DPP v Brown [2026] ACTSC 44

This is a “rolled-up” charge. It incorporates six separate transactions, or series of transactions, in a single charge. A lengthy agreed statement of facts was tendered at your sentence hearing. I will not now recite that statement. It is sufficient to note that you were the director of DSJB Group Pty Ltd and in that capacity you responded to advertisements posted by your victims on a website called “Hi-pages”, which is an online service directory that connects Australian consumers to businesses in the home improvement trade industry. Routinely, you met with each victim, sent them a quote for roofing and construction services, received a deposit and either did not complete, or did not commence the works paid for. In total, you obtained $89,791 through your deceptive conduct.

The following is a list of victims with the relevant period of your dealings with them and the amounts you received from them through your deceptive conduct: (a) Christopher Budd, February to June 2022, $11,010; (b) Michelle Woods, April to June 2022, $6,250; (c) Darren Reichard and Anna Reichard, April 2022 to June 2022, $9,435; (d) Gregory Fraser, April 2022 to June 2022, $8,000; (e) Saul Nash, May 2022 to August 2022, $49,046; and (f) Paul Irving, June 2022 to August 2022, $6,050.

By your plea of guilty, you admit that you dishonestly obtained these monies by deceiving the victims. As I understand it, you admit that you knew that you would not be able to undertake and complete the works that you were contracted to perform by reason of mental illness. I will return to that issue in a moment.

I did receive a victim impact statement from one of the victims, Christopher Budd. I take into account, without now repeating, the contents of his statement. I do not infer from the absence of statements from other victims that they suffered no effects from your offending.

Leaving aside for the moment whether you are entitled to any reduction in moral culpability by reason of mental illness, the objective seriousness of this offending is significant. The offending continued over a period of approximately five to six months and involved multiple transactions. You obtained a considerable benefit and each of your victims are significantly out of pocket, as well as having been greatly inconvenienced by your offending. There appears to be no realistic prospect of you compensating your victims for their losses. Your actions constituted a breach of trust placed in you by the victims. They paid to you deposits for the work that you were contracted to do and trusted in you to undertake those works. Objectively, this offending calls for a term of full-time imprisonment.

You did not give evidence at your sentence hearing, but I was provided with some information about your background in various reports provided at the sentence hearing. A pre-sentence report states that you were born in Coonabarabran on Kamilaroi Country and you identify as a First Nations man. You reported minimal engagement with the Aboriginal community and you declined to engage with the Corrective Services Cultural Engagement Officers for support throughout the assessment process. You described a stable childhood until your parents separated when you were 14 years old after which time you were primarily raised by your mother. You described a continuing close and ongoing relationship with your mother and maternal grandmother, with daily telephone contact. They live in Braidwood, New South Wales and physical contact with them is infrequent.

You reported no contact and long-standing conflict with your father and brother. You said that your father resides in Newcastle, New South Wales, however, your brother is within the ACT. You claimed that your father was physically rough towards you during childhood, with this conduct directed towards yourself rather than your brother. You said that your father drank alcohol heavily and abused prescription medication. There is no information that any involvement with Child and Youth Protection Services occurred during your childhood.

You reported having been married to your former partner for approximately six years before the relationship ended. There is one child of this former marriage, a daughter aged three years. You reported that care arrangements were managed privately, with your daughter residing in your care from Wednesday to Sunday. You attributed the breakdown of the relationship to your mental health difficulties and personal differences.

You completed your education to Year 12 level. You denied any history of suspension or expulsion during your schooling. You did not identify any learning difficulties, diagnoses, or engagement with alternative education programs during your schooling.

You reported having worked predominantly in the roofing industry and said that you are a qualified roofer. You described periods of both employment and unemployment throughout adulthood. You said that you had previously owned and operated your own company in the roofing field, and this company was involved in the present offence and has since collapsed. Due to your current mental health medication, you are unable to work and you have been unemployed for approximately two to three years and are in receipt of the Disability Support Pension.

You maintain a small group of friends with whom you go for walks or watch cricket once or twice a week. You do not have any friends or acquaintances involved in criminal activity.

