Director of Public Prosecutions v White (a pseudonym)

[2025] VCC 925

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

GENERAL LIST

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

STEPHANIE WHITE (A PSEUDONYM)

and

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

THOMAS HOLDEN (A PSEUDONYM)

and

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ZALI COLE (A PSEUDONYM)

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE HOGAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF PLEA HEARINGS:	28 February and 3 March 2025 (White and Holden) 16 April 2025 (Cole)
DATE OF SENTENCE:	27 June 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v White (a pseudonym) & Ors
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 925

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:              All three offenders pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary, false imprisonment, theft and kidnapping – White and Holden also pleaded guilty to another charge of theft, Holden pleaded guilty to still a further charge of theft and White pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a drug of dependence – different roles of offenders – issue of parity in relation to offending considered.

Legislation Cited:      Sentencing Act 1991, Crimes Act 1958, Confiscation Act 1997

Cases Cited:Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571, R v Verdins; R v Buckley; R v Vo (2007) 16 VR 269, Judge v The Queen [2021] VSCA 315, Markovic v R (2010) 30 VR 589

Sentence: Offender White: 10 years’ and 10 months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 6 years and 6 months – s 6AAA declaration of 13 years’ and 6 months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 9 years and 6 months – offender Holden: 8 years’ and 10 months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 5 years and 6 months – s 6AAA declaration of 11 years’ and 8 months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 8 years and 2 months – offender Cole: 9 years’ and 5 months imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 5 years – s 6AAA declaration of 11 years’ imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 7 years and 8 months.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Mr G Mohammed/ Ms O Kefford	Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender White	Ms B Proud	Kreigharn Criminal Law
For the Offender Holden	Mr D McGlone	Victoria Legal Aid Ballarat
For the Offender Cole	Mr H Lewis/Ms J McGarvie	Dribbin & Brown Criminal Lawyers Geelong

HER HONOUR:

1Stephanie White[1] (“White”), Thomas Holden[2] (“Holden”) and Zali Cole[3] (“Cole”), you have each pleaded guilty to Charge 1, aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment; Charge 2, false imprisonment, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment; Charge 4, theft of $39,935, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment; and Charge 6, kidnapping, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.

[1]        A pseudonym.

[2]        A pseudonym.

[3]        A pseudonym.

2In addition, you, White and, you, Holden, have each pleaded guilty to Charge 5, theft of a motor vehicle, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.  Further, you, Holden, have pleaded guilty to Charge 3, theft of an oversized replica twenty-cent coin, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.  Also, you, White, have pleaded guilty to Charge 7, possession of a drug of dependence, namely methylamphetamine.  This charge carries a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment or 30 penalty units where the Court is satisfied, as it is, that such possession was for a non-trafficking purpose.  In addition, you have consented to one summary offence, Charge 8, using a vehicle on a highway without bearing numbers plates affixed in accordance with the regulations, being uplifted to be heard in this court, and have pleaded guilty to that offence.  This charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units.

3At the time of offending you were all aged in your late thirties.  The offending occurred over a period of three days from 8 to 10 January 2024.  It commenced with the three of you committing an aggravated burglary at the home of your victim, who appears to have been something of a vulnerable person.  He was aged 42 years, living alone, did not drive, and was supported in some manner by Uniting Care. He had been left an inheritance of some hundreds of thousands of dollars by his mother, along with a red 2010 Hyundai i20 sedan[4], which he had not driven.  He was not acquainted with any of you.

[4]        Para [31] of Exhibit “A” erroneously refers to this as “vehicle 2010 Hyundai 120 sedan red”.

4On the day prior to the aggravated burglary, White drove her silver Holden sedan, with Cole as a passenger, to the victim’s home in Alfredton.  While Cole remained in the car, White used a screwdriver to try to jemmy open the sliding window of the dining room, causing it to smash.  White, removed shards of glass and entered through the broken window. The victim, who was sleeping at the time, got out of bed to investigate the noise and, as he exited his bedroom, was startled to find White in his hallway[5].  White claimed she was from Uniting Care and had come to do a welfare check on him as she had not been able to make contact with him.  She told the victim she had a work colleague in the car and needed to discuss the repair of the window.  White and Cole then returned and began to temporarily repair the window using cardboard and clear plastic, secured with electrical tape.  White assured the victim that she would arrange a glazier to attend the premises the next day to repair the window and that it would be paid for by Uniting Care.

[5]Exhibit “C”, Victim’s first statement to police dated 10 January 2024, page 1, para [2].

5The attendance at the victim’s house which I have just described, had occurred at approximately 10.30am on 7 January 2024. At 1.12pm, Cole contacted Holden, stating that she had “Got a earn”, to which Holden replied, “what’s the earn, keen need coin”.  At 11.45pm Holden messaged Cole that he had “ants in his pants to get it done now” and had turned off the cameras so that no-one would be seen coming to collect him. Early in the morning of the following day, 8 January 2024, at 3.19am, Holden sent a message to Cole, who replied that she was ready, and Holden was picked up by Cole and White (who was driving her vehicle).  At approximately 4.00am, the three of you made your way into the victim’s home via the previously-smashed dining-room window.  This is Charge 1, aggravated burglary with intention to steal and assault while a person was present.

6After entering the victim’s home, White and Holden entered a bedroom where the victim was alone and asleep.  They forcefully pinned him down on the bed and White immediately placed a hood over his head, preventing him from being able to see his assailants.  His wrists and ankles were then bound with rope.  This is the conduct comprising Charge 2, false imprisonment. 

7In the course of committing this offence of false imprisonment, Holden was pushing the victim down on the bed so that the victim could barely breathe, and hitting him about the face. The victim also felt like Holden had a knee on his head.  In addition, he felt someone, alleged to be White, holding his feet.  As I have stated, his hands and feet were bound with rope.  This resulted in the victim being unable to move. 

8White and Holden demanded the victim’s PIN code to his mobile phone and his password to his NAB online banking account.  The victim initially refused, stating that he did not have any money, but Holden kneed him in the head and body repeatedly, and told him that he knew he had money. The victim ultimately provided the information, and White typed the PIN code and online banking password as the victim recited them.

9Holden left the bedroom and began to ransack the victim’s house, whilst the victim remained bound and hooded in White’s presence.  The victim could hear a second female voice, said to be that of Cole, and overheard conversations about them transferring money out of his account.

10Holden located a replica oversized 20 cent coin concealed in a kitchen cupboard, which he stole.  This is the basis of Charge 3, theft, to which Holden has pleaded guilty.

11White had already created a new National Australia Bank account in the name of her former partner, Timothy Suttree[6], who, at the time of offending, was in prison.  White commenced transferring money from the victim’s bank account to the Suttree bank account, while Holden and Cole continued to search the house.  White transferred a total of $39,935, which is the basis of Charge 4, theft, to which all three of you have pleaded guilty.  White attempted further transfers but was unsuccessful.

[6]        A pseudonym.

12At approximately 11.30am on 8 January 2024, Holden told the victim he was going to be taken for a drive. The rope was cut from his ankles to enable him to walk, but his wrists remained bound and the hood remained over his head.  He was not permitted to dress completely and, when Holden took him into the backyard, he told the victim to be quiet or he would “get flogged”.  He then forced the victim into the rear of the victim’s own vehicle.  White and Holden then drove the victim to Coles’ address at 30 McNulty Drive, Wendouree.  These are the facts comprising Charge 5, theft of a motor vehicle, to which, you, White and Holden, have pleaded guilty.

13Once at Coles’ address, the victim was removed from the vehicle and taken to the rear yard of the address and put inside a caravan.  He then heard the door of the caravan being locked from outside and could hear you all as the windows of the caravan were being covered from outside.  He was still bound by the hands and had the hood over his head.

14After some 20 to 30 minutes, White came into the caravan and removed the rope from the victim’s wrists and the hood from his head, and provided him with a bottle of water, a bucket to use for a toilet, and a small television set and remote control.  She also provided a walkie talkie and told him to use it to communicate with her if he needed anything.  She then left the caravan and secured the door from the outside. 

15The victim remained confined inside the caravan for the rest of the day of 8 January, overnight that night, for the entirety of the day of 9 January, the night of 9 January and the day of 10 January until approximately 3.30pm when White arrived and told him that they were going to the bank.  During the period when the victim was kept inside the caravan, White had periodically brought him some food, bottled water and cigarettes, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste.

16White told the victim that she knew that he had $300,000 in his account and that they had already taken $40,000 from it.  She advised him that the bank had called his phone for a security check and he now needed to go into the bank, as his account had been locked, and he needed to conduct a verification of identity to unlock his account.  Once that was done, he was to request a $100,000 withdrawal or, at least, get the wheels in motion, as it may take 24 hours to 48 hours to be processed.  She said she would take him back to the caravan until the cash was ready to be picked up.  She then replaced the hood over the head of the victim, and walked him to his vehicle.  Meanwhile, White and Cole had cloned number plates using a computer and coloured printer at Coles’ address, and had changed the registration plates on the victim’s vehicle to other than what they should have been.

17White drove the victim in his vehicle with the false registration plates from Coles’ address to the NAB branch in Sturt Street, Ballarat. Three to four minutes into the journey she permitted him to have his hood removed.  The events following the victim’s forcible removal from his own home, confinement in the caravan and transportation to the bank constitute the conduct comprising Charge 6, kidnapping.

