daughters. And that means that quite possibly in their twenties they are either on a therapist's couch or they are going to be in front of a Judge with their counsel will explaining that in their childhood they did not have a dad and that they have an overpowering sense of rejection.
22Over a period of four and a half months you trafficked methamphetamine in quantities of up to 1 ounce, although I accept that on the evidence in front of me, such an amount was an exceptional transaction. You were not a chronically addicted user, selling a little bit to another chronically addicted user, so as to afford your own habit. I accept that the business in which you engaged was not on a large commercial scale, there were not the trappings of enrichment so often encountered. However, it is clear to the Court that you were trafficking in this drug for profit, even though you may have applied that profit to your own use, in satisfaction of your own addictions.
23In 2015, you were dealt with on any view, most leniently by the Court. Now, you are not to be sentenced again for matters for which you have already been dealt. But your prior conviction does affect my assessment of the need for specific deterrence, that is to send a message to you that there can be no repetition of this offending. In 2016 you entered rehabilitation once again and yet again in 2018. You were most fortunate in that your parents supported you and that they were able to pay for your attendance and admission at rehabilitation, no doubt at great financial cost to themselves.
24Tragically for them, and indeed for you, it seems that after your period of rehabilitation in 2018, you fell back pretty quickly into methamphetamine use and by the charged period you were once again immersed in the drug culture, unemployed and needing to fund your habit and other basic expenses. This, I accept, was the context for your offending, although it of course cannot be mitigation of your offending.
25Unlike in 2015, in 2019, you were trafficking in your own right, supplying this terrible drug to other members of your community and thereby placing them at risk of the perils of addiction, just as you had been all those years ago. You went from being a victim of this evil trade, to a perpetrator and a participant in it.
26Now, in sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of different factors. I must give effect to principles of both general deterrence and specific deterrence. That is, I must deter others from behaving as you did and I must deter you from any repeat of such behaviour. I must express the community's denunciation of your conduct and I should also promote, if possible, your rehabilitation. I must take into account the effect of your crime upon the community and the need to protect the community from future offending by you. I must have regard to current sentencing practices and the maximum penalties imposed by Parliament.
27In short, Mr White, I must try to balance your personal circumstances with the circumstances of your offending. I am also required by law to pass no greater sentence than is necessary in all of the circumstances of the case. Clearly principles of general and specific deterrence, denunciation and protection of the community are primary sentencing considerations. I have taken into account and give full effect to the matters urged upon me by your counsel. In particular, I have had regard to your early plea of guilty, to the protective factors constituted by the ongoing love and support of your family and of your partner, Ms Hawke, the mother of your children, who still holds the door open for you and says to you ‘here is a family if you want it’.
28But as you are only too well aware, Mr White, the prospects for your rehabilitation depend quite simply upon one thing: your ability to remain drug-free. I also have regard to the remorse that you have expressed in a letter to the Court. However, in my view, the objective gravity of your offending is such that a further term of imprisonment must be served.
29Could you stand up, please?
30On Charge 1, trafficking a drug of dependence, namely, methamphetamine: you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of eighteen (18) months.
31On Charge 2, retention of stolen goods: you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of four (4) months.
32On Summary Charge 34, dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime: you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of three (3) months.
33Now, after having considered the matter at some length, I am making no orders as to cumulation.
34That means that there is a total effective sentence of eighteen (18) months and I am directing that you must serve a period of ten (10) months before you are eligible for parole.
35Now, parole is not a decision for this Court, it is a decision for another agency. But should you obtain parole, you will be subject to supervision designed to assist you in your re-entry into the community.
36Pursuant to section 18(4) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), I direct that you have served 176 days of the sentence I have passed upon you and direct that this be entered into the records of the Court.
37Pursuant to section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act, had you not pleaded guilty, you would have been sentenced to a total effective sentence of two (2) years and three (3) months with a non-parole period of twenty (20) months.
38Now, there is something that I want to say to you, Mr White. It does not sit easy with the Court sending young men (and you are still a young man) to prison. The Court is well aware of the scourge of methamphetamine and how it has affected you and how it has affected your family. By my calculation you have got roughly a bit more over four months to do. That gives you an opportunity whilst you are serving that sentence to focus upon the efforts to remain drug free when you regain your liberty. Again, I reiterate, Mr White, you are so fortunate. I have people in front of me who have been abandoned by their family because, for their family, it is just too hard for them to carry on loving someone that is lost to them. I hope you understand what I am saying, Mr White.
39All right, now, Mr Grant, custody management issues. I will put down BDD, Mr Grant.
40MR GRANT: Yes, Your Honour.
41HIS HONOUR: All right, thank you, Mr White, if you would go with the officers I am sure they will now take care of you. I shall also sign a disposal order and a forfeiture order.
42MS PILLAI: Yes, thank you.
43MR GRANT: As Your Honour pleases.
44HIS HONOUR: So, hopefully that has covered everything, yes?
45MS PILLAI: Yes, Your Honour.
46HIS HONOUR: All right, thank you Ms Pillai. Thank you, Mr Grant and ‑ ‑ ‑
47MR GRANT: Thank you, Your Honour.
48HIS HONOUR: ‑ ‑ ‑ I should say also a special thank you to Mr Wingrove, the assistance he was giving during the course of the morning.
49MS PILLAI: Yes. Yes, Your Honour.
50HIS HONOUR: And answering all those difficult questions from the Bench.
51MS PILLAI: I am grateful Your Honour, because I did step into this ‑ ‑ ‑
52HIS HONOUR: Well, where would we be without instructors? Anyway, we got there. So, good evening to both of you, I will stand down.
53MS PILLAI: Yes, thank you.
54MR GRANT: If Your Honour pleases.
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