Director of Public Prosecutions v Williams
[2013] VCC 1849
•26 November 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT BENDIGO
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ANTHONY PAUL WILLIAMS |
---
JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE CARMODY | |
WHERE HELD: | Bendigo | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 26 November 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Williams | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 1849 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr P. Jones | |
| For the Accused | Mr M. Mahady |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Anthony Paul Williams, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of arson. The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years' imprisonment.
2 On 9 July 2012, you set a fire at a home you jointly owned with your ex-wife Theresa Williams. As a result of your offending, the home was completely destroyed, the contents of the home and the memorabilia contained within the home belonged to Theresa Williams and your youngest son Hakeem.
3 In this case the prosecutor tendered a summary of prosecution opening. This became Exhibit 1 on the plea. Both you and your ex-wife Theresa Williams are 41 years old. You have two children, Shaquille aged 18 and Hakeem aged 15. At the time of the offence, your elder son lived with you and Hakeem lived with your ex-wife at the family home in Torrumbarry.
4 On 7 March 2012, the marriage between yourself and your ex-wife ended and you moved out of the family home at 225 Heppell Road in Torrumbarry and into a farm house nearby. Around early to mid May your wife had changed the front door locks to provide additional security for herself.
5 You did not accept the breakdown of the marriage and over the following months you had made a number of threats to your estranged wife. On the morning of 9 July 2012, Theresa Williams left the family home at 5.50 am to go to work in Echuca. Her son, your son, Hakeem, was staying with relatives in Bendigo during the school holidays at that time.
6 Some time during the day you attended at the premises and ignited a fire using petrol. Nobody was in the house at the time. The fire was discovered by neighbours at 5 to 5.15 pm and the CFA and police attended. At about 5.30 pm that afternoon, your ex-wife received a call to say that her house was on fire.
7 The fire completely destroyed the house and the contents. Insurance estimate of the loss is approximately $250,000. The house belonged to Theresa Williams and yourself as joint proprietors. You made admissions to Shaquille your son and two work colleagues that you had burnt the house down. You admitted using petrol to ignite the fire. You even described the "whoosh" sound the petrol made when it ignited.
8 Phil Glover, a forensic fire scene investigator, made a detailed examination of the scene on 2 July 2012 and subsequently reported as to the origin of the fire and its cause. He concluded that the fire originated on the rear veranda decking just in front of the rear doorway of the house. It extended under the dining room floor area as well as up the face of the door into the roof above the doorway and extended through the roof area. The source of ignition was intentionally introduced.
9 You were arrested and interviewed by Echuca police on 24 July 2012. You exercised your right to make a "no comment" record of interview. You indicated your intention to plead guilty as I understand at the committal mention stage which was on 12 June 2013.
10 The impact on your victim. A full list of your victims in this case include your two sons, Shaquille and Hakeem. In the case of your ex-wife Theresa Williams, she set out the impact of your offending on her in a victim impact statement dated 16 August 2013. This was Exhibit 2 on the plea. The victim impact statement was not read out in open court at the request of your ex-wife. In summary the original impact on your wife was shock and disbelief. Your ex-wife and younger son were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing. You had previously collected all the possessions you required from the family home. Your youngest son and your ex-wife had to relocate from the family home in Torrumbarry and move to temporary accommodation here in Bendigo. She has subsequently relocated to the isolation of Manangatang. She states she lives in fear of you.
11 The most obvious financial impact is the destruction of the family home that you had relocated to your block at Torrumbarry. As I say the estimated loss is $250,000.
12 I now turn to your personal circumstances. You are 41 years old. You only have one prior court appearance for street offending when drunk as a very young man here in Bendigo. You have a new partner, Jenny. You have made arrangements for your elder son Shaquille to board in Echuca so he can continue his education at the Echuca Secondary College. This is an acknowledgement by you that imprisonment is the only outcome open in this sentencing process.
13 By way of upbringing, you were born here in Bendigo. You have five stepbrothers and two stepsisters. You were brought up by an uncle in Melbourne after your parents separated when you were very young. When you were six you returned to your mother who at that time lived in Ballarat. Your mother was a very heavy drinker. At the age of 15 you left home. You have had little contact with your mother since that time.
14 Your education was completed at Year 8 level. You have basic numeracy and literacy skills. In your youth and adult life you have been involved in heavy alcohol intake. You have told Dr Kevin Ong, psychiatrist, that you do not require any assistance in regards to your alcohol use.
