STATE OF TASMANIA v SHANNON LOUISE BROWN 27 FEBRUARY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Shannon Brown, you plead guilty to aggravated burglary, stealing firearms and trafficking in firearms. I also agreed to deal with your plea of guilty to possessing a controlled drug. During the late morning on 11 September 2019 you drove with another female from Launceston to a house in Warrantina, near Scottsdale. You entered through the padlocked driveway fence, smashed a glass panel to unlock the door and, from safes inside the home you stole 15 firearms worth, in total, about $23,200. You took seven of the firearms and your co-offender took the rest. You were quickly identified from CCTV because you were known to the owner, and arrested the following day. A small amount of methylamphetamine was found in your clothing. You had already sold the firearms you kept, thereby trafficking in them. You have been in custody since your arrest on 12 September 2019.
On 1 August 2019 you were sentenced by a magistrate to imprisonment for an effective term of nine months from 10 June 2019, six months and 21 days of which was suspended for two years. You were disqualified from driving and ordered to perform 84 hours of community service, including that you must attend the Equips addiction program. Those sentences were imposed for offences committed in 2018 and early 2019 including, on my count, 31 counts of stealing, nine counts of burglary, 13 counts of aggravated burglary, four counts of dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage, three counts of receiving, two counts of unlawfully possessing property, three counts of trespass, four bail offences, 16 counts of driving without a licence, one count of driving while disqualified, six counts of driving with an illicit drug in your body and one count each of using and possessing an illicit drug. Included in those offences was a burglary and stealing from the same property to which you returned to steal these firearms. Counsel for the State gave me slightly different figures for the number of dishonesty offences, but the general picture is the same.
Application is made to activate the suspended sentence. By committing the crimes I have referred to you breached a condition of the suspended sentence. It must be activated unless I am satisfied that is unjust. I was asked to consider making a drug treatment order as a substitute for the suspended sentence. I do not consider that to be an appropriate course. In light of the nature and seriousness of the new crimes and the fact that they were committed so soon after the suspended sentence was imposed, it is not unjust to activate the suspended sentence, and therefore I must do so. I am still to sentence you in respect to the new crimes. The appropriateness of a drug treatment order for those offences is yet to be determined. The term of imprisonment I am about to impose will be taken into account when sentencing for those crimes.
Shannon Brown, I order that the six month and 21 day sentence imposed on 1 August 2019 is activated and I order that you serve all of that term commencing 12 September 2019. I order that you not be eligible for parole in respect to that sentence.