R v Nissirios and Warfe [2009] VSC 129

Supreme Court of Victoria|2009-04-17|Before: KING J

Pleas of Guilty - conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice - S 321 Crimes Act 1958 - financial motivation - assistance enabling offender to flee overseas - assistance enabling offender to continue criminal activities - co operation with prosecuting authorities - previous good character - early plea - family relationship with primary conspirator - suspended term of imprisonment not appropriate.

2 In relation to these pleas, I find that you both entered your pleas at an early time, which is also accepted by the Crown.

3 You have each made a statement or statements and have given evidence during your plea hearings that you will if required give evidence in any trial in accord with those statements. I take your co operation with the authorities, and the early stage at which that co operation was offered, as a significant factor in your favour when determining the appropriate sentence.

4 You Angela Nissirios were born on 1 April 1962 and you are currently 47 years of age. You were 44 at the time of the commission of the offence. You Yvonne Warfe were born on 7 March 1974 and you are currently 35 years of age. You were 32 at the time of the commission of offence.

5 Antonios Sajih Mokbel absconded on 20 March 2006 from his trial which was being conducted before the Honourable Justice Gillard in the Supreme Court. Mokbel was convicted in his absence on 31 March 2006 and sentenced to a term of 12 years imprisonment.

6 You two, together with at least six other accused persons were involved in assisting Mokbel to abscond from the Victorian jurisdiction and, indeed, to flee from Australia. Those other persons are Byron Pantazis, George Elias, Chafic Issa, Spiros Katopodis, Youseff Zeidan and Evette Zeidan. All of those persons had a role in respect of Mokbel being able to leave Victoria and ultimately flee Australia whilst warrants were in existence for his arrest. The Crown have tendered a lengthy summary in respect of this matter which I have made Exhibit 1. It details your roles as well as the roles of a number of the other persons that I have mentioned. There are other people also who have not been charged who are referred to in the summary. Whilst I do not intend to repeat all of the summary, I have read it and I have taken it into account and I will provide in these sentencing remarks an edited version which relates more significantly to your involvement than the involvement of others.

7 After failing to appear at his trial on 20 March 2006, Mokbel hid out on a property near Bonnie Doon. He was able to do this with the assistance of Elias, Issa, Pantazis, Joseph Mansour, Bartholomew Rizzo and Christopher Ferraro. The majority of those people were involved in operating a large scale drug trafficking enterprise known as the company which generated significant funds which allowed Mokbel to continue his life on the run, pay for his means of escape to Greece and sustain his existence in Greece. A person of significance in this plea is Byron Pantazis. He is a 63 year old man who was a close friend and confidant of Mokbel. Mr Pantazis was unemployed for many years with several medical conditions. In relation to you Yvonne Warfe he is your father and in relation to you Angela Nissirios he is your brother-in-law being married to your sister Foula.

8 There was significant publicity at the time, first, of Mokbel being bailed in September 2002 when he was granted bailed in the sum of $1 million and second, when he failed to answer his bail on 20 March 2006 that also attracted very significant media attention which was ongoing for a substantial period. Finally in March or April of 2007, Victoria Police offered a reward of $1 million for any assistance which led to the apprehension of Mokbel. Not surprisingly this also attracted significant media attention.

9 It is clear that after March 2006 Byron Pantazis and his wife Foula Pantazis, who is respectively your mother or sister, made significant trips to Greece and spent large amounts of money, which the Crown argue was in preparation for Mokbel's flight to Greece.

10 A large part of Byron Pantazis' involvement related to the purchase, modification and transportation of the vessel Edwena, which was a 57 foot vessel described as a cutter rig sloop. It was an Australia registered vessel. Pantazis made all the arrangements for the purchase of this vessel and spent significant sums of money relating to not only the purchase but transportation of the vessel to Perth and modifications to enable it to sail internationally. It became clear during the time of purchase that an overseas based company could not own 100% of an Australian registered vessel. It was required to be at least part-owned by an Australian national.

11 On September 23, you Angela Nissirios travelled to Sydney by train with your sister Foula Pantazis, who paid for the trip. You were met by Byron Pantazis and stayed in Sydney with him. During that trip Byron Pantazis informed you Angela Nissirios that he had some friends who were going to buy a boat and, due to some difficulties they were experiencing, the boat was going to be put in your name.

12 On or about 25 September 2006 in your hotel room you assisted Byron Pantazis and a man called George Panagakos to count a large amount of cash, most likely in the order of $180,000. Shortly after this, you attended premises in Maritime Place where you signed documentation to do with the transfer of the ownership of the vessel Edwena. The settlement of the vessel occurred later that day at the HSBC Bank in Sydney and you handed to Edward Byrne and Udo Edlinger, the owner and the boat broker, a total of $323,000 made up of three bank cheques totalling $140,000 and the balance in cash of $183,000. The break up of ownership of the boat was 33 shares in your name and 31 shares in the name of Levander Shipping SA of the Marshall Islands. Levander Shipping was a company incorporated and existing under the laws of the Marshall Islands, which had granted powers of attorney to two persons - Mr Georgus Panagakos of Glyfada Attiki, Greece, and Mr Petros Koukladas of Greece who was also the skipper of the vessel Edwena when it left Fremantle, ultimately in November of 2006. You flew back to Melbourne the next day and Foula Pantazis paid for your airfare.

