STATE OF TASMANIA v PAUL ANTHONY RAE 30 OCTOBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE EVANS J
The defendant is convicted on his plea of guilty to:
· 8 counts of aggravated burglary
· 15 counts of burglary
· 8 counts of unlawfully injuring property
· 23 counts of stealing
· 4 counts of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage
· 1 count of receiving
· 1 count of arson
· 3 charges of motor vehicle stealing. His plea of guilty to these last three offences is dealt with pursuant to the Criminal Code, s385A.
The offences were committed between 22 September 2008 and 28 November 2008.
On 22 September 2008 a motor vehicle in the possession of Benedict Crothers was stolen from his residence at Battery Point and when the vehicle was located an MP3 player, two adaptors and a key had been stolen. Count 1 — burglary, count 2 — stealing, and a charge of motor vehicle stealing.
Between 26 and 27 September 2008, the defendant broke into a vehicle, owned by Stephen Webster, parked outside his residence in New Town and the defendant stole a tool bag, set of torque keys, power board, lead and three CDs. Count 3 — burglary, and count 4 — stealing.
On 9 October 2008, the residence of Michael Trotter and Joanne Childs at New Town was broken into by the defendant who damaged a window and stole many items of property as detailed in count 6, stealing. See also count 5 — aggravated burglary, and count 7 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 13 October 2008, the defendant broke into the home of Ernesto Molina at Bellerive and stole many items of property as detailed in count 9 — stealing. See also count 8 — aggravated burglary.
On 16 October 2008, the defendant gained entry to the residence of Helene Stewart at Lindisfarne, damaged a window frame, fly screen and venetian blinds, and stole a set of house and car keys and a laptop computer. Count 10 — aggravated burglary, count 11 — stealing, and count 12 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 16 October 2008, the defendant gained entry to the residence of Shaun O'Brien at Lindisfarne and stole the numerous items listed in count 14 — stealing. See also count 13 — aggravated burglary.
On 21 November 2008, the defendant gained entry to the residence of David Artis at South Hobart, damaging the rear door and a filing cabinet and stole the items listed in count 16 — stealing. See also count 15 — aggravated burglary, and count 17 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 24 November 2008, the defendant gained entry to a vehicle owned by Kristopher Cochrane that was parked outside his residence at New Town and stole the items listed in count 19 — stealing. See also count 18 — burglary.
On 24 November 2008, the defendant broke into the residence of Andrew Goodman at New Town, damaging the front door and stole the items detailed in count 21. See also count 20 — aggravated burglary, and count 22 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 26 November 2008, the defendant stole a mustard yellow van owned by Brett McMahon from outside a residence in West Moonah, for which he is convicted of motor vehicle stealing.
On 26 November 2008, the defendant forced the driver's side door of a vehicle owned by Peter McCallum that was parked in the driveway of his residence at Glenorchy and stole a tool box, a quantity of tools, a scissor jack and a pair of sunglasses, count 24 — stealing. See also count 23 — burglary.
On 26 November 2008, the defendant gained entry to the vehicle of Todd Curtain that was parked in the driveway of his home in West Moonah. Although the defendant was disturbed by Mr Curtain in the course of this crime, he stole a number of items from the vehicle. Count 25 — burglary, and count 26 — stealing.
On 26 November 2008, the defendant gained entry to a vehicle owned by Pauleen Damen and stole a red Suzuki hatch vehicle owned by her father, Harry Damen, from outside their residence at West Moonah. The defendant stole items from these vehicles as detailed in counts 28 and 30 — stealing. See also counts 27 and 29 — burglary, and a charge of motor vehicle stealing.
On 26 November 2008, the defendant gained entry to a vehicle owned by Grant Stump that was parked outside his residence and stole items as detailed in count 32 — stealing. See also count 31 — burglary.
Damien Brown resides next door to Grant Stump. On 26 November 2008 the defendant gained entry to the vehicle of Mr Brown that was parked in the driveway to his residence and stole the items listed in count 34 — stealing. See also count 33 — burglary.
Early on 26 November 2008 Geoffrey Price left his residence at Glenorchy to walk to work. Thereafter the defendant gained entry to the residence, stole two safes, one containing a gold and diamond ring, a bag and a quantity of personal papers. Upon becoming concerned that he may have left DNA evidence in the residence, the defendant set fire to furniture, effectively destroying the residence. It has since been demolished. Damage to the building is estimated at $200,000 and its contents, $50,000. Mr Price's total insurance cover is $190,000. This conduct is the subject of count 35 — aggravated burglary, count 36 — stealing, and count — 37, arson.
A street away from the residence of Mr Price, the defendant abandoned the mustard van stolen from Mr McMahon, (which Mr Curtain had seen the defendant driving), and transferred stolen items to the red Suzuki stolen from Mr Damen. He placed false number plates on that vehicle and was using it during the day on 27 November 2008 when he broke into the unit of Chiara Hill and Daniel Livingstone in Sandy Bay. Ms Hill arrived home to see the defendant loading property into the vehicle and drive away. Count 38 — aggravated burglary, count 39 — stealing, and count 40 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 27 November 2008, the defendant broke into three vehicles, owned by Gillian, Tom and Lucy Woodruff respectively, that were parked in the driveway of a residence in Battery Point. Property was stolen from each vehicle and damage was done to each vehicle. See counts 41 44 and 47 — burglary, 42 45 and 48 — stealing, and 43 46 and 49 — unlawfully injuring property.
