R v Collier (No 2)

The offender, Norman Collier, was found guilty of breaching his good behaviour order and was brought before the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. The offender had been sentenced to a suspended sentence of 18 months imprisonment, attached to a good behaviour order for 12 months. The offender breached the good behaviour order by failing to comply with his supervision conditions, and by committing further offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, affray, and fail to appear. The court was required to consider the relevant factors in deciding whether to impose the balance of the suspended sentence or to re-sentence the offender. The court considered the proportion of the good behaviour order served, any rehabilitation attained prior to the breaching conduct, the nature of the offence which breached the order, the relative seriousness of the offence causing the breach, the actual facts of the matter for which the offender was first sentenced, whether the breach evinces an intention to disregard the obligation to be of good behaviour or to abandon any intention to be of good behaviour, whether the offender has received any warnings with respect to breaches, the level of understanding of the offender of his obligations under the terms of the order and the consequences of a breach, and the nature of judicial and community resources previously devoted to the offender.

The offender had made some initial attempts to communicate with ACT Corrective Services, but his compliance towards supervision was poor. The offender had been subject to the initiation of breach action in both the ACT and NSW as a result. The offender had been involved in several physical altercations with other detainees and had resulted in injuries to Corrections Officers. The offender had also relapsed back into illicit substance use.

The court re-sentenced the offender to 10 months imprisonment, recognising the unfortunate circumstances that had led to and precipitated the breaches. The court noted that while the relative seriousness of the offences that caused the breach would be a matter for the Magistrates Court to proceed with the sentencing exercise concerning the further offences, it would nevertheless impose a significant portion of the original 12 month period. The court cancelled the good behaviour order dated 19 December 2019 and re-sentenced the offender to 10 months imprisonment, commencing on 20 August 2020 and concluding on 19 June 2021.