18White parked outside the NAB branch and gave the victim his wallet containing his identification and sent him into the bank, while she waited outside in the victim’s vehicle. White’s driving of the victim’s vehicle displaying the false registration plates is the basis of the summary offence, Charge 8, to which White has pleaded guilty.

19The victim entered the bank and went into a private office, where he went through the identification process.  He then requested the bank officer to assist him to withdraw $100,000 cash.  The bank officer became suspicious and left to speak with the manager of the bank.  The manager came and spoke with the victim, whom he noticed was nervous and dishevelled.  After some questioning by the manager, the victim disclosed that he had been kidnapped for several days and held hostage in a caravan, and that one of the offenders was waiting outside the bank in his red Hyundai sedan.  Police were notified, and White was arrested while sitting in the driver’s seat of the victim’s vehicle outside the bank. Police searched her handbag and located 2 snap-lock bags of Methylamphetamine (weighing 6.0 and 5.8 grams respectively, inclusive of packaging). This is the basis of Charge 7, possessing a drug dependence. Police also located, amongst other things, a set of jumper lead cables, which had been used to start the victim’s vehicle at his house.

20Whilst White had been waiting outside the bank, she and Cole had exchanged text messages. When Cole became aware that there was no further contact with White, she conveyed a message to Holden via his partner, Ms Temple[7], that he needed to pick up the caravan. Cole and Holden then went about removing the caravan from the rear yard of Coles’ address, by hooking it up to Coles’ car and towing it to an address at Mount Pleasant.  This was an address to which Holden had planned to move.  He had recently reconciled with Ms Temple, following a period of separation during which he had lived in the caravan at Coles’ address.

[7]        A pseudonym.

21On 12 January 2024, Search Warrants were executed at Coles’ address where she was arrested, and at the address in Mount Pleasant, where Holden was arrested.

22I assess the gravity of the aggravated burglary committed against the victim to be in, at least, the mid-range of seriousness.  It was clearly premediated, as indicated by the visit of, you, White and Cole, the previous day.  This included the brazen entry during daylight hours by, you, White, after smashing the dining-room window.  After encountering the victim walking out of his bedroom, you falsely representing that you were from Uniting Care and would consult with your colleague in the car.  You, Cole, then accompanied White to temporarily repair the window and, in your presence, White assured the victim that a glazier would attend the following day to fix the window, which would be paid for by Uniting Care.  This preparation for the aggravated burglary (while not the subject of any charge) made for an easy entry by all three of you at 4.00am the following morning, when it was very likely that the victim would be alone in his home, and would be expected to be asleep.  Plainly, you are not to be sentenced for it.  The attendance at the victim’s home on 7 January, however, it is an indicator of preplanning in relation to the aggravated burglary.

23Once the entry into the victim’s home had been achieved, with the intent to assault and steal from him, and knowing or being reckless that he was present, the offence of aggravated burglary had been committed.  Although what occurred thereafter was a serious confrontation of the victim, I am conscious of the importance of not imposing double punishment, particularly in relation to the false imprisonment, and aggravated burglary offences. However, aggravated burglary, by its very nature, which is a brazen infringement of a person’s right to feel safe in his own home, is a grave offence and a prevalent one. The preplanning and the early hour at which you invaded the victim’s home, when he might be expected to be, and was, in fact, asleep, is an aggravating factor.  The fact that there were three of you is also an aggravating factor.  The maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment for this offence reflects the gravity with which this offence is regarded.  Denunciation, general deterrence, just punishment and protection of the community must be the predominant sentencing considerations.

24The false imprisonment is a serious example of that offence.  It endured for some seven and a half hours, from when the victim was awoken at 4.00am on 8 January 2024 until he was forced into his own vehicle and removed from his home by being kidnapped at approximately 11.30am.  The victim, in his first statement to police stated it was daylight or morning as he was being taken from his home.[8]  It is beyond the mid-range of offending and towards the higher range, albeit not at the highest end, given that no weapons were used or serious physical injuries inflicted. However, it is not difficult to imagine how terrifying it must have been for the victim being awoken in his own bed in the early hours of the morning to a hood being placed over his head and two people in his bedroom and then being brutally assaulted by Holden and having his hands and feet bound. The victim was outnumbered by three to one. Although Cole was not present in his bedroom, the victim could hear that there was a third person in his home.

[8]Ibid, page 3, para [16].

25There is no victim impact statement, however, the two statements made by the victim to police have been tendered as Exhibit “C”.  He described, in his first statement made on 10 January 2024 at 9.15pm (albeit erroneously dated as 9 January 2024), that it was dark and he became aware, as he woke up ,of something being put over his head and, then, “the male” pushing him down on the bed so that he could barely breathe, and being repeatedly struck about the face and head, as he had his hands and feet bound with rope so that he could not move.  He had absolutely no idea who his assailants were or what was going on.  He told police that:

“I was thrown on the floor and demands were made for my phone passwords and Online Banking passwords.  I didn’t give them up straight away but they began to smash me around.  I told them I didn’t have any money but they both kept saying they knew I had money.  They got pretty aggressive and was (sic) kneeing me in the head and kept demanding my passwords.

At this stage I was really scared and didn’t know how far they’d go if I held out so I ended up providing my phone password.  They then made demands for my Online Banking password and the guy kept smashing into me until I gave it up.  I think the female was typing into my phone as I was telling them.”[9]

[9]Exhibit “C”, victim’s first statement to police made on 10 January 2024, page 2, paras [9] and [10], opcit, page 2, para [16].

26The victim stated that, after he had provided his passwords, he then became conscious of his house being ransacked.  As his hands and feet were going numb, he had to ask “the female” to loosen the rope and, as she did so, she told him that his hands and fingers were going purple.  He was left hooded and with his hands and feet bound for hours as “the male” angrily told him to shut up when he asked questions, and also demanded to know where the victim’s house keys were kept.

27The case against you, Cole, in relation to the aggravated burglary and theft is that you had entered into an agreement, arrangement or understanding with, White and Holden to commit those offences and, hence, were “involved’” in them pursuant to s323(1)(c) of the Crimes Act 1958.  As far as the offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping are concerned, the case against you, Cole, is that you were aware that it was probable that each of those offences would be committed in the course of carrying out the offences of aggravated burglary and theft and, hence, you were “involved” in those offences pursuant to s323(1)(d) of the Crimes Act 1958.[10]

[10]Prosecution Outline of Submissions, dated 14 April 2025 on the Plea of Cole, marked for identification – (MFI-“C”).

28The kidnapping I consider to be towards the higher end of offending for that offence.  It was conducted with cruelty and instilled further fear into the already frightened victim.  You, Holden, lied to the victim, saying you were going to drop him off downtown and he could walk home.  The victim put some pants on, but had no top on the upper part of his body.  A grey zip-up hooded jacket was draped over his shoulders and, as he walked down the hallway of his own home, he had to ask to be permitted to put some shoes on, which made you, Holden, angry.  As previously stated, while you walked him out of his back door, you told him to keep his voice down or you would give him a flogging.[11]  The victim had no socks on.  It was not until two days later, on 10 January 2024, just prior to you, White, taking him to the bank, that you provided him with a top and some socks.  This was presumably done to make him look as “normal” as possible when he was providing identification so that the plan to withdraw a further $100,000 from his account could be achieved.[12]  Although the rope was taken off the victim’s feet to enable him to walk, as he was being kidnapped, his hands were still bound and the hood was kept over his head.  He told police that he felt disoriented, as he was forced into the car and driven around several round-a-bouts. He had no idea where he was and, contrary to having been told he was going to be dropped off in downtown Ballarat, he felt he was not in a built-up area, at all, as there were no street lights.[13]

[11]Victim’s first statement to police dated 10 January 2024, part of Exhibit “C”, page 2, paras [9]-[10].

[12]Ibid, paras [16]-[29].

[13]Ibid, paras [18]-[19].

29The kidnapping and theft of the car must have been premediated to some extent, as the binding of the victim’s feet with the rope took place very quickly after the aggravated burglary.  The victim had been surprised that he was removed from his home in the car his mother had given him, as it had sat there for twelve months or so due to the fact he did not have a driver’s licence and he believed it would have had a flat battery.  However, subsequently, when, you, White, were driving him to the bank, you showed him a portable charger about the size of a brick and told him it would charge a truck.  Moreover, as previously mentioned, police found jumper leads in your possession when they arrested you.[14]

[14]Victim’s second Statement to the police, dated on 13 February 2024, part of Exhibit “C”, para [11].

30Tendered as Exhibit “B” were nine photographs taken by police of the victim’s injuries. These show him to be of a thin, small build.  He suffered bruising to his right wrist and forearm, his right eye, his left forearm and the upper part of his body, including the right neck/upper chest area and right bicep, and the left upper chest and left bicep.  These injuries were essentially inflicted during the false imprisonment and kidnapping as a consequence of his wrists being bound and, also, when you, Holden, brutely and repeatedly struck him prior to the victim giving up the passwords for his phone and bank account.

31The victim’s vulnerability at not knowing who you were and what you were capable of continued during the kidnapping, which involved sensory deprivation by reason of him being kept hooded during the enforced journey in his vehicle from his home to Coles’ home, for a time in the caravan, and, again, for some minutes when he was being conveyed by White from the caravan to the bank.  Natural light was also blocked from entering the windows of the caravan whilst he was kept inside.  He had no electricity, only a candle and lighter were provided to help him see in the dark.  The height of the caravan ceiling was only about one foot or 30 centimetres above his head and the pillow provided to him he described as “shitty”.[15]  He was forced to suffer the indignity of using a bucket for a toilet.

