DPP v Evans [2023] VCC 1614

'Being held hostage for such a long period of time, being degraded, spat on and abused physically and emotionally has definitely changed the way I view myself and who I will become in the future'.

1. Between January 2005 and September 2015, you have appeared in a criminal court in this State and South Australia on seven occasions and have been found guilty or convicted of 23 charges. You have been sentenced to imprisonment once where the sentence was one month**.** This sentence was combined with a community correction order.

1. You were born in Adelaide, South Australia and grew up there. You are now 40. Your parents separated when you were three and you were raised by your mother. You left school at 15 and commenced an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner, which you completed when you turned 19.
2. It was submitted on your behalf you have almost always been employed in Australia and gainfully worked as a tradesman or labourer. I accept that submission. An employment reference was tendered by your counsel, which details your employment with the referees since your release from custody in February 2023. You currently work with a team of three other employees and according to the author of the reference, who is the managing director, you are a key element to their business structure.
3. You married at age 30 and have two children aged nine from that marriage. You are now separated from your wife and the mother of your children. You are in a new relationship. Both she and your father have been present at court at the various listings of this proceeding except today.
4. You have been a lifelong polysubstance user, however your levels of use (with some exceptions) have been of a level that whilst problematic, still allowed you to maintain employment and a relatively stable domestic situation.
5. You reported to Corrections that you first started using drugs, namely marijuana, at the age of 17 years. At 21 you began using methylamphetamine and party drugs. You reported you were able to abstain from drug use for up to eight months at a time and that you relapsed prior to these offences when you and your wife separated. You further reported you have ceased ice use in March 2023, however started taking prescribed medicinal marijuana for pain management after a motorbike accident.

1. Section 5(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 sets out the purposes of sentencing. Each purpose is relevant to your case. Section 5(2) of the Sentencing Act sets out matters which I must take into account where they are relevant.
2. Gravity
3. The offences committed against the victim were serious. The experience was terrifying for her. Your involvement was very limited. Nonetheless, it would have acted to increase her fear through your presence and reduced her will to resist. There is nothing to reduce your moral culpability for your part in the offending. It is high.

1. An evaluation of the value of a guilty plea involves when it was entered or an indication was given as to an intention to plead guilty. In your case, you pleaded guilty at a relatively early opportunity.
2. A guilty plea means you have accepted your guilt for the offence. This is an unequivocal acceptance of your responsibility for the particular offence or offences. The fact of a guilty plea is usually a piece of evidence establishing your remorse. I consider you are remorseful. Your remorse is important because it shows a determination not to re-offend.
3. Your guilty pleas have the practical effect of assisting the criminal justice system in dealing with criminal cases. It removes your proceeding from the list of cases requiring a trial. A jury trial is both time consuming and expensive. You have created space for those proceedings which genuinely require a trial and avoided the need for witnesses to give evidence, including in particular the victim.
4. Even though the problems caused by the virus have lessened considerably, they have not disappeared. The virus still manages to disrupt the progress of trials in this Court, and the Court itself has been left with a backlog owing to the restrictions at the height of the pandemic.

1. Part of my indication involved a community correction order. You have been assessed by a Corrections officer, who found you suitable and a medium risk of re-offending generally. I will adopt that person's recommendations.

1. Accordingly, on the three charges, being charges of false imprisonment and robbery and committing an indictable offence on bail, I sentence you to

33 days' imprisonment and, with your consent, which you have now given, a community correction order of 18 months' duration with these conditions that I previously announced. 2. There are 33 days of pre‑sentence detention, which I declare as time served under my sentences.

S6AAA

1. If you had not pleaded guilty but had been found guilty after a trial, I would have sentenced you to a total sentence of 12 months' imprisonment. That indicates the massive effect the plea of guilty has had on the ultimate outcome in respect of you.