R v Speedie

[2005] VSC 194

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA Not Restricted

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

No. 1430 of 2005

THE QUEEN

v

LUKE SPEEDIE

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JUDGE:	COLDREY J
WHERE HELD:	MELBOURNE
DATE OF HEARING:	1 APRIL 2005
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 JUNE 2005
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	R v SPEEDIE
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2005] VSC 194

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SENTENCE – Pleas of guilty to intentionally damaging property, intentionally inflicting serious injury and common assault – Offences committed when affected by alcohol and drugs – Total effective sentence 4½ years with a non-parole period of 2 years – Recommended that offender be transferred to a Youth Training Centre until eligible for parole pursuant to s. 244(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1989

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Crown	Mr C. Hillman SC	Stephen Carisbrooke Acting Solicitor for Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr D. Dann	Chris McLennan & Co

HIS HONOUR:

1. Luke William Speedie you have pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally damaging property (being two motor vehicles); two counts of intentionally inflicting serious injury; and one count of common assault, and I must now impose sentence upon you.

1. The offences occurred on 1 October 2004 and arose out of a dispute at a private party held at 3 Stanley Street, Box Hill South.  The party was hosted by Ms Astrid Clark, the 18 year old occupant of the premises, to celebrate a girlfriend’s 18^th birthday.  About 20 people were actually invited to the party but others, either known to the hostess or other invitees, were permitted to attend.  You arrived at the house between 9.00pm and 9.30pm with a 13 year old friend, Hayden Clark and three young women (including your girlfriend).  You were made welcome by Ms Clark but she told you that if there was any trouble she would call the police.  You had been given the same message in an earlier discussion about the party with another of the girls involved.

1. According to your counsel you commenced drinking at 7.30pm that evening and you told the investigating police that you had consumed a six pack of Jack Daniels and coke, five Valium and four Xanax tablets.  You described these as giving you “a big adrenalin rush” and as being responsible for an impaired recollection of the later events of the evening.

1. You brought a number of cans of Jack Daniels and coke to the party and the arrangement was that they be placed with the liquor of other guests in a bath filled with ice.  At one point in the evening you formed the opinion that other persons at the party had taken your cans.  This made you angry and, armed with a broom, you started aggressively interrogating the guests about your missing cans. 

1. Apart from this activity the depositional evidence indicates that you were bragging about having stabbed people before and having been involved in fights where you had gouged persons’ eyes out.  You also said you wanted to find people to brawl with.  It was obvious to the other guests that you were affected by either alcohol or drugs or both, and you were seen by at least one guest to take a pill.  Eventually, your aggressive big noting upset the other party goers to such an extent that Ms Clark asked you and your entourage to leave. 

1. You retreated to the roadway outside the premises with your friends Jason Rau, Benjamin Hall and Hayden Clark. 

1. Prior to attending the party Rau had armed himself with a knife having a blade of approximately 15 to 20cm in length.  He had given this to Ben Hall to put in his backpack.  Once outside you requested the knife from Hall and it was either given to you or you took it from the backpack.  You then used the knife to puncture a tyre on a motor vehicle owned by one of the guests, Osmond Butt.  (The damage done was costed at $150).

1. Not satisfied with that you then slashed three of the tyres, smashed the driver’s window, and damaged the bonnet and door panels of a car belonging to Samih Demaqui causing $1,830 worth of damage.  While there are some variations in the account of your precise role in relation to this vehicle, it is conceded by your counsel that if you were not the single perpetrator of the damage, you were acting in company with your disaffected companions.

1. Persons at the party, having become aware of your activities, left the house and various fights or scuffles broke out.  You were the only one present armed with a knife.  Not surprisingly, the account of the participants and witnesses vary considerably.  What is clear is that a brawl erupted and you became involved in the fighting.  It appears that one of the guests, Samer Shadid, was fighting with Hall on the naturestrip outside the house when you stabbed him once in the abdomen.  Fikret Kilinc was also involved in the fighting when you stabbed him from behind in the right side of the back.  Again a single stab wound was inflicted.

