STATE OF TASMANIA v JAKE PAUL MOLTONI 30 JANUARY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr Moltoni has pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court to two charges of dangerous driving. He has also pleaded guilty to 11 related summary offences which I will deal with under s 385A of the Criminal Code. These charges relate to two separate incidents, less than two months apart.
The first incident was on the night of 29 August 2019. Mr Moltoni has never held a driver’s licence. He was driving a vehicle whose registration had expired at about 11.15pm in the Glenorchy area. Police officers checked the vehicle’s registration, found it had expired, decided to intercept the vehicle, and activated their emergency lights and sirens near the intersection of Derwent Park Road and the Brooker Highway. Mr Moltoni did not stop, but accelerated to get away from them. He drove for about 1.8 kilometres through suburban streets before the police were able to intercept him, driving at up to 120 Km/h. At one stage he made a sharp u-turn, mounting a footpath, and then driving towards a police vehicle. The police moved their vehicle and thereby avoided a collision. By the time they intercepted Mr Moltoni’s vehicle, both tyres on its left side were flat. Mr Moltoni drove onto another footpath, stopped, got out, and fled, jumping over a number of rear fences before he was arrested. He took part in an interview in which he made significant admissions. In particular, he admitted that he had smoked three points of methylamphetamine about 22 hours previously, and that he was not in control of his actions. In relation to that escapade, he has pleaded guilty to five summary offences: evading police, driving whilst unlicensed, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving an uninsured vehicle, and driving with a drug (methylamphetamine) in his oral fluid. At the time he was on bail on another charge, with a bail condition requiring him to be at his home between 9pm and 8am each night. He breached that condition by being out at around 11.15pm. I am not dealing with a charge of breach of bail. However it counts against him that he committed these offences whilst on bail. Also, because he evaded the police to avoid interception as a result of having contravened the bail order, higher maximum penalties apply on the charge of evading police.
Mr Moltoni was held in custody for 14 days after that escapade, but was granted bail on 11 September, and re-offended on 20 October. That afternoon, police officers observed a vehicle that he was driving in Kingston. He had four passengers. The vehicle had a cracked windscreen. The police checked its registration. It had expired nine days previously. They activated emergency lights and sirens in an attempt to intercept the vehicle. Once again, Mr Moltoni did not stop, but accelerated with a view to evading the police. He suddenly stopped and let his passengers out. I accept that he did that with their safety in mind. With both the left hand doors open, he reversed the vehicle, almost hitting one of his passengers, and striking a speed sign with one of the doors. He then drove about five kilometres through suburban streets with the police in pursuit. He reached speeds of up to 100 Km/h. He travelled along the Channel Highway, crossing double white centre lines to overtake other vehicles. He did that again on Algona Road. A number of oncoming vehicles had to swerve to avoid colliding with his vehicle. By that stage, the front left tyre was completely shredded and that wheel was being driven on its rim. Mr Moltoni drove over a speed sign and into an embankment, abandoned the vehicle, and tried to run away. He jumped a fence and entered a private property. He was found hiding underneath a car. He was arrested, and has been in custody ever since. Police officers searched the vehicle and found a homemade firearm, made from a spear gun handle and other components. It could not fire, but had the appearance of a firearm, and therefore was one for the purposes of the Firearms Act 1996. There is no suggestion that Mr Moltoni ever intended to do anything unlawful with that firearm. Once again, he took part in an interview with the police and made significant admissions. He admitted that he had shared seven points of methylamphetamine with some people the previous night. He was on bail on various charges at the time of this incident. One of his bail conditions required him not to drive a motor vehicle. Once again, because he evaded the police to avoid interception as a result of having contravened a bail order, higher maximum penalties apply on the charge of evading police.
In respect of this incident, he has pleaded guilty to six summary offences: evading police, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving without a licence, breach of the bail condition, and possessing an unlicensed firearm.
Mr Moltoni was 18 years old at the time of the first incident and turned 19 before the second one. He has not been sentenced to imprisonment before, but he has been ordered to perform community service in the past under the Youth Justice Act 1997 for two assaults, two petty stealing offences, and a charge of disorderly conduct. He has two other convictions for disorderly conduct in 2018. It counts in his favour that he has not been to prison before, that he co-operated with the police by making admissions after each arrest, and that he has pleaded guilty to all the charges. Because he is young and immature, I will impose more lenient penalties than I would impose on an older offender.
It is also relevant that he had a very chaotic childhood and adolescence. I was told by his counsel that, before getting involved with drugs at around the age of 16, he excelled at various sports to the extent that he was sponsored by a well known company. Since he has been in custody over the last few months, he is now completely drug free, and his counsel told me that he wants to head in the right direction, to become involved in sports again, to find work, and to make something of his life.
It is lucky that nobody was killed or injured on either of the two occasions that I am concerned with. Obviously a prison sentence is called for. I have obtained a report from a probation officer, who has recommended that I make a community correction order, to take effect after Mr Moltoni is released from prison. He is considered suitable for community service. I have to impose separate penalties on each of the charges of evading police. I have decided that I will make a series of orders that will result in Mr Moltoni spending some more time in prison, but that that will include a partly suspended sentence so when he comes out of prison he will have several months of imprisonment hanging over his head, and will be at risk of going back in if he re-offends. I will also be making a probation order and requiring him to perform some community service.
Jake Paul Moltoni, I convict you on all charges. On the two charges of dangerous driving, as global penalties, firstly I sentence you to 15 months’ imprisonment with effect from 6 October 2019. I suspend seven months of that sentence on conditions that (a) you are not to commit any offence punishable by imprisonment within two years from today; and (b) you are to perform community service in accordance with the community correction order that I am about to make. Secondly, I make a community correction order, to operate for 12 months from your release from prison, with special conditions that (a) during that period you are to submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer; (b) during that period you must satisfactorily perform 84 hours of community service as directed by a probation officer or a supervisor; (c) during that period you must undergo assessment and treatment for drug dependency as directed by a probation officer; (d) during that period you must submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer; and (e) you must attend, participate in and complete the EQUIPS Addiction Program as directed by a probation officer.
On the first charge of evading police (count 1 on complaint 8116/19), I sentence you to a cumulative term of one month’s imprisonment. On the second charge of evading police (count 1 on complaint 9735/19), I sentence you to a cumulative term of two months’ imprisonment.
I order that you be disqualified from driving for three years from today.
For the purposes of s 92A of the Sentencing Act 1997, I specify that (a) you are not eligible for parole in respect of any of these sentences; and (b) the total term of imprisonment that you are liable to serve for all three of these sentences of imprisonment is 18 months, of which seven months is suspended.
In respect of the summary offences other than evading police, I do not think there is any need to impose any penalties in addition to the convictions.