[15]Ibid, page 2, para [7].

32The kidnapping began some hours after you arrived at his home in the early hours of 8 January 2024 and did not come to an end until the afternoon of 10 January 2024 when White drove him to the bank. The victim was afraid to yell out because, as he was being taken to the caravan, he was aware that there was a house very close to it.[16] He described it as an “ordeal” for him.[17] The kidnapping came to an end only because the bank officer, who was verifying the victim’s identity, alerted the manager of the branch to his suspicions, and the victim was encouraged by the manager to reveal what had happened to him.  The fact that the victim felt unable to initially reveal his ordeal to bank personnel, even in the absence of the three of you, is an indication of the fear which had been instilled in him by your offending.  Moreover, nobody had reported to police that the victim was missing, so no search was underway for him.  You, White, had told him that, after attending the bank, he would be taken back to the caravan until his account was unblocked.  So, were it not for the intervention of bank officials, the kidnapping may have been even more protracted.

[16]Victim’s second statement to police dated on 13 February 2024, para [5], part of Exhibit “C”.

[17]Ibid, para [8].

33As with the offence of aggravated burglary, the gravity of the offence of kidnapping is indicated by the maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment which applies to it. Further, pursuant to s5(2H) of the Sentencing Act 1991, a court must impose a term of imprisonment (other than one imposed in addition to making a Community Correction Order) unless one of the circumstances described in paragraphs (a) to (e) exists. No such circumstance has been argued on behalf of, you, White, or, you, Cole. The circumstance in paragraph (a) has some application to you, Holden, in the light of your statement to police implicating Cole, to which I shall later refer.

34As is the case for aggravated burglary, the offence of kidnapping, calls for emphasis upon denunciation, general deterrence, just punishment and protection of the community. As has been correctly pointed out in submissions made on behalf of the prosecution, kidnapping is appropriately described as a form of terrorism. Kidnapping for ransom or financial gain, which I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt was the motivation of all three of you, is very serious indeed. It is not less serious because the actions of the bank and police thwarted your desired outcome of unjust enrichment at the expense of the victim.

35In terms of moral culpability, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that, you, White, were the chief organiser of the aggravated burglary, false imprisonment, theft and kidnapping.  You admitted to the victim when he was in the caravan that you had accessed his mail in his letterbox and knew he had $300,000 in the bank.[18]  In your Counsel’s written submissions, she conceded that you had “learned of the victim’s association with Uniting Care when reading his mail”.[19] I have already referred to your brazen behaviour on the day prior to the aggravated burglary, when you broke the dining-room window and represented yourself as someone from Uniting Care undertaking a welfare check.  As previously stated, this conduct  is not the subject of any charge, but is relevant as an indicator of the extent to which the offending was planned.  It was plainly a “reconnaissance” mission in preparation for the actual offending which began the next morning.

[18]Ibid, para [10].

[19]Outline of submissions on behalf of White dated 27 February 2025, Exhibit MFI “D1-1”, para [7] .

36You, White, planned the aggravated burglary and theft by entering into an agreement, arrangement or undertaking with Cole.  You prepared for the proposed theft from the victim’s bank account by opening the bank account in the name of your former partner, Suttree, on 5 January 2024, three days prior to the commencement of offending.  You transferred money from the victim’s bank account to the Suttree account at the victim’s house on 8 January 2024, while Holden and Cole searched his house.  This transfer comprised two discrete sums, $35,000 and $4,535, making a total of $39,395.  Subsequently, you transferred $200 to Cole Commonwealth bank account, with a reference “We did it” and, later, $5,000 to that same account with a reference “Loan payment”.  The latter transfer to Cole was blocked by the bank.  You also transferred $4,935 to Holden’s NAB account, with a reference “Got it now” and a further $5,000, with the reference “Chaching”.  The latter transfer to Holden was blocked by the bank.  You also transferred $15,000 from the Suttree account to your own NAB account.

37In sentencing the three of you, I am conscious of the principle of parity, which requires a judge to impose the same sentence upon offenders for a particular offence, unless there are relevant differences in roles or personal circumstances which justify a different outcome.  I have found the application of this principle to be difficult in this task, given the different roles performed by each of you, the different bases of Cole being “involved” in relevant offences and the need to recognise Holden’s cooperation with prosecuting authorities by making a statement implicating Cole.

38You, White, entered the victim’s bedroom and put a hood over the victim’s head as Holden bound his wrists, and you held his feet while they were bound by Holden.  You had made preparation by creating an account in Suttree’s name and ultimately transferred $39,935 from the victim’s account  to it and, later, transferred various sums to the accounts of yourself, Holden and Cole.  You, White, had come prepared with a portable charger and jumper leads in order to get the victim’s car started and, along with, you, Holden, transported the victim from his own home to the caravan at Coles’ place.  You, White, together with, you, Cole, cloned number plates and placed false number plates on the victim’s vehicle.  You, White, conducted all conversations with the victim while he was held captive in the caravan and gave him instructions as to what to do when the time came for him to produce identification, so that the bank could unlock his account and you could withdraw a further $100,000 from it. You also told the victim that you would take him back to the caravan until the cash was ready to be picked up.  You, again, placed a hood over the head of the victim and drove him in the vehicle to the bank, albeit that you permitted the hood to be removed after some three to four minutes.  Although you did provide some basic food and drink, and cigarettes to the victim, along with a t-shirt and socks, it was clearly in your interest to have the victim kept hydrated and fed, and as appropriately dressed as possible, in order not to raise suspicions when he went to the bank.  I accept that, unlike Holden, you, White, were not gratuitously cruel in beating the victim.  Although you did not distance yourself from Holden’s behaviour when he bashed the victim, later, you did loosen the victim’s bound hands when he complained and you noticed discolouration of his hands.  Also, you did tell Holden not to hurt him, as the victim was being compliant.

39You, Cole, entered into an agreement with White to carry out the aggravated burglary and theft, and accompanied White on a reconnaissance mission to the victim’s home on 7 January.  After she broke the window, you did not distance yourself from the representation by White, that you were both from Uniting Care and would organise its repair.  You, Cole, recruited Holden (who was formerly unknown to White).  I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that this was for the purpose of Holden being the “muscle” for the aggravated burglary and theft.  As previously mentioned, you, Cole, were aware that it was probable that the offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping would be committed in the course of carrying out the planned offences of aggravated burglary and theft and did not in any way distance yourself from those offences.  You lived at the Wendouree property, in the backyard of which the caravan was situated in which the victim was held captive.  You, Cole, helped White clone the false number plates using a computer and coloured printer at your address and assisted in changing the registration plates of the victim’s vehicle prior to White driving him to the bank.  While  White was waiting outside the bank for the victim to re-emerge, you, Cole, communicated with White by messages.

40After White ceased to be contactable, you, Cole, contacted Holden’s partner, Ms Temple, telling her that Holden must come to pick up the caravan.  You, Cole, then assisted Holden to remove the caravan by hooking it up to your car and towing it to Ms Temple’s address in Mount Pleasant, and you were still there at approximately 8.00pm that night, with Holden, when Ms Temple returned home.  Subsequently, you Cole, exchanged several Facebook messages with Holden relating to the possible whereabouts of White and whether her name was on a list of cases at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 11 January 2024.  You, Cole, lied to police when they came to your Wendouree address on the afternoon of 12 January. You stated that nothing had been removed from your backyard, despite it being evident that there was an area of dead grass, where the caravan had been for some weeks, before you and Holden towed it away on 10 January 2024.

41You, Holden, were well known to Cole, and enthusiastically embraced participation in the planned aggravated burglary and theft.  As previously stated, you messaged Cole stating that you had, “ants in [your] pants to get it done now” at 11.45pm on the evening of 7 January 2024, and mentioned that you had turned off all cameras so that no one would be seen coming to get you.  You, Holden, were with White when a hood was placed over the victim’s head in his bedroom and bound the victim’s wrists and ankles with rope.  You behaved cruelly by repeatedly striking the victim to the face and body, and, also, kneed him to the head, and pushed him down so that he felt unable to breathe.  You demonstrated a complete lack of moral concern for this vulnerable man, who was totally unknown to you and outnumbered by three to one in his own home in the early hours of the morning. You refused to permit him to get properly dressed and threatened to flog him if he was not quiet as you were removing him from his own home.  While at the victim’s home you ransacked it looking for valuables, and helped yourself to an oversized 20-cent coin and also demanded to know where the keys to the victim’s property were located.

42You, Holden, accompanied White in taking the victim, who still had his wrists bound and a hood on his head, to the caravan, which you owned.  You were present outside as the windows of the caravan were covered up with the victim captive inside.  You arranged for your partner, Ms Temple, to drive you to the victim’s address on the afternoon of 8 January, where $300 had been left for the purpose of repair of the glass window, which had already been undertaken by a glazier.  On 9 January 2024, when your partner, Ms Temple, attended the Wendouree property to collect you and your belongings, in order for you to move back to live with her in the Mount Pleasant property, you prevented her from going to the caravan.  You subsequently assisted Cole to remove the caravan from the backyard of her home to Ms Temple’s home and exchanged text messages with Cole about whether White’s name was in the court lists after White had been arrested.

