DPP v Fred [2025] VCC 1580

1. The circumstances of your offending were comprehensively outlined in 2 summaries of prosecution opening on plea, one for each indictment, the first dated 15 October 2025 (Indictment number Q11890520: CR-25-00495) and the second dated 18 June 2025 (Indictment number C2416737: CR-24-01182/CR-24-01183). I shall summarise those circumstances here.

First indictment - Indictment number Q11890520 (CR-25-00495)

1. On 23 September 2023 you were in receipt of a stolen drivers licence (charge 1). You used that licence to hire a white Mitsubishi Triton from a Coles Express 'Move Yourself' vehicle hire kiosk in Collingwood (Charge 2).
2. On 29 September 2023 you hired a white Toyota Kluger SUV through Facebook marketplace. You used the stolen drivers licence, which had been altered to depict your image, and a Medicare card in the same name, as ID when hiring the vehicle (Charge 3).
3. On 9 October 2023 you drove the Kluger to a Burwood East carpark and left the scene in an uber. An unknown person smashed the rear window. At 1.55am the next morning police attended in relation to the smashed window. You called Forest Hill Police from your phone, giving the name on the stolen licence and advising that there was no issue with the vehicle. At 1.30pm that day you drove the vehicle away from the carpark.
4. On 11 October 2023 you sent messages over the Signal application planning a burglary.
5. On 20 October 2023 at 1.30pm you attended a street in Koo Wee Rup.
6. The next day, 21 October 2023 at 11.55am, you parked in an alley behind the same street. After conducting google searches you made an 8 minute phone call to the victim, who was unknown to you, from your own number. Your purported to be a police officer by the name of Constable Tottem from Pakenham Police Station and requesting your victim's attendance at the Pakenham Police station.
7. Between 1.05pm and 1.46pm that day, you made 5 phone calls to your victim's daughter, again identifying yourself as Constable Tottem from Pakenham Police Station and requesting her attendance at the police station.
8. Your victim's daughter collected him at 1.43pm and they made their way to the police station as requested.
9. At 1.46pm you drove the Kluger into your victim's address and entered the house and rear shed (charge 4) from where you stole 7 firearms (charge 5) and 2 CB radios, a GMC radio and thousands of rounds of ammunition (charge 6). The property was valued at just over $16,500.
10. At 3.15pm your victim returned form the police station, where he had been informed that there was no Constable Tottem, to find his house and shed had been ransacked.
11. Between 3.18pm on 21 October 2023 and 12.35am on 22 October 2023, you took the stolen firearms to an associate's property and photographed them inside the garage (charge 7).
12. A search warrant was executed at an address where you were located, your phone was seized and found to bear the same number you had called your victim from.
13. You were interviewed and declined to comment, as was your right.
14. On 21 November 2023 a search warrant was executed at your associate's address. Police located one of the rifles and a CB radio taken from your victim's address. You associate was arrested and revealed that 2 of the firearms were buried on Scotchman's Creek Trail in Mount Waverley. Both of these firearms were recovered.

Second indictment - Indictment number C2416737 (CR-24-01182/CR-24-01183)

1. On or around 28 October 2023 you came into possession of a stolen black 2016 Porsche Macan (charge 3).
2. At about 1.30am on 3 November 2023 you and your co-accused drove the stolen Porsche to the Vale Hotel in Mulgrave. You were dressed in black with your face covered and armed with a handgun. Your co-accused also carried a handgun.
3. A female staff member was working behind the bar and a male security guard was standing near the bar. You and your co-accused raised your firearms towards your victims. You approached the 2 staff members and demanded that they get on the ground and open the safe. Your co-accused remained in the entry area with his handgun raised.
4. Your female victim got on the ground while your male victim remained standing with his hands up. He informed you that the safe was locked. You asked 'where's the till?' and demanded your female victim get the money. She opened the gaming bar cash register and removed the drawer and placed it on the bar in front of you. You took $600 while still holding the gun (Charges 1 and 2).
5. While this occurred your co-accused continued to point his handgun at the victims, the red laser dot moving around the area. After 1min and 15 seconds you and your co-accused returned to the stolen car and left the scene. A number of patrons were in the venue but did not witness your offending.
6. The stolen Porsche was recovered on 9 November 2023.
7. On 21 November 2023 police attended at an address in Oakleigh to arrest you. You were observed moving to the laundry from the lounge area. Police forced entry and located a Nike bag containing a black .22 calibre pistol with magazine (Charge 4), a homemade pistol with 4 rounds of ammunition (Charge 4), a zip lock bag containing .22 calibre ammunition (summary charge 5) and an electronic jammer (summary charge 10).
8. You were arrested and provided a DNA sample which was linked to DNA taken from the trigger of one of the pistols and the steering wheel of the Porsche.

