STATE OF TASMANIA v JAMIE REGINALD HALL 29 OCTOBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE EVANS J
Consistent with the verdict of the jury, the defendant is convicted of one count of burglary and one count of unlawfully injuring property.
In the early hours of the morning of 13 January 2009, the defendant, in the company of four others, drove in a stolen motor vehicle to a service station at Blackmans Bay. All five alighted from the vehicle, the defendant via the drivers door. Each of the offenders was disguised by wearing a hoodie. At least one had a crowbar which was used to smash a glass panel in the front door of the station and a glass panel to an internal door. The defendant removed broken glass from that internal door.
Security camera images of the offenders plainly demonstrates that their criminal conduct was planned, brazen and contemptuous.
The defendant is 24 years of age. He has an extensive record of prior convictions. He was taken into custody on 27 January 2009 in relation to subsequent offences of dishonesty in respect of which he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment. He has since been sentenced to a further 10 months' imprisonment from 24 May 2009 for to the order of 30 prior offences involving dishonesty.
The defendant has been a successful boxer. He won a State title when he was 15 and won national titles when he was 17 and 19. It seems that he has been able to obtain and retain employment when he has chosen to. It is clear that if he is so minded (which he says he is) he has the ability and capacity to apply himself in a manner which is a benefit to himself and the community, rather than the reverse. His offending is attributed to bad company and being easily led. He has the support of his mother and an uncle.
The defendant is sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment cumulative upon the sentences that he has been serving. He has no parole eligibility in relation to those sentences. His effective sentences total just short of 32 months. In view of his age and prospects, he should be given an opportunity to obtain parole and to that end I order that he be eligible to apply for parole after serving nine months of the sentence I have imposed.
The defendant is ordered to pay compensation to be assessed to the Coles Express Service Station, Blackmans Bay.
The levy fixed by the Victims of Crime Compensation Act for the defendant's offences is to be paid by him to Director, Monetary Penalties Enforcement Service within 28 days of his release from prison.