1. There is evidence that at some stage you were knocked to the ground.  It is not possible to determine whether this occurred before or after the stabbings.  There is also some material to suggest you were concerned to protect your 13 year old friend Hayden Clark.

1. Following the stabbings Astrid Clark courageously approached you, grabbed you, and commenced pushing you down the street.  You still had the knife in your hand and you said to her: “You don’t understand, I’ll slit your throat.”  You and your colleagues then fled the scene.

1. You were well aware of having perpetrated these stabbings.  A neighbour, Sarah Collins heard you say: “I just stabbed two of them fucking cunts.”  She described you as bragging.  You told Hayden Clark: “I’ve just stabbed two people” and, to Jason Rau, you said: “You don’t know what I’ve done.  I can’t believe that I stabbed them.”

1. After you ran from Stanley Street into the intersecting Station Street you encountered Mr Peter Walsh, a resident of Station Street, who had been attracted by the noise of breaking glass and screaming.  He heard you say: “Fucking wogs.  I just stabbed two cunts.”  Observing Mr Walsh you said to him: “You fucking wog.”  He responded: “I’m a pedestrian, mate.”  You were still holding the knife in your left hand and you commenced to move quickly towards Mr Walsh, saying: “You come you here you fucking wog.”  Mr Walsh turned and ran south down Station Street with you in pursuit.  You gave up the chase after a short distance.  Not surprisingly, given what he had seen and heard, Mr Walsh was in fear of being stabbed.  Like others that evening he observed that you were drug or alcohol affected.

1. You and Jason Rau returned to Rau’s residence in Boronia where you washed the knife, placed it in a plastic bag, and disposed of it in a concrete Telstra pit situated in a nearby footpath.

1. On 2 October, having received information that the police wished to speak to you, you went to the Boronia police station.  In a record of interview subsequently conducted by investigating police, you admitted the stabbings and stated that they had involved a lot of force.  You gave as a reason for your knife attacks that the victims were attacking your friends.  However, by your guilty pleas you have admitted that you had no lawful justification for these attacks and that it was your intention to cause the victims serious injury.  Your reason for damaging the motor vehicles was that your alcohol was stolen.

1. You did indeed cause serious injury to your victims.  Samer Shadid was taken to the Alfred Hospital suffering from a severe penetrating injury to his abdominal wall.  He required a laparotomy being an incision through the abdominal wall.  He remained in hospital until 12 October.  In his Victim Impact Statement, Mr Shadid details the fear and paranoia engendered by this attack.  He has not worked since the incident; is frightened to go out; and does not go to parties.

1. Fikret Kilinc sustained a life-threatening deep laceration to the right side of his chest.  Urgent surgery to his lung was performed at the Box Hill Hospital and he was ultimately admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.  He remained in hospital until 11 October.  Apart from the effect of this injury on his breathing, Mr Kilink details the emotional trauma which has been the legacy of this attack.  It includes fear of going to places where youths congregate, regular nightmares, feelings of depression, and the belief that his life will never be the same again.

1. In your record of interview you claimed that you were upset and crying later that night after a friend had rung you and detailed what you had done.  Certainly you attended at the police station the next day, cooperated in a record of interview, agreed to participate in a re-enactment and took police to where you had disposed of the knife. 

1. I have no doubt that your conduct on this evening was fuelled by a cocktail of alcohol and drugs.  You were aware that your presence at the party was under sufferance but you were nonetheless unable or unwilling to control your aggressive attitude to the other guests.  That attitude did not abate when you were told to leave the party.  Once outside in the street you deliberately armed yourself with a knife that you were aware one of your companions had brought to the party. Thereafter you used it in a deliberate and calculated and spiteful fashion to damage cars belonging to the guests.  The evidence indicates that you were spoiling for a fight on this evening and when it erupted you were then prepared to use a potentially lethal weapon against the other participants.  It seems to me that you have real problems of anger management.  You are extremely fortunate not to be facing more serious charges.  In any event I regard your assaults with the weapons as constituting, in themselves, serious offences.

