Director of Public Prosecutions v Wright
[2019] VCC 465
•5 April 2019
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
CR 18-01297
CR-18-01924
Indictments: H12868389-1
H12868389.1
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DANIEL WRIGHT |
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| JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE CONDON |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 29 March 2019 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 5 April 2019 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Wright |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 465 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sentence – aggravated burglary – armed robbery – plea of guilty
Sentence: Total effective sentence of seven years’ imprisonment with a non-
parole period of five years.
Section 6AAA declaration: nine years’ imprisonment with a non-parole
period of seven years---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D Porceddu | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr N Goodfellow | Tyler Tipping and Woods |
HER HONOUR:
1Daniel Wright, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of aggravated burglary; two charges of intentionally cause injury; one charge of armed robbery; and one charge of making a threat to kill.
2You were 38 and 39 years of age at the time of the offending and you are now 40.
3I turn first to the matters relating to the Plea Indictment ending 8389.1.
4The victim in these matters, Andrew Crabtree, was known to you. On the evening in question, being Saturday 12 August 2017, Mr Crabtree and his girlfriend, Monica Addison, had an argument. During the course of that argument, Ms Addison was pushed by Mr Crabtree, causing her to fall over.
5In the early hours of 13 August, at around 1:30am or 2am, Mr Crabtree heard knocking on a window. You then walked into his lounge room carrying a Saxon-brand green wood splitter, weighing about four or five pounds. This constitutes Charge 1, being aggravated burglary.
6You proceeded to hit Mr Crabtree with the wood splitter on his right leg, below his kneecap, about six times, saying, "It was for bashing Ms Addison". This constitutes Charge 2, being intentionally cause injury.
7You also told Mr Crabtree that the house was surrounded. The victim then tried to get to his phone in order to call Ms Addison, who had left earlier, but you prevented him and continued striking him in the leg with the wood splitter.
8While striking Mr Crabtree with the wood splitter, you said, "I want money". Mr Crabtree said he did not have any. You then took his son's Hewlett Packard computer, a modem, a Bluetooth receiver, some USB sticks, car keys and a phone. This constitutes Charge 3, being armed robbery
9Before you left the house, you said to Mr Crabtree, "You call the cops and I'll kill you". This constitutes Charge 4, being a threat to kill.
10I turn now to the matter relating to Indictment 8389-1.
11On Saturday, 14 October 2017 at around 11pm, the same victim in the previous matter, Mr Crabtree, was at the Safeway supermarket in Traralgon. You walked over to his car and opened the driver side door. You began punching Mr Crabtree and yelling, "Give me the money. That was my mum's money". You continued to demand money from Mr Crabtree and he said he did not have any. You attacked Mr Crabtree to the right upper thigh causing a laceration. This constitutes Charge 1, being intentionally cause injury.
12Mr Crabtree drove home and called 000. He was attended upon by ambulance officers who subsequently took him to the Latrobe Regional Hospital. The wound to his leg was approximately two centimetres long and required stitches. He also sustained a small abrasion below his left eye as a consequence of your assault.
13The next day, being 15 October 2017, you were arrested at an address in Traralgon and conveyed to the Traralgon police station for an interview. At the time of the interview, you were only questioned regarding the allegation that had occurred the day before at the Safeway car park. No questions were asked of you regarding the August incident as, at that stage, Mr Crabtree had not provided a statement to the police about the aggravated burglary and other matters.
14In the course of the record of interview regarding the incident at Safeway, you told the police that you confronted Mr Crabtree because you had paid for a car that you never received. You told the police that your mother had lent you the money to buy the car and you felt aggrieved by the fact that the car was never delivered to you.
15You described the incident with you and Mr Crabtree at the car park as a scuffle but you admitted punching Mr Crabtree in the face about three times. You had sufficient insight to acknowledge that punching Mr Crabtree in the way that you did would have frightened him. However, when shown pictures of the injury to Mr Crabtree's leg, you denied any responsibility for that injury.
