R v Willmott No. DCCRM-01-1142, DCCRM-01-1430

[2002] SADC 1

R v CRAIG DOUGLAS WILLMOTT
[2001] SADC 181

Judge Lunn                
Criminal

1. On 29 October 2001 Willmott pleaded guilty in this Court to an offence of armed robbery contrary to s158(a) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act in that on 1 June 2001 at Kilkenny being armed with a knife he robbed the victim of about $65, a mobile telephone and a sum of foreign currency. In the record of interview Willmott was also questioned about another similar robbery which he denied. I ignore those allegations.

2. On the same Information Willmott’s defacto wife, Dawn Parsons, was charged with having assisted him to escape apprehension.  She has breached her bail.  A warrant has been issued for her arrest, but she has not yet been apprehended.  It was agreed that I should now proceed to sentence Willmott and Parsons would later be dealt with separately by another Judge.

3. At about 5pm on Friday, 1 June 2001 the victim was about to get into her car which was parked on the roof-top carpark at the Arndale Westfield Shopping Centre at Kilkenny.  After she opened the driver’s door of the car, but before getting into it, she put her handbag onto the front passenger seat.  Immediately after she sat in the driver’s seat, but before she had closed the driver’s door, Willmott approached her.  He was carrying a knife about 19cms long in his left hand.  (In his record of interview he said he did not have a knife, but it was not suggested to me in submissions that I should not act on the victim’s declaration of what occurred.  In any event his possession of a weapon was a necessary ingredient for the offence of armed robbery to which he has pleaded guilty.)  He grabbed the victim by her right shoulder and dragged her out of her car.  He said to her words to the effect of, “Give me the bag”.  The victim, out of fear that she would be stabbed, handed him the bag.  He then ran off towards the exit ramp of the carpark.  When he was about half way down the ramp a car driven by Parsons stopped alongside him and he got into it.  He was arrested a short time later.

4. On 14 December 2001 Willmott pleaded guilty before me to two counts on a Magistrates Court Complaint of illegal use of a motor vehicle and receiving stolen property each occurring on 1 June 2001.  On that day he was found to be driving a car without the consent of its owner.  The receiving count related to some items of property which were in that car.

5. The Victim Impact Statement discloses that as a result of the robbery the victim sustained a bruise to her lower back and was very scared and stressed.  The handbag and its contents were returned to her shortly after the arrest of the defendant.  The victim suffered a loss of $300 which Willmott has offered to pay to her from a tax refund entitlement which he has.  He has written a letter of apology to the victim.

6. Willmott is 26 years of age.  He has lived in a defacto relationship with Parsons and they have one young child.

7. Willmott has a substantial criminal record. On 11 May 1994 he was sentenced to 8½ years imprisonment as from 1 February 1994 for two offences of armed robbery with a non parole period fixed at 4 years and 6 months. On 30 June 1994 he was convicted of a number of offences relating to possessing firearms with an intent to commit an offence for which he was sentenced to a further 4½ years imprisonment and the non parole period on the cumulative sentence was adjusted to 6 years. On 4 August 1994 he was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for assaulting a fellow prisoner. He was released on parole on 6 July 1998. In December 1999 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 2 years and 3 months with a non parole period of 15 months for a breaking and entering offence, but this was suspended on him entering into a bond to be of good behaviour for 18 months. That bond expired shortly before the present offence of armed robbery. He has been in custody since his arrest for this offence on 1 June 2001. Between 13 June and 12 December 2001 he was in custody on a Parole Board warrant for breach of the terms of his parole. After taking that period into account the unexpired portion of his previous sentences (excluding the suspended sentence), which he will be required to serve under s75 of the Correctional Services Act upon his sentence to imprisonment on the current matter, is 3 years 11 months and 13 days.

8. I have two pre-sentence reports dated 21 October 1999 and 12 November 2001, a report from a psychiatrist, Dr Raeside, of 5 June 1999, a report from Dr Crease, a medical officer at Yatala, a reference from Rev Roz Bond and a letter of 3 December 2001 from the defendant, all of whose contents I have taken into account.

9. Willmott has had a major problem with a heroin addiction since about 1993.  While he has the desire to give up heroin, and has for substantial periods while on parole been able to remain drug free, he has on several occasions reverted to heroin use in times of personal stress including shortly before the armed robbery.  His reversions to heroin and other drug use has led to his continued offending.  The suspension of the prison sentence imposed in December 1999 was due to the Court accepting that his offending then was a temporary aberration and to gaol him would be counter-productive for his rehabilitation which prior to that time had been proceeding quite well.  The armed robbery for which I am to sentence him was committed to obtain money to pay pressing drug debts.

10. While in prison Willmott has made genuine efforts to rehabilitate himself and to educate and equip himself for a law-abiding life after prison.  He is at present on a methadone programme to assist him in overcoming his heroin addiction.  Whether it will be ultimately successful is unknown.  He also has a significant medical condition of pneumothorax which can be life-threatening.

11. Armed robbery is a serious offence and a substantial prison sentence must be imposed particularly as this is not his first offence of armed robbery.  He was on parole at the time of its commission.  While his drug addiction explains the offence it is not a mitigating factor.  If he cannot break his drug addiction, he may well commit similar offences in the future after his release.

12. The major issue is what non parole period should now be set.  A significant non parole period must be imposed to reinforce the general and personal deterrent element of the sentence.  If he is not to spend much of the rest of his life in gaol, Willmott will have to overcome his drug problem.  Whether he can do that is unclear.  However, it is likely that a substantial period on parole will be of assistance to him in rehabilitating himself.  While his history of re-offending suggest that successful rehabilitation is far from certain, there are other indicators which are hopeful that he may now be able to succeed where he has failed in the past.  Accordingly, a significant non parole period will be set, but one which is not a very high proportion of the head sentence.

13. On the armed robbery charge my starting point is a sentence of 8 years imprisonment which takes into account the time which he has already spent in custody since 1 June 2001 other than the period which he has served on Parole Board warrants. On the illegal use and receiving charges on the Magistrates Court Complaint there will be a single cumulative sentence imposed of imprisonment for 4 months. For his early pleas of guilty there will be a discount granted of 25% which will result in a total sentence of 6 years and 3 month for all offences as from today. (Because of the operation of s75 of the Correctional Services Act the sentences cannot be backdated.) To this is to be added the unexpired portion of the previous sentences of 3 years 11 months and 13 days making a head sentence of 10 years 2 months and 13 days. A non parole period is fixed of 6 years. Both the sentences and the non parole period are to run from today. There will be a compensation order under s53 of the Sentencing Act that Willmott pay compensation of $300.