STATE OF TASMANIA v WILLIAM COOPER 1 OCTOBER 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Cooper, you have pleaded guilty to one count of attempted armed robbery.
You committed the crime on 12 December 2017 at approximate 9:30 pm. You ran towards a man who was using an ATM machine at a shopping centre. You had a home-made balaclava covering your face and you were armed with a pair of scissors. You said to him “Give me your money. I want $250 or I’ll stab you“. The complainant knocked the scissors from your hand and you and he then struggled. At one point, the complainant was on his back and you were sitting on top of him. He asked you to get off him, which you did. When he told you that he was going to call the police, you ran away. You were not successful in extracting any money from him.
The complainant suffered grazes to his knee and hand, but otherwise was uninjured. He did not provide a written impact statement, but I have been told that he is still experiencing some understandable psychological effects of this incident.
You are 25 years of age. You did not have any related criminal convictions when you committed this crime, although you had been convicted of some traffic offences. You had a difficult childhood and have experienced ongoing family problems. You have had a longstanding problem with the use of drugs and although you have had employment in the past, prior to the commission of this offence, you were homeless and leading a relatively aimless existence. Your past performance in respect of community service and other community-based sentencing orders has been poor. A presentence report assesses you as requiring a high level of supervision, and a community correction order with supervision conditions has been recommended.
I regard this crime as relatively serious. Although you claim that your actions were not premeditated, it is obvious that there was a degree of preplanning involved. You had armed yourself, prepared the balaclava and obviously waited covertly for someone to use the ATM. Your approach to this man was in the nature of an ambush, which by definition is a planned action. Although he disarmed you relatively easily, you did not immediately withdraw but rather engaged in a physical struggle with him. Your use of the weapon was calculated to cause fear and overbear his resistance, and could, of course, have resulted in much more dire consequences than actually occurred. General deterrence and denunciation of your conduct are important sentencing considerations.
In formulating the sentence, I will, however, take into account that you did eventually let him go and withdrew. Although you did not hand yourself in to police immediately, when you learned that they wanted to speak with you, you co-operated with them and made admissions. You have also entered a plea of guilty at an early opportunity. I also take into account your lack of relevant prior convictions. However, I do not accept your counsel’s submission that you should receive the added consideration appropriate for a youthful offender. At 23 years of age, the age you were when you committed this crime, you were old enough and ought to have been mature enough to bear responsibility for your poor decisions. It is, however, appropriate to place some emphasis on your rehabilitation, although the contents of the presentence report do not impart to me a convincing impression concerning your insight in respect of your culpability and your commitment to rehabilitation.
The orders I make are as follows:
1 You are convicted of the crime to which you have pleaded guilty.
2 You are sentenced to imprisonment for a term of two years and six months which will be backdated to 15 August 2019. Because of the length of the sentence, I am not permitted to impose a community corrections order in combination with this sentence. However, I will provide the opportunity for supervision by allowing for your early release on parole. Accordingly, I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served one half of the sentence.