STATE OF TASMANIA v N M M WOOD J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 29 APRIL 2019
You have breached the conditions of a partially suspended detention order.
On 19 October 2018, you were sentenced for the crime of aggravated armed robbery. I imposed a period of detention of 18 months, backdated to 24 March 2018. The balance of the term, being almost 11 months, was suspended for a period of 18 months. The conditions of suspension included an obligation that you not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment, that you obey the reasonable and lawful instructions of your Youth Justice Worker, that you undergo psychological and drug counselling and treatment, that you live at a certain address being, the home of your great-aunt, a curfew condition and an obligation that you complete 70 hours of unpaid community work. I stated to you, very clearly, that if you breached the conditions, you may expect to be brought back to Court and serve the detention order.
Initially, you responded well to the support that was provided, your initial engagement with community service was excellent, you attended each appointment. At first, your attendance with Save the Children was also excellent, with weekly contact.
On 10 November 2018, you breached a condition of the order I had imposed by committing an offence of stealing involving the theft of about $100 from a tip jar in a restaurant. You were sentenced to 30 hours of community service for that offence.
Your response to the order then further deteriorated. Your Youth Justice Worker, Mr Beard, noted that your engagement with services fell away, and this happened at a time when the services were closed over the Christmas period. When the services returned, you were no longer living with your great-aunt and had disengaged from supervision by Youth Justice. For a period from 11 to 23 January 2019, you did not reside at the specified address of your great-aunt’s home, except for one night, breaching your residential condition on 11 occasions, and also your curfew obligation. You further breached the conditions of the suspended detention order by failing to inform Youth Justice of where you were staying, you also failed to attend an appointment with a psychologist at Clare House in January. On four occasions in January you failed to attend sessions to perform community service.
The matter was before me by way of breach of proceedings, and I was provided with a report from Mr Beard, dated 1 March 2019. The report informed me of a number of matters. You spent short periods of time on remand since the sentence in October. You have been on remand for a continuous period since 31 January and, during that time whilst at Ashley Detention Centre, your behaviour and attitude was very poor.
You breached the conditions of the suspended detention order comprehensively to the point where supervision under the order and community service was non-existent. The matter was then before me for finalisation on 13 March. At that time, you were not showing any level of commitment to make the sensible and responsible choices that were necessary, and you were not making any effort to engage with Youth Justice.
When the matter was before the Court on 13 March, I explained to you that if I finalised the matter that day, I was going to restore part of the suspended detention order. I would have taken into account the additional periods of time that you had spent on remand and I would have reduced the sentence to reflect those periods. If I had activated the sentence then the activated period would have been reduced to some 8 months and 3 weeks of detention.
Noting today that you have now served a total of 117 days in custody, if the sentence was activated today the period would be reduced to some 7 months. I also would allow a further reduction to take account of the fact that you had carried out some 24 of your 70 hours of community service. If I was to deal with the matter today, it is plain from everything I have said, that you still face a significant period of time in Ashley Detention Centre.
What happened on the 13th of March was that there was some discussion with your counsel and it became clear that you wanted the opportunity to demonstrate improvement in your behaviour. You were then given that opportunity and there were then a further two adjournments. The reports that I was received showed some promise and I allowed further adjournments to give you the chance to show further improvement. Your response since the most recent adjournment has been very positive.
Overall there has been significant improvement in your behaviour. You have progressed from orange to yellow with respect to Ashley Detention Centre’s coding system, and it seems that it would have been green today, but for your decision to stay in your room, and that decision is said to be the right decision in the circumstances. So, the fact that you have gone back up to orange won’t count against you today. There is improvement in your attitude towards staff, you are showing respect towards staff, you have attended a total of 11 appointments with your psychologist at Ashley Detention Centre and you are willing to continue with appointments in the community.
You have done particularly well with your schooling and I am very pleased with a report from Maureen Lewis, previously known as Maureen Ward. Maureen Lewis says:
“This summary cannot express enough the excellent progress [N M M] has shown over the weeks. His communication with staff and others is polite and very respectful. He obeys the rules and has not been involved in any incidents. Of significance, [N M M] has attended all programs as directed, and has continued to see the psychologist for therapeutic intervention. I have been very impressed with [N M M’s] sincere efforts to improve his life. He is currently completing college work, which hopefully he will transition into the community. He is very keen to be released, and keen to show that he can move forward in his life.”
It is rare to read such a positive report.
I note that the education that you have been pursuing over the last term has been college work, and it seems important that that should continue and if you are interested in pursuing paid work, over the next couple of years, it would be ideal if you could also obtain your college qualification. You are clearly an able and intelligent person.
I note, having heard from Mr Beard this afternoon that supports are in place and significantly and perhaps most importantly of all, your great-aunt continues to offer her support and she is very happy to have you live with her if you are released today. I see this as very important to your rehabilitation and continued progress.
In light of your progress I am satisfied that the order I should make today is as follows:
I am going to continue the suspended detention order as it is, with some slight amendments. This is an order that is made under s 94(4)(a) and ( c ) of the Youth Justice Act. I will turn to that order now.
Special condition (b), that is the home address, is amended to reinstate his great aunt’s address, so that is the original condition and special condition (c), which is the curfew condition, that is amended so that it now reads “unless in the company of his great-aunt, … or his great-uncle …”. So that means that you can leave the house outside those curfew house if you are in the company of either your great-aunt or your great-uncle. You will remember that this order was made on 19 October 2018 and it is in place for 18 months, and I continue that order with those amendments.
I don’t need to explain the consequences of you breaching the order. I think you understand that perhaps better than most people do given your recent experience. You know how important the opportunity is that I am providing you today. You understand that the suspended detention order remains in place and I don’t need to explain that you have been given this opportunity because you have demonstrated that you can make significant improvement and progress when you put your mind to it and I hope very much that you continue to make those efforts.