Sentence: Aggregate 3 years 9 months imprisonment NPP 2 years 3 months
[2]
Duny Yat, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of aggravated burglary and one charge of theft. The maximum penalty for aggravated burglary is 25 years imprisonment. The maximum penalty for theft is 10 years imprisonment.
[3]
The circumstances of your offending were detailed in the summary of prosecution opening for plea dated 13 February 2026. I shall summarise those circumstances here.
At about 12.01am on 13 March 2025 you and an unknown co-offender attended your victim's home in Stephen Avenue, Montrose and knocked on the front door. You were captured on CCTV at the front of the property with your hood up. Your victim was inside at the time.
You called out 'Barry ... brother. Is this Barry?' and then 'Barry, you alright? Hello. Hello. Barry.'
At about 12.07am you called someone and said 'Your mate is not answering the door. Do you know anyone else in the area?' After several minutes you hung up and told your co-offender 'There is no one else in the area who can hook me up.'
At about 12.11am you called out 'If we want to come in, we'll come in. Like fucking hell. Barry.' Your co-offender said 'We are just trying to get ... we've got money.'
One of your victim's friends approached the property. Your co-offender asked if he was Barry. He said 'No. Is he not home?' to which you replied 'No, he is home ... we are trying to score, brother. You know we've got a long drive back and work in the morning.' The victim's friend left.
At 12.18am you peered in the front window and you and your co-offender continued to knock and call out.
At about 12.22am, while facing away from the house, you kicked in the front door with such force as to cause the door to snap vertically into two. You turned around and said 'There he is,' before running inside and calling out 'Come here, mate' to your victim who had been in the kitchen but who fled through the back door and hid in a neighbour's property.
After you entered the house, your co-offender retrieved a machete hidden near stairs leading to the front door before entering. The house was ransacked.
At about 12.33am you and your co-offender left the house in possession of your victim's esky bag and a hat. You were each holding a machete. You re-entered the house.
At 12.32am police arrived and announced their attendance. You and your co- offender ran from the back door which was also covered by CCTV.
You were captured on CCTV hiding in the front garden of a nearby property. The Police Canine Unit attended and you were located at 1.41am. You identified yourself to police but appeared heavily drug affected, such that you were deemed unfit for interview.
[4]
Aggravated burglary, committed in company, during the night, with knowledge that your victim was home, makes for frightening offending. The seriousness of the charge is apparent in the maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment set by Parliament.
You were the principal offender. You waited outside the property, calling out to the occupant for some 20 minutes. While I accept you wanted to buy drugs, you had at least 20 minutes in which to desist before you kicked the door down and entered the house. While you gained possession of a machete at some stage before leaving the premises, you were not armed upon entry and therefore at the time charge 1 was made out.
I consider your offending to fall in the mid-range for offending of this type and the starting point must be that your moral culpability is high.
While I did not receive a victim impact statement from your victim, it takes little to imagine the terror he must have felt, first knowing you were outside for an extended period and then when you ultimately broke in, causing him to flee.
[5]
You pleaded guilty at an early stage, before any committal, which has significant utilitarian benefit. You have saved the community the time and expense of running a trial and spared your victim the ordeal of giving evidence. In those circumstances you have facilitated the administration of justice and you are entitled to a benefit for that.
By your plea of guilty you have also accepted responsibility for your offending and I note the remorse inherent in the plea. You further told psychologist Ms Sandra Cokorilo, whose report I shall return to, that you believe the victim would have been worried and terrified and will very likely experience lasting psychological consequences as a result of the offending.
You also denied to her that you knew anyone was in the property but this was clearly an attempt to minimise you conduct.
[6]
I turn now to your personal circumstances.
You are 28 years of age, having been born in May 1997. You are one of 4 children.
You were born in Egypt to South Sudanese parents and arrived in Australia when you were 3 years of age. Your mother works as a social worker and your father is a Presbyterian minister. You were sexually abused by a cousin at the age of 2 or 3 before moving to Australia.
Growing up, you were physically disciplined at home by your parents and aunts and uncles, including being hit with objects. You felt this was culturally normal and report always feeling loved and supported by your parents with whom you remain close.
At the age of 15 you were sent to boarding school in Nairobi where you were beaten by teachers and school prefects. After a year at boarding school, you went to South Sudan, however the civil war erupted. You witnessed confronting scenes before fleeing to a UN refugee camp and being evacuated to Uganda. Two weeks later you flew to Egypt where you remained for a month before returning to Australia.
You commenced year 10 at secondary school where you experienced racially motivated bullying. You became involved in physical fights and were suspended, ultimately ceasing formal education at the age of 17.
You were employed as a basketball referee for 18 months between the ages of 14 and 15 and later completed an electrical pre-apprenticeship in 2015 but have otherwise remained unemployed.
At the age of 18 you began using GHB. You had been using alcohol and cannabis since you were 14 and methamphetamines since you were 15, prior to your going to boarding school.
Your sister died of cancer in July 2024, 3 weeks prior to your release from custody. This was followed by the deaths of 2 cousins, in October 2024 and November 2024 respectively, as a result of gang violence. Consequently, your drug use increased and at the time of the instant offending you were using 5-10ml of GHB per day and using 1.7g of methamphetamine every day.