13 On 2 October you Angela Nissirios and Georgious Panagakos signed an Australian Customs Service Declaration stating, amongst other things, that you were the owners of the vessel Edwena. You gave that signed document to Foula Pantazis.

14 More activity in relation to the vessel Edwena occurred after that with the involvement of Byron Pantazis and a number of other persons.

15 You Angela Nissirios had no further involvement with the vessel until the time when you assisted Mokbel in travelling from Victoria to Fremantle, Western Australia. That occurred in October 2006. At some time between 2 and 16 October you Angela Nissirios were told by your sister Foula Pantazis that you were going on a trip with Byron Pantazis, Yvonne Warfe (your niece) and her seven month old baby, together with a friend of Byron Pantazis. You were told that you would be paid $1000 for going on the trip. Foula Pentazis also asked you to purchase two mobile telephones and put them in your own name, which you did. You were given the money to purchase those telephones by Foula Pentazis. At around this same time, Byron Pantazis asked you Yvonne Warfe (his daughter) to go on an all-expenses paid interstate trip for a week and you were told that you would get a $1,000 spending money for the trip. He told you that it was for work, although you knew at the time that your father was unemployed. You were told not to ask too many questions but to tell people that, in fact, you would be travelling to Sydney, which was not true.

16 On about 16 or 17 October Mokbel arrived at an Elphinstone property owned by the Zeidan's. He stayed with them for a couple of nights. He was provided with accommodation and food by the Zeidan's.

17 On 19 October you Angela Nissirios met with Byron Pantazis and with you Yvonne Warfe, together with your seven month old baby, at Byron Pantazis' home in Reservoir. You travelled from there to the property in Elphinstone where you were introduced to Mokbel by the name Yanni. You spoke with him for a short time and then you all left together in a hired four wheel drive. Byron Pantazis was the driver, you Yvonne Warfe were the front passenger, Mokbel was a backseat passenger, you Angela Nissirios were also a backseat passenger with the seven month old baby in the back seat in a baby capsule. As you travelled towards Adelaide, but before you left Victoria, you met up with Chafic Issa and George Elias who were travelling in a campervan and you travelled in convoy and you stayed at a motel that first night. You continued travelling on 20 October 2006. Mokbel never left the vehicle except to go into the motels to sleep. He gave you both money to buy food and magazines. It was either on the first or second day that Mokbel told you Yvonne Warfe that if you were pulled over by the police you were to tell them that he was your husband Wes and that he was a mute. Your husband's name was in fact Wes.

18 On October 21 you continued to travel and passed through the Western Australian and South Australian borders. You stayed that night in Norseman, Western Australia and on 22 October you finished your travel arriving at Fremantle.

19 It had been arranged between Byron Pantazis and you Angela Nissirios that you would assist by paying for any expenses to do with the vessel or other matters by using your Westpac debit card. You were told that moneys would be paid into that account to enable the expenses to be paid.

20 During your time in Western Australia a large number of items were paid for using that card. At least $48,000 was deposited to that account to enable the expenditure to be made. This was done by a series of $8,000 deposits in cash from different locations in Melbourne. Between 23 October 2006 and 2 November 2006 when you departed from Perth to Melbourne by air, you had spent numerous sums on matters such as accommodation for Elias, Issa, yourself, Warfe, Pantazis, Mokbel and also the three Greek sailors who were to sail the boat. You purchased food which was to be used by all of you during your stay in Perth. You further purchased nautical items such as a generator for the boat, tools, batteries, life raft, jackets, flares, other hire cars, alterations to the main sails and other modifications to the boat. You Yvonne Warfe during the time in Perth were requested to purchase long-lasting food and food items that did not require refrigeration. You did that and paid for those items in cash which had been provided to you.

21 On October 29, 2006, you Yvonne Warfe flew to Melbourne with your baby, which flight had been paid for also by the Visa Card in the name of Angela Nissirios. Prior to your leaving for Melbourne, Mokbel gave you $10,000 in cash, of which he said $5,000, was for you and $5,000 was for the baby. You Angela Nissirios stayed longer and continued to assist by purchasing and arranging for the payment of some of the items to which I have referred. You left Perth on 2 November 2006 and received from Mokbel $5,000 for the help that you had given him.

22 On 11 November 2006 the vessel Edwena left Fremantle declaring that there were three Greek nationals on board, being the skipper and the two Greek crewman. Mokbel joined the vessel shortly after it had departed Fremantle but no one can say precisely where. He travelled on the boat and ultimately arrived in Greece where he remained until he was arrested.

23 You, Yvonne Warfe saw Mokbel once more and spoke to him briefly when you saw him at your mother's hotel room at the Hotel Fenix in Glyfada. You were travelling overseas in Greece at that time staying at the same hotel as your mother, but in a separate room. You had not expected to see Mokbel and apart from a short conversation had nothing to do with him. That also was the day Mokbel was arrested.