1. The use of knives to inflict physical harm is abhorrent to this community.  The courts, by the sanctions they impose, must seek to deter persons from carrying and using such weapons. 

1. There are a number of matters personal to you which I must take into account in imposing sentences for these offences. 

1. You are presently 18 years old and you were the same age when these offences were committed.  You were born in Griffith, New South Wales, and your parents separated when you were 11 months old.  After the separation your mother brought you to Melbourne and for the past 14 years you have lived with your mother and step-father in Boronia.  Your mother is a cleaner, your step-father a fitter and turner.  You get along well with both of them and they remain supportive of you.  You also have the support of a girlfriend with whom you have had a relationship of some 18 months.  You have limited contact with your natural father.

1. You attended The Basin Primary School where you were highly distractible and engaged in attention-seeking behaviour.  This behaviour continued at Boronia High School where you were suspended on a number of occasions.  You then spent six months at the Eastern Teaching Unit in Ringwood, a facility designed for students with adjustment difficulties.  Returning to Boronia High School for Year 8, you were expelled within a short period of time.  Ten weeks at a Special Management Unit attached to the Maroondah Hospital Child and Adolescent Mental Service followed.   Thereafter a return to mainstream education at Ferntree Gully High School was unsuccessful and you left school during Year 9.

1. During your period of schooling, and subsequently, you have participated in sporting activities such as football and tennis.

1. After a period of unemployment you obtained work as a furniture sander with Classic Furniture of Bayswater.  You were aged 15.  You remained there for just six months before obtaining similar work at the Kilsyth Bargain Centre.  Your efforts there were such that, after six months, you were offered, and accepted, an apprenticeship as a furniture polisher.  As part of the apprenticeship you attended Holmesglen TAFE, passing all the relevant theoretical units.  Indeed, in 2003, you were runner-up for the Second Year Apprentice of the Year at the Institute.  You were in the final year of that three year apprenticeship when you committed these offences.  Unfortunately, the business which employed you has subsequently ceased operation.  Apparently you hope to undertake a carpentry apprenticeship on your release from custody. 

1. Reports were tendered on your behalf from Dr Ruth Vine, a Consultant Psychiatrist and Mr Bernard Healey, a Clinical Psychologist.  They expressed the view that in the past you suffered from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, noting that you were prescribed Ritalin.  Personality testing by Mr Healey indicated that you have hypomanic features and intelligence tests revealed a reduced intellectual capacity.

1. You have a history of drug taking including amphetamines, ecstasy and benzodiazepines.  You have also been a frequent user of cannabis.  As Mr Healey said of you: “Substance abuse has certainly exacerbated his excitability to the point where he has even greater difficulty abiding by appropriate codes of conduct.”

1. In her assessment, Dr Vine was of the opinion that the consumption of alcohol, together with Diazepam (Valium) may have led to a significant degree of disinhibition and impulsivity which may explain your actions on this occasion.  She expressed the view that you were not psychotic or suffering from an Anti-Social Personality Disorder.

1. You have, however, had a history of contact  with the police leading to five court appearances between January 2001 and September 2004.  These (in sequence) have included theft of chocolates in a supermarket; possession of a controlled weapon (being a pocket knife); arson (involving setting fire to a police interview room); possession and use of cannabis; theft of motor vehicles; robbery (which involved punching a youth at Bayswater Railway Station and taking his wallet); throwing a missile to the danger of the public at (Ferntree Gully Railway Station); and possession of property suspected of being the proceeds of crime (a mini-bike which you purchased).  All but the last of these offences were dealt with in the Children’s Court.

