DPP v Strange [2016] VSC 45

CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Causing serious injury recklessly - Plea of guilty - Sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment and 24-month CCO

1 Andrew Francis Strange, you have pleaded guilty to one charge that, on 8 July 2014, you did recklessly cause serious injury to KJ, in contravention of s 17 of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).

2 The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years' imprisonment.

3 You have admitted a number of prior convictions, including convictions for crimes of violence and you have been previously imprisoned.

4 Your crime on this occasion stems from your decision to seek out and confront your victim, KJ, at his home.

5 You had known, and had been friendly with, KJ in the past when you were both serving prison sentences.

6 You decided that he had been disloyal to you by interfering in your domestic and family affairs.

7 In particular, you felt aggrieved because you learned that he had taken steps to ensure that SW, your former partner and the mother of your children, sought the help of police when you were involved in a verbal argument with her at her home.

8 The Crown read into evidence and tendered an opening for the plea which succinctly summarised the factual circumstances of your crime.[1]

9 In January 2014, SW had gone to the Sunshine Magistrates' Court and had taken an interim family violence intervention order to protect herself from you after the breakup of your five-year relationship. She was living with your two small children at an address in Melton.

10 Despite the existence of the order, she permitted you and your new girlfriend, J, to seek temporary shelter in the house in June 2014 because you had nowhere else to live.

11 On 22 June 2014, an argument erupted between you and SW about your past relationship and she became frightened. She telephoned KJ for advice. Acting in her best interests, he notified the police of the domestic dispute that was occurring.

12 The police attended and, acting on their concerns for the welfare of SW and the children, directed SW to leave the home with the children to avoid further incident. The police could not find you at that time.

13 The police then took SW and the children to spend the night at the home of KJ and his then partner, TS.

14 Unfortunately, this decision caused great resentment by you against KJ.

15 That resentment was wholly unreasonable in light of what had taken place.

16 On 8 July 2014, SW attended Sunshine Magistrates' Court with you to reduce the conditions of the family violence intervention order in order to allow contact to take place but still prohibiting family violence.

17 Still dissatisfied with your circumstances, you persuaded SW to reveal the address of KJ and TS, who were living at a location that was unknown to you.

18 You prevailed upon SW to direct you to KJ's home after departing the Sunshine Magistrates' Court.

19 You were angry and you were also under the effects of methamphetamine.

20 You banged loudly on the door and demanded to know why KJ had involved the police during the earlier dispute with SW, and whether he had been sexually involved with SW.

21 KJ and TS had a young baby and were still in bed when you attended.

22 Their five-year-old son, M, was also present at the premises.

23 Your own small children were in the vehicle which you had driven to the scene.

24 By the time KJ opened the front door of the premises and came outside, you had already returned to the driver's seat of SW's car, which was parked nearby, and were planning to leave.

25 KJ yelled abuse at you, and this inflamed you, so you responded by exiting the car and chasing him back towards the front door of his home, where a violent struggle ensued. The struggle continued in through the front door of the house.

26 During the struggle, you obtained a kitchen knife from inside the house and stabbed KJ, injuring him in the left rib area, and under his right armpit. You had threatened to stab KJ in the course of the struggle and the injuries you inflicted were potentially life threatening.

27 TS telephoned emergency services whilst the incident was occurring.

28 KJ managed to eject you from the premises despite his serious injuries.

29 He was rushed by ambulance to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery to repair a severed basilic vein, a collapsed left lung which required re-inflation and repair to the chest wall. Injuries were also observed to include a stab wound to his left arm and a cut on his left eyelid.

30 You were contacted by police and asked to surrender yourself into custody by 11 July 2014, but you failed to do so and were arrested and remanded in custody on 15 July 2014.

31 A booklet of photographs was also tendered by the Crown showing the crime scene.[2]

32 KJ's victim impact statement was produced in advance of the plea hearing and tendered by the Crown on the plea.[3] KJ did not attend court or request that his victim impact statement be read in open court. I was told by the prosecutor that KJ was happy for the matter to resolve for the sake of your father, for whom he holds a high regard.[4]

33 As a result of the attack, KJ has experienced ongoing anxiety and needed to seek psychological counselling. His enjoyment of life and relationships has deteriorated. He has not worked since the incident although he had planned to obtain work prior to the attack. He has experienced ongoing bouts of pain and he believes that he has a reduced capacity and reduced feeling in his right hand and arm. He has upgraded his home security and feels less safe.

