STATE OF TASMANIA v GEORGIA-MAY SMITH 21 MAY 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Georgia-May Smith, you plead guilty to attempted aggravated car-jacking. In around December 2020 you became friends with Sumit Mainalai. At about 9 pm on Tuesday 5 January 2021 you phoned Mr Mainalai to invite him to your home in Invermay. You wanted him to give you a lift. He was driven there by his friend Abdulaziz Ali in Mr Ali’s Toyota Corolla. When the men arrived you came to the car in the company of another female and a male. With the other female you got into the back seat and you began to act towards both men in an aggressive and intimidating way. After leaving the car you walked to Mr Ali’s driver’s window. You reached in and tried to grab the keys from the ignition. He tried to stop you. You struggled over the keys for about three minutes. The force you applied to him in the course of that struggle is an assault but it was minor. More significantly, while you were struggling over the key, your female associate began to punch Mr Mainalai to his back and shoulder as he tried to help Mr Ali. You are also criminally responsible for that violence, although Mr Mainalai was not injured. The male also assaulted Mr Ali. He was armed with some type of weapon, a pole. When Mr Ali managed to get the key into his pocket you urged the others to “get him.” When Mr Mainalai ran from the car pretending to have taken the key, you and your companions pursued him until he escaped into a neighbouring residence. After giving up the chase you returned to the car. Some personal belongings of both men were stolen but the State does not assert that you are responsible for the stealing. Nor does the State assert that you are responsible for any of the violence perpetrated by the male.
Your involvement in the crime was quickly established. You were arrested and charged on 11 January 2021 and you have been in custody since then.
You were then, and still are, aged 19. You had a good upbringing. Your mother and father are supportive of you. You are entitled to an NDIS package for schizophrenia, but it is not asserted that your condition contributed to this crime. Your recent criminal record is a matter of considerable concern. As so often seems to be the case, it is substantially driven by addiction to methylamphetamine. In the first part of 2020 you committed a series of offences, three instances of stealing in the nature of shoplifting, one of using methylamphetamine, possessing a prohibited firearm, motor vehicle stealing and destroying property. One other instance of planned shoplifting committed on 27 April 2020 turned into something more serious. When confronted by a person from a store from which you and the same female associate had stolen property, you assaulted him. It thus became an aggravated robbery. In May 2020 a magistrate made a community correction order for nine months. On 5 August 2020 a judge sentenced you to imprisonment for six months for one count of stealing and the aggravated robbery. You had spent 45 days in custody before then. The balance of the six month sentence, which on my calculations is 138 days, was suspended on condition that you do not commit any other offence punishable by imprisonment. His Honour also imposed a condition that you be subject to the supervision of a probation officer for 18 months, and participate in programs to address your addiction. At the time you were warned, in very strong terms, that if you breached that condition you would have to serve that term. His Honour told you how important it was to take advantage of the chance you were offered to address your addiction, and that you should do everything in your power to stay away from the drug. You did not follow his advice. Within a month or so you were back shoplifting. On 19 February 2021 you were sentenced by a magistrate to prison for 14 days for offences which included five counts of stealing committed in September, October and December 2020. The crime for which I am now to sentence you was committed on 5 January 2021. The 14 day sentence imposed by the magistrate commenced on 11 January 2021, the day you were taken into custody. Any sentence I impose must therefore commence on 25 January 2021.
Although those offences breached the suspended sentence which was in force at the time, no application was made to the magistrate in February that it be activated. However an application has now been made to me. The crime you committed is another breach of the suspended sentence condition and so I must activate the six month term unless I am satisfied that it is unjust to do so, and you do not claim that to be so. I will therefore activate the balance of the term of the six month suspended sentence.
It remains for me to sentence you for the attempted aggravated carjacking.
It is in your favour that you have pleaded guilty and that you gave an early indication of that to the prosecution. The crime you committed is serious, although less serious than some other completed examples of the crime. You were not successful in stealing the car, but you tried hard to do so. The assaults on Mr Ali and Mr Mainalai did not result in physical injury but the experience was no doubt frightening for them. The crime was committed while you were subject to the suspended sentence and to supervision. For those reasons a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate. The circumstances of the crime suggest that your life was chaotic and out of control, and that you did not take the warnings that you had received seriously enough. I have little doubt that this is driven by continuing use of methylamphetamine. You must by now understand that it is something that you must deal with urgently. I considered having you assessed for the making of a drug treatment order. However I have concluded, as your counsel has submitted, that a further wholly suspended sentence is the appropriate order. You have already spent more than four months in custody. Hopefully that has resulted in a period of abstinence from drugs. The report from Community Corrections indicates that you will be accepted for a further period of supervision even though your compliance with the previous orders has been average at best. They, with your NDIS package, can assist you with housing and with access to programs. It will be up to you to take advantage of the further chance that I am offering you. If you do so then everyone will be better off. However if you continue to commit offences after your release it will almost certainly mean that you will go back to prison.
Georgia-May Smith, I order that the 138 day suspended part of the sentence imposed on 5 August 2020 be activated and served from 25 January 2021. It will be a matter for the authorities but I would calculate your latest release date for that activated sentence as Friday 11 June 2021. On the indictment you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for five months, wholly suspended for 18 months from today on the following conditions:
- You are not to commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during that period. If you breach that condition you will be required to serve that term unless that is unjust.
- During the 18 month operational period of the order, commencing today, you will subject to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer. The conditions referred to in s 24(5B) of the Sentencing Act apply to this condition and will be set out in the order you will be given. These include that you must report to a Community Corrections officer within three clear days of your release.
- In addition to the core conditions, the order will also include the following special conditions that you must, during the operational period of the order:
- attend educational and other programs as directed by the Court or a Community Corrections officer;
- submit to the supervision of a Community Corrections officer as required by that officer;
- undergo assessment and treatment for drug dependency as directed by a Community Corrections officer;
- submit to testing for drug use as directed by such an officer;
- submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a Community Corrections officer;
- attend and complete the EQUIPS addition program as directed by a Community Corrections officer.