43In all of the circumstances which I have outlined, I consider that there is little difference in culpability between the three of you in relation to the actual commission of the offences of aggravated burglary and theft.  However, White and Cole had done the preplanning and Holden was recruited by Cole only some hours before the aggravated burglary took place.  However, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that White knew that Cole had recruited Holden as “muscle” prior to the actual commission of the offences.

44As far as the offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping are concerned, I consider that White and Holden have a similar level of culpability.  You two actually executed these offences.  Even though Holden inflicted the brutal assaults on the victim, White did not step in to prevent that conduct and was obviously keen for the victim to be “encouraged” to give up his passwords so the theft could be effected.

45The principle of parity requires the Court to recognise that, although Cole was involved with those offences, she was not physically present in the bedroom at the victim’s house and did not physically assist in placing the hood over his head or binding his wrists and feet with rope. Nor did she actually physically assault the victim or give support to the assaults by Holden by her presence in the bedroom, as was the case with White.  Nor did she physically remove the victim from his home to the caravan, even though I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that she followed White and Holden and the victim to her property, where the caravan was located in which the victim was to be held captive.  Also, she assisted Holden to remove the caravan to avoid detection.  Accordingly, I find Coles’ culpability to be somewhat less on the offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping.  However, I still regard each of you as generally having high moral culpability for these offences.

Stephanie White

46Stephanie White, you are presently aged 40 years, having been born in January 1985.  You were 38 years old at the time of offending.  You come before the Court with a criminal history involving some six appearances at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court between 15 March 2006 and 16 December 2022.  The bulk of offending relates to possession or use of illicit drugs and dishonesty offences, such as burglary, theft or handling or dealing with stolen goods or the proceeds of crime, as well as a number of driving offences.  Over the years, you have received dispositions by way of without conviction adjourned undertakings, fines, a Community Correction Order, which you contravened, and which was varied, and short sentences of imprisonment.

47Your counsel, Ms Proud, told the Court that you had subsequently committed offences in October 2022 and in August, September, October, November and December 2023, and on 3 January 2024.  A consolidation of those various offences, which included contravening an Intervention Order and a variety of dishonesty, driving and bail offences, were dealt with by way of plea hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on 15 October 2024, when you received a sentence of imprisonment of six months, which you completed serving on or about 15 April 2025.

48In sentencing you, I take into account that there has been some delay in passing sentence since your plea hearing in late February/early March. This occurred as I considered it desirable to hear the plea of your co-offender, Cole, prior to passing sentence upon you and Holden. Cole, had pleaded guilty only shortly before the plea hearing of yourself and Holden was listed in late February. Cole hearing was adjourned for further material to be obtained, and took place on 16 April 2025, one day before I was scheduled to take leave.  The delay between your plea hearing and the date of passing sentence has been due to my unavailability.  Had there been no delay in sentencing prior to the completion of your sentence in April, it is likely that, in the interests of totality, some small amount of concurrency would have been ordered with that sentence.  I take that factor into account, as well as the fact that, since committing the offences for which I must sentence you, you have served an actual sentence of imprisonment.  However, it is an aggravating feature of the offending for which I must sentence you that it was committed whilst you were on bail for other dishonesty, driving and bail offences committed in the period between September and December 2023.[20]

[20]See Table of Offending dealt with on 15 October 2024 at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court MFI “D1-2”.

49In sentencing you I take into account that you pleaded guilty to the offences at an early stage, namely 11 July 2024, without conducting a committal hearing.  This early plea of guilty has strong utilitarian value for which you are entitled to a tangible discount on the sentence which otherwise would have been imposed.

50Ms Proud told the Court that you had had a life characterised by sadness and dysfunction.  Your mother apparently abandoned you and left you in your father’s care when you were only about 13 months of age. 

51In a report by Mr Jeffrey Cummins, forensic psychologist, dated 20 May 2024[21] you gave a history describing your father as a former Croation army drill sergeant, who “ruled with an iron fist”.  You were the youngest of four children and he would frequently administer physical punishment to you all.  In or about 1998, when you were approximately 13 years old, your older brother, aged 21 years, committed suicide.  You had two sisters who were considerably older than you.  They left the family home when you were only 14 or 15 years old.  Thus, you became the only child in your father’s over-controlling care.  You completed Year 12 at school.  You had a reasonably good work history, which involved a variety of jobs, including having been a medical receptionist between 2017 and 2020.  However, it seems that, from your late teenage years, you suffered some mental health issues, which involved two inpatient psychiatric admissions in 2005.

[21]Exhibit “D1-2”.

52Your counsel handed up some subpoenaed medical records from Ballarat Health Psychiatric Services.[22]  These reveal that, in November 2005, you had been referred there from a counsellor at the Magistrates’ Court with multiple stressors, anxiety, depression and thoughts of self-harm and suicide.  You were admitted for six days and, amongst other things, you were noted to have a history of cannabis use (at times 2 to 3 grams per day) over the last five to six years, as well as having committed acts of violence towards your sister and a neighbour.  You were seen by Dr Chandra, psychiatrist, and had weekly reviews with a treating clinician, Ron King.  Dr Chandra’s impression was that you had unspecified psychosis, cannabis withdrawal, and an Adjustment Disorder.  A later admission in 2005 noted that you felt alone and previously had been physically assaulted by your father, who, by that stage, had gone to live in Bangkok.  In the Ballarat Health Psychiatric Services notes is a subsequent presentation in January 2009, which refers to you hating yourself, being unable to stop crying, and unable to sleep.  You had described feeling isolated and gave a history of having been prescribed some 10 different antidepressants over the years, which had made you feel sick.  You also referred to a past history of having been threatened by someone with a gun.

[22]Exhibit “D1-7”.

53There is also reference in other clinical notes from the Outpatient Department at Ballarat Hospital that, on 30 October 2005, you had presented at the Emergency Ward with severe right-sided chest pain and shortness of breath after having been hit by your boyfriend.[23]  A subsequent entry on 13 January 2007 referred to you presenting, again, after being hit by a boyfriend.  This seems to support the history given to the Court by your counsel that you suffered low mood and low self-esteem and had found yourself in a series of controlling relationships.

[23]        Ibid.

54In 2010 you gave birth to your only child, a daughter.  Your counsel stated that you described the early years of her life as stable and happy.  However, in 2016 you separated from her father.  Subsequently, he succeeded in having your daughter removed from your care.  This occurred in or about August 2020.  You were permitted to speak with her twice per week by telephone until you were first remanded in 2021.  Her father and her stepmother ultimately removed her to Western Australia and your contact with your daughter ceased.  This had a devasting impact upon you.  Your counsel stated that the removal of your daughter from you was a pivotal moment, which made you give up on life.  You resumed drug use, lost your job as a medical receptionist, and became either homeless or were in custody.

55In addition, some months prior to the offending for which I must sentence you, you had apparently been the subject of serious sexual offending by your former partner, Suttree.  This occurred in September 2023.  Suttree has been charged with four counts of rape, intentionally causing injury, false imprisonment, making threats to kill, criminal damage, assault, intent to commit a sexual offence and aggravated burglary.  The Court was told that he had been granted bail, but had failed to answer it, and there is an outstanding Warrant for his arrest.  In recent  times, after being placed on a waiting list, you commenced counselling with the Specialist Trama Service run by West CASA at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.  As at 26 February 2025 you had completed five of an eligible 28 counselling sessions with that service aimed at addressing your background of trauma.[24]

[24]Letters from West CASA dated 10 October 2024 and 26 February 2024, Exhibit “D1-4”.

56Mr Cummins had diagnosed you as suffering a Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in 2022 when you were before a Court in relation to other offences.[25]  His more recent report confirmed this diagnosis, as well as a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.[26]

[25]        Exhibit “D1-1”.

[26]        Exhibit “D1-2”.

57Essentially, Mr Cummins’ diagnosis of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was based upon your traumatic upbringing, particularly the abandonment by your mother when you were 13 months of age, your father’s strict approach to discipline, the suicide of your brother, and your emotionally and physically abusive relationships with male partners.  It is appropriate to give weight to your childhood of trauma and dysfunction in accordance with the principles of Bugmy v The Queen (“Bugmy”),[27] as well as the trauma that you have suffered from the serious offending against you committed by Suttree in September 2023.  However, the real reason for this offending, as admitted by you to Mr Cummins and as articulated by your counsel, is that you were addicted to methylamphetamine.

[27](2013) 249 CLR 571.

58It is clear from Mr Cummins’ first report that your addiction to methylamphetamine was the causative factor for the offending for which you were sentenced to a term of imprisonment on 16 December 2022.  At that time, you were also before the Magistrates’ Court at Ballarat for contravening a Community Correction Order which had been given earlier in 2022.  You had not taken advantage of the  rehabilitative aspects of that Community Correction Order and it was varied for it to be continued by you for a period of 12 months after you served the sentence of 89 days imprisonment imposed on 16 December 2022.  No material has been provided to the Court as to the extent of your engagement with that order.  However, it is plain  that you committed a host of offences after your release from custody between 6 August 2023 and 3 January 2024, which were the subject of the six-month sentence of imprisonment imposed at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on 15 October 2024.[28]

[28]See MFI “D1-2”, document entitled “Stephanie White – offending dealt with on 15 October 2024 at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court”.

