STATE OF TASMANIA v MELISSA JOY MACE 2 JULY 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PORTER AJ
Ms Mace, the defendant, has pleaded guilty to one count of making a false declaration. I am also dealing with her pleas of guilty to four summary offences. They are possessing stolen firearms, possessing a firearm with identification marks altered or defaced, possessing a firearm when not the holder of an appropriate firearms licence, and failing to take precautions to ensure safekeeping of a firearm. All charges relate to the defendant’s possession in her home on 30 June 2016, of two firearms. On that day, police executed a search warrant. Two firearms were found in the roof cavity. They were a .22 bolt action rifle that had a serial number, and a further .22 rifle, a Clayco, which had had the serial number ground off. On the same day, the defendant made a statutory declaration before a police officer, stating that she had never before seen either of the firearms located in the cavity, and was not sure how they came to be there. Nearly five months later, the defendant was interviewed about the matter. During that interview she said that she knew the firearms were in the roof cavity, that they were most likely left there by her brother, and that she had lied to police because she “didn’t want to be caught with the shit”. The Crown does not assert that the false declaration had wider implications in the sense of impeding an ongoing investigation. The search solely arose from information received as to the whereabouts of illegal firearms. The truth may however, have assisted police in relation to dealings in illegal weapons.
The defendant is now 33 years old, a single mother with two children aged 9 and 10 from a previous relationship. She has no recorded history of offending of any significance at all. Other relevant personal circumstances are as follows. The defendant had some difficulties in her childhood, with her father being an alcoholic and she having a poor relationship with him, and her mother dying when the defendant was 15. After leaving school the defendant worked until she was about 23 at which time she had her first child. She has not had paid employment since. I am told that she has suffered with depression for a considerable time including during the period in which these offences were committed. Since these events, she has suffered two miscarriages which has affected her deeply. She was involved in what was described as “a particularly nasty family violence relationship” which involved the infliction of physical violence. That relationship has ended. She still suffers variably from depression, but at the moment does not require medication. I am told her mental health is stable. As to the offending, about six weeks before the police search, the defendant first found the firearms on the top of a hot water cylinder in her house, and suspected that her brother had put them there. The defendant was protective of her brother and fearful of the consequences for him and his associates, if she had reported the matter to police. She was also fearful for her own situation and that of her children. Due to her depression and the medication she was taking for that, she was lethargic and not thinking clearly. This is not offered as an excuse, but as an explanation. She asked a neighbour, who was also a friend of her brother, to put the firearms in the roof of her house out of reach of the children. She felt that was the safest thing to do. The reasons behind her having the firearm secreted in the roof were the same reasons she made a false declaration to police. I am told, and I accept, that her knowledge of, and contact with, the firearms were limited. I take into account the defendant’s personal circumstances including the lack of relevant prior convictions, and of any real offending history at all. I take into account the pleas of guilty which, although late, do have practical value. Some of the delay is explained on the basis of difficulties in her providing instructions, and the matter has now been resolved in accordance with a proposal sent to the Crown in October 2018. Having said that, the subject matter of the offending is illegal firearms, and the handling and storage of such firearms is a very serious matter in the context of the safety of the community. All of the summary offences faced are punishable by imprisonment. Making the false declaration had the potential to undermine the administration of justice in that context. General deterrence and condemnation are important factors but I think there is a relatively low degree of culpability, and I accept there is very little risk of the defendant committing further offences.
Ms Mace, I have set out what I see to be the relevant factors in your case. There needs to be a penalty that reflects the seriousness of the matter, but at the same time recognises the circumstances, in particular the personal difficulties you had, and encountered, when you discovered the firearms. You are convicted of all matters and I make a community corrections order for six months, a condition of which is that you perform 48 hours of community service, as directed by a probation officer, within that time. You will have to report to a probation officer at 111 Cameron Street Launceston before 5pm on 4 July.