1. This is particularly serious offending. Indictment one involves a planned burglary on a targeted victim. You obtained your victim's phone number, contacted him pretending to be a police officer, contacted his daughter with the same story, albeit from your own phone, and burgled his house, taking the firearms you knew were there from the gun safe, after having interrupted the power supply to the safe. The offending involved a substantial degree of planning and sophistication. You then photographed the firearms at another location.
2. The second indictment relates to a serious armed robbery. In the early hours of the morning you and your co-accused entered the venue wearing disguises and brandishing handguns which you pointed at your victims while making demands. It was brazen and no doubt terrifying for those involved, all for the paltry sum of $600. You had been driving the stolen Porsche used in the armed robbery for about a week. You were arrested with 2 pistols, separate to the 7 firearms stolen in the earlier matter.
3. Firearm offences are all too often seen by this court, with those weapons often used in crimes such as the armed robbery you were involved in. The seriousness of your offending cannot be underestimated.

1. You pleaded guilty to the first indictment after a committal at which only the informant was cross-examined. You pleaded guilty to the second indictment at an early stage. As such you have saved your victims the trauma of giving evidence and you have saved the court and the community the time and expense of running trials on these matters. You have facilitated the course of justice and are also entitled to a discount for the utilitarian value of your plea.
2. By your plea of guilty you have taken responsibility for your offending and expressed remorse. Psychologist Daniella Kocic, whose report I shall return to, opined that you presented as remorseful and reflective. You stated "I can't understand why I took $600 form a till," and expressed that the armed robbery was a turning point, a 'stupid' act you knew would result in imprisonment.

1. I received victim impact statements from the victim of the burglary and gun theft and from his daughter who was also a target of your planning. They did not wish for their statements to be read aloud so I will not quote directly from them, however the impact on them has been significant and remains ongoing.
2. I did not receive victim impact statements from either of the victims of the armed robbery, however it takes little to imagine the sheer terror they must have felt when confronted by you and your co-accused, wearing disguises and pointing firearms at them.

1. I turn now to your personal circumstances.
2. You are now 30 years of age, having been born in July 1995 in Melbourne, of Cook Islander heritage. You have an older brother, a younger brother and a younger sister who died by suicide in 2017 after experiencing difficulties with substance abuse and mental health. You entered custody shortly after her death.
3. Your parents separated when you were aged 7 or 8. Prior to this you witnessed family violence perpetrated against your mother by your father. Once in the care of your mother as a single parent, your family experienced periods of homelessness and financial instability. Your father spent several periods in custody over the years before he died in 2021 from natural causes. You were in custody at the time of his death.
4. You attended several schools until completing year 10 at which point you ceased formal education. You were often bullied and were expelled several times. You undertook some factory work but have remained largely unemployed.
5. You began using cannabis at the age of 13. Your drug use escalated to include ecstasy, methamphetamine, GHB and Xanax. You overdosed on GHB in your early 20s. You report a diagnosis of drug induced psychosis in about 2017, having experienced auditory hallucinations.
6. At the age of 16 you were injured in an altercation with a group of peers during which you were struck to the head with a bottle, requiring hospitalisation and stitches.
7. On a later occasion you were in a car with your brother when he was shot in the arm. He suffered ongoing physical and mental difficulties as a consequence of this incident. You have also been impacted psychologically.
8. You were in a relationship after your last release from custody but it broke down after 8-9 months. At this time your mental health deteriorated and your drug use increased. You were living transiently and committing crimes to fund your drug habit. Your mental health and drug use have remained largely untreated in the community.
9. In custody you secured a hands on work experience role with YMCA ReBuild until the program ended. You have since undertaken barista training and work 4 days per week at the coffee cart in the visitor centre at Ravenhall. The work gives you purpose and something to concentrate on and will stand you in good stead for employment upon your release from custody. You plan to enrol in further educational opportunities once you are sentenced.
10. You are also a staff nominated peer listener, a position you have held for some 3 months.
11. Your mother and your older brother visit you in custody and you have regular phone contact with your mother.
12. I received a psychological report from Ms Daniella Kocic dated 9 July 2025. She diagnosed you with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, major depressive disorder (although I note she found you to have mild depressive symptoms, moderate anxiety, and normal stress) and poly substance use disorders in sustained remission.
13. She opines that your opportunities for prosocial development have been constrained and your "strained family relationships, tumultuous intimate relationships and association with antisocial peers compounded this trajectory, leaving [you] with limited perceived social support and reduced coping capacity when faced with distress."
14. While Ms Kocic stated that your capacity to engage in rational decision making was impaired, she also noted that your "intoxication would have heightened [your] risk -taking behaviour, impulsivity and behavioural disinhibition." She found that you have a motivation for change and a capacity for insight.