59Whilst I do not doubt the grief that you suffered from having your only child removed from you, the Court has not been provided with any court orders or judgment which explain the circumstances.  However, I accept that it seems, that from the time the child was removed from having any contact with you, even telephone calls, your life did spiral downwards.  You were apparently jobless, homeless and in a vulnerable situation as a drug addict from approximately 2020 and, in this context, were a victim of serious offending from Suttree.  Whilst I take these factors into account, your counsel did not actually argue that your diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder attracted the principles in R v Verdins (“Verdins”)[29].  This would be a difficult proposition to argue in the light of the complicating factor of your very significant methamphetamine use.

[29]        R v Verdins; R v Buckley; R v Vo (2007) 16 VR 269.

60It is of concern that, in the history recorded by Mr Cummins in his second report, you blame your offending on your co-offenders.  You claim that you met Cole via the drug scene (although that is something with which you had been familiar for some years), she had accessed the victim’s mailbox and “sort of pressured (you) into this kidnapping”.[30]  I do not accept the opinion you expressed to Mr Cummins  that you were “under a degree of negative peer group influence and even duress from the co-offenders, Ms Cole and Mr Douglas (sic)[31] when (you) became involved in the offending”.[32]

[30]Exhibit “D1-2”, page 4, para [19].

[31]        “Douglas” is a name by which the co-offender, Holden, is known.

[32]Ibid, para [33].

61You also told Mr Cummins that your co-offenders both wanted to kill the victim and you were the one who got the walkie-talkie for him to communicate and fed him food, albeit that you accepted that you were “under the influence of ice at that time”.  You went on to claim “the other two were pretty much in charge of the situation – like I thought I couldn’t leave.  Zali (Cole) had totalled the car I was driving.  They wanted me to drive the car with the guy to get the money out of his account.”  I do not accept that you somehow “felt (you) had been captive to the co-offenders”.[33]  You had engaged in advanced planning of the aggravated burglary and theft by reason of setting up the Suttree account five days previously and your attendance at the victim’s home on the day before the aggravated burglary.  Although there is no indication as to when the intention to commit the kidnapping occurred – possibly after you had difficulty transferring the money while still at the victim’s house – you had the dominant role during the kidnapping by speaking with the victim and directing him what to do to prove his identification and driving him to the bank.  If, in fact, you felt that you were somehow “captive”, that would have been the ideal time for you to extract yourself from the situation, but you did not, and were in communication with Cole whilst waiting for the victim to come out of the bank.

[33]Ibid, para [22].

62As I have already indicated, I take into account your sad and dysfunctional childhood.  I also accept that your early pleas of guilty have significant utilitarian value in that they saved the cost of a trial and spared the victim having to give evidence.  You did show some compassion to the victim.  Unlike Holden, you did not commit gratuitous acts of violence or try to instil fear in him.  However, you made it plain to the victim that you intended to bring him back to the caravan after he had been to the bank until such time as his account had been unlocked, permitting you to steal an extra $100,000.  While Mr Cummins has opined that your Borderline Personality Disorder demonstrates patterns of behaviour which include “marked impulsivity”,[34] I do not see any indications of marked impulsivity in your offending.  As previously mentioned, preplanning was evident from the setting up of the bank account, your attendance at the victim’s home the day before and also your coming equipped with a battery charger and jumper leads.

[34]Ibid, para [29].

63In spite of your difficult upbringing, you managed to achieve Year 12 at school and had a reasonably good work history.  This was also despite your early use of cannabis, which, according to the history you gave Mr Cummins, was frequently up to 7 grams per day between the ages of 16 and 25.[35]  You have now been in enforced abstinence since being remanded in custody on 10 January 2024.  It is to your credit that, since being in custody, you have worked, initially in a laundry and, later, as a billet for the Rosewood Unit, where you have been residing since November 2024.  This involves you cleaning and, also, ordering the food and all necessary supplies for the kitchen in that unit.  In addition, at the end of last year you apparently completed a five-week course in emotional regulation, as there was a long wait list for any drug rehabilitation course.  In addition, as previously mentioned, you have been engaging with WestCASA for trauma counselling.  These factors bode well for your rehabilitation.  However, at the present time, I still regard your prospects of rehabilitation as somewhat guarded, given your relatively serious history of drug addiction.  Also, I consider that you have a long way to go in terms of addressing issues of trauma, as well as difficult aspects of your psychological makeup relating to your Borderline Personality Disorder.

[35]Ibid, para [25].

64I am conscious that you have had a lonely time in custody.  Your counsel stated that you have had no phone calls or visitors.  It seems that you are estranged from your father, who has now lived in Bangkok for a number of years and has re-partnered.  I take into account that your complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder are factors which make serving a term of imprisonment more burdensome than for prisoners who do not have such psychological difficulties.

65I also acknowledge that you suffer from a spinal condition which causes you pain.  Tendered as Exhibit “D1-6” were various medical and radiological reports relating to degenerative disc changes at L4/5 and L5/S1 levels, with neuroforaminal narrowing appearing, particularly at L5/S1 on the right hand side, with a query as to whether you have right L5 radiculopathy.  The CT scan of the lumbar spine was undertaken on 11 May 2020 after you had undergone a facet joint injection of Celestone and lignocaine at L5/S1 level to alleviate pain on 12 July 2018.  You apparently then underwent two radiofrequency ablations at that level in 2020.  You were prescribed medication, Lyrica, for pain and continue to suffer ongoing problems with your lower back.  The Court was told that you require a spinal fusion, albeit that no material in relation to that was tendered.  It is unclear how recently you were prescribed Lyrica, but it has not been prescribed whilst you have been in custody.  I take into account that managing physical pain caused by such a condition whilst in custody does make serving a term of imprisonment more onerous.

66Your counsel acknowledged that, in all of the circumstances, there is only one appropriate sentence and that is a term of imprisonment involving a head sentence with a non-parole period.  I have noted the aggravating aspects of the relevant offences and note that both Charge 1, aggravated burglary, and Charge 6, kidnapping, each carry maximum penalties of 25 years’ imprisonment.  In addition, the offence of kidnapping is a Category 2 offence which is regarded so seriously by the legislature that judges are required to impose a custodial disposition unless exceptional circumstances apply, which have no application to you.  Overall, the offending is very serious and was carried out callously with the intention of financial gain.  The protracted period of the kidnapping (coming after some hours of false imprisonment), over two full days whilst you were endeavouring to facilitate the theft of an additional $100,000 from your victim (in addition to almost $40,000 which you had already stolen), makes this a very serious offence.  Your moral culpability for all the offending is high.  I am conscious that all of the offending is interrelated to a certain extent and that, in the interests of totality, there should be some concurrency.

67On Charge 1, aggravated burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of six years.

68On Charge 2, false imprisonment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of two and a half years.

69On Charge 4, theft of $39,935, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months.

70On Charge 5, theft of a motor vehicle , you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 12 months.

71On Charge 6, kidnapping, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of seven years.

72On Charge 7, possessing a drug of dependence, you are convicted and fined $500.

73On Summary Charge 8, using a vehicle with false number plates, you are convicted and fined $400.

74The base sentence of imprisonment is that of seven years on Charge 6.  I direct that two years of the sentence imposed on Charge 1, one year of the sentence imposed on Charge 2, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4, and four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 5 be served cumulatively upon the base sentence and upon each other.  The total effective sentence is 10 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.  I direct that you serve a period of six years and six months’ imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.

75I declare a period of 352 days pre-sentence detention to be time reckoned as already served under the sentence imposed this day.

76Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the total effective sentence imposed would have been 13 years’ and 6 months, with a non-parole period of 9 years and 6 months.

Thomas Holden

77Thomas Holden, I have already outlined your role in this offending.  You are presently aged 38 years, having been born in September 1986.  You come before the Court with a criminal history dating back to 2006 in New South Wales, 2008 in Western Australia and 2010 in Victoria.  Your offending comprises drug offences, driving offences, bail offences, dishonesty offences and possession of a controlled weapon without excuse and possession of cartridge ammunition without a licence or permit.  The dispositions of courts have included fines, a Community Correction Order in New South Wales and, most recently, on 14 January 2021, a Community Correction Order for a period of 18 months.  You have not previously served a sentence of imprisonment.

78In a plea on your behalf, Mr McGlone, asked the Court to take into account that you were an “Indigenous man, who grew up amid social disadvantage characterised by poor role models, considerable instability and social dislocation”, such that the principles in Bugmy should apply.[36]  Upon my inquiring as to your cultural identity, Mr McGlone submitted that you came from an Indigenous family who “hid it, like many other Aboriginal families”.  There is no support in the material tendered on your behalf that your parents “hid” their Aboriginality.  In fact, the letter of instruction from your solicitor to the psychologist, Ms Rebecca Fakhri, who provided a report dated 26 August 2024,[37] stated:

“He identifies as Aboriginal – from the Wangai Bon tribe around the Cobar area.  He identifies through both parents but had no connection to culture growing up.  He has made efforts to connect with his Aboriginality in custody – and is now a peer educator with young Aboriginal men in Port Phillip.”[38]

These instructions were simply reproduced in paragraph 19 of Ms Fakhri’s report.  In your criminal history, there is no mention that you had hitherto identified as an Indigenous person.  Nor is there any mention of it in the contravention report dated 10 November 2021 relating to the Community Correction Order upon which you were placed on 20 November 2021.[39]

[36]Amended plea submissions on behalf of Holden dated 28 February 2025, MFI “D2”.

