R v Leon Wood
[2015] VCC 1904
•17 December 2015
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-15-01300
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| LEON WOOD |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE PUNSHON | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 21 October and 14 December 2015 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 17 December 2015 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | R v Leon Wood | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2015] VCC 1904 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms S. Lenthall | OPP Victoria |
| For the Accused | Ms Z. Broughton | VLA |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Leon Wood, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of armed robbery; one charge of threatening to inflict serious injury; and two charges of common assault.
2
Your offending consists of two courses of related offending occurring on
22 April and 2 May 2015. The first armed robbery was on the BWS bottle shop, which is attached to Woolworths at the QV shopping complex. The second was at Dan Murphy’s in Prahran.
3 The prosecutor opened the circumstances of the offending by reading from a written "Summary of prosecution opening on plea", which was tendered. One line of the tendered document in paragraph 15 was deleted.
4 Both armed robberies, Charges 1 and 4, were committed at knife point, indeed two knives were used. On each occasion you were wearing a balaclava and a stocking or similar item to cover your face. You wore black clothing generally, together with white or pale gloves. A DVD depicting your entry into the QV shopping complex, the armed robbery at the BWS bottle shop within the complex and your departure was played and tendered.
5 It is remarkable that you entered and passed through the QV complex dressed as you were. At least one person followed you because of your appearance and demeanour. The DVD imagery depicts you leaving with customers scattering at your approach. You must have caused considerable alarm to those who saw you, not to mention the serious conduct that constitutes Charge 3, when you confronted the victim of this charge in Lonsdale Street and told her to move out of the way.
6 When you left the premises that are the subject of the second armed robbery, you once again walked past members of the public, which once again would have caused alarm.
7 Charges 2 and 5, threatening to inflict serious injury and common assault respectively, were threatening conduct and words to deter anyone intervening.
8 You were arrested on 6 May 2015, were co-operative with police and made comprehensive admissions in a long interview.
9 Victim impact statements from the victims of Charges 3 and 4 were tendered. Both of these victims have been affected by your conduct, as would be expected. The victim of Charge 3 feared for her life and has suffered nightmares. The victim of the second armed robbery suffered considerably. She collapsed and dropped to the ground, crying after you left. She worked part-time at the premises and has been unable to continue this work and understandably has suffered high levels of anxiety and found everyday life challenging.
10 You have consented to me making a disposal order and raised no objection to me making a forensic sample order. I will make both these orders and my reasons for the latter will appear in the order. You need to understand that a police officer may use reasonable force to obtain the sample.
11 Your counsel sketched your background. You were born in New Zealand. You have given inconsistent accounts of your childhood upbringing and your counsel said she would not rely upon a proposed specific submission that "social disadvantage" because of your childhood was marked by parental drug use and neglect and that this should mitigate your punishment. She nevertheless submitted that I should take into account the circumstances of your upbringing in my assessment of matters, such as who you are, why you offended and the risk of re-offending.
12 You completed Year 12 and then began to work in New Zealand, before coming to Australia on 19 April 2005. You initially went to Brisbane, where you had relatives and were able to find work. You were "busy and contented", as your counsel put it.
13 In 2006, both your parents and your brother died in a car accident. This has left you without any foundation of family support throughout adulthood.
14 In 2008, you were made redundant with the downturn of the economy and have remained out of work since that time.
15 In short, you have been unemployed and homeless for the last seven years. You came to Melbourne in 2011. Whilst here you have slept rough, for example, in laneways in St Kilda and in an alcove at the Gatwick in Fitzroy Street. At the time of your arrest, you were living in an abandoned church in Frankston, to which access is gained via a hole in the wall. You have no serious drug issues, although your counsel said Xanax played some part in your previous offending.
16 You have a history of regular offending since 2010, including some matters for violence. Appearances in 2011 and 2012 were principally for shop theft. In May 2013, you were placed on a CCO for six months for attempted theft and in a separate appearance, you were fined for carrying a controlled weapon. In July 2013, you were placed on a CCO for two years in this court for crimes of dishonesty and violence. You were fined in early-2014 for further offending. On 4 March 2014, you were imprisoned for 12 months, with a non-parole period of six months, for crimes including recklessly causing injury and assault with a weapon, as well as shop stealing. The CCO imposed by this court was breached and four months imprisonment was imposed on 14 March 2014. In December 2014, you were sentenced to two months' imprisonment for shop theft and assault.