34 Medical evidence in the depositional material was directed to the nature of the injuries and any ongoing sequelae.

35 Dr Nicola Cunningham from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine prepared a report on the extent of KJ's injuries, dated 7 July 2015.[5] Dr Cunningham opined that the injuries sustained from the stab wound to the left chest were potentially life-threatening. She stated that no injury to the median nerve in KJ's right arm was seen intraoperatively, and that it was unclear from the records whether sensory loss was 'a transient finding, or whether KJ experienced ongoing symptoms related to a nerve injury as he was commenced on medication for neuropathic pain.'[6]

36 In considering the gravity of your offending and the impact on your victim, it is clear that your decision to confront KJ was thoroughly reprehensible. To then participate in a violent stabbing was shameful behaviour. I also regard the fact that children were present in the general vicinity of these events as an aggravating factor in your offending.

37 The motive behind your decision to visit KJ at his home derived from your resentment over the incident on the 22 June 2014. It seems that when KJ and TS took in your former partner and children for the night, you blamed everyone but yourself for that eventuality. You apparently believed that KJ was interfering in your family and domestic affairs. That attitude was unwarranted.

38 In a civilised society, women and children are entitled to expect others in their community to offer support when domestic and family relationships become strained. This applies to people from all walks of life, and ensures that police are able to step in and offer advice or take measures to avoid the occurrence of family violence before it happens.

39 Rational consideration by you of your past history and substance abuse should lead you to appreciate that those who step into a volatile domestic scene usually act to prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

40 Whilst the situation on the night of 22 June 2014 was able to be defused, the grudge you continued to bear over the incident was both irrational and immature.

41 The fact that you were under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of your attendance on KJ's home could not have assisted your ability to think sensibly about what you were doing. That is not a matter which aids in mitigation as you must have been well aware from past experience of the adverse impacts on your mood and behaviour of methamphetamine abuse.

42 In considering the gravity of your criminality, I am nevertheless mindful of the fact that the life threatening injuries were caused recklessly rather than intentionally.

43 The violent confrontation escalated very suddenly when KJ came outside his house and yelled abuse at you after you had returned to the car and were preparing to leave.

44 There is also no evidence before me that you went to the premises armed with the knife that was used in the struggle. The Crown accepted that the knife was obtained inside the victim's premises during the course of the struggle between you and KJ.[7]

45 I accept that you intended to depart the scene without further incident if not for the verbal abuse yelled by KJ after you returned to the car. The incident escalated at that point.

46 Nevertheless, your actions during the attack on KJ were out of all proportion to the circumstances and could easily have ended in tragedy. Fortunately, KJ managed to force you out of the door of his home after you had stabbed him.

47 You should count yourself very lucky that you are not facing a much more serious charge in light of the actions you took on 8 July 2014.

48 You have been in custody for 19 months now and have had a great deal of time to reflect on your own conduct that morning.

49 You previously faced the more serious charge of attempted murder and related alternatives, and were arraigned for a trial before me on 6 November 2015, but the trial was aborted at a very early stage through no fault of your own.

50 The charges were negotiated and resolved in the ensuing week. You have, therefore, been burdened by a degree of uncertainty about your future until this matter finally resolved in late 2015.

51 I was told that you had indicated a willingness to plead guilty to the present charge at a much earlier stage but that the parameters of the plea were unable to be agreed. Fortunately those issues were resolved and a trial was avoided.

52 Your guilty plea was entered on 11 November 2015. I then acceded to a request to adjourn the matter for a later plea hearing on 11 December 2015. I further adjourned the case until this week pending an assessment for a community correction order ('CCO') with a view to a combined sentencing disposition.

53 Your final disposition has been outstanding for some time and you have therefore endured a large proportion of your period of detention in custody as a remand prisoner. I take that factor into account as a matter in mitigation.

54 Your counsel, Mr Mandy, submitted that your imprisonment on remand had involved an uncertain future, lack of access to longer term self-development programs, and a less stable environment in prison than that which is available to sentenced prisoners. I accept that submission.