[37]Exhibit “D2-1”.

[38]Letter from Ms Gemma McInerney, deputy managing lawyer, Victoria Legal Aid, Ballarat, dated 7 August 2024, part of Exhibit “D2-1”.

[39]Part of Exhibit “D2-1”.

79Mr McGlone told the Court that you got involved in this offending and reflected on your circumstances and decided that your Indigeneity was the missing piece.  It seems that, upon being taken into custody, when you mentioned that you had come from Cobar in New South Wales, you somehow were identified as being from the Wangai Bon tribe from that region.  You then became involved in the Koori program and, after undertaking a brief course, you became a peer mentor with the role of orienting new Koori prisoners to Port Phillip Prison.  After you were transferred to Ravenhall Prison, you undertook further Aboriginal cultural studies and an Indigenous unit about cultural identity, which your counsel stated was referred to as “Mumgu-dhal tyama-tiyt”, but he was unable to tell the Court who ran such course.  In any event, it seems that, since being remanded in custody on 12 January 2024 and undertaking “a six day course through the Marumarli project, learning about the stolen generations”,[40] you have embraced your Aboriginal identity and are now heavily engaged with producing Aboriginal paintings and explanations of them via “The Torch Project”, a program conducted by the Salvation Army Koori Awareness Group.  Two such paintings were tendered as Exhibit “D2-4”.  This appears to have given you some direction in your life, which was previously lacking, as you had been leading a drug-addicted and lawless life for quite a number of years.

[40]Ms Fakhri’s report, Exhibit “D2-1” page 4, para [34].

80Regardless of when you decided to identify with being a person of Aboriginal heritage, it would appear that you had a disadvantaged and disrupted upbringing.  According to the history which Ms Fakhri took from you, you are the youngest of four siblings.  You have little or no relationship with them and have not had contact with them for a number of years.  Your parents separated when you were approximately aged two.  Thereafter you spent some time residing with your mother and some time residing with your father.  When you were approximately six years old, your mother re-partnered and your stepfather was an alcoholic and drug user.  Your mother appears to have had an issue with alcohol.  At various times during your formative years you lived in New South Wales and Western Australia and, later, Victoria.  It seems that from, approximately age fourteen to age seventeen, you lived with your father in Ballarat, who also drank alcohol and used drugs, albeit that you were not frequently exposed to that.  At age seventeen, you moved to Preston where you spent time living in a relationship with a former partner, Sarah, before resuming living with your father in Ballarat and, then, relocating to Cobar.  You then met your next partner, Belinda, and it seems that you led a life moving around to various parts of Australia with Belinda, until she died when you were aged 33 years.  Thereafter, you increased your substance use and were largely “couch surfing” and had no fixed address before you took up with Ms Temple some six months prior to your arrest on 13 January 2024.  It seems that you are largely estranged from your mother and, also, from your father.

81Your education was seriously interrupted by your moving around during your childhood, and you told Ms Fakhri that you received expulsions and suspensions for using substances at school, fighting with other students, and misbehaving in class.  You claim that you were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder when you were seven or eight years of age, but there are no records confirming this.

82Doing the best I can, it seems that, by age 14, you began working at an abattoir for a time and then learned some bricklaying skills from your father.  By age 19 you had began doing labouring work for a construction company.  You claim that your longest period of unemployment was two years in your mid to late twenties.  You instructed your counsel that from the end of 2023 to the beginning of 2024 you needed money to support your partner and this led to your current offending.  I have absolutely no idea whether this employment history is correct.  No details of group certificates or tax returns or references from any employers were tendered at the plea hearing.  Moreover, I regard it as something of a disingenuous gloss to say that the motivation for the offending was money to support your partner.  You had been separated from your partner albeit that you were in the process of reconciling.  However, it is plain that you had had a long association with drug use from your adolescent years, beginning with cannabis at age 12 and, then, amphetamines at age 14 and you had begun using methamphetamine, intranasally and by smoking, by the age of 17.  It would appear that you also used prescription drugs illicitly.  You told Ms Fakhri that you were financially motivated to commit the offending because you had to provide for your then partner, Ms Temple and a total of six children between you, three of whom had been from your partner Belinda, who died in 2018.  There has not been any evidence provided to the Court that you had the children in your care at the time of offending.  Moreover, I find that your history to Ms Fakhri that you “did not injure the victim, other than assisting the co-accused in tying up the victim … (and) after six hours (you) left the victim with (your) co-accused for the remaining two days” is a serious minimisation of your involvement in this offence.

83I found Ms Fakhri’s report to be overly long and lacking analysis.  On the basis of self-report tools that you had severe depressive symptoms and severe anxiety symptoms in the fortnight preceding her assessment, she appears to have diagnosed you as suffering a Major Depressive Disorder.  She also stated that your score on a drug use disorders identification test showed you to have a history of severe drug related problems which placed you at the high risk range of harmful substance use at the time of offending and, also, on a self-report, your symptoms “were suggestive of a diagnosis of adult ADHD”.  She conceded that she was not able to confirm a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  She went on to accept that you were non-compliant with your psychostimulant medication, even though there is no independent evidence that you were prescribed this, and noted that your endorsement of ongoing symptoms of difficulty with concentration, attention and focus and difficulties regulating your emotions were consistent with:

“Numerous studies (which) demonstrate that core symptoms of ADHD can predispose an individual to unintentional involvement in criminal offences due to inherent impulsivity, cognitive and behavioural discontrol, emotional regulation issues, risk taking behaviour, difficulty dealing with stress, and executive functioning deficits which led to problems when considering consequences of behaviour.”

She further stated:

“His risk taking and impulsivity in particular is relevant to his offending, as for someone without ADHD they may have exerted consequential thinking and judge the outcomes of their behaviour unlike Mr Holden.”[41]

[41]Exhibit “D2-1”, page 11, para [107].

84I find Ms Fakhri’s report to be replete with generic information about studies.  The last-quoted passage is premised on the basis that you do suffer ADHD, yet Ms Fakhri had said that she was unable to confirm whether you had that diagnosis.  Nevertheless, she went on to state:

“His functioning within society has also been impacted by his untreated ADHD …”[42]

[42]Ibid, page 12, para [114].

85It is particularly noteworthy that Ms Fakhri has not administered even the Wechsler Intelligence Scale to determine what, if any, deficits or strengths may be evident in your cognitive function.  I am not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that at the time of offending you suffered either a Major Depressive Disorder, with or without complicated bereavement, or an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  I accept that you have had a disadvantaged background and that your moral culpability should be moderated to some extent in accordance with the principles in Bugmy.  However, whilst acknowledging that childhood trauma can lead to deleterious impacts on neuropsychological development which are enduring, the picture is very substantially complicated by long term drug abuse.  You had been given the chance to engage with a Community Correction Order which you breached.  Moreover, Ms Fakhri’s assertion that you have had “unstable employment, resulting in a lack of routine and structure, isolation and boredom” conflicts with your counsel’s submissions to the Court that you have had a good work history.

86I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that your involvement in the offending for which I must sentence you was motivated by your desire to obtain money in the context of a significant drug addiction.

87You are entitled to a discount on your sentence because of your early pleas of guilty, entered on 30 May 2024, without conducting any committal.  They have significant utilitarian value.  They have facilitated the course of justice and spared the victim having to give evidence.  However, there is no evidence, other than the pleas themselves, that you have any remorse for your vulnerable victim.  It is simply despicable to invade the security of someone’s home with a view to stealing from him and assaulting him.   To then falsely imprison and kidnap him with such brutality is seriously immoral behaviour.  I am not satisfied that you suffer anything approaching true remorse.  There is no mention in Ms Fakhri’s very lengthy report of you feeling any empathy or concern for your victim.  Your primary concern is for yourself, namely, “feeling as though (you had) ruined (your) whole life” and are “back to square one”.[43]

[43]Exhibit “D2-1”, page 7, para [70].

88It is to your credit that, since being remanded in custody, you have tried to find some direction in your life by identifying with Aboriginal culture and undertaking a variety of courses in hospitality, building and construction apprenticeship and a harm reduction programme.  Certificates for these courses were tendered at the plea hearing.[44]  In addition, you have undertaken a number of courses run by Relationships Australia concerning such things as healthy living, adapting, taking stock, healthy relationships and the like, for which certificates were also tendered at the plea hearing.[45]  It is encouraging to see that, after a less than exemplary life over many years, you are endeavouring to make the best of your time in custody.  While I consider that these things point towards rehabilitation, you have a very long way to go and I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as still being fairly guarded.

[44]Exhibit “D2-3”.

[45]Exhibit “D2-3”.

89Apart from your pleas of guilty, the greatest mitigating factor in your favour is the fact that on 13 September 2024 you made a statement to police.[46]  The prosecutor acknowledged that, at the time you made this statement, there was only circumstantial evidence to implicate Cole in the offending.  Your statement against her and willingness to give evidence to that effect resolved this issue.  Although your statement minimises your involvement by omitting very significant aspects of your role in the offending, in implicating Cole, it was of value to the prosecution and, presumably, your willingness to give an undertaking to give evidence in accordance with it played some role in Coles’ decision, following a contested committal, to plead guilty.  Thus, it has resulted in the victim being spared having to give evidence again.

