STATE OF TASMANIA v STEVEN ALBERT THOMAS 10 DECEMBER 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE GEASON J
Mr Thomas you appear for sentence today upon your plea of guilty to two counts of dangerous driving, assaulting a police officer and carjacking.
I am also dealing with two charges of evading police, and two charges of driving whilst disqualified. These matters come before me upon your application under s 385A of the Criminal Code.
The Court has heard a detailed statement of facts, and for the purposes of sentencing I will summarise the conduct which places you before the Court.
The two charges of dangerous driving arise from separate acts of driving on the same day, in December 2018.
The first count arises this way. At about 1pm on 20 December police officers were on mobile patrol in Glenorchy. They observed a vehicle turning onto Sunlea Place and observed you to be the driver.
Your vehicle was followed and police attempted to intercept you. However you accelerated away. You were observed turning into Tolosa Street and then left onto Burton Street. You drove on the wrong side of Burton Street into Barossa Road, and towards Kalang Avenue. You were travelling at 80 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. The road was wet. You were observed to have two passengers in your vehicle.
Police ceased their pursuit on Barossa Road.
About 40 minutes later the same officers were travelling on Main Road in Berriedale when they observed your vehicle on Mentmore Street waiting to turn onto Main Road. They stopped behind your vehicle. Lights and sirens were activated. You ignored these and travelled onto Main Road directly in front of traffic travelling in both directions, some of which were forced to take evasive action by swerving to avoid you.
You were then observed driving onto the incorrect side of the road and travelling towards Glenorchy. At about quarter to two that day, two officers were attending a single vehicle crash scene on Grass Tree Hill Road in Risdon Vale. Your vehicle was observed travelling east along Grass Tree Hill Road at an excessive speed. Police indicated to you that you were to slow down. However you accelerated, travelling around a bend at nearly 80 km/h, before your vehicle was heard sliding on wet bitumen and apparently crashing. One of the officers ran towards your vehicle yelling for you and your passengers to get out of the car.
The police officer was able to get in front of your vehicle and she attempted to stop you from driving any further. Instead you drove at her and you were observed to yell something at her as you did. She had to take evasive action, and it is her belief that had she not done so you have would run her over.
At about 2pm that day you were travelling on the Tasman Highway. There you came upon a green Mazda BT50 utility, which was stationary, and waiting for a break in traffic in order to merge with traffic.
You parked your vehicle at an angle blocking other traffic and went to the driver’s door of that car and told the driver to get out. You said that if he did not you would kill him. He remained seated whereupon you grabbed him and dragged him from the vehicle. You took his vehicle and headed away leaving your own passengers behind.
The second count of dangerous driving begins at this point.
You were observed on the Tasman Highway at Midway Point. By this stage police had authorised the use of road spikes to stop you. These were deployed. They punctured the front passenger tyre of the vehicle. However you did not stop. Instead you continued along the Tasman Highway. You were observed to cross onto the incorrect side of the road, and you sideswiped another vehicle. Fortunately, the passengers in that vehicle were not injured.
At about 2.40pm you were seen travelling over the Tasman Bridge. By this stage the front passenger tyre of the vehicle had completely disintegrated and the vehicle was being driven on the rim. It appeared to police that you were struggling to maintain control of vehicle. You turned left at the exit ramp towards the Botanical Gardens and travelled north on the Brooker Highway.
Police placed a vehicle at a point where they anticipated you would go, but you travelled past that point and continued north along the Brooker Highway. Police followed you with their emergency lights activated.
You continued towards the intersection of Ashbolt Crescent where you slowed down before heading through a red light. When police got close to you, you were seen to drive on the left hard shoulder and you managed to pass a long line of stationary vehicles.
Your conduct of crossing onto the incorrect side of the road, and driving in a way which required the police vehicle to take evasive action, travelling through another red light at the intersection of Derwent Park Road and Main Road, and loss of control of the vehicle whilst turning into Devine’s Road. However, you managed to get away from police.
An extensive search followed which included the use of a helicopter and at about 7.15pm that day you were observed in Claremont in a taxi. The taxi was intercepted and you were arrested.
You participated in a record of interview, admitting your conduct and telling police that you felt vulnerable, scared and frantic. You accepted that you had put people at risk. You said that you did not stop initially because you were unlicensed.
You admitted attempting to evade police, to driving on the wrong side of the road, through red lights, between vehicles, in parking lanes, that you collided with other vehicles, had reversed into a police vehicle, and at times driven off the road.
You accepted that the manner of your driving was dangerous.
Throughout the course of the driving you were disqualified, having had your licence suspended in June 2018 for one year.
I have received a victim impact statement from the owner of the Mazda BT50. He has suffered physical and psychological injury as a result of your conduct. The police officer also provided a victim impact statement. She describes the considerable fear she felt as your vehicle was driven towards her, and described the effect that this has had on her mental health. Those effects are enduring.