17 I was provided with details of your past offending. It is concerning. There have been approximately 16 court appearances over four years. The previous offending is clearly very relevant, although the current charges are by far the most serious charges you have faced.
18 You must benefit from your pleas of guilty entered at the earliest reasonable opportunity. I accept that they were accompanied with appropriate remorse. You co-operated with police and made admissions when interviewed.
19 You have a history of alcohol problems. Your counsel said past offending was often related to this and that the current offending was also motivated by a desire to obtain alcohol to satisfy your craving for it.
20 You were released from custody on 11 February 2015, after having been denied parole. Accordingly, you were only in the community for just over a couple of months before committing the current crimes.
21 You needed to be in Australia for ten years before being eligible for Centrelink. You would have become eligible on 19 April 2015 and I was told you committed the current crimes to bide you over before applying for and receiving Centrelink payments.
22
Your counsel tendered an "Outline of submissions on sentence", with an attached chronology. She also tendered a report from Peninsula Health, dated 18 February 2013; a CREDIT client progress report from 2012;
a psychiatric report from Dr Shannon Reid, dated 13 December2012;
a neuropsychological from Dr Robert Bourke, dated 11 December 2013;
and a comprehensive psychological report form Elle Gianvanni, dated
19 October 2015.
23 Despite this material focussing on your mental state, your counsel expressed strong concerns about whether further investigation was required. She noted your somewhat bizarre conduct in entering the QV centre as you did with the obvious attention you would attract, but perhaps more importantly, referred to answers you gave to police that suggested you may be showing signs of "unreality". Her concerns, as I understand it, were whether you were or are suffering some form of psychosis. Dr Reid stated, “There is no clear evidence that Mr Woods(sic) has a psychotic disorder”, but this was in late-2012, almost three years ago. It is just over three years now.
24 Your counsel requested an adjournment after having confirmed that VLA would fund an up-to-date psychiatric assessment.
25
The matter was adjourned to 14 December, at which time a report from
Dr Lester Walton was tendered. Dr Walton is a highly regarded consultant psychiatrist and I accept the thrust of his opinions. He described you as a somewhat eccentric and odd individual. He thought you cognitively intact, although of “less than scintillating intelligence”, albeit normal. He noted your offending was motivated by relative poverty, but also “a rather strange intention to effect revenge in relation to shop assistants who had assisted police in relation to previous dishonesty offending”.
26 He also noted that you express appropriate remorse.
27 He thought you would find imprisonment more onerous than others. This was my strong tentative view also because of your odd personality. You are in protection at the moment, but are coping well and making the best of your opportunities.
28 Dr Walton also noted limited opportunities for drug and alcohol programs in prison and thought definitive rehabilitation would need to wait until you were again in the community.
29 Dr Walton was guarded about your prognosis and whilst I too am guarded, everything permissible should be done to encourage your rehabilitation. The fact that you are using your time in prison productively is encouraging. Your offending began relatively late and needs to be seen in the setting of loss of family support, loss of employment, homelessness and alcohol abuse. As your counsel noted, there have been times when you have worked and prospered.
30 Prosecution submissions on penalty were non-contentious, subject to an issue of deportation, to which I will refer in a moment. It is clear that a significant period of imprisonment is required.
31
After the completion of sentencing submissions last Monday, I received written submissions from Ms Broughton, concerning the prospect of you being deported to New Zealand after your release from prison. A relatively lengthy discussion has occurred this morning concerning the relevance of the prospects of deportation, the weight to be given to it and the level of satisfaction required before regard can be paid to it. I expressed some tentative views. The parties agreed that the issue is of limited significance.
I propose to give some weight, as argued by the defence, to the prospects of deportation, noting that the primary factor is the distress to you or apprehension you have about being deported. The prosecution conceded that I could pay regard to this distress.
32
The parties have agreed it is open to me to impose an aggregate sentence.
I will do so.
33 You will be convicted of all charges and sentenced to an aggregate term of five years' imprisonment. I fix three years as the period you must serve before becoming eligible for release on parole.
34 You have served 225 days in pre-sentence detention. This period is to be reckoned as time already served under the sentence I have imposed.
35 Had you not pleaded guilty, I expect I would have sentenced you to about six years' and six months' imprisonment, and fixed four years' and four months' as the non-parole period.
36 COUNSEL: As Your Honour pleases.
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