16Furthermore, in the course of your consultation with Ms Carla Lechner, clinical psychologist, you cast yourself as the victim in relation to this matter. You reported to her that you felt taken advantage of by Mr Crabtree. You stated to her that in the face of alleged threats by Mr Crabtree, it was your decision to confront him and the situation escalated.
17As I indicated to your counsel in the course of the plea in mitigation, your comments do concern me somewhat. I say that because it betrays a lack of remorse on your part for your involvement in a rather serious assault upon him at the Safeway car park.
18As to the procedural history of this matter, in respect of the October incident, there was a partial resolution of this matter post-committal on 3 September 2018. In relation to the August incident, on 8 October 2018, a day before the trial was listed to commence before me at the Latrobe Valley County Court, you indicated your intention to plead guilty to the matters on Indictment 8389.1.
19I note that in relation to the August 2017 matters, Carla Lechner's report is silent as to the context and circumstances of this offending. Indeed, beyond the plea of guilty, there is no objective evidence before me as to any expressions of remorse or regret for your involvement in this grave offending.
20You are, however, entitled to a discount for your plea of guilty in relation to both matters and I find the plea of guilty consistent with an acknowledgement of your responsibility for the offending. Furthermore, I find the pleas of guilty consistent with a desire to facilitate the administration of justice.
21Before me, you admitted your prior criminal history. For the sentencing exercise today, there are a number of relevant matters.
22On 23 June 2016 at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court, you were convicted and placed on a Community Correction Order for a period of 12 months. That was for the offence of recklessly cause serious injury. I was told that the factual circumstances surrounding that matter related to a perceived grievance by you in relation to a debt owed by the victim to you.
23While one matter in your past does not necessarily reveal a propensity, there are echoes of that 2016 matter in this offending. Indeed, you had only just concluded the Community Correction Order for the recklessly cause serious injury matter before you embarked upon the confrontation at Mr Crabtree's house in the early hours of the morning of 13 August 2017.
24Furthermore, you have a conviction from August 1999 at the Moe Magistrates' Court for burglary, theft and recklessly causing injury. In January 1998, you were convicted of intentionally or recklessly cause injury[1], threat to inflict serious injury and making a threat to kill for which you received a six-month sentence, to be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order. Also heard alongside that matter was a breach matter from 1997, again relating to a charge of intentionally or recklessly causing injury for which you received a three-month suspended sentence. Suffice to say, given the number of prior criminal convictions held by you for violence-related matters, specific deterrence in your case looms large in the sentencing exercise.
[1] The criminal record lists the charge this way
25While I did not receive a Victim Impact Statement in this matter, the attendance by you in the early hours at Mr Crabtree's property would have been quite a terrifying experience for him.
26Authorities make clear that the offence of aggravated burglary is an extremely serious offence and one which would normally attract a substantial sentence of imprisonment. I am mindful of the statements of the Court of Appeal in this regard being,
"This Court has on a number of occasions stated that the premeditated nocturnal invasion with criminal intent of a person's home will always be regarded as extremely serious. …
The community views offending of this kind as extremely serious and expects the courts to impose sentence accordingly."[2]
[2]Hogarth v The Queen (2012) 37 VR 658 at [34]
27You attended at Mr Crabtree's house in the early hours with the intention of exacting punishment upon him. This is grave offending. It is a classic illustration of the confrontational style of aggravated burglary made reference to by the Court of Appeal in the case of Hogarth. It was the Crown contention that this was a serious example of this kind of offending. I agree with that submission.
28Insofar as the armed robbery is concerned, no submissions were made to me regarding the objective features of this offending. Given the context in which it occurred, it seems a gratuitous afterthought and not in my view a particularly grave example of the crime of armed robbery.
29The learned Crown prosecutor conceded that the injury sustained by Mr Crabtree was, however, at the lower end of the scale of seriousness. In his submission, the second incident in October at the Safeway car park was a far more serious example of the crime of intentionally cause injury. In support of that contention, he relied upon the fact that medical treatment was required and that the victim was hospitalised. In my view, the second incident is clearly a more serious example of the crime of intentionally cause injury. As I have already observed, in light of your criminal history, specific deterrence must be given considerable weight in the sentencing equation.