55 Your plea of guilty indicates a willingness to accept responsibility for your crime and to facilitate the course of justice. The charge you ultimately pleaded guilty to was a negotiated resolution between the parties, aimed at avoiding the expense and inconvenience of a trial. I am inclined to give significant weight to your plea. I recognise that a jury may well have arrived at a verdict on the same charge after considering all of the evidence in the trial, had it proceeded to verdict. Your plea therefore carries with it substantial utilitarian value.[8]

56 Mr Mandy tendered a psychological report prepared by Dr Aaron Cunningham, a Forensic Psychologist, dated 12 December 2015[9] as well as a brief written plea submission.[10]

57 Subsequently, Mr Pirrie, on behalf of the Crown, produced sentencing remarks from two earlier County Court appearances[11] and a report prepared by Dr Lester Walton for one of those appearances before Judge Gaynor in October 2007, arising from offending in January 2007.[12]

58 Mr Mandy consented to the tender of those exhibits, noting that the personal history given there accorded with that which was obtained by Dr Cunningham, and that although Dr Walton did not diagnose a Borderline Personality Disorder in 2007, he did diagnose poly-drug dependency which required long term rehabilitation in the community. Dr Walton opined that treatment for polysubstance abuse was a high priority in order to lower the risk of recidivism. He also commented that you were a psychologically immature man, lacking a fully developed capacity to express appropriate remorse, although he noted that for the offences he was considering at that time, you did accept responsibility for your misconduct.

59 You had pleaded guilty, so your acceptance of responsibility at that time was underlined by your plea.

60 Dr Walton's remarks about your psychological immaturity and polysubstance dependency appear equally apt today. This means that you have made little progress in the past decade in terms of your own personal development. I acknowledge, however, that much of the past decade has been spent in custody.

61 Your background is unfortunate. Your mother was, in effect, a sole parent and you lived with her and your grandmother as a child. Your childhood was disrupted by mental health problems suffered by your mother, who had earlier in her life witnessed her own father being murdered. She struggled to cope with you, and you told Dr Cunningham of physical and emotional abuse. You began to go between living with your father and living back with your mother and then, in your teenaged years, living on the streets.

62 You did not finish Year 7 and had little supervision thereafter. You were introduced to drugs and alcohol as an adolescent and have abused drugs on and off over the course of your life. Indeed, drug abuse, especially amphetamine dependency, was earmarked by Dr Walton as something that needed to be addressed therapeutically when you were ultimately released from prison at the end of the sentence imposed by Judge Gaynor. It does not seem that this occurred.

63 You entered a relationship in your twenties and fathered a daughter, but have no ongoing contact with her mother or her.

64 When your next significant relationship ended, you turned to violence and were imprisoned.

65 You then formed a relationship with SW, and it appears that she has maintained contact for the sake of the children. She has visited you in custody to facilitate contact with your sons.

66 You have struggled to have a settled family or home life. This is, perhaps, not surprising, in light of your own disrupted family background.

67 On the other hand, you have held a number of jobs in the past and been previously described as capable of being a hard worker. Your work on the Barwon Prison chapel is consistent with the history provided to Judge Gaynor and Judge Barnett about your pursuit of work opportunities in the past.

68 The sentencing remarks of Judge Barnett and Judge Gaynor provide useful contextual background to your prior offending.

69 Judge Barnett noted in his remarks in 2004, when you were aged 21, that you had been sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court to 11 months' imprisonment for a consolidation of a large number of offences.

70 That was your first prison sentence and, because it fell short of being a 12-month sentence, no parole period was set. Judge Barnett, therefore, sentenced you to a wholly suspended sentence for robbery and attempted armed robbery offences perpetrated on young males at railway stations, where you stood over them in order to relieve them of their phones and small sums of money they were carrying.

71 Judge Barnett regarded those offences as arising out of the same series of offences that had led to the 11-month sentence. You did not breach the suspended sentences imposed by Judge Barnett.

72 Judge Gaynor sentenced you next for retaliatory sexual and violent offending against your then de facto partner, B, in the process of a breakdown of that relationship in early 2007. You were 25 at that time. You served a significant portion of the head sentence of five years and were not paroled after your minimum term expired.

