STATE OF TASMANIA v K M 16 AUGUST 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
K M, you have been found guilty of the crime of aggravated armed robbery.
The crime was committed by you while in company with another male person on 15 February 2019. You followed, confronted and eventually robbed a man who was riding his mountain bike home from the CBD in the early hours of the morning. Although when confronted he was in fear, understandably, he remained calm and did not resist your demands. Despite this, you produced a knife and told him that unless he handed over his bicycle you would stab him. I will proceed on the basis that you had come across the man by chance and the crime was not premeditated. Of course, the fact that you were armed with a knife, and you and your accomplice were riding around on bicycles, apparently aimlessly, in and around the CBD at that time of the morning, might suggest a general expectation of criminal or at least improper conduct. However, I will proceed on the basis that you did not have any specific preformed plan to rob the man who was the victim of your crime.
Your victim is a citizen and resident of Sweden, but, at the time, he was living and working in Launceston. He was terrified during the incident and has since returned to Sweden. He continues to suffer anxiety and other psychological consequences as a result of his experience.
Your criminal history is a matter of great concern. You were 16 years of age when you committed this crime and you are 17 now. Your serious offending commenced when you were 14 years of age. On 6 July 2017, you were sentenced to a partially suspended detention order and probation for an attempted aggravated robbery and other offences. On 4 September 2017, you were sentenced by me for a serious armed robbery which related to you using a large knife to threaten a service station attendant, so that you could rob him. I dealt with you leniently on that occasion, imposing a wholly suspended detention order and community service. Two months later, you committed an extremely serious aggravated armed robbery which involved a home invasion and again used a weapon, a machete this time, to threaten the homeowner for the purpose of stealing from him. You were sentenced by Pearce J on 24 April for this crime. His Honour imposed a detention order which was partially suspended. It seems that on the day you were sentenced, you committed the crime of wounding, and you subsequently received a further sentence for this. As a result of the accumulation of these sentences, you remained in detention until 4 November 2018. However, the suspended part of the detention order imposed by Pearce J was for a period of 12 months, and you were subject to this sentence when you committed the crime with which I am dealing. An application has been made by the prosecution for you to be dealt with in relation to that sentence.
You were arrested for this crime on the day of its commission, and have been held in custody since that time. On 30 May 2019, you were sentenced by a magistrate to an aggregate of 12 months’ detention for various offences, including some committed after your remand in custody. This sentence was backdated to 15 February and your earliest release date in respect of this sentence is today.
I have received a comprehensive report concerning your background from Youth Justice. Despite your supportive family, you have developed a very serious problem with the use of illicit drugs, including methylamphetamine. Your parents believe that your drug problem explains your ongoing criminal conduct. I think it is probably much more complicated than that, but I also have no doubt that while you are taking drugs you have no real hope of getting yourself away from your current pattern of behaviour and of leading a law abiding life. You are fast approaching your adult years, and if you do not develop the commitment and the skills required to overcome that problem and make better decisions, you are destined for a very unhappy life. The report recommends a period of detention followed by probation supervision. It also recommends that I should deal with you under the Youth Justice Act, because there are some indications that you are starting to develop some maturity and insight into the effect that your continued offending is having on your life. Hopefully, this means that you are starting to look to the future and to think about the impact of your offending on yourself and others. I will accept that recommendation. However, quite frankly, there is no alternative to a significant period of detention in this case. I know you have been in detention now for a large part of the last two years, but a further extended period of detention will give you the opportunity to benefit from the educational and developmental resources available in Ashley, and will hopefully ensure your abstinence from drugs. I note also that the positive aspects of your behaviour and attitude seem to relate to your time in Ashley.
Given the serious nature of the breach offence and the fact that it was committed so soon after your release from detention, you should be required to serve the suspended detention. I will also impose a further sentence which will be limited by the statutory requirement which limits the aggregate period of detention to 2 years. I accept the recommendation to impose a probation order thereafter.
The orders I make are as follows:
1 You are convicted of the crime of which you have been found guilty.
2 The suspended detention order of 12 months imposed by Pearce J on 22 April 2018 is restored and will be served by you. That order will take effect from today. The earliest release date in respect of that order is 17 February 2020.
3 In respect of the crime of aggravated armed robbery, I make a detention order for a period of 12 months which will be served cumulatively upon the restored suspended detention order. This means that the order will take effect on 17 February 2020 and the earliest release date in respect of that order is 18 August 2020. On my understanding of the operation of the sentences, you will subject to supervised release from that date for a period of 12 months, that is six months relating to the restored suspended order and six months relating to the detention order which I have imposed today.
4 I also make a probation order which will commence on the date of your actual release from detention and remain in force for a period of 12 months. All of the usual conditions of a probation order will apply, but there will also be special conditions as follows:
(a) you must attend educational, personal, health and other programs as directed by the assigned youth justice worker;
(b) you must abstain from using controlled substances;
(c) you must, as directed by the Secretary, submit to testing for controlled substances or alcohol;
(d) you must reside at an address approved by the assigned youth justice worker;
(e) you must undergo medical, psychiatric, psychological and drug counselling and treatment as directed by the assigned youth justice worker.
5 For the purposes of s 107 of the Youth Justice Act, I specify that these orders are made under Part 4 of the Act and that the responsible department in relation to the Act is to be responsible for all or any matters relating to the administration of these orders.