30Your counsel submitted that you have reasonable prospects of rehabilitation. In that regard, he relied upon the fact that you have a limited criminal record for someone of your age, no criminal matters pending and a strong work history. Moreover, your counsel relied upon the fact that you have strong family support.
31He also made the submission that you have insight into your offending and are remorseful.
32As already observed by me, there is no evidence beyond the plea of guilty of any remorse in relation to your involvement in either the August or October matters. Indeed, based upon the material before me, it is an entirely unsustainable submission to make that you have insight into your conduct. I say that because insofar as the October incident is concerned, you expressed to Ms Lechner a number of times that you felt taken advantage of by Mr Crabtree. In the record of interview with police, you sought to justify your actions insofar as punching the victim was concerned by dint of the debt owed.
33Furthermore, Ms Lechner describes you as having a fairly egocentric interpretation of the world around you and a view of yourself as the victim in life. This may well explain the construction that you place on your conduct relating to the Safeway car park incident. Insofar as the August offending is concerned, as I have already observed, there is no narrative relating to that matter contained in Ms Lechner's report.
34Indeed, beyond the plea itself, your counsel conceded that there is no evidence before me of any remorse by you. Furthermore, he was unable to point to any evidence of expressions by you of insight into your offending, in relation to either the August or October matter.
35Any assessment as to your prospects for rehabilitation must incorporate the fact that such expressions are absent in your case. Overall, I find that given your criminal history and your age, your prospects for rehabilitation are somewhat guarded. I have taken that assessment into account in setting the non-parole period in your case.
36On 15 October 2017, after having been interviewed in relation to the car park incident, you were remanded in custody and have remained so ever since.
37One matter which does point favourably towards your rehabilitation relates to the various courses that you have completed whilst on remand. I received a number of certificates in the course of the plea which are testament to that fact.
38Furthermore, I received a document indicating that you have a role within the prison environment of being a peer listener. This is a position of some responsibility in the prison environment. I also received a series of certificates relating to urine screens from the period 1 June 2018 to 18 October 2018, all of which revealed a negative result.
39You also have a health condition which adversely affects your experience of custody. Seven years ago you were diagnosed with haemochromatosis. This condition involves excessive iron in the blood and requires management by regular blood draining. The treatment you have received for this whilst in custody has been less than adequate and has made your experience of prison more onerous. I accept the reality of that experience for you and have taken it into account in the imposition of my disposition.
40I turn now to your personal circumstances.
41As I have already observed, you are now 40 years of age. You are the eldest of three children born to Shirley Siggins and Bryce Wright. While your parents separated when you were an adult, both of them were present in court to support you. You maintain a good relationship with them both. You have never married and you have no dependents.
42You grew up in Traralgon attending at the Stockdale Road Primary School from Prep to Grade 6. You struggled with literacy and numeracy although you had no social or behavioural problems. You attended Traralgon Technical School until the start of Year 9, after which you left school.
43After leaving school, you worked as a cleaner for four years before suffering a breakdown due to excessive cannabis use. You began smoking cannabis at the age of 13 or 14 years. Your last employment was five years ago in car detailing. You told Carla Lechner that since leaving school, you have been employed about 50 per cent of the time and stated, "I'm usually out of work because of drug use or a lack of confidence because I can't read properly”.
44According to Carla Lechner, you evidence some symptoms of depression but not to the level of the diagnosis of a major depressive disorder. Although she did not formally assess you, in her view, you impress as being of low-average intelligence.
45You told Carla Lechner that in your teenage years, you would consume about 7g of cannabis over the course of a weekend. You told her that as you got older, your consumption increased to 4-7 grams a day. At around 17 years of age, you commenced using ecstasy and speed and were using speed intravenously on a daily basis. I was told that this offending occurred against a background of daily amphetamine use, although I was not given any particulars as to your exact drug use in August or October 2017.