[46]Exhibit “D”.

90It has long been recognised that those who come forward to assist in the prosecution of other wrongdoers should be rewarded for such assistance as it is in the interest of the whole community that all wrongdoers should be brought to justice. You must be given a discount for your co-operation in making a statement to police and undertaking to assist in the prosecution of Cole. Although s 5(2H)(a) of the Sentencing Act 1991 1991 makes this assistance an exception to the mandate that a court sentencing an offender for a Category 2 offence (like aggravated burglary) must sentence the offender to a term of imprisonment (other than a combination sentence), it does not mean that it prohibits a court imposing a term of imprisonment if that is an appropriate and just sentence in all the circumstances.[47]  Clearly, your offending is so egregious that the community would be shocked if it did not result in the sentence of last resort.  There is no doubt that a sentence by way of a head sentence and non-parole period is the only appropriate sentence.

[47]       Judge v The Queen [2021] VSCA 315, paras [91] to [94].

91Although you must be given credit for your pleas of guilty and for the statement you made to police, in that latter statement, just as in your history to Ms Fakhri, you left out all of your gratuitous cruelty, violence and intimidation towards the victim which made the false imprisonment so painful and terrifying for him and, no doubt, instilled fear in him for the duration of the kidnapping.  Whilst White did all the talking to the victim in the caravan and drove him to the bank, it is plain that you were still very interested in getting financial remuneration for your nasty acts as a recruited mercenary and, after it became evident that Cole had lost contact with White and your deviant plans for enrichment at the expense of your victim were going awry, you assisted Cole in removing the caravan from her backyard.

92As I have earlier stated, although you were only recruited by Cole for the aggravated burglary and theft on the day before the aggravated burglary took place, your presence and your violence added significantly to the gravity of the offence and, also, as I have said, to the fear which the victim felt as he was being kidnapped and held over the ensuing two days.  Your lack of morality was also evident as you ransacked the victim’s house and helped yourself to the oversized replica 20 cent coin, the theft of which forms the subject of Charge 3 to which you have pleaded guilty.  Although you have a sad and dysfunctional background, so does White, and so does Cole.  Your prospects of rehabilitation I do not regard as being superior to either of your co-offenders, so the lesser sentence that I intend to impose is very largely a reflection of your earlier pleas of guilty and the cooperation you gave to police informing on Cole.  However, the significant role of brutality played by you in relation to the false imprisonment, has caused me to conclude that you should receive the same sentence as White in relation to it.  Had it not been for your statement to police implicating Cole, the sentence imposed on that charge would have been higher than that imposed on White.

93On Charge 1, aggravated burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

94On Charge 2, false imprisonment, you are convicted and sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment.

95On Charge 3, theft of the coin, you are convicted and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

96On Charge 4, theft of $39,935, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.

97On Charge 5, theft of a motor vehicle, you are convicted and sentenced to 9 months’ imprisonment.

98On Charge 6, kidnapping, you are convicted and sentenced to five and a half years’ imprisonment.

99The base sentence is that of five and a half years’ imprisonment imposed on Charge 6.

100I direct that 18 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 1, one year of the sentence imposed on Charge 2, the whole of the sentence imposed on Charge 3, four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4 and three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 5, be served cumulatively on the base sentence and upon each other.

101The total effective sentence is thus 8 years’ and 10 months imprisonment.

102I direct that you serve a period of five years’ and six months imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.

103I declare a period of 532 days to be time reckoned as served under the sentences imposed this day.

104Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 I state that, had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the total effective sentence imposed would have been 11 years’ and 8 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 8 years and 2 months.

Zali Cole

105Zali Cole, I have already outlined your role in this offending.  You are presently aged 41 years, having been born in December 1983.  You come before the Court with a more limited criminal history than each of your co-offenders White and Holden.  You appeared before Ararat Magistrates’ Court on four occasions between 19 September 2005 and 2 February 2009 for offending behaviour which includes theft, criminal damage, assaulting and resisting police, using indecent language, threatening to inflict serious injury, breaching an Intervention Order, unlawful assault, failing to answer bail, wilfully damaging property and failing to comply with a Community Based Order.  On each occasion that you appeared before the Court you were fined.  The first occasion was without conviction. The subsequent occasions involved convictions.

106You are to be sentenced on less charges than White and Holden. I have already made it clear that you are to be sentenced in relation to Charge 1, the aggravated burglary, and Charge 4, theft of $39,935 on the basis that you were “involved” in that offending pursuant to s 323(1)(c) of the Crimes Act 1958 1958. Further, in relation to Charge 2, false imprisonment, and Charge 6, kidnapping, you are to be sentenced on the basis that you were involved in those offences pursuant to s323(1)(d) of the Crimes Act 1958 in that you were aware that it was probable that each of those offences would be committed in the course of carrying out the offences of aggravated burglary and theft.

107Your pleas of guilty was entered some months after that of your co-accused.  Holden, who pleaded guilty on 30 May 2024 and White, who pleaded guilty on 11 July 2024.  You conducted a contested committal at which the victim, Ms Temple, (the partner of Holden) and Detective Leading Senior Constable Griffin were cross-examined.  This took place on 16 September 2024.  The victim during cross-examination had to relive the trauma undergone by him in relation to all of the offences to which you have pleaded guilty.[48]  Your co-offender, Holden, had made a statement to police on 13 September 2024 only shortly prior to the committal which identified you as the third offender, but still you put the victim through reliving his ordeal.  Whilst your ultimate pleas of guilty entered on 19 February 2025 have utilitarian value in sparing the cost of a trial and putting the victim through cross-examination a second time, the discount for you in relation to your pleas of guilty must be less than that given to White and Holden.

[48]        Exhibit “E’, Transcript of committal hearing in 16 September 2024.

108Your counsel, Ms McGarvie, stated that various statements made by you to Ms Lechner, psychologist, when you were assessed by her on 26 March 2025 for the purpose of her preparing a report dated 1 April 2025,[49] should be accepted by the Court as demonstrating remorse on your part.  You referred to finding it hard to explain your behaviour in committing these offences and expressed shame about your involvement and turning a blind eye to the plight of the victim and acknowledged that it would have been terrifying for him.  It is possible that you developed some remorse in the sixth-month period between putting the victim through cross-examination at committal and being assessed by Ms Lechner.  However, I consider that little weight should be afforded to what you told Ms Lechner, given the context that what you told her would be specifically used in mitigation of your sentence at the plea hearing. 

[49]Exhibit “D3-1”.

109Ms McGarvie acknowledged on your behalf that your offending was serious in relation to the preplanning of the aggravated burglary and theft, which took place in the early hours of the morning when the victim was asleep and during which violence was used to assault and restrain him, and a significant amount of money was stolen.  However, she submitted that your role in the kidnapping and false imprisonment had been much less than your co-offenders.

110You well-knew, because of attending the victim’s property the prior afternoon and because of your arrangement with White, that an aggravated burglary was planned with an intention to both assault and to steal.  That is the charge to which you have pleaded guilty.  Indeed, you personally recruited Holden to add weight of numbers against the lone victim, whom you expected to be asleep at the hour of the illegal entry, and to overpower and assault him as necessary.  During the plea hearing, the Court was told you had known Holden for quite a long time and regard him as “like a brother”.  Indeed, he had been living in his caravan in the backyard of your home for some weeks prior to this offending and it is plain from the text messages referred to in the prosecution opening that you had a close relationship.

111The prosecution have conceded in relation to Charge 2, false imprisonment, that your culpability is marginally lower than that of White and Holden, as you were not physically present in the bedroom as the victim was being assaulted and restrained.  Similarly, the prosecution have conceded in relation to Charge 6, kidnapping, that you were not the primary offender, in the sense you did not remove the victim from his home.  However, it is clear that you drove the vehicle in which you all had arrived at the victim’s home from there to your home, and, you were well aware that the victim was to be confined within the caravan in which Holden had been living in your backyard.  You also helped to clone the number plates to disguise the stolen car in which White was to drive the victim to the bank and were in contact with her as she waited outside of the bank for him.  You later helped Holden to remove the caravan from the backyard of your home.  Hence, your moral culpability is still high, albeit somewhat below that of your co-accused on Charge 2 and Charge 6.  You stood by and let your co-offenders attend to the more violent aspects of the offending and in no way distanced yourself from it or tried to persuade your close friend, Holden, not to hurt the victim.

112Ms McGarvie submitted that you were not motivated to commit this offending by financial gain. I find it difficult to accept this on the balance of probabilities.  She seemed to rely upon the fact that your mother had died and a benefit of $47,000 was paid to you a couple of days after you were arrested.  However, it is plain that you have pleaded guilty to Charge 1, aggravated burglary, on the basis there was an intended assault and theft and, indeed, money was transferred into your account by White on 8 January – initially $200, with a reference “We did it”, and, later, another $5,000, which was blocked by the victim’s bank.  Accordingly, I have determined that, although Ms White conducted most of the organisation for this offending, your culpability is really no less than hers on Charge 1 and Charge 4.

113Ms McGarvie, adopted and relied upon the history you gave to Ms Lechner contained in her report dated 1 April 2025.  She stated that your parents had separated when you were about 5 years old and both of them were alcoholics.  You apparently had a bad relationship with your mother, but, many years later, ended up reconciling with her, shortly before her death in 2023.