On 27 November 2008, the defendant forced entry into the vehicle of Andrew Brocklehurst which was parked outside the residence next door to the Woodruff's and stole property from that vehicle. Count 50 — burglary, and count 51 — stealing.
On 28 November 2008, the defendant entered the Friends' Boatshed and stole the keys to the vehicle of Clint Johnstone. He then entered Mr Johnstone's vehicle and stole from it a number of items including his credit card. During that day he used the credit card at three different retail outlets on a total of four different occasions to obtain goods worth about $2,000. Counts 52 and 54 — burglary, counts 53 and 55 — stealing, and counts 56, 57, 58 and 59 — dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage.
On 4 November 2008, the defendant was found in possession of the stolen property listed in count 60. Over 200 items are covered by this count.
The total value of the property stolen from the eight residences was well over $50,000 and about 10 per cent of the property was recovered.
The total value of the property stolen from 14 vehicles was approximately $10,000, less than half of it was recovered.
The damage caused in the course of the burglaries was approximately $2,000.
Many of the items stolen were of little value to the defendant, but their loss was of major significance to the victims. The items included keys, personal papers, driver's licences and a passport. The cost to Mr Goodman of replacing all the locks and keys to his residence was $2,500.
The defendant is 34 years of age. When 16, he attempted to rape a woman who confronted him whilst he was ransacking a home. He was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the owner who grappled with him and a melee ensued. In April 1993 the defendant was sentenced to a total of four years' imprisonment for the attempted rape and other offences arising from that occurrence. The defendant returned to prison on 1 October 1998, when he served a sentence of six months' imprisonment for aggravated burglary. Whilst the elderly owner of the property who was the subject of that crime suffered devastating injuries, the defendant was acquitted on a charge of causing him grievous bodily harm. The explanation, postulated by the sentencing judge, for the acquittal was that the jury could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that there was not a co-offender who might have caused the injuries. In any event these crimes bring into focus the risks inherent in a burglary where the offender is interrupted. These risks are amongst the reasons for the gravity of the crime of aggravated burglary.
In 2007, the defendant was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment when convicted of a number of offences involving dishonesty.
The following is taken from information provided by the prosecutor based on the defendant's record of convictions.
Children's Court:
Aggravated Burglary 2
Steal 7
Damage to Property 1
Assault Police 6
Resist Police 1
Aggravated sexual assault 1
Indecent Assault 1
Aggravated Assault 1
Supreme Court and Magistrates' Court up to the time of the current charges:
Aggravated burglary 4
Burglary 1
Steal 6 (value $32,000)
Motor vehicle steal 1
Possess stolen goods 4
Attempted rape 1
Assault/resist/threaten police 9
Assault 1
Unreg'd, uninsured driver 7
Breathalyser 3
Drive disqualified 1
Drive Unlicensed 2
Breach of Bail 8
Possess Plant 1
Possess Ammunition 1
Disorderly conduct 1
Magistrates' Court, 27 February 2009, 2½ years imprisonment from 29/11/08 for:
Aggravated burglary 7
Burglary 7
Stealing 20 (value $55,000)
Motor vehicle steal 7
Attempted Motor Vehicle Steal 1
Possession of stolen goods 5
Obtain goods by false pretence 4 ($2,600)
Unregistered, Unlicensed, Uninsured 3 (1 each)
Of the above 54 offences, over 20 occurred between April and August 2008, before the period covered by the charges contained in the Indictment.
22 of the offences, being aggravated burglaries, stealings, and motor vehicle stealings, occurred on September 22nd 2008, the same day as counts 1 and 2 in the Indictment. Other offences that occurred during the period of the Indictment are:
14/10/08 Unlawful possession
Motor Vehicle Stealing
Unregistered Vehicle
Uninsured Vehicle
Receive Stolen Property
21/10/08 Aggravated Burglary
Stealing
13/11/08 Burglary
Stealing
The defendant's criminal conduct is attributed to his addiction to methylamphetamine. Following his release from prison in 2007, he unsuccessfully participated in a drug treatment program. Since his incarceration on 29 November 2008, he has again addressed overcoming that addiction and he has successfully completed the first phase of a Pathways program, a relatively intense and extensive program aimed at self-improvement and change.
The defendant is entitled to some reduction in the sentence to be imposed on him by reason of his pleas of guilty. However that reduction will not be as significant as it is when many of the charges laid against an offender are based on the offender's admissions. The charges laid against the defendant are the result of detection. It is clear from the Court file that a lot of police time and effort has gone into investigating the defendant's criminal conduct, and his successful prosecution is a credit to all concerned.
The defendant is sentenced to 5½ years' imprisonment cumulative upon the sentence that he is currently serving, that is, a total of 8 years' imprisonment. His current parole eligibility period is 19 months. I order that he be eligible to apply for parole after serving 3 years of the sentence I have imposed. In result he will be eligible to apply for parole after 4 years and 7 months. In making an order as to his parole eligibility I am conscious that the prospect of obtaining parole is important to the rehabilitation of a prisoner. I am of course in no position to gauge whether the defendant will be a suitable candidate for parole after he has been in prison for 4 years and 7 months. The Parole Board will however be in a good position to make that assessment at that time.
The defendant is ordered to pay compensation to be assessed to each of his victims.
Pursuant to the Victims of Crime Compensation Act, the defendant is to pay a levy of $500 for his offences to the Director, Monetary Penalties Enforcement Service, within 28 days of his release from prison.