You denied any past or current alcohol misuse. You acknowledged a history of heroin use for approximately 3.5 years, followed by methamphetamine use for around four years, which you attributed partly to self-medicating unmanaged mental health symptoms. You stated that you ceased all illicit substance use after the birth of your daughter three years ago and commenced mental health treatment. You reported voluntarily attending the Canberra Hospital Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Service and completing that program. You claimed to have remained abstinent from illicit drugs for several years and on 9 February 2026 you produced a negative result for all illicit substances via oral drug testing.

The author of the report states that you appear to be engaged with ongoing sustained clinical and psychosocial support to maintain your abstinence. The author expresses the view that you would benefit from continued compliance with this treatment. There is, however, concerns should you deviate from your prescription medication.

The pre-sentence report notes that you have an established diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and you continue to engage with the Community Mental Health Team for clinical management, psychiatric review, and medication monitoring. Documentation provided to Corrective Services confirmed a history of inpatient psychiatric admissions in 2024 and 2025, which occurred in the context of the deterioration of your mental state associated with increased hallucinations, situational stressors, medication non-compliance, and substance use. You advised that you are additionally supported in the community through NDIS.

You have stable accommodation and you have been assessed as suitable for an Intensive Correction Order. You were assessed as requiring a low level of supervision in the community with your primary risk factors being your mental health and relapse prevention planning. Your protective factors include family support, stable accommodation and companions. The author of the reports state that you appear to accept responsibility for your offending and you expressed remorse. You explained your offending conduct as influenced by your declining mental health and the collapse of your business.

A report was prepared by Dr Joey Le, a consultant psychiatrist. From the structure of the report, it is clear that it was directed primarily towards whether you had a defence of mental impairment and were fit to plead. After a comprehensive review of medical and other records, he expressed the opinion that in the period between 21 February 2022 and 11 August 2022 you were affected by a mental illness, being schizoaffective disorder. This was most prominent during the period of June 2022 to August 2022 and was evidenced by multiple presentations to mental health services with grandiose and persecutory beliefs. This ultimately resulted in a brief hospital admission in early July 2022, after which you continued to be treated in the community.

During the period of February to May 2022, it was not clear to Dr Le that you had been suffering from a relapse of mental ill-health, and you did not present as experiencing a significantly depressed or manic mood state, although it is noted that you had limited contact with mental health services. Notwithstanding this, given the longitudinal nature of schizoaffective disorder and your previous presentations to Queensland mental health services as early as 2019, Dr Le expressed the opinion that you would have been affected by a mental illness during that period, although you may have been in partial remission.

The second report to which I was referred was prepared by Ms Leesa Morris, a clinical psychologist, and dated 29 April 2025. This report was also directed towards questions of fitness to plead and mental impairment. Ms Morris states that at the time of your offending, you were not compliant with medication and you were mentally impaired, experiencing manic and psychotic symptoms. Notes from your involuntary admission to hospital on 3 July 2024 demonstrate that you were mentally impaired as a result of a manic state and psychotic symptoms. This would have significantly impacted your ability to have a clear and rational understanding of and/or control of your conduct. Your condition would have impaired your ability to rationally make decisions about the use of your time or resources.

Ms Morris states that you expressed remorse for your victims and their distress, recognising that what was done to them was wrong. She states that you would have been able to recognise this at the time, but you would not have been able to reason or identify that your thinking about how to resolve your issues did not match reality.

I received a letter from Associate Professor Paul McGuire, a consultant psychiatrist, dated 17 November 2025. He has been involved in the management of your schizoaffective disorder since 14 February 2024. Although he was not your psychiatrist during the period of the offending, Associate Professor McGuire states that it appears from perusal of electronic file notes that you were unwell during the period from February to August 2022. Following the breakdown of your former marriage, there were medical notes that you were feeling stressed and anxious. Importantly, you believed at that time that someone was stalking you and taking pictures of you and your wife and posting them on social media. Further deterioration in your mental state resulted in the need for involvement of the Home Assessment and Acute Response Team in June 2022, ultimately resulting in your involuntary admission to hospital under the Mental Health Act 2015 (ACT) in July 2022. At that time, you were suffering from agitation and paranoia with risks to yourself and others, requiring that you be placed in a safe environment and be provided with acute psychiatric care.

