R v Savanhu

[2017] ACTSC 217

SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Case Title:

R v Savanhu

Citation:

[2017] ACTSC 217

Hearing Date:

10 August 2017

DecisionDate:

10 August 2017

Before:

Elkaim J

Decision:

See paragraph [34]

Catchwords:

CRIMINAL LAW – JURISDICTION, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Judgment and Punishment – Sentence – obtain property by deception – position of trust – probable effect of sentence on offender’s family – pleas of guilty.  

Legislation Cited:

Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT) ss 6, 7, 10 and 33

Cases Cited:

R v Leighton [2016] ACTSC 354

Parties:

The Queen (Crown)

Donald Savanhu (Offender)

Representation:

Counsel

Ms S Gul (Crown)

Mr M Hassall (Offender)

Solicitors

Office of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown)

ACT Legal Aid (Offender)

File Number:

SCC 63 of 2016

ELKAIM J:

1. On 8 July 2016, an indictment was filed in the Supreme Court charging the offender with fifty-one counts of obtaining property by deception. The matter was due to be heard on 19 June 2017.

1. A fresh indictment was filed on 22 May 2017. It contains 11 counts of obtaining property by deception. The offender pleaded guilty to all of the counts on that date.

1. The maximum penalty for each offence is a fine of $150,000 and/or ten years imprisonment.

1. The 11 counts relate to 36 fraudulent transactions between 24 March 2011 and 10 January 2014. The total amount defrauded was $28,654.70.

1. The offender was employed by the Public Trustee of the ACT (the Public Trustee) from 2008. The Public Trustee manages the financial affairs of persons suffering from a legal incapacity.

1. Each ‘client’ of the Public Trustee is assigned a Trust Officer to manage a client’s financial affairs. If the client owns a property, the Trust Officer organises, and arranges payments for, any work to be done at the property.

1. The offender was a Trust Officer. Part of the induction process was to work with a mentor. One of the offender’s mentors was Mr Timothy McLeod. On 29 May 2017, Mr McLeod entered pleas of guilty to four offences of a similar type. The offences involved a much larger sum of money than is the case here.

1. The offender was born in Zimbabwe (then called Rhodesia) in 1979. He has friends in the Zimbabwean community. In the course of his employment, he created false cheque requisition forms requesting funds on behalf of clients who were being managed by the Public Trustee. The cheque requisition forms would request money be paid out to contractors he knew in the Zimbabwean community. The work was either not done at all or done differently to that for which the requisition had been made.

1. The fraudulent activity concerned 11 clients. Although the primary victim of the fraud was the Public Trustee, the fraud must be seen as having had the potential to deplete the funds available to each client. It is to be remembered that each client was a person suffering from an incapacity.

1. Following the discovery of the fraudulent activity, the offender was suspended from work…