1. Up until this incident you have never experienced incarceration.  This is of some significance since I am instructed that your experiences both in the Custody Centre and Melbourne Assessment Prison, where you were mixing with adult offenders, were far from pleasant and have had a considerable impact upon you.  This may be seen in the context of the view expressed by Mr Healey that you remain “an immature, vulnerable, uncertain and apprehensive youth.”  A report prepared for the Court by the Department of Human Services substantially confirms this assessment.  This was one of two reports obtained by the Court, the other being from the Department of Justice.

1. You have spent most of your time in custody in the Youth Unit at Port Phillip Prison.  I am instructed that you have made excellent progress during this period.  Certificates indicating the successful completion of courses relating to Consequential Thinking, Offending Behaviour, Drug Education, Relapse Prevention, Occupational Health and Safety and Viral Hepatitis, were tendered.  You work in the Youth Unit as a cook, and in recognition of your good behaviour, you have attained enhanced prisoner status.  These are commendable achievements and suggest a determination to rehabilitate yourself. 

1. In addition, according to the pre-sentence reports, you have recently undertaken an Anger Management Program and it is your intention to desist from further drug use in the future.

1. In these reports, as in those prepared by Dr Vine and Mr Healey, your remorse for your activities is recorded.  For this you are entitled to credit, as you are for your early pleas of guilty.  I note also your agreement to pay compensation to the owners of the vehicles that you damaged.

1. I take into account your relative youth at the time you committed these offences and the importance where the circumstances of the offending permit, to impose a sentence in which rehabilitation is a primary goal.

1. I also accept that your offending was impulsive, rather than premeditated, and was carried out under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

1. You clearly have a capacity for hard work and, I am informed by your counsel, a family friend is willing to provide you with employment in the building industry.  Further, as I have  already mentioned, your record while in custody indicates that you have taken the first steps towards rehabilitation.  Your first unpleasant taste of imprisonment is no doubt an incentive in that regard.  Again, as I have previously noted, you have the ongoing support of family and friends.

1. In these circumstances, and despite your prior disregard of the law, your recent history indicates that you do have good prospects of rehabilitation.  All that having been said, the offences involving the woundings with the knife, are serious ones. 

1. Although you have been found to be a suitable candidate for a Youth Training Centre Order, I regard the sentences that I am required to impose as outside the range of those available in Youth Training Centres. However, having regard to that finding, I recommend to the Adult Parole Board that, pursuant to s.244(1) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1989, you be transferred to a Youth Training Centre and remain there until you are eligible for parole. Accordingly, I request the Secretary of the Department of Human Services to prepare a s.244(1) report for the Adult Parole Board in order for it to consider my recommendation. In this regard the Secretary should have access to the reports of Dr Vine and Mr Healey as well as both pre-sentence reports. Pending any transfer you should remain in the Youth Unit.

1. Balancing as best I can the principles contained in the Sentencing Act, including general and specific deterrence, the denunciation of the offending conduct and rehabilitation, I have decided that the appropriate sentences are as follows:

On count 1, being criminal damage to the vehicle belonging to Osmond Butt, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for 14 days;

On count 2, being criminal damage to the vehicle owned by Samih Demaqui, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for 1 month;

On count 3, intentionally causing serious injury to Samer Shadid, you are sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment;

On count 4, intentionally causing serious injury to Fikret Kilinc, you are sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment;  and

On count 5, the common assault on Peter Walsh, you are sentenced to 1 month imprisonment.

1. I direct that 1½ years of count 4 be served cumulatively with the 3 years on count 3 making a total effective sentence of 4½ years.  Having regard to your youth, with the accompanying emphasis upon rehabilitation, I fix a minimum period of 2 years before you become eligible for parole.  Further, I declare that the period to be reckoned as already served under this sentence is 249 days, inclusive of today's date.  I direct that there be noted in the records of the Court the fact that such declaration is made and its details.

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