R v Darron Jarochowicz
[2014] ACTSC 170
•1 July 2014
SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Case Title: | R v DARRON JAROCHOWICZ |
Citation: | [2014] ACTSC 170 |
Hearing Date(s): | 15 May 2014 |
DecisionDate: | 1 July 2014 |
Before: | Burns J |
Decision: | See [22] – [23] |
Category: | Sentence |
Catchwords: | CRIMINAL LAW – sentence – aggravated robbery – dishonestly riding in a motor vehicle without consent – theft – arson – offender mentally ill – confession to police |
Parties: | R (Crown) Darron Jarochowicz (Offender) |
Representation: | Counsel: Ms Clarke (Crown) Ms Agius (Offender) |
| Solicitors: ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Pappas, J. – Attorneys (Offender) | |
File Number(s): | SCC 105 of 2013; SCC 177 of 2013 |
Darron Jarochowicz, you appear before me today for sentence with respect to a number of offences.
On 2 March 2005 in the company of a co‑offenderyou committed an aggravated robbery of a supermarket at Hackett (CC2012/7278). There were two circumstances of aggravation. First, you and your co‑offender were both armed, one with a screw driver and the other with a tire iron. Secondly, you were, of course, in company at the time that you committed the offence.
I will not recite the facts which are contained in an Agreed Statement of Facts. I simply note that a female shop assistant was menaced and threatened, as was the store manager. A physical altercation also occurred with the store manager. After the robbery, you and your co‑offender discarded distinctive items of clothing you had used in the course of the robbery. The following day police located those items and they were subjected to forensic testing. For some reason, not revealed in the facts, there was a delay in DNA analysis of those items which did not occur until 2008.
Your DNA and that of your co‑offender were found on those items. You entered a plea of guilty to that charge on the 14 March this year. I note that the offence carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.
On 17 July 2009, you attended the Australian Federal Police Headquarters in Brisbane and asked to be interviewed in relation to a robbery that you had committed in Canberra. During that interview and whilst under caution you made full admissions about your involvement in this offence. No action was taken at that time to have you charged with the offence, possibly because your mental health, at that time, left the police in some doubt whether your confession was genuine. It was not until 31 August 2012 that a first instance warrant was issued for your arrest. On 13 June last year, Queensland police arrested you at a psychiatric hospital in Queensland where you were residing as a forensic patient pursuant to orders made by the Queensland Mental Health Court.
You were extradited to this Territory the same day. On 14 June last year you appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court where bail was refused. You were committed for trial on 25 July last year. Issues then arose concerning your fitness to plead with a psychiatrist reporting on 28 November last year that you were unfit to plead. In a subsequent report, dated 17 February this year, a different psychiatrist found you fit to plead.
On 15 May of this year you entered pleas of guilty to four further charges, each committed on or about the 27 May 2007.
You entered a plea of guilty to one count of dishonestly riding in a motor vehicle without consent (CC2012/7611), which is punishable by five years’ imprisonment. Secondly, you pleaded guilty to one count of theft (CC2012/7610), punishable by 10 years’ imprisonment. Thirdly, you pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery (CC2012/7609), punishable by 25 years’ imprisonment. Finally, you pleaded guilty to one count of arson (CC2012/7608), carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.
The facts surrounding those offences in summary are that on 27 May 2007 you, in the company of an unknown male, stole a vehicle from a car parked at an apartment complex in Reid. Your co-offender drove the stolen vehicle in which you were a passenger. You and your co-offender drove to a residence in Turner where you stole some petrol and a machete. Later that day, you and the co-offender entered a chemist store in O’Connor. You were armed with a machete and your co-offender was armed with a hammer. You robbed the chemist of money, pharmaceutical drugs and also an mp3 player belonging to an employee of the chemist.
You and the co-offender then fled the area in the stolen vehicle and parked it near the CSIRO in Acton. You and your co-offender doused the stolen vehicle with petrol and set it on fire. The currency taken in the robbery totalled $9341.00 and the pharmaceutical drugs were valued at $779.83. I have no information as to the value of the motor vehicle, although I infer that it was not of great value because it was a 1985 vehicle.
On 20 November 2009 you attended the City Police Station and told police you wanted to admit to a robbery that you committed around April 2007. You took part in a record of interview on 20 November 2009. You refused to identify your co-offender but admitted your own role in the robbery of the chemist and the other offences.
As I understand it, these admissions were the only evidence that identified you as the offender with respect to these matters and, were it not for your confession with respect to these charges, your participation would never have been ascertained by the authorities.
On 8 May 2011 you committed a robbery of a chemist on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Thereafter you were held in custody in Queensland although from time to time you were also held in psychiatric institutions because of your deteriorating mental health.
On 30 July 2011 Justice Bodice in the Mental Health Court of Queensland found you to be of unsound mind in respect to the commission of the Gold Coast robbery. The Court ordered that you be detained as a forensic patient. It was while you were being detained at a Gold Coast mental health facility that you were arrested and extradited to the ACT to face these charges. I have been informed that after your release from custody in the ACT you will be required to return to Queensland to serve out the remainder of the order made by the Mental Health Court.
