STATE OF TASMANIA v CHRISTOPHER JOHN WORKER 12 SEPTEMBER 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE GEASON J
Mr Worker, you appear for sentence today upon your conviction by a jury on four charges of unlawfully setting fire to property, a charge of attempting to unlawfully set fire to property, and a charge of being found prepared for the commission of a crime.
I intend to impose a global sentence for this offending on the basis that it arises out of a single course of conduct on 30 May 2017. I find that you, in the company of another person, Mr Martin, took a taxi from Bridgewater to Sandy Bay and that you did so with the intention, formed between you, of carrying out offences. For that reason you had in your possession masks intended to disguise your identity, though I note that possession of the mask is not a particular of the charge appearing on the fifth count in the indictment. But you also had implements, namely scissors and a screwdriver, which are mentioned in the indictment. Those items were in your possession for the purpose of effecting entry into property, including motor vehicles.
The jury’s verdict is consistent with them being satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the possession of those items was for that purpose, and, in my view, that conclusion is unassailable. I find that during the course of that evening, having alighted from a taxi just past Wrest Point Casino, your co-accused, Mr Martin, set fire to a number of motor vehicles, as set out in the indictment, and attempted to set fire to a motor cycle. I find that you were present when Mr Martin lit these fires and that you were present pursuant to the agreement between you which was, in your words recorded in the record of interview, “to do wrong” on this particular evening. This agreement evolved during the course of the evening to entering and setting fire, or attempting to set fire, to motor vehicles. It is clear that the jury has rejected your evidence that Mr Martin carried out these offences alone, and your evidence that you were separated from him at the time he did these various criminal acts. I find that you were with him throughout the course of conduct on that evening and during the offending. I find that by your presence with the requisite knowledge of what he was doing you encouraged him in that unlawful activity. I sentence you on that basis, that is, as an accessory to the offending.
In fixing penalty, your prior convictions cannot be ignored. They are extensive. I have listened carefully to the submissions which have been made on your behalf by Mr Slicer, and emphasised today in the light of the Community Corrections report. I am assisted by those submissions. In particular, I note that you have made some resolve to improve your behaviour, focused in particular upon providing appropriate care to your children, which, I pause to observe is not before time. That focus is imperative, in my view, if the cycle of offending is to come to an end. I am, in those circumstances discouraged to read in the pre-sentence report that you have not participated as directed in previous orders intended to afford you an opportunity to perform community-based orders, intended to enable you to serve your punishment within the community. That concerns me. Those obligations continue, and, in my view, there is no reason why you should not engage again with Community Corrections with a view to completing those hours, and I note what Mr Slicer has said about that in his submissions to me today.
The report recommends that I not make a community service order today. When I first read the report, I must say I regarded it as particularly negative, in terms of your prospects for continued engagement in a community-based corrections order. I am assisted by Mr Slicer’s submissions today and I have, noting that there are Community Corrections orders required to be completed, decided not to add to that aspect in the penalty that I will impose shortly. But I have decided that it is appropriate to make a community supervision order, because I think that is in your best interests, and in the community’s best interests. I accept the submission that the extended period of incarceration that you have endured to date, waiting for your trial, has led to some self-reflection. I discern that the judgment made by Community Corrections is predominantly based upon an assessment of your past performance, rather than your prospective performance. I consider that engagement with Community Corrections is in your best interests. As I have said, that determination is predicated upon the submissions made to me by Mr Slicer, and the indication, through him, that you have good intentions with respect to such future engagement. But it is down to you.
I therefore intend to impose a sentence with a suspended component, and it will be necessary for you to undertake the engagement that I am directing, at risk of being in breach of that sentence. As I have said, your record is a poor one, and, in my view, you are too old to be engaging in this sort of behaviour. You ought by now to have reached a level of maturity, where this sort of night time activity that involves wanton damage to property – property belonging to innocent people – is no longer a part of your lifestyle.
The sentence I impose must address issues of general deterrence, personal deterrence and, importantly, in my view, the vindication of the victims of this offending. I have received a victim impact statement, and I have regard to it. I think you are aware, but you need to be aware, that you offending has caused great distress and inconvenience, no doubt, to these people.
I take account of the time that has been spent in custody already. My calculation is 233 days, Mr Slicer’s calculation is something more than that. What I intend to do is impose a penalty which commences on the date you were taken into custody in respect of these offences and suspend a portion of it.
The sentence of the Court is one of 18 months’ imprisonment backdated to when you were taken into custody. I direct that you are to serve 9 months of that sentence before you are released, and the remaining of the 9 months of the sentence will be suspended on condition that you are of good behaviour for a period of 3 years, committing no offence punishable by imprisonment, and that you comply with the community-based supervision condition which I impose. Now, I think that is called a Community Corrections Order under the current regime. I would refer to it as a probation order, but it is the engagement that is identified in the Community Corrections report, however described, and it will be a special condition of that engagement, which is to endure for a period of two years, that you are to undertake a psychiatric assessment, and that you are to attend drug and alcohol counselling as directed.
I note that when the matter was last before me I made orders in relation to forfeiture of the scissors and the screwdriver, and I made compensation orders so I do not need to address that aspect today.
The net effect of the sentence is that you are sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment. It is backdated to when you went into custody, which means you get credit for the time you have spent in custody. You are to serve 9 months of the sentence before the balance is suspended- 9 months of the 18 months is suspended on the condition that you are of good behaviour and commit no offence for which a term of imprisonment may be imposed, and that you engage with Community Corrections pursuant to the order that I have just made, and obey their reasonable directions with respect to alcohol counselling, drug counselling and undertake a psychiatric assessment. Do you understand that? “I understand”. In my view it is appropriate to balance your rehabilitative prospects with the need to punish you for this grossly wanton, unnecessary behaviour on this particular night, which is unexplained behaviour, was unnecessary behaviour, and, as I say, has caused significant distress and actual loss to a number of people, who must have been greatly distressed to awake to find their property damaged in the way it was. And I think the sentence I have imposed balances those considerations properly. It is over to you now to do something about making a future for yourself, engaging as appropriate with Community Corrections, and getting on with things.