Regina v Karla Marie Naylor

[2007] NSWDC 355

CITATION:	Regina v Karla Marie Naylor [2007] NSWDC 355
JUDGMENT DATE:	25 September 2007
JURISDICTION:	District Court of New South Wales
JUDGMENT OF:	Cogswell SC DCJ at 1
DECISION:	Appeal allowed. Sentence set aside. Imprisonment for one month suspended on entering into a good behaviour bond under s12 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.
CATCHWORDS:	Criminal law - Sentence appeal - Larceny - Extensive juvenile criminal history - Offender now 18 years of age - Has 3 month old daughter - Need for drug and alcohol rehabilitation -
LEGISLATION CITED:	s20(2)(a) Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 s12 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999
PARTIES:	Regina Karla Marie Naylor
FILE NUMBER(S):	07/52/0360
SOLICITORS:	Ms Mudge for the NSW DPP Mr Newby for the appellant

JUDGMENT

1. This is a difficult appeal where a young offender comes before me aged 18 with a very bad criminal record. She has committed serious offences as a child, including robbery in company, breaking and entering and being an accessory after the fact to robbery in company, as well as assaults. As a child she's received the benefit from the Court of bonds and probation, but she has repeatedly offended. She has also received the benefit of a community service order. One of the obvious explanations for her offending has been taking drugs and alcohol.

2. She has now committed another offence. The offence in itself is not as serious as some of the ones she's committed in the past. She has been convicted of larceny because she stole two DVDs from a supermarket. However, because of her poor criminal record and the obvious need to protect the community from her behaviour, the learned magistrate imposed a period of full-time imprisonment of one month.

3. The question in this appeal which is agitated before me is whether she should serve that one-month imprisonment, or whether I should suspend it or give her the benefit of a bond.

4. In her favour are a number of factors.
First, this is the first time that she has been sentenced as an adult. She turned 18 on 29 October 2006. Hence, her first sentence as an adult has been one of full-time imprisonment.
Second, she has, since committing this offence, which was in February this year, had a baby girl on 19 June 2007. She is a new mother.
Third, in sworn evidence before me, she has indicated that she wants to change her life and that is because, as she repeated a number of times, she is now a mum.
She made enquiries of the St Vincent De Paul Society and has been assessed for entry into Freeman House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre here in Armidale. Her drug and alcohol problems are confirmed by her GP and I have evidence of that from a report tendered by Mr Newby, who appeared for Ms Naylor, and evidence of her assessment for the drug and rehabilitation programme.

5. Because this was her first offence as an adult, I was inclined to give her the benefit of a section 9 bond under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 . I should say that my sentencing options are limited. The Probation and Parole Service indicates that neither periodic detention nor community service orders are available options.

6. However, I am persuaded that a section 9 bond is not appropriate. It is too lenient. It is too lenient because Ms Naylor's criminal record to date indicates that society needs protection from her behaviour. It is also too lenient because she has had the benefit of conditional liberty from the Courts before in the form of bonds and community service orders. She has also had bail - and I should have mentioned before she has breached her bail conditions. I do not regard a bond as a sufficiently severe penalty, nor do I regard it as sufficient to protect the community.

7. That leaves me with very little option but to sentence her to full-time imprisonment, because of the unavailability of the other options of community service orders or periodic detention.

8. However, I am prepared to accede to an alternative submission by Mr Newby that I suspend the operation of this sentence. That means that his client will have, as he correctly says, one last chance to demonstrate that she can rehabilitate herself this time and fulfil the role of a mother to her newborn baby.

9. I sentence you to imprisonment for one month to date from today, 25 September 2007, and to expire on 24 October 2007. Under section 12 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 , I suspend the execution of the whole of the sentence for the whole of the period and I direct that you be released from custody on condition that you enter into a good behaviour bond for a term not exceeding one month.

10. It will be a term of that bond that you will appear before the Court, if called upon to do so, at any time during the bond and that you must be of good behaviour during the term of the bond. In addition, there is a term of the bond that you present yourself at the Freeman House Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Centre in Armidale for assessment and, if accepted, for entry into their programme. That is a condition of the bond. I should indicate that it is a condition of the bond that you present yourself at Freeman House this week; that is, on or before this Friday, 28 September 2007. It is part of that condition that if you are accepted for the course, you are to enter and undertake the course.

11. Pursuant to section 20(2)(a) of the Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 , I set aside the sentence of the learned magistrate. The sentence which I impose instead is the one that I have just imposed.

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