R v Rogerson

[2005] NSWDC 22

CITATION:	R v ROGERSON [2005] NSWDC 22
HEARING DATE(S):	1 December 2004 31 January 2005 1 February 2005 18 February 2005
JUDGMENT DATE:	18 February 2005
JURISDICTION:	Criminal
JUDGMENT OF:	Berman SC DCJ
DECISION:	The offender is sentenced to imprisonment for two and a half years. I set a non-parole period of one year at which time I order that the offender be released to parole.
CATCHWORDS:	CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Form 1 - Give false evidence to the Police Integrity Commission
LEGISLATION CITED:	Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)
CASES CITED:	R v Aristodemou (unreported, NSWCCA, 30 June 1994) R v Bulliman (unreported, NSWCCA, 25 February 1993) R v Chad (unreported, NSWCCA, 13 May 1997) R v Chapman (unreported, NSWCCA, 21 May 1998) R v Tregllia [2002] NSWCCA 338 R v Salesi Fifita (unreported, NSWCCA, 26 November 1992)
PARTIES:	The Crown Roger Caleb Rogerson
FILE NUMBER(S):	DC 03/11/0970
COUNSEL:	P Miller - Crown Mr C Steirn SC - Offender
SOLICITORS:	Director of Public Prosecutions Paul Kenny & Associates

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: Few in the community would not have heard of Roger Rogerson. A witness called on the offender’s behalf in these proceedings said that the offender once joked that the media had changed his name by deed poll to “disgraced former detective Roger Caleb Rogerson”. Most members of the community would probably have an opinion as to the character of the offender and if that were based on media reports and what were claimed to be dramatisations of Mr Rogerson’s life shown on television. I would expect that those views would be overwhelmingly negative.

2 However I am not sentencing Mr Rogerson for committing offences which have been depicted in those dramatisations or alleged in the media. Nor in assessing his character will I take into account material that is not properly before me. I will sentence him for the offence to which he has pleaded guilty, taking into account the matter on the Form 1 and assess the appropriate sentence based on the matters proved before me in evidence.

3 When sentencing Mr Rogerson’s wife and co-offender Ann Melocco last year, I set out in some detail the principles which guided me when sentencing for an offence of give false evidence to the Police Integrity Commission. Much of what I said applies equally to this offender. The offender himself was not present when his wife was sentenced nor were many others who have come to Court today. I will therefore spend some time restating the principles which guide me, before moving to the particular circumstances of this offender.

4 In common with many other offences, when sentencing for offences involving the giving of false evidence, general deterrence will usually be of prime importance. The reason for this was explained in R v Bulliman CCA unreported 25 February 1993 where Abadee J said;

“False evidence strikes at the whole basis of the administration of justice and indeed, it undermines the whole basis of it.…