I was also provided with a letter from Dr Paul Appleton, a general practitioner, dated 21 October 2025. This confirms that you have a long-standing mental illness described as schizoaffective disorder. Dr Appleton says that you are being effectively treated and you have developed insight to realise that you must take your medication to stay well and stay out of trouble. Dr Appleton stated that, at least as at the date of the letter, you were on a Treatment Order and you realised that you must take your medication.

Dr Appleton stated that when patients with your disorder are unwell, their mood can be elevated and judgement is utterly impaired. This is compounded and exacerbated by the use of illicit substances. Dr Appleton states that you are very aware that should you cease your medication, you will place in jeopardy your care of your daughter who may be removed into the full-time care of your former wife.

I received a letter from your mother. She stated that despite a troubled relationship with your father, you grew into a decent, successful, self-confident, popular, artistic and sporty young man. She refers to your history of steady employment and willingness to provide assistance to others. She identifies the commencement of your descent into mental illness as the breakdown of your engagement with a former fiancé. By 2019 she was aware that it was a real problem, and by 2020 she was aware that drugs were involved and that you suffered from psychosis. You were admitted to a psychiatric ward in Queensland. When your psychosis did not settle in a closed environment, consideration was given to a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

When released from hospital, you were subsequently treated at Canberra Hospital and you appeared to recover. You were able to get a job, marry, and eventually begin your own business. However, in mid-2022 your mother noticed that you were beginning to behave in strange and alarming ways and to make unsound decisions. Your mother and your wife tried to get you some help, but your mental condition deteriorated and you inflicted increasing damage on every aspect of your life. This came to a head around July 2022 when you were ultimately returned to hospital. A subsequent diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder was made.

Your mother states that since then you have had relapses until you were placed on a Psychiatric Treatment Order. You have gained an understanding that you must take your medication for the rest of your life. She states that you understand the enormity of the trouble you have caused and you have demonstrated shame and embarrassment.

I have no difficulty in accepting that you have a long-standing, underlying mental illness which is best described as schizoaffective disorder. I also have no difficulty in accepting the proposition that this disorder impaired your ability to make decisions and to have a clear and rational understanding of your conduct throughout the period of this charge. The extent of the effect of the underlying condition was probably lower at the beginning of the period of offending and much greater towards the end. I am nevertheless satisfied on the evidence before me that it is probable that it affected your ability to think rationally and to understand your behaviour throughout the period of the charge. Undoubtedly, your underlying mental illness has not been improved by your use of illicit drugs, but it is now established that your condition is not drug-induced. In those circumstances, it is probable that your use of illicit drugs was a response to your underlying mental illness.

I accept that you are entitled to a finding that your moral culpability for this offending was significantly reduced by reason of your long-standing schizoaffective disorder. This is relevant in determining not only the length of any term of imprisonment which should be imposed, but also whether such a term should be served by way of full-time imprisonment or by an Intensive Correction Order. Your underlying mental illness justifies a reduction in the importance of punishment and deterrence as sentencing considerations.

While it is accepted that your plea of guilty did not come at the earliest opportunity and followed negotiations with the DPP and the filing of a new indictment, I do accept that your plea of guilty has significant utilitarian value. You have saved the community the cost of a defended trial. I also accept that your plea of guilty demonstrate a degree of remorse, and that you have expressed remorse for your actions to others. I accept that you are genuinely remorseful for what you have done to your victims. I will reduce the otherwise appropriate sentence by approximately 20% because of your plea of guilty. You spent one day in custody awaiting sentence. I have taken that into account generally. In my opinion, the appropriate course is to proceed by way of an Intensive Correction Order.

You have a criminal history which disentitles you to significant leniency in sentencing for the present offence. Many of the offences recorded are for drug offences, but there are some prior matters of dishonesty, albeit not of the severity of the present offence.

I am satisfied that you have reasonable to good prospects for rehabilitation so long as you continue to accept appropriate treatment for your mental illness. There is evidence that you have now accepted the reality of your mental illness and the necessity for you to maintain treatment indefinitely.

The prosecution submitted that I should make a reparation order requiring you to pay reparation to your victims. On balance, I do not accept that it is appropriate to make that order. At the present time, you are unemployed and in receipt of a disability support pension as well as funding through the NDIS. There is no realistic prospect that you will be able to pay reparation to your victims.