114You personally have seven children from three different fathers.  Your oldest child is currently aged 24 or 25 years and her father is unknown.  You then had five daughters (the oldest being twins) by the same father, who suicided in 2012.  You subsequently had another child, who is presently aged 5 years, to another father who has not played any role in the child’s upbringing or financial maintenance.

115You grew up in Mildura and did not flourish at school, and ultimately ceased attending school when you were in Year 9, when your mother relocated to Adelaide, leaving you to fend for yourself.  You were only 16 years of age when you became pregnant with your oldest child.  You have no work history of any significance.

116It was a major part of the plea hearing that you had been the victim of sexual abuse by a partner of your mother from the time you were aged 8 to 10 years.  This took place between late 1991 and late 1993, according to a copy of the presentment which was filed against the offender.  You had to give evidence against him at trial and he was convicted of six counts of serious sexual offending against you and sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.  The prosecution produced a copy of its file relating to this offender, confirming these matters for which the offender was sentenced in 1995.

117According to the history you provided to Ms Lechner, there were other perpetrators of sexual abuse against you during your childhood and this took place in the context of emotional neglect by your mother.  You subsequently had a number of intimate partners who were also abusive towards you.  You began smoking cannabis at age 13 to 14 years and by the age of 18 years would smoke up to 3 grams per day.  At about 17 years of age you began using speed, with heavy use between ages 23 to 28 years, when you switched to ice, which you both smoked and injected.  You have also used other drugs and “pills”, particularly after the suicide of the father of five of your children in 2012.

118I found Ms Lechner’s report to be somewhat discursive and less than clear about what particular psychometric testing had led her to her diagnoses.  In any event, she considered you presented with symptoms of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder referable to multiple experiences of abuse in both your childhood and adult years.  She considered that this had undermined your social, vocational and emotional development and impacted on your ability to make judgements about partners and friends, and develop a strong sense of self, as well as your capacity to learn to manage negative emotions.  She also noted your history of problematic drug use and that you had admitted to significant ice use leading up to and on the night that the offending commenced.  She considered you to have a Stimulant Use Disorder, albeit now in remission in the custodial environment.  She noted you attempted to minimise your role in the history you gave to her, which she thought was most likely due to your sense of shame.

119Although I do not doubt you have suffered a very traumatic childhood of emotional neglect and sexual abuse, accompanied by early illicit drug use, all of which is likely to have adversely affected upon your neuropsychological development, the total gap in your offending from 2009 until this offending for which I must sentence you, was not addressed in any meaningful way by either Ms Lechner or your counsel.  Ms Lechner simply stated that you:

“… remained abstinent from drug use for over eight years but that [your] mother’s death[50] and the associated grief, triggered a relapse to methamphetamine use. [Your] offending occurred in the context of emotional dysregulation and drug use”.

[50]February 2023.

120Moreover, your history of parenting your children is far from clear.  Your oldest child has her own three children.  The twins, who were the two oldest of your partner who suicided in 2012, went into permanent care in 2007 or 2008 with a foster family.  Although, when you moved to Ballarat, from 2012 to 2024, you had some contact with them, they never returned to living with you.  Your youngest four children, including the 5-year-old, who has a different father from the three others, are all living with your oldest daughter in Ararat and you apparently have given some of the $47,000 inheritance from your mother to her to help support your children.

121It was not sought to argue that the principles in Verdins should apply in your case.  However, I do consider that the trauma and disadvantage of your childhood is very marked and, accordingly, the principles in Bugmy should be given weight.  In the past, you have shown an ability to remain abstinent from drug use (and indeed any criminal offending) for many years.  Unfortunately, you had lapsed into heavy drug use at the time of the offending.  This makes it difficult to link your childhood trauma with the offending in a directly causative way.  Nevertheless, it is very significant trauma and I take it into account in a general way as moderating your moral culpability to some extent.

122Ms McGarvie told the Court that you had found your time in custody to be very difficult, as you were separated from your children.  She stated that your anguish in being unable to care for your children and the hardship placed on your oldest child to care for them while she has her own children, makes custody more burdensome for you, and cited the principles in Markovic v R.[51]

It is plain that your oldest daughter has a heavy responsibility, but is receiving Centrelink payments, as well as part of your inheritance, to assist her to care for your four youngest children.  At the time you became involved in this offending, you were well aware that you had the responsibility for those children.  While I do take into account that you miss your children and would be anxious about their welfare while in custody, this is not a situation where exceptional circumstances are made out by the material put before me.  One wonders who was looking after your children as you were out in the middle of the night committing an aggravated burglary of the victim’s home.  It is mindboggling that a mother who apparently had the care of four children and who had enjoyed stable accommodation at the address in Wendouree for some twelve years, should put the care of those children in jeopardy by this offending.  It is the behaviour of an irresponsible ice addict, albeit that I have taken into account your sad, traumatic and dysfunctional upbringing as a mitigating factor generally. 

[51](2010) 30 VR 589.

123Apparently you suffered an ankle injury some years ago when you were using a whipper snipper and, at some stage, you were prescribed the medication, Lyrica, for pain associated with that.  Ms McGarvie said you still have pain related to that injury, but are not currently medicated for it while in custody.  I take into account that that, too, may be an added burden while you are serving time in custody.

124Your counsel stated that you have been using your time in custody to undertake some education.  A bundle of certificates was tendered at the plea hearing for courses you have undertaken through Kangan Institute in first aid; business opportunities; cookery, workplace skills and occupational health and safety.  You have also undertaken multiple courses with Relationships Australia as part of a life skills program; a 12-hour relapse prevention program conducted by Western Health; a strengthening connections program run by the Bouverie Centre, and another run by Good Shepherd; and a 6-hour “ice effects” program run by Western Health.  Certificates relating to your completion of those various courses were all tendered at the plea hearing.[52]  It is to your credit that you are engaging in such courses in order to better your education, particularly given your limited and disrupted education as a child.  These factors bode well for your rehabilitation, as does your less serious criminal record.  I regard you prospects of rehabilitation as being quite good, better than that of your co-offenders.  Possibly, the fact of returning to your children, with whom you are having telephone and video contact while in custody, is a motivating factor.

[52]Exhibit “D3-2”.

125Your counsel conceded that the only appropriate sentence was a head sentence with a non-parole period.  I have endeavoured to apply the principle of parity by taking into account your individual circumstances, but the overall gravity of the offending is very significant.  It is seriously abhorrent behaviour to have targeted this victim by coming to an arrangement with White to commit the offences of aggravated burglary and theft, to recruit Holden as “muscle” to assist and to turn a blind eye to the cruelty and depravation of liberty involved in the false imprisonment and kidnapping.  I have already indicated that the predominant sentencing principles should be denunciation and general deterrence so that others who might be minded to engage in this appalling behaviour against a victim whom they do not even know, will be made aware that it is not their worthwhile.  It is crucial that people be entitled to feel secure in their own home, and liberty is a virtue that we prize very highly in Australia.  You have offended against these rights in a grievous way.  Hence, community protection, as well as just punishment, are both relevant considerations in sentencing you.

126You and your co-offenders all have traumatic backgrounds, but I am satisfied, in relation to all three of you, that drug use and financial gain were what led you to this offending.  Although your pleas of guilty were later than each of your co-offenders, I consider that your lesser criminal history together with a lengthy period of abstinence from drugs and criminal offending in the past, make your prospects of rehabilitation superior to your co-offenders and that this should be reflected in a somewhat shorter non-parole period in your case.  Some mercy for your children has also been factored into the latter decision.

127On Charge 1, aggravated burglary, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 6 years.

128On Charge 2, false imprisonment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months.

129On Charge 4, theft, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisonment for a period of 18 months.

130On Charge 6, kidnapping, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 6 years and 2 months.

131The base sentence is that of 6 years and 2 months on Charge 6.  I direct that a period of 2 years on Charge 1, 9 months on Charge 2 and 6 months on Charge 4, be served cumulatively upon the base sentence and upon each other.

132The total effective sentence is 9 years and 5 months’ imprisonment.

133I direct you serve a period of 5 years before becoming eligible for parole.

134I declare a period of 532 days to be time reckoned as served under the sentences imposed this day.

135Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I state that, had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the total effective sentence would have been 11 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 7 years and 8 months.

136Upon the conviction of you all for Schedule 1 offences, namely, aggravated burglary, false imprisonment, theft and kidnapping, and, additionally, of you, Ms White, of possession of a drug of dependence, and upon being satisfied that the property referred to in the Schedule is either a drug of dependence or any property of negligible value or any property that is prescribed by the regulations that was used, or was intended to be used, in, or in connection with, the commission of the offences or was derived or realised, directly or indirectly, by you or another person, from the commission of the offences, I order pursuant to s 78(1) of the Confiscation Act 1997, the forfeiture to the State of the property referred to in the Schedule, and further direct that it be placed in the custody of the Chief Commissioner of Police and be held by him until 28 days from this date, or the conclusion of any appeal proceedings, where it may then be tested and/or analysed and then destroyed.

137I further order that, upon the conviction of you all of the Schedule 1 offences to which I have just referred, and, additionally, you, Ms White, of possession of a drug of dependence, I order that, pursuant to s 33(1) of the Confiscation Act 1997, the property referred to in the Schedule, namely, one Apple iPhone 15, 1 mobile phone belonging to Ms White, $537.60 in cash, and one Samsung mobile phone belong to Mr Holden, be forfeited to the Minister.

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