I note that you have an extensive criminal history which disentitles you to any significant leniency I these proceedings. A Pre-Sentence Report was prepared for the sentence hearing. It notes your previous poor compliance with community based orders. You are 48 years old and, according to a report prepared by Queensland Health in 2012, you experienced a traumatic childhood involving family violence, alcohol dependence on the part of your father and a number of psychiatric conditions on the part of your mother. You have virtually no employment history. You first consumed alcohol and cannabis at age 15 before beginning use of amphetamines, benzodiazepines and heroin when you were 19. You reportedly ceased heroin use in 2010 and ceased the use of other drugs whilst in custody in Queensland. Urinalysis testing in custody on 15 June 2013 and 23 November 2013 produced negative results for all substances. The Report notes that you have an extensive history with ACT Mental Health, reportedly being a client of that service from 2001, although there is some suggestion that you may have been involved with them at an earlier time. Recent psychiatric assessments opine that you suffer from schizophrenia, although there is little evidence that you were significantly affected by mental illness at the time you committed these offences. Nevertheless, I accept that for some years prior to committing these offences, you were subject to treatment for mental health issues. Subsequent to these offences you are heavily recorded as requiring treatment for mental illness, including after incidents of self harm.
The author of the Pre-Sentence Report noted that you expressed contrition for your offences and that you demonstrated victim empathy. I accept that you have demonstrated those qualities. You were assessed as being at moderate to high risk of reoffending primarily due to your criminal history, history of substance abuse, emotional and personal issues, lack of pro-social companions and lack of employment. Your co-offender, with respect to the aggravated robbery of the supermarket at Hackett, was sentenced by the Chief Justice of this Court in February this year for his involvement in that offence.
He also had a lengthy criminal history and had been a long term drug abuser commencing at an early age. At the time of committing this offence, he was on parole for similar offences. There is no suggestion in her Honour’s sentencing comments that your co-offender had any history of mental illness or was subject to any diagnosis of mental illness at the time of sentencing. At the time he was sentenced, your co-offender was already serving a term of imprisonment for other offences. He pleaded guilty to the offence and a sentence of six years’ imprisonment commencing on 22 November 2012 was imposed.
In my opinion there are good reasons to sentence you significantly differently to your co-offender. As I have already said, the precise state of your mental health at the time of these offences is not clear. I do, however, accept that for some years prior to these offences you had been treated for mental illness. It is beyond doubt that you currently suffer from a serious psychiatric illness. It is appropriate to modify the requirements of general deterrence in sentencing you for these offences in order to reflect your mental illness.
In addition to which, I take into account the fact that you voluntarily attended the police on two occasions to confess to committing these offences, at times when the police, at that point in time, had no reason to suspect that you were involved. I take into account your pleas of guilty, which I accept indicate remorse and also have significant utilitarian value. I note that you have previously confessed to police your involvement in these offences and I will reduce by 25 percent the sentences that would otherwise have been appropriate.
In addition, I note that these offences are comparatively stale, but that is not your fault. It is apparent that police were aware of the suggestion that you were involved in these offences from the time when you made admissions to them but that no steps were taken at that time to charge you with these offences. I do not necessarily say that that is a matter which is inexplicable on the part of the police, particularly bearing in mind your apparent mental illness at that time. However, it is clear that it is not your fault that such a long period has passed from the date of these offences to the date when you come to be sentenced.
I was provided with a number of authorities setting out sentences imposed on other offenders and, whilst I am grateful for the assistance provided by Counsel, I found them of limited assistance because of the differences in the circumstances of the offenders. As you have been in custody since the 8 May 2011, I need to also take into account the principal of totality.
Mr Jarochowicz, you are convicted and sentenced as follows:
a) With respect to the charge of aggravated robbery on 2 March 2005 (CC2012/7278) I record a conviction and you are sentenced to three years’ imprisonment commencing on 30 July 2012.
b) With respect to the offence of aggravated robbery in 2007 (CC2012/7609) I record a conviction and you are sentenced to three years’ imprisonment of which 12 months is to be served consecutive upon the sentence for CC2012/7278.
c) With respect to the offence of arson (CC2012/7608) I record a conviction and you are sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment concurrent with the sentence for CC2012/7609.
d) With respect to the offence of unlawful use of a motor vehicle (CC2012/7611) I record a conviction and you are sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment concurrent with the sentence for CC2012/7609.
e) With respect to the offence of theft (CC2012/7610) I record a conviction and you are sentenced to six months’ imprisonment concurrent with the sentence for the offence for CC2012/7609.
The aggregate sentence which I have therefore imposed is one of four years’ imprisonment commencing on 30 July 2012 and expiring on 29 July 2016. I order that the period commencing 30 July 2012 and expiring 29 January 2015 be served by way of full time imprisonment. The balance of the sentence will be suspended with a Good Behaviour Order for a period of three years with the following conditions:
a) firstly, that you accept the supervision of ACT Corrective Services or its delegate for a period of three years or such lesser period as deemed appropriate by your supervising officer;
b) secondly, that you reside as directed by officers of ACT Corrective Services or its delegate; and
c) thirdly, that you undertake such programs, counselling or treatment as directed by ACT Corrective Services or its delegate, particularly directed towards drug abuse and mental health issues.
| I certify that the preceding twenty-three [23] numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Sentence of his Honour Justice Burns. Associate: Date: 31 July 2014 |
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