JONES Z J

STATE OF TASMANIA v ZACHARY JACOB JONES                25 SEPTEMBER 2020

COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE                                                     ESTCOURT J

 The defendant, Zachary Jacob Jones, aged 27 at the time of the commission of the crimes, has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated burglary and stealing.

I have also agreed to deal with a number of summary offences to which he has pleaded guilty, namely, two charges of breach of bail.

On Wednesday, 19 June 2019, at approximately 10:40am the complainant, left her house in Battery Point. She did not return home until approximately 6.40pm. When she entered her home, she saw that the house had been burgled and cash and jewellery had been stolen.

On Thursday 20 June 2019 police intercepted the defendant. He had three Ice pipes and a bong, a quantity of cannabis bud, a quantity of crystal substance in a compact, a snap lock bag containing multiple snap lock bags, and $530 cash. Recovered from a bag he had tried to dispose of, was a quantity of jewellery. The defendant was arrested and remanded in custody.

The jewellery was identified by the complainant as property stolen from her home. The cash and jewellery were valued at $62,400. The total value of property recovered was $38,002. The total value of the property not recovered was $24,398.

On Friday 16 August 2019 the occupant secured and left his residence in New Town. He closed the front gate but left it unlocked. At approximately 11am a witness observed four (maybe five) males in the street next to the complainant’s looking “out of place”.

The occupant was advised and subsequently reported to police that property, including, in particular, three rifles and ammunition, a firearm scope, a camera and a multi-tool had been removed. This property had a value of approximately $1,750. Other items stolen from the complainant’s house, included a fob watch, foreign currency, coins and jewellery, and had a total value of approximately $4,250. All property was recovered.

It is the Crown’s case that the defendant and three others were part of a joint criminal enterprise, acting in concert with one another, and are liable for the acts of each other by their participation.

On being interviewed by police, the defendant admitted he had not been at 84 Pitcairn Street, Glenorchy in accordance with his bail condition since the previous Friday night and had not signed in as required by the conditions of his bail on the day of the burglary.

I have read a victim impact statement prepared by the complainant, Ms W. As well as suffering financially as a result of a shortfall in insurance, she suffered emotionally after the burglary. She had disturbed sleep patterns as she struggled to deal with the extent of the loss of property – constantly searching to identify what else had been stolen. She has ongoing feelings of vulnerability, a sense of caution and fear as she returns home from work, and it is with trepidation that she now enter her home.  She experiences an ongoing sense of uneasiness as she enters the laundry – half expecting to see a male figure at the window.

The complainant made an insurance claim with her insurer, AIG Australia Limited, and received $21,187.96.

The State seeks a compensation order in favour of AIG Australia Limited in the sum $21,187.96. Pursuant to s 68(1) of the Sentencing Act 1997, I make that order.

The State also seeks a compensation order in favour of the first complainant, Ms W, in the sum of $5,070, being $4,970 of the $7,000 cash, as $530 was recovered, and $1,500 was able to be claimed on insurance; and for $100 that was in a purse that was not recovered and could not be claimed on insurance as the threshold for cash had been met. Pursuant to s 68(1) of the Sentencing Act 1997, I make an order in that sum in favour of Ms W.

The defendant had a troubled childhood and did not attend school beyond year 6. He was brought up without a role model and he chose very much the wrong associates. He is functionally illiterate, although he has obtained basic trade qualifications in prison and is employable on his release. He has been drug-free for the last 300 odd days, the period he has spent in custody in respect of his present offending. He wants to make a fresh start and turn his life around.

He has spent a significant amount of his adult life in prison, having turned to crime to fund his drug use. He started by stealing from his mother and selling items from the house. He used only cannabis from age 8 to age 22, but was then introduced by his associates to Ice and cocaine. He spiralled into the commission of crimes to fund his drug addiction. He was first imprisoned in 2012 for aggravated burglary.  He would start using drugs within days of being released from prison.

I sought an assessment of the defendant as to his suitability for a Drug Treatment Order. Of significant concern to the CMD team was the defendant’s history of offending. The defendant has also been charged with other offences which were of concern to the CMD team, apart from the wounding charge and the Criminal Code assault for which he was required to serve 15 months’ imprisonment in 2014.  His other crimes include numerous charges of aggravated burglary, negligent driving, evade police, assaulting a police officer, firearms offences, and drug-related offending.

The defendant has therefore been deemed unsuitable for a DTO, and he is not suitable for community service.  I have, however, been told today that that, in large measure, is due to the lack of strength in the numbers of the Community Corrections officers.

The defendant has a terrible record of offending and at the time of these crimes had only recently served a substantial sentence for the commission of similar crimes. He is not of course to be sentenced for his record. And any sentence should not be crushing, given his desire to turn his life around and the prospect that this is achievable, given his recent lengthy abstinence from illicit drugs and the acquisition of basic trade skills in prison.

As burglaries go in Tasmania, these were fairly serious, and were made the more serious by the theft of firearms, although I note they were recovered. There are no significant mitigating features, although the defendant is entitled to a full discount on an otherwise appropriate sentence in recognition of his early pleas of guilty, which appear to confirm his expressed remorse for his offending.

The defendant is convicted on each of the counts and charges to which he has pleaded guilty, and I impose a single sentence of two years’ imprisonment. That sentence includes a significant discount in recognition of the defendant’s early pleas of guilty. I order that he is not to be eligible for parole until he has served half of that sentence. The sentence is backdated to 2 September 2019 to take account of the time already spent in custody.

In addition, I make a Community Corrections order for a period of 12 months, and in addition to the statutory core conditions, I order special conditions that the defendant be under the supervision of a probation officer, and that the defendant undertake and satisfactorily complete the EQUIPS addiction program.

In respect of complaint 7719/19, I discharge the defendant.