73 I have heard competing explanations about what transpired regarding your parole eligibility, but, in the absence of more solid evidence, I am disinclined to speculate about the parole circumstances attached to the sentence imposed in 2007, other than to note that you did not achieve parole after the two years and nine months minimum term had expired.

74 You were also dealt with for car theft and related driving offences in 2007 and sentenced to six months imprisonment.

75 You were dealt with in the Magistrates' Court once again for driving offences in 2012 after your release from prison. A custodial sentence was imposed but, on appeal, it was replaced with a suspended sentence.

76 Since your release from the prison sentence imposed by Judge Gaynor, your relationship with SW developed and became significant, especially after the birth of your two sons. I was told that you wish to continue to have contact with your sons when you are released. That will, of course, depend on your ability to prioritise their needs for a peaceful and harmonious upbringing above any daily irritations that you may be experiencing.

77 You have little by way of a support network, although your father did attend Court at the time of your plea, as did your girlfriend, J. I note that he and your mother attended your earlier plea hearing before Judge Gaynor. You have maintained contact with J whilst on remand and she has visited you in prison. You hope to resume that relationship when you are released. You have also been very fortunate in that your former partner, SW, has facilitated access to your two small sons, Z and T, by bringing them to visit you in prison.

78 You have sought to improve your vocational outlook whilst in prison, including gaining a certification in hospitality and working on building the chapel at Barwon Prison.

79 You have been imprisoned in the past but have never had a rehabilitation or treatment focused sentence in the community as an adult offender.

80 Dr Cunningham assessed you for the plea hearing before me in December 2015 and indicated a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. You disclosed to him that you had experienced anxiety and panic attacks during this period of imprisonment that you had not experienced in the past. He opined that your Borderline Personality Disorder stems from the emotional disconnection in your childhood environment. You have been unable to maintain stable accommodation, employment and relationships. That is a feature of your disorder, together with a fear of abandonment, that leads you to be paranoid and mistrustful of others. Dr Cunningham opined that you would benefit from psychological intervention in the community, drug and alcohol counselling and treatment and assistance with accommodation and employment to reduce your risk of re-offending.

81 Mr Mandy submitted that taking into account the time you have already served in prison, a combined sentence under s 44(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) (the 'Act') would address all the purposes of sentencing for this offence.

82 I was told that you desire to make amends when you are released from prison, and that you were not aware that you had a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder until receiving Dr Cunningham's report.

83 I was also told that you now appreciate the importance of obtaining professional assistance through structured self-development programs. It would be of great benefit for you to gain insight into your own psychological condition.

84 Mr Mandy submitted that you can be imprisoned for up to two years and then be subject to a heavily conditioned CCO which will put your future behaviour under fairly intense scrutiny.

85 I sought a report on your suitability for a CCO from Corrections Victoria pursuant to s 37 of the Act, and heard from one of the authors of that report, Ms Claudio Stagliano, via video-linked appearance before me.

86 Whilst the report assessed you as having a high risk for re-offending, and having very high needs in relation to drug abuse, and high needs regarding employment and education, you were nevertheless assessed as a suitable candidate for a CCO with a recommendation that it last for at least 18 months and include conditions for drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation, mental health assessment and rehabilitation, offence specific programs, and non-association conditions. Supervision, community work and judicial monitoring were also recommended by Ms Stagliano.

87 When questioned by the prosecutor, Ms Stagliano was frank about the challenges involved in your re-integration into the community. She noted your 'old school' approach to your offending and that you did not appear to be remorseful.

88 She stated that you would be managed by a Leading Community Corrections Officer because of your past history, risk of recidivism and your high needs.

89 In discussing the option to impose an intensive compliance period, Ms Stagliano noted that this condition can be too onerous for some offenders. In this regard, I note that you will already face significant challenges re-establishing yourself in the community when you are released and that process might take some time in the initial post-release phase.

90 Ms Stagliano also indicated that the Court was at liberty to indicate that treatment and rehabilitation hours could be counted towards community work hours.[13] I note that you are keen to find a job as soon as you are released.

91 The Crown opposed a combined sentence under s 44(1) of the Act, citing your high risk of re-offending, your past polysubstance abuse, your lack of remorse for the offence and the objective seriousness of the offence itself.