You have had 2 significant relationships, the latest with Ms Christie Lawrence from whom I received a character reference. She acknowledged the offending and outlined some of the difficulties you have faced, including her miscarriage in February 2025. She considers you to be a kind and loving partner and a good influence on her teenage son.
I received 3 certificates for courses you have completed whilst in custody. I also received a bundle of 5 urine screen results, showing that you are not presently using anything except prescribed buprenorphine.
I received a report from psychologist Ms Sandra Cokorilo dated 4 January 2026. She diagnosed you with severe anxiety and depression, PTSD falling in the extremely severe range and stimulant and sedative/hypnotic use disorders.
Ms Cokorilo assessed your risk of violent recidivism as high. She found you to have limited protective factors, entrenched substance use, an extensive offending history and significant psychiatric symptoms.
While your intoxication and drug dependence played a direct role in your offending, Ms Cokorilo opined that your psychopathology is considered to predispose your substance use. It 'does not preclude [you] from understanding the nature and quality of [your] offending conduct but it does impair [your] capacity for calm reasoning and sound judgment.'
I received a letter of apology from you to the court. You recognise the impact of the offending on your victim and also the impact of your imprisonment on your loved ones. You state that you have severed ties with old associates and ceased drug use. This bodes well for you.
[7]
This was frightening offending. Your victim was home alone at night when after a 20 minute period of contemplation, you kicked his door down and entered his house.
You have a prior criminal history featuring significant offences including recklessly causing injury, assaulting an emergency worker on duty, robbery, carjacking and home invasion. You deny institutionalisation but are perhaps not the best placed to assess this. I note you have served several custodial terms prior to the instant offending and have spent much of your adult life in prison.
You are of course not to be punished for these prior offences again, however they do inform specific deterrence and your prospects of rehabilitation.
Your prior criminal history indicates a willingness to do as you please, irrespective of the consequences and you remain a high risk of recidivism. You simply cannot act in this way and I must specifically deter you by the imposition of a period of imprisonment.
Similarly, members of the community minded to act in this way must be deterred from doing so by the sentence I impose. I must make it clear that imprisonment will be the consequence.
For offending such as this, just punishment and denunciation are both relevant and I take them into account.
You attribute your past offending to drug use but have not done anything to address this. Accordingly, I find your prospects of rehabilitation to be guarded, contingent on you abstaining from drug use, engaging with mental health treatment and severing ties with anti-social peers.
It was submitted that limbs 1, 3 and 5 as outlined in R v Verdins [2007) VSCA 102 have application in your case. These principles serve to reduce an offender's moral culpability, limb 1, moderate the need for general deterrence, limb 3, and take into consideration the impact of imprisonment on a person's mental health, limb 5.
The application of limbs 1 and 3 is complicated by your drug use. You were using GHB and methamphetamine at the time of the offending and it is impossible to disentangle your mental health from this drug use. You well understood the wrongfulness of your actions.
Given the competing influences of your mental health diagnoses and your prolific drug use, I moderate your moral culpability and general deterrence to a modest extent. Given your mental health diagnoses, I also consider that imprisonment will be more burdensome on you than on an offender in normal health and take this into account.
It was further submitted on your behalf that the principles in Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571 are applicable in your case, in a general rather than a specific sense, given your exposure to sexual abuse at an early age, violent punishments by your parents, exposure to gang violence and your exposure to war-related atrocities in Sudan as a teenager. These principles contemplate a background of deprivation that may compromise a person's capacity to mature and to learn from experience.
These factors were not disputed by the prosecution and some moderation of your moral culpability was conceded. Your moral culpability is somewhat less than that of an offender whose formative years have not been so marred.
Your compromised capacity to mature and learn from experience of course elevates the need for community protection. Members of the public must be protected from you.
[8]
Mr Kennedy, appearing for you, submitted that a combination sentence incorporating time in custody together with a Community Correction Order would be within the range of sentences open to me. I disagree.
Mr Kennedy referred me to several cases in his written submissions including The Queen v Mckee & Brooks[2003] VSCA 16.
Mr Sheedy, for the prosecution, submitted that a head sentence and non-parole period is called for, for offending of this type. He referred me to a number of authorities in his written submissions including DPP v Meyers[2014] VSCA 314; [2014] 44 VR 486, Hogarth v The Queen[2013] 35 VR 658 and The Queen v Rees[2011] VSC 523.
[9]
On Charge 1, aggravated burglary, and charge 2, theft, you are sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment of 3 years 9 months.
I direct that you serve a non-parole period of 2 years 3 months before becoming eligible for parole.
Pursuant to s18 of the Sentencing Act1991, I declare that you have served 378 days by way of pre-sentence detention, excluding today.
I grant the forfeiture and disposal orders sought by the prosecution.
Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act1991, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty, the total effective sentence I would have imposed would have been 5 years with a non-parole period of 3 years 4 months. You may be seated. Mr Sheedy, is there anything else from your perspective?
MR SHEEDY: No, Your Honour, I will just perhaps formally note that there was an updated disposal order with the court.
HER HONOUR: Yes, that will be dealt with today. Mr Kennedy, anything from your perspective?
MR KENNEDY: No, Your Honour.
HER HONOUR: Mr Yat can be taken out, thank you. Thank you both for your assistance. We'll adjourn until 10.30.