STATE OF TASMANIA v ZACHARY ALLAN PARKER 12 AUGUST 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Zachary Parker, you plead guilty to aggravated burglary, stealing a firearm, stealing and unlawful trafficking in firearms. I also agreed to deal with your pleas of guilty to the summary charges of possessing ammunition without a licence and possessing a controlled drug. On Thursday 20 February 2020 you spent the day with your friend Lane Dwyer. It was your intention to socialise with him, and in the early afternoon he suggested you drive to Longford. Unknown to you, he was heavily addicted to methylamphetamine, and his intention was to look for things to steal to fund his addiction. He directed you to stop at a particular property. After looking in the letterbox he went in, checked the doors, and entered through the front door. By then you realised he intended dishonesty. After a few minutes he beckoned you inside and you complied. Together you removed a large home-made gun safe from the wall of a room inside. You dragged the safe out of the house and loaded it onto your utility. The safe contained fourteen firearms worth almost $9,000 and a large amount of ammunition of various calibre to the value of about $2,000. There was one .22 semi-automatic pistol. The rest were either rifles or shotguns. One of the rifles was an air rifle. Mr Dwyer also stole a mountain bike worth almost $6,000, a jacket and an iPhone. You were party to the theft of the bicycle but not the other items. Mr Dwyer then drove your car to a place about 20 kilometres away where you dumped the safe and some of the ammunition in a paddock after removing the guns and the rest of the ammunition. You took the bike and one of the shotguns to a home in Hadspen intending that you keep those items. You then went to your home in Prospect where you transferred the rest of the guns to another vehicle which you drove to the home in Newnham where Mr Dwyer was living.
Mr Dwyer was identified from CCTV installed in the property. The next day, 21 February, the police executed a search warrant at the Newnham property. You were both there. You were in possession of a trigger lock and two snap lock bags containing a total of 1.03 grams of methylamphetamine. One shotgun, the air rifle and some ammunition were in the garage. Four rifles were still in the car.
Following your arrest you were taken into custody. You directed the police to the dumped gun safe and ammunition and to the place in Hadspen from where a shotgun and the mountain bike were found. Another gun was later returned through Mr Dwyer’s parents. In all, ten of the firearms have been recovered. There are four outstanding, a Smith and Wesson .22 semi-automatic pistol, a BSA bolt action 243 rifle, a Bruno .270 rifle and a Lanber 12 gauge shotgun.
When interviewed by the police you admitted what you had done. The State accepts that you were not the principal offender. Mr Dwyer instigated the theft. You did not realise his plan until it was well progressed and by then you did not have the fortitude to withdraw. You formed an intention to gain from the theft but only to the extent of the bicycle and firearm left at Hadspen. You did not sell the firearms or participate in the sale. You quickly told the police everything you knew. You trafficked in the firearms only by conveying them from one place to another.
You are now aged 29. It is in your favour that you have pleaded guilty and that you admitted to the police what you had done. You are the full-time carer of your child aged 8 and you live with your father. You are close to your extended family. You are in a relationship and your partner is a good influence. You had a good industrial record in warehousing and hospitality until your ability to work was affected by your health. You suffer from both palindromic and rheumatoid arthritis. Your affliction is debilitating and long term and you require treatment in the form of weekly injections. Your record is mostly for driving offences, although in 2013 you were fined for two relatively minor counts of stealing. There are also some drug related convictions; for driving with an illicit drug in 2016, selling possessing and using a controlled drug in 2016, and then possessing methylamphetamine in 2019. You have no other convictions for dishonesty and you have not been the subject of any sentence involving community service or imprisonment. You spent four days in custody following your arrest on 21 February 2020.
Stealing firearms and trafficking in firearms are serious crimes. Trafficking in firearms is the most serious in the hierarchy of offences provided for in the Firearms Act. There is a strong link between stolen firearms and crimes involving violence and dishonesty. Stolen firearms are taken beyond the control of the regulatory authorities and almost inevitably end up in the hands of criminals. Although some of the firearms you took were recovered, four, including a semi-automatic pistol, were not. General deterrence is a very strong sentencing factor. Mr Dwyer was sentenced to imprisonment for 15 months, with six months of that term suspended. However, in light of the level of your participation, I accept the submission of your counsel that yours is not a particularly serious example of trafficking. Although you are criminally responsible for the same crimes, I regard your blameworthiness as much less than that of Mr Dwyer. As an alternative to imprisonment I sought a report of your suitability for home detention. However you have been assessed as unsuitable. That is so because you have, for a prolonged period, been using cannabis as a means of controlling the symptoms arising from your medical condition. You express doubt as to whether you may be able to comply with the condition of a home detention order that you not use an illicit drug. A special condition to that effect is routinely imposed. The Sentencing Act does not expressly require such a condition, but it does so impliedly by requiring a condition that you not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment and that you submit to testing for the presence of an illicit drug. The Court does not condone cannabis use but, on the other hand, a sentencing order should not set you up to fail.
I have concluded that a wholly suspended sentence, coupled with a condition requiring supervision in the community, is a more suitable sentencing order, even though you must understand it will remain a condition of such an order that you not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment.
Zachary Parker, you are convicted on counts 1, 2, 3 and 5 of the indictment and on counts 1, 2 and 3 on complaint 30877/2020. I make a compensation order in favour of the owner of the stolen items whose name will be specified on the formal order, and adjourn the further terms of that order to a date to be fixed. I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to imprisonment for nine months, wholly suspended for two years from today. It is a condition of that order that while it is in force you do not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment. If you breach that condition then a court must order that you serve that term unless it is unjust. I impose a further condition that, during the period the order is in force, you are to be subject to the supervision of a probation officer. The conditions which the law imposes on that order include that you must report to a probation officer at 111-113 Cameron Street, Launceston on or before 5pm on 13 August 2020 and that you must, during the operational period of the order, that is, for two years, comply with the reasonable and lawful directions of a probation officer. I impose special conditions that you must attend educational and other programs, undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol or drug dependency, submit to testing for alcohol or drug use and submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer. If you breach any of those conditions you may be brought back to court and re-sentenced.