1. Mr Fred, this was most serious offending. Quite plainly, you need to address your mental health and drug use and stay away from firearms.
2. General deterrence is an important sentencing factor given the prevalence of firearms in society. Others in the community minded to steal, possess and use firearms in armed robberies must understand that lengthy sentences of imprisonment will necessarily follow.
3. You have an extensive criminal record including offences of driving, weapons, affray, trafficking, cultivation and breaches, together with particularly relevant aggravated burglary (firearm) and armed robbery convictions from 2017. In that instance you were not said to be aware of the firearm before entering the house where the armed robbery took place but you assisted and encouraged your co-accused, who was in possession of the firearm, by your presence. I note that matter went to trial. In the instant matter, you were yourself armed and personally made demands of your victims.
4. While you of course do not fall to be resentenced for those matters, they inform your prospects of rehabilitation and matters of specific deterrence and community protection.
5. I consider that specific deterrence has a substantial role to play. You must see by the sentence I impose that the courts and the community will not tolerate the possession of firearms, let alone their use in violent crimes such as armed robbery.
6. Your counsel submitted that the principles in Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571 apply in your case in a general sense. These principles contemplate a background of deprivation that may compromise a person's capacity to mature and to learn from experience. It was submitted that this is applicable to you given your exposure to family violence and alcohol abuse, financial and social hardship, dislocated and incomplete schooling, early exposure to criminality and imprisonment through your father and your early drug use.
7. I accept that you did suffer from deprivation during childhood and your moral culpability is moderated as compared with an offender whose childhood was not so marred. The cycle of dysfunction, immaturity and criminality, as your counsel put it, continues to impact upon you.
8. That in turn, however, increases the need for community protection. Your willingness to steal and possess firearms and use them to engage in violent crimes such as this armed robbery places members of the public at ongoing risk from you.
9. It was submitted, without great force, that limbs 5 and 6 of R v Verdins (2007) VSCA 102, which take into consideration whether imprisonment will weigh more heavily on you than it would on a person in normal health and whether imprisonment will have an adverse effect on your mental health, have application in your case.
10. Despite the prosecution submission that these limbs apply, I do not find a basis for either of them in your case. You clearly suffer from several conditions, which I take into account in a general way as relating to your imprisonment, but Ms Kocic put it no higher than these conditions "would likely weigh more heavily on [you] than on a person without [your] trauma history. The volatile nature of the prison environment could lead to an exacerbation of [your] existing symptoms..." (emphasis added).
11. Ms Kocic found you to be a moderate risk of future violence. Your prospects of rehabilitation are guarded, contingent on you remaining abstinent from drug use and addressing your mental health. You are motivated and clearly capable of holding a job which would keep you occupied and away from negative peers and substance use.
12. Armed robbery is a category 2 offence where it is involves the use of a firearm or is committed in company. Both are applicable here. In sentencing for a category 2 offence the court must impose a period of imprisonment, other than a sentence in combination with a community corrections order, unless one of the exceptions applies. There is no suggestion any such exception applies here.
13. Both parties submitted that the only available sentence involves a head sentence and non-parole period. Neither party provided any comparable sentences or indicators of current sentencing practices.
14. I apply the principle of totality, noting the number and seriousness of the matters before the court. I have moderated the cumulation imposed to ensure your sentence is proportionate to your overall criminal conduct

First indictment - Indictment number Q11890520 (CR-25-00495)

1. On charge 1, handling stolen goods, on charge 2, using a false document and on charge 3, using a false document you are sentenced to an aggregate 4 months imprisonment.
2. On charge 4, burglary, on charge 5, theft of firearms and on charge 6, theft you are sentenced an aggregate 3 years 6 months imprisonment.
3. On charge 7, possess traffickable quantity of firearms, you are sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.

Second indictment - Indictment number C2416737 (CR-24-01182/CR-24-01183)

1. On charge 1, armed robbery, you are sentenced to 5 years imprisonment.
2. On charge 2, prohibited person possess firearm, you are sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
3. On charge 3, handling stolen goods, you are sentenced to 12 months imprisonment.
4. On charge 4, possess traffickable quantity of firearms, you are sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
5. On the related summary offence of possess cartridge ammunition without a licence, you are sentenced to pay a fine in the sum of $1000, with conviction.
6. On the related summary Commonwealth offence of unlawful possession of a radio communications device, you are sentenced to pay a fine in the sum of $1000, with conviction.

Global total effective sentence and non-parole period

1. I direct that charge 1 on the second indictment be the base sentence.
2. I direct that 3 months of the sentence on charge 2, 6 months of the sentence on charge 3 and 6 months of the sentence on charge 4 on the second indictment and 2 years of the aggregate sentence on charges 4, 5, and 6 and 6 months of the sentence on charge 7 on the first indictment be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on charge 1 on the second indictment and on each other.
3. For the avoidance of doubt there is no cumulation on the aggregate sentence on charges 1, 2 and 3 on the first indictment.
4. That makes a global total effective sentence across the 2 indictments of 8 years 9 months imprisonment.
5. I direct that you serve a minimum non-parole period of 5 years 3 months before being eligible for release on parole.

1. Pursuant to s.18 of the Sentencing Act 1991 I declare that you have served 705 days of pre-sentence detention excluding today.

Section 6AAA declaration

1. Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, the sentence I would have imposed would have been 11 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 7 years.

1. I grant the firearms forfeiture orders as sought by the prosecution, noting they were not opposed by the defence.