I have received a comprehensive report in relation to your psychological health. It is apparent that you do not suffer from any psychiatric illness. In that respect I accept the opinion of the psychologist that there are no mental health conditions which would enliven any of the principles articulated in Verdins case. The primary issue in respect of your behaviour is substance abuse. The recommendation of the psychologist is that you participate in long-term drug and alcohol rehabilitation. I am told by Ms Graves that that is your intention. I am assisted by the submissions made to me by Ms Graves.
When this matter was last before the Court you provided a detailed apology to the people you have injured and frightened. I accept that you are remorseful. My impression is that free from the influence of drugs you would not have behaved this way That of course is not an excuse for this behaviour, but it does go some way to providing an explanation for it. And, as I have noted, you have committed to participating in programs intended to assist you to deal with that issue.
The community was placed at considerable risk by your behaviour. The Parliament has made it clear that the offence of dangerous driving is a serious matter. It has done that by making it an indictable offence. It has also directed that the charge of evading police should attract a separate penalty.
Recently in Banks [2019] TASCCA 1, the Court of Criminal Appeal identified general deterrence as a prominent factor in sentencing for this offence. It identified the following issues as relevant sentencing considerations:
1 The number of people put at risk.
2 The speed of the vehicle.
3 The erratic nature of the driving.
4 The ignoring of police warnings..
5 The fact of escaping police pursuit.
Each of those matters is engaged in this case: your conduct placed a number of people at risk, it was erratic, it involved you ignoring warnings from the police, as well as escaping from their pursuit. Most of your driving was at an excessive speed having regard to the road conditions and the number of vehicles which were about at the time.
In fixing sentence I am required not just to address the relevant sentencing principles of general and personal deterrence, but I must also consider the need for vindication of your victims, and the general need for the protection of the public. Also relevant, given the number of matters I am dealing with, is the principle of totality. I am required to avoid an outcome which, if all the individual sentences I might impose, operated separately and cumulatively, the result would exceed that which is necessary to adequately and fairly reflect the totality of the criminality.
I must also have regard to the fact that there are statutory stipulations with respect to the penalties required to be imposed in relation to the charges of evading police and driving whilst disqualified. I am also asked to activate five suspended sentences which you have breached. They involve an additional 12 months’ imprisonment.
In respect of the matters on the indictment, the two counts of dangerous driving, assaulting a police officer and carjacking, I will imposed a global penalty. That enables me to apply the principle of totality, and it is appropriate because the offences arise out of a single course of conduct.
Mr Thomas, you are convicted on all matters. On the indictment I sentence you to four years’ imprisonment. The non-parole period I impose is two years and three months. That sentence commences on the date you were taken into custody.
On the evade police charges, you have prior convictions for this category of offending. There are two charges before me and each constitutes a third or subsequent offence. On the first count you are sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for a period of two years. On the second count you are sentenced to three months’ imprisonment to be served cumulatively to the sentence I have just imposed, and you are disqualified from driving for a period of two years, that period of disqualification will operate concurrently with that I just imposed.
That amounts to six months imprisonment, three months of which will be served cumulatively to the sentence I have imposed on the indictment.
The driving whilst disqualified offences each constitute a second or subsequent offence. I will impose a term of imprisonment in relation to each matter. On the first matter you are sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, and on the second you are sentenced to three months’ imprisonment cumulative to that sentence. Three months of the sentences I have imposed for driving whilst disqualified will be served concurrently with the other sentences, but three will operate cumulatively to the other sentences.
You are disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for a period of four years from your release. On the second count you are disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for the same period to be served concurrently with the other disqualification. That period is to commence at the expiration of your sentence.
In relation to the suspended sentences, I am satisfied that it is appropriate to breach you on each of those sentences and require you to serve them. As I have noted, they amount to 12 months in total. In order for suspended sentences to have any efficacy, it is important that their operation is activated in circumstances where there is a blatant breach of the terms of suspension, subject of course again to the principles which require the Court to be satisfied that it is just in all the circumstances to do so. I am so satisfied.
Each of those suspended sentences is activated and will operate cumulatively to one another resulting in the activation of 12 months’ imprisonment. I direct that nine months of that period is to be served concurrently with the other sentences I have just imposed. However three months are to be served cumulatively to the other sentences I have imposed.
For the purposes of s 92A of the Sentencing Act I explain the net effect of the sentences that I have imposed today as follows; you will serve a period of four years and nine months’ imprisonment, made up of four years on the indictment and three months each for the evade police, drive whilst disqualified and breach of suspended sentences that I have ordered operate cumulatively to the sentence on the indictment. You will be eligible to apply for parole having served two years and three months of that sentence. However the effect of the cumulative sentences I have imposed in relation to evade police, driving whilst disqualified and breach of suspended sentences, will require you to serve an additional nine months in total before you are eligible for parole. So the net effect of that Mr Thomas is that you will not be eligible for parole until you have served three years.
In addition, I have disqualified you from driving for 4 years and that period of disqualification operates from the expiration of any sentence you are required to serve.