STATE OF TASMANIA v KAIDE RAYMOND DANE BAKER 25 FEBRUARY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Kaide Baker, you plead guilty to burglary, dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage and two counts of stealing. The crimes were committed between 8 and 11 June 2019. Sometime over the course of that long weekend you broke into a seed business in Longford. You unscrewed the chain on the gate and then forced open the doors. That is the burglary. From inside you stole an Isuzu utility, two trailers and a significant quantity of power tools and machinery. One stealing charge relates to the vehicle which was worth almost $40,000. The other stealing charge concerns the rest of the property which was worth about $107,000. On Tuesday 11 June 2019 you sold some of the power tools to a second hand store for $400. That is the basis of the charge of dishonestly acquiring a financial advantage.
Your involvement in the burglary and theft was discovered on 17 June 2019 when some of the stolen items were found in your car, which had been left at the scene of an unrelated burglary. You had left other items at your family home in Cleveland and at or near your grandmother’s home in Perth. When you were first interviewed you denied your involvement. However, when you were interviewed again a week later on 23 June 2019 you admitted that you were responsible for the burglary. You admitted that you had gone back to the property a number of times and that, after stealing the utility, you spray painted it to try to hide it. More admissions were made in another interview later on that same day.
Some but not all of the stolen property has been recovered, but some of the recovered items were damaged. After stealing the utility you spray painted it black. There was other damage to that vehicle as well. A trailer was partly painted and the other had been stripped of fittings. A four wheel off road buggy was so damaged it was written off. The total loss suffered by others is about $43,000. I will make compensation orders so as to ensure that you are responsible to repay that sum. However it is likely to take a long time if it can be achieved at all.
You are aged 30. You have no prior convictions for dishonesty. It is in your favour that you eventually admitted to the police what you had done and pleaded guilty. I accept that you are sorry for what you did and you want to make amends.
These crimes result from a serious addiction to methylamphetamine. You told the police that you stole the items to sell to fund your addiction or to repay money, about $15,000, which you owed for drugs. Because I was informed of the connection between the offending and abuse of illicit drugs at a previous hearing I sought, at the request of your counsel, a report about your suitability for the making of a drug treatment order. The author of the report and your counsel today have referred me to the following matters. You were introduced to social drugs at age 15 through a sporting club, and then methylamphetamine at age 18. You began to use the drug daily, hiding it from your family and friends thinking no-one would notice. Your heavy use of the drug escalated and continued, apart from a relatively brief period of respite in 2015 and 2016, until this crime was committed. You reported that, at the time, your life was consumed by illicit substances. Your addiction has already cost you a home and a vehicle.
You had a good upbringing within a supportive family although their support has been strained from time to time because of your drug abuse. They continue to support you. You are living with your parents, and they are willing to have you continue to live there as long as is necessary. Your mother told the author of the assessment report that she has noticed a shift in your behaviour and feels that you are committed to rebuilding your life. You are in a relationship and have one child year old child. You have two children aged seven and six from an earlier relationship. You have been in stable employment as a processor in a chipping mill since 2015 interrupted only by an absence due to drug use which was forgiven by your employer. I accept that your employment gives focus in your life and that you are well regarded by your employer.
You have been assessed as eligible and suitable for a drug treatment order. You are at high risk of re-offending. Given the nature and duration of your addiction it is my assessment, that unless an order is made your chances of overcoming it are much reduced. A drug treatment order gives priority to the rehabilitation of an offender as opposed to punishment. A drug treatment order can be, and usually is, onerous. You will be subject to strict supervision for up to two years. I may make an order only if I am satisfied that it is appropriate. The circumstance which points away from an order is the brazen nature of your crime and the significant loss you have caused to others. However the material available to me, especially your family support and employment, indicates that you are capable of being a responsible and valuable member of the community. If you do not take advantage of the opportunity which I am about to offer you it is almost certain that you will go to prison.
Kaide Baker, you are convicted on each count. I make a compensation orders in favour of SJ City Cash in the sum of $400, South Pacific Seeds in the sum of $7,922.18, John Nettlefold Nominees Pty Ltd in the sum of $10,302.02, CGU Insurance in the sum of $22,427.27 and QBE Insurance in the sum of $2,362.70. I may only allow you 28 days to pay those amounts. If you require longer you may enter into a repayment arrangement. I make a drug treatment order pursuant to the Sentencing Act 1997, s 27B. The custodial part of the order is a term of imprisonment for 15 months. You are not required to serve all or any of the custodial part of the drug treatment order unless it is activated. It may be activated if you fail to comply with the treatment and supervision part of the order which has the following core conditions:
1 you must not, in Tasmania or elsewhere, commit another imprisonable offence;
2 you must attend the Magistrates Court of Tasmania, Launceston on at 2.15 pm on 16 March 2020 and thereafter attend the Magistrates Court or this Court as and when directed by the court;
3 you must report directly to a court diversion officer at Community Corrections, Launceston and in any event within two clear working days of your release;
4 you must undergo such treatment of your illicit drug use problem as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers or as from time to time specified by the Magistrates Court or this Court;
5 you must report to, and accept visits from, your case manager or court diversion officers;
6 you must, unless there are special circumstances, give your case manager at least two clear working days’ notice before any change of address;
7 you must not leave Tasmania except with the permission, granted either generally or in a particular case, of the Magistrates Court or this Court;
8 you must comply with all lawful directions of the Magistrates Court or this Court;
9 you must comply with all reasonable directions of your case manager and court diversion officers concerning the core conditions and program conditions of this order.
There will be further program conditions of the order that:
1 you must submit to random drug testing as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
2 you must submit to urinalysis testing as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
3 you must submit to oral fluid testing as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
4 you must submit to detoxification or other treatment, whether or not residential in nature, as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
5 you must not use any illicit drug;
6 you must not use any non-prescribed substance;
7 you must not use any medication unless prescribed to you by a treating medical practitioner, approved by your court diversion officer and in accordance with the medication directions for use;
8 you must attend vocational, educational, employment, rehabilitation or other programs or as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
9 you must attend counselling and/or treatment as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
10 you must submit to medical, psychiatric or psychological treatment as directed by your case manager or court diversion officers;
11 you must maintain the use of, and remain contactable by, a mobile phone capable of sending and receiving messages about drug testing, case management and/or counselling appointments from your case manager and court diversion officers; and,
12 you must remain contactable at all times;
13 you must reside at [address] and not change that address without the approval of your court diversion officer or case managers, the Magistrates Court or this Court.