92 I have weighed the various purposes of sentencing carefully. These include just punishment, general and specific deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation and community protection.

93 I have also considered the stricture of parsimony as a relevant consideration and the need for the sentence imposed to be proportionate to your crime.

94 I have considered current sentencing practice[14] for the offence of recklessly cause serious injury and the maximum sentence fixed by parliament.[15]

95 I have also had regard to the cases put forward by prosecution and defence counsel and have paid particular attention to Boulton v The Queen[16] ('Boulton') and to Deng-Mabior v The Queen ('Deng-Mabior').[17]

96 In the guideline judgment of Boulton, the Court of Appeal analysed the CCO provisions in the Act and produced a set of standalone guidelines for sentencing courts, which were set out in Appendix 1 to the judgment.

97 I have had regard to each guideline, and note the following guidelines as particularly pertinent to this matter.

1. A CCO is also intrinsically punitive and, depending on the length of the order and the nature and extent of the conditions imposed, is capable of being highly punitive.

1. A CCO can be combined with other sentencing options, including a fine and/or term of imprisonment of up to two years. The availability of that kind of combination adds to the flexibility of the CCO regime.
2. Consequently, even in cases of objectively grave criminal conduct, the court may conclude that some or all of the punitive, deterrent and denunciatory purposes of sentencing can be sufficiently achieved by a short term of imprisonment of up to two years if coupled with a CCO of lengthy duration, with conditions tailored to the offender's circumstances and the causes of the offending directed at rehabilitative purposes.

100 Ultimately, I am persuaded that a combined sentence is appropriate in your case. I consider that the purposes of punishment, denunciation, general and specific deterrence, rehabilitation and community protection will be met by the sentence I impose which involves both imprisonment and strict supervision in the community. I note that you have never had the structured assistance available under a CCO and you appear to acknowledge that complying with that kind of sentencing order is not necessarily an easy option. It will require dedication, hard work and a willingness to accept help to change your outlook.

101 The period you have spent on remand is an important part of my rationale for imposing the combined sentence, as is your plea of guilty and the mitigating factors put forward on your plea.

102 I have also considered the way in which conditions attached to a CCO can address the purposes of sentencing in your case. The purpose of attaching a CCO to follow on from a prison sentence in your case is to ensure that the reasons for your continued offending are properly addressed when you are ultimately released back into the community. In particular, it is important that psychological assistance is available to you to assist you to understand why you will not succeed in life until you take advantage of professional help.

103 With appropriate assistance, it is hoped that you will address your long term substance abuse, anger management and mood control. It is also hoped that you will gain insight into your tendency to be unreasonably suspicious and mistrustful of friends and relatives, which is an unfortunate feature of your Borderline Personality Disorder.

104 Long term expert psychological counselling is absolutely crucial if you are to have any chance of gaining effective treatment for your Borderline Personality Disorder. Access to this level of expert and intensive treatment is difficult to obtain in prison. It is also difficult for people without means to obtain such treatment in the community, so you must take every chance available to make use of such treatment that is facilitated by Corrections Victoria.

105 It is in the community's interests that you receive this expert help and part of the judicial monitoring condition I will be imposing is that I will be monitoring your CCO to ensure that treatment is available to you and to ensure that you do everything in your power to make use of it.

106 You should understand that if you do not participate in the CCO to the extent required, or if you breach that order, you will be answerable to the Court and be susceptible to the extensive powers available under law to deal with you.

107 On the crime of recklessly cause serious injury, I sentence you to 21 months' imprisonment. I am also imposing a two-year CCO to commence on your release from prison.

108 The CCO will have the following conditions attached. In imposing the conditions, I have taken into consideration the matters set out in s 48A of the Act, being the principle of proportionality, the purposes for which a sentence may be imposed as set out in s 5 of the Act and the purpose of a CCO set out in s 36 of the Act.

109 Firstly, I attach the mandatory conditions set out in s 45(1) of the Act:

(a) You must not commit, whether in or outside Victoria, during the period of the order, an offence punishable by imprisonment;

(b) You must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed by the regulations;

(c) You must report to, and receive visits from the Secretary during the period of the order;

(d) You must report to the community corrections centre specified in the order within two clear working days after the order coming into force;

(e) You must notify the Secretary of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after the change;

(f) You must not leave Victoria except with the permission, either generally or in relation to a particular case, of the Secretary;

(g) You must comply with any direction given by the Secretary that is necessary for the Secretary to give to ensure that you comply with the order.