46One further matter which does point positively to the future is the fact that although you do have a prior history of offending, there is a large gap of ten years, between March 2001 and March 2011, in which no offences are recorded. This apparently coincided with a period of relative interpersonal stability in your life. Hopefully, upon your release from prison, you can repeat that prolonged period of relative stability. In a letter addressed to me, I was told that your mother plans to move interstate with you upon your eventual release from prison. She believes that a better life awaits you away from the Latrobe Valley.
47It seems to me that your successful path towards rehabilitation requires a fundamental shift of your world view. Currently, you see yourself as a victim, particularly in circumstances where you are clearly the instigator of serious offending. That must change.
48The basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence are punishment, deterrence (both specific and general), rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community. In sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of matters such as the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of the victim, if any.
49Please stand, Mr Wright.
50In relation to the matters on Indictment 8389.1, I sentence you as follows:
51In relation to Charge 1, being a charge of aggravated burglary, I convict and sentence you to a period of five (5) years' imprisonment.
52In relation to Charge 2, being a charge of intentionally cause injury, I convict and sentence you to a period of eighteen (18) months' imprisonment.
53In relation to Charge 3, being a charge of armed robbery, I convict and sentence you to a period of two (2) years' imprisonment.
54In relation to Charge 4, being a charge of make threat to kill, I convict and sentence you to a period of twelve (12) months' imprisonment.
55In relation to the matter on Indictment 8389-1, I sentence you as follows:
56In relation to Charge 1, being a charge of intentionally cause injury, I convict and sentence you to a period of two (2) years and six (6) months' imprisonment.
57Pursuant to section 6B of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), I sentence you as a serious violent offender in relation to Charge 4 on Indictment 8389.1.
58Accordingly, I am bound to regard protection of the community from you as the principle purpose for which sentence is imposed. In order to achieve that purpose, I may impose a longer sentence than that which is proportionate to the gravity of the instant offence considered in light of their objective circumstances.
59Any sentence imposed on these charges must be served cumulatively unless otherwise ordered.
60I have determined that it is not necessary nor appropriate to achieve the protection of the community by imposing a sentence longer than that which is proportionate to the gravity of each relevant offence, considered in light of its objective circumstances. I note, in this regard, the prosecution did not seek to make submissions.
61In your case, I propose to make orders for partial cumulation. In so doing, I am mindful that despite the terms of s6E of the Sentencing Act, the application of the totality principle must also be given expression in the sentencing exercise.
62I also take into account s6F of the Sentencing Act and order that your status as a serious violent offender be entered into the records of the court.
63Accordingly, I now make the following orders for cumulation.
64I order that six (6) months of the sentence imposed upon Charge 4 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed upon Charge 1 on Indictment 8389.1.
65I further order that eighteen (18) months of the sentence imposed upon Charge 1 on Indictment 8389-1 be served cumulatively upon the sentence imposed upon Charge 1 on Indictment 8389.1.
66I order that all other sentences be served concurrently upon Charge 1 on Indictment 8389.1 and upon one another.
67This makes for a total effective sentence of seven (7) years' imprisonment.
68I order a period of five (5) years before you become eligible for parole.
69Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act, were it not for your pleas of guilty in relation to these matters, I would have imposed a sentence of nine (9) years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven (7) years.
70Pursuant to s18(4) of the Sentencing Act, I declare that you have served 537 days pre-sentence detention and I order that such declaration be noted in the records of the court.
71I make the application for compensation as requested by the prosecution.
72MR PORCEDDU: And I think you have already made the disposal order, Your Honour.
73HER HONOUR: Yes.
74MR PORCEDDU: Thank you.
75HER HONOUR: And the disposal order.
76MR PORCEDDU: Thank you.
77MR GOODFELLOW: As Your Honour pleases.
78MR PORCEDDU: As Your Honour pleases.
79HER HONOUR: Yes. You may take Mr Wright. Thank you. Court adjourned.
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