STATE OF TASMANIA v RYAN ALAN ALBERT PURDY 2 NOVEMBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW J
Mr Purdy has pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated burglary, a charge of stealing and a charge of attempting to commit arson. One night in October of last year he and another man burgled a house in North Hobart and stole some jewellery, some cameras, and an iPod from it. A little later, Mr Purdy returned to the house and went inside, intending to set fire to it. He started a fire in a wardrobe which caused substantial damage to the contents of the house, but not to the building. There was so much damage that the tenants had to live somewhere else for a long time. The fire caused about $40,000 damage to the tenants' possessions. There was water and smoke damage. The landlord had to replace the carpet. The fire cost his insurance company over $30,000, and there was a loss of rent of nearly $4,000. One of the tenants began to suffer psychological symptoms, and had to have counselling. She still has continuing residual psychological symptoms.
Mr Purdy was 20 years old when he committed these crimes and is now 21. He has had serious drug and alcohol problems. As a result, he has a bad criminal record and has spent most of his adult life in prison. He contravened the conditions of two suspended prison sentences by committing these crimes. Last time he was released from prison, he was at liberty for only about 16 days, during which time he committed five burglaries. That was in May of this year. He was on bail on these charges at that time. He completed serving his most recent sentence on 9 October, and since then has been in custody on remand in relation to these charges. I am therefore going to backdate his sentence to 9 October. I will apply the totality principle. That is to say, I will impose a slightly shorter prison sentence than I would otherwise have imposed because today's sentence comes on top of a period of imprisonment that commenced in May.
Apart from the fact that Mr Purdy is young and the fact that he has pleaded guilty, there is not much for me to take into account in his favour. His drug and alcohol problems and his offending seem to be linked to the fact that ADHD prevented him from concentrating at school, with the result that he left school early, has literacy problems, has never been employed, and has been leading an aimless life, often in bad company.
The only appropriate penalty for these crimes is a substantial prison sentence. As suspended sentences have not prevented Mr Purdy from re-offending in the past, I see no point in suspending any part of his sentence. Because of the seriousness of these crimes and his bad record, I will not make any provision for parole, but I will make a probation order because a probation officer might be able to help him after his release from prison.
Ryan Alan Albert Purdy, I convict you on all charges and sentence you to two years' imprisonment with effect from 9 October 2009. I make a probation order, to operate for 18 months after your release from prison, with special conditions (a) that you must attend education and other programs as directed by a probation officer; (b) that you must undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol or drug dependency as directed by a probation officer; and (c) you must submit to testing for alcohol or drug use as directed by a probation officer. I order you to pay compensation to Stephen March, and to the two occupants of the unit who are named in the indictment, for their losses. I adjourn the assessment of that compensation sine die. I order you to pay your victims of crime compensation levies of $200 within 28 days after your release from prison.