110 Secondly, I attach a condition pursuant to s 48C of the Act, that you perform 140 hours of unpaid community work. I determine, pursuant to s 48CA of the Act, that all of the hours satisfactorily undertaken for treatment and rehabilitation are to be counted as hours of unpaid community work for the purposes of this condition.

111 Thirdly, having had regard to the matters set out in s 48D(2) of the Act, I attach a condition pursuant to s 48D of the Act that you are to undertake:

(a) assessment and treatment for drug abuse or dependency as directed by the Secretary;

(b) mental health assessment and treatment as directed by the Secretary; and

(c) any programs that address factors related to your offending behaviour as directed by the Secretary.

112 Fourthly, for the purpose of ensuring your compliance with the order, and having had regard to information, matters and recommendations made in the pre-sentence report, I attach a condition pursuant to s 48E of the Act that you be supervised, monitored and managed as directed by the Secretary. I direct that this condition applies for the period of the order.

113 Fifthly, I attach a condition pursuant to s 48F of the Act that you must not contact or associate with KJ for the period of the CCO.

114 Sixthly, because I am satisfied that it is necessary for the Court to review your compliance with the order, I attach a judicial monitoring condition pursuant to s 48K of the Act that:

(a) You must re-appear before the Court for a review under s 48L of the Act of your compliance with the order on 15 June 2016 and 15 August 2016, and any other dates that this Court appoints during the course of this order; and

(b) A report be provided by the Secretary in the course of each review under s 48L of the Act.

115 If you fail to re-appear for the Court in accordance with the terms of this judicial monitoring condition, a warrant may be issued for your arrest.

116 The CCO commences on your release from imprisonment. You will be required to report within two clear working days after release from imprisonment to the Dandenong Community Correctional Service at Dandenong Government Services Office, 46-50 Walker Street, Dandenong, VIC 3175.

117 Pursuant to s 18 of the Act, I declare that, not including today, you have served 577 days by way of pre-sentence detention, and I direct that the period already served under the sentence be noted in the records of the Court.

118 Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Act, I declare that, but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a sentence of four years' imprisonment with non-parole period of two years and six months.

119 Now, Mr Strange, I have gone through a number of conditions there and I have explained to you that the purpose of the combined sentence is to assist you to avoid reoffending, or being before the courts again in the future and to assist you getting some normality back into your life in the community and for you to take full advantage of the services that hopefully will be provided by the Community Correctional Service.

120 Having heard those conditions, I am now going to get my tipstaff to take a copy of the order to your counsel and he is going to take it to you so you can have a look through it and discuss it with him, and then I will ask whether you consent to the order.

121 MR MANDY: Thank you, Your Honour, Mr Strange understands those conditions.

122 HER HONOUR: Thank you. Mr Strange, do you understand it is very unusual for judges of the Supreme Court to be actively monitoring how people behave after they are released from prison, but in this case, because of the judicial monitoring condition, that is what I will be doing, and I will be expecting a lot from you, so I hope you do not disappoint.

[4] Plea transcript 35 at lines 12 to 23.

[5] Depositions: Forensic Medical Report of Dr Nicola Cunningham, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine dated 7 July 2015.

[8] R v Tasker and Tasker [2003] VSCA 190; (2003) 7 VR 128.

[13] Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 48CA.

[14] See Sentencing Advisory Council, Snapshot 127: Sentencing trends in the higher courts of Victoria, 2006-07 to 2010-11 - Causing injury recklessly (June 2012).

[15] Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 17.

[16] [2014] VSCA 342.

[17] [2015] VSCA 179. The appellant had stabbed his partner twice in the chest with a knife. He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury recklessly and was sentenced by the trial judge to two years' imprisonment combined with a two-year CCO. On appeal, the Court of Appeal resentenced the appellant to 18 months' imprisonment with a 2 year CCO, noting in the reasons the punitive nature of a CCO and the punitive and deterrent effect of time already spent in custody. See also Baldwin v The Queen [2015] VSCA 299.