Director of Public Prosecutions v Wright

[2025] VCC 102

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 24-00894

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JARRAH WRIGHT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	13 February 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 February 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Wright
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 102

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:  CRIMINAL LAW – SENTENCE

Catchwords:  Attempted aggravated carjacking, burglary, criminal damage, theft, unlicensed driving

Legislation Cited:  Sentencing Act 1991

Cases Cited:  

Sentence:Imprisonment, Total Effective Sentence – 2 years 6 months imprisonment, 18 months Non-parole period, aggregate fine of $500.00, Disposal Order

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr F. Cameron	Office of Public Prosecutions, Ms R. Hudson-Jones
For the Accused	Mr J. Bourke	Gallant Law

HIS HONOUR: 

1Jarrah Anthony Wright, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted aggravated carjacking, one charge of burglary, one charge of intentionally damaging property, a charge of theft, and in addition you pleaded guilty to two related summary offences of unlicensed driving.

2The facts of your offending are set out in Exhibit A, the prosecution opening.  I was informed by your counsel that I could treat that document as an agreed statement of fact, and I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence and sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein.

3The indictment covers two effectively separate incidents.  I do not propose to traverse the facts in any detail.

4You tried to carjack a motor vehicle from a man who was having none of it and was able to dissuade you from your attempt, before you went to premises and inflicted serious damage to the place and stole some items.  You were unlicensed at the time of your driving.

5You admitted a prior criminal history which is relatively extensive for someone your age.  You have prior convictions for assault, for causing injury recklessly, and theft, and damaging property relevantly.

6You have received non-custodial responses in relation to all your prior appearances, the most recent one being a driving prior in March 2023.

7The material provided in support on your plea includes a psychological report from David Ball, which describes you as a man of having longstanding substance and alcohol abuse issues and your judgment has been affected by those substances.  That to your credit have done things apparently to deal with that addiction since you have been in custody and you have provided clean drug screens and you have completed a number of courses.

8Your personal circumstances are set out in Mr Ball's report, I am not going to repeat them but you now have a son who is over two years of age, as I understand it, and you have expressed a desire to be a father and not have your son end up where you are.  So one can only hope that you live through that intention.

9I have taken the contents of Mr Ball's report into account in sentencing you. 

10I have taken into account the fact that you have pleaded guilty.  You made admissions to the police although to some extent you also lied through your teeth to the police about the circumstances of the aggravated burglary, but you did cooperate to some extent.

11I take into account the fact that you are still a young man and you were only 26 at the time of your offending.

12Your personal history reveals a history of childhood disadvantage.  You came from a dysfunctional family and you spent time in foster care and not surprisingly lapsed into drug use, which has led you to criminal offending.

13The efforts you have made in custody to obtain counselling and do courses to promote your rehabilitation and given your age, there are some prospects that you will be able to turn your life around.  You need to focus on your son and make sure that you keep going the way you have been going.

14The sentences of the court are, on all charges you are convicted. 

15On the offence of Charge 1, attempted aggravated carjacking, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

16On Charge 2, the charge of burglary, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.

17On Charge 3, intentionally damaging property, you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.

18On Charge 4, the theft of the keys, goggles and thongs, you are sentenced to one month imprisonment.

19I order that six months of each of the sentences imposed on Charges 1 and 2 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed on Charge 3, which I declare to be the base sentence.  That is an effective term of imprisonment of 30 months, and I order that you serve 18 months of that sentence before you are eligible for parole.

20On the two charges of unlicensed driving, you are fined an aggregate sum of $500.

21I indicate pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991[1], that but for your plea of guilty I would have imposed a sentence of five years with a non-parole period of three.

[1]Sentencing Act 1991

22HIS HONOUR:  I will make the order disposing of the metal pole.

23I will declare 394 days of the sentence I have just imposed, not including today, has already been served by way of pre-sentence detention.

24HIS HONOUR:  All right, well they are the orders I make.  Good luck with your future and I hope I don't see you again.

25OFFENDER:  Thank you.

26COUNSEL:  Thank you, Your Honour.

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