15 You have a daughter Amber from a short term relationship when you were an 18 year old. You met Theresa Williams when working in a rubber factory. You had 19 years together and in your words, "fell out of love". You suspected your wife was having an affair with a man by the name of Danny who is now your ex-wife's current boyfriend.
16 The background to the offence of arson was that your ex-wife came to the family home a couple of days before the fire with her boyfriend Danny. You argued with your wife. In effect, you ruminated on your ex-wife's new boyfriend living in the family home and when under the influence of your own distilled spirits, you burnt the home down.
17 Dr Kevin Ong, forensic psychiatrist, prepared a report dated 24 August 2013. This was Exhibit A on the plea. He noted you expressed regret for burning the house down saying that you did “not think”. You agreed you had excessive anger at the time. In more recent times you have been doing two milkings per day making a total of $140 per day. You have been working seven days a week. Dr Ong's opinion is that you do not suffer any major mental illness. He was of the opinion your alcohol intake was properly described as alcohol abuse. He says your offending was an expression of anger towards your ex-wife fuelled by impulsivity and disinhibition from alcohol use. I accept this is an accurate and appropriate summary of your offending.
18 There were also three references tendered on your behalf which were part of Exhibit C on the plea. Each of your referees, Dean Free, Michael McAsey and Ron Bampton, expressed surprise at your offending in this way. Hopefully their surprise and judgment and support for you will be vindicated by you doing your sentence, punishment as they call it in their references, and never offending again.
19 I now turn to sentencing considerations. The prosecution submitted the appropriate range for the head sentence was two to three and a half years with a one to two year non parole period. Mr Rolfe, on your behalf, submitted a combination of a short term of imprisonment, three months, combined with a community corrections order was appropriate in your case. As part of the governing principles to be considered in sentencing, I must take into account current sentencing practices. That enquiry is directed particularly but not exhaustively to the kinds of sentences imposed in comparable cases and statistics at the time of the sentence. I have considered these statistics and current practices, mindful that each case must be considered in the light of its own particular circumstances and many of the cases would be distinguishable from your case as they are from one another.
20 The basic purpose for which a court may impose a sentence of imprisonment are just punishment, deterrence both specific and general, rehabilitation, denunciation of your actions and the protection of the community. In this case, as in cases of arson, I must have regard to the protection of the community as the principal purpose in sentencing.
21 In sentencing you, I must also have regard to a range of factors such as the seriousness of your offence, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of the general victims, they being your two sons and your ex-wife. I am required to balance the interests of the community in denouncing your criminal conduct with the interests of the community in seeking to ensure, as far as possible, you as an offender are rehabilitated and re-integrated into the society.
22 You have pleaded guilty. You have pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage in these proceedings. Your plea of guilty has a utilitarian value of allowing the orderly and effective administration of justice. There is a (indistinct) outcome and a resolution of the substantive issues raised by your offending. Your plea allows for the preservation of court and police resources to deal with other matters. Your plea indicates public confidence in the legal process set up to protect the community. You have, by your plea, relieved the victims and the witnesses around this case from giving evidence against you. It facilitates some closure for them as victims of your offending.
23 The plea of guilty to these charges indicates and demonstrates some remorse on your part and I accept that that is the case. The plea of guilty is a clear indication that you have been prepared to facilitate the course of justice and a genuine indicator, as I say, of your remorse. However, the offending is serious. Would you stand please.
24 On Charge 1, you are convicted and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. I order that you serve 18 months' imprisonment before being eligible for parole. I declare that you have served one day pre-sentence detention which will be deducted administratively from your sentence. I order that the forensic sample ought to be made pursuant to 464ZF.
25 I just have to advise you, Mr Williams, that I am making that order because of the seriousness of the circumstances of the offending, that the order is not opposed and that it is in the public interest. I have to warn you as follows: at the time that the request is made for the forensic sample, if you do not consent to a mouth scraping being taken from you under the supervision of an authorised member of the Police Force, then the sample to be taken may be a blood sample and the police may use reasonable force to ensure or enable that forensic procedure to be conducted. Do you understand that?
26 PRISONER: Yes.
27 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. But for your plea of guilty pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I would have given you a total effective sentence of four years with a non parole period of three. Is there anything else?
28 MR JONES: No, Your Honour.
29 HIS HONOUR: Thank you. I will hand down those forensic sample orders. Thank you.
- - -
0
0
0