24 In relation to your statements, you Yvonne Warfe indicated that you believed you had started to recognise Yanni as potentially being Tony Mokbel on the first day. When you started to pay closer attention you could see that he was wearing a wig. You state that you had a conversation with your aunt Angela in a toilet at one of the petrol stops indicating your belief that you thought Yanni was in fact Tony Mokbel. You stated that Angela said she would have a good look and see what she thought. At the next stop you say that Angela said to you that she thought yes it was possibly him. You also stated that at that time you knew who Tony Mokbel was, you knew that he had failed to turn up at court and that he was being sought by the police. The next day you also spoke to Angela again, you say, about Yanni being Tony Mokbel and that Angela agreed and you asked your father if the person was Mokbel. You stated your father did not directly answer the question but you could tell from his reaction that it was, in fact, Tony Mokbel. Your father told you just not to talk about it.

25 You said finally on the last page of your statement, and I quote:

I understand that by my actions I have assisted in Tony Mokbel fleeing police and authorities in Australia. I never took into consideration where the money I received from Tony Mokbel came from. I believe that money I was paid by Tony Mokbel was to thank me for assistance I gave him during the trip. At no time did I attempt to notify police of my involvement in assisting Tony Mokbel. I can't explain why I did this I guess I was scared of the consequences of not assisting him and through loyalty and respect to my father.

26 In relation to your statement Angela Nissirios, you said in paragraph 9 of that statement that when Byron Pantazis said to you that he would be putting the boat in your name and that it would only be in your name for about a month, you said you asked him am I going to get into trouble, to which he replied no. There was no further explanation of your involvement in the purchasing of the Edwena. In paragraph 18 you stated:

I was not given any money for going to Sydney and signing the paperwork for this boat. I had my fares paid for, my meals and my accommodation.

27 In relation to your travel to Western Australia, you say in your statement that:

After a while I got a phone call from Foula who told me I was going on a trip with Byron, Yvonne who was Byron's daughter and her baby, and a friend of Byron's. I was told I had to be at Byron's house early in the morning and I was going to be given $1000 for the trip.

28 You stated that on the second day Yvonne and you were talking and she said to you that she thought Yanni was the guy on the news, the drug dealer. At first your response was no, but ultimately whilst travelling you got a copy of the newspaper where there was a picture of Tony Mokbel which confirmed the suspicions held by your niece. You were also present when Byron Pantazis told your niece Yvonne to give Yanni her husband's date of birth and how to spell his name correctly. You stated that Yanni was trying to remember all the details in respect of Wes. You said in your statement:

I thought this was a bit strange and I thought this was Yanni or Tony Mokbel, who I now believed him to be, could pretend to be Wes if the police pulled us over.

29 After you had returned to Melbourne you had a further discussion at a later stage with Yvonne your niece and you said at paragraph 62 of your statement:

I then sat down with Yvonne and we discussed the trip and I asked her if she was ever going to tell the baby when he grew up that we went to Western Australia with Tony Mokbel. I realised at this time for certain that I had played a role in assisting Tony Mokbel escape from Australia. We decided between ourselves that we would not tell anyone and Byron also said not to tell anybody. I did not consider where the money I got paid from Yanni or the money that was used to organise the trip came from. I knew that it was Yanni's money though.

In June 2007 when I heard that Tony Mokbel had been arrested I was in the car driving. I then saw the news and saw that Byron had been arrested. I did not go to the police, I was scared. I knew that eventually the police would come one day to me and I would be arrested. I knew it would be a domino effect and I am glad now that it is all over. I am sorry for what I have done but I am more sorry about what I have done to my children.

30 The offences to which you have each pleaded guilty are serious versions of a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

31 Mokbel had been granted bail under quite unusual circumstances, the bail was for a significant figure of $1 million. He had absconded during the proceedings in the Supreme Court, the trial had proceeded, he had been convicted and sentenced. All of those matters were well known and highly publicised facts. He was the subject of ongoing and continuing publicity in respect of the search for him. It is with that background that each of you have become involved in assisting him to flee this jurisdiction.

32 Even on your own versions of these events, wherein you state that you were unaware of Yanni being Mokbel initially, it is clear that within the space of one to two days you have both become aware that the person you were introduced to as Yanni was in fact Tony Mokbel. You each understood that he was in fact absconding from the Victorian jurisdiction and that he was being pursued by police and other authorities. That makes this a very serious version of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. While you each have a different degree of involvement in this offence, there is no doubt that each of you made a significant contribution to assisting Mokbel in his flight from this country. Neither of your involvement is at the level of Issa, Elias, Byron Pantazis or other persons of that ilk, but the fact that others have been more involved or have received more financial reward or had more intimate knowledge of Mokbel's plans for escape does not reduce your culpability. Whilst others may have been recruited to take on the roles that you did, the point is that each of you agreed to take on those roles and carried them through even when you knew that person involved was a convicted drug importer. Neither of you volunteered any information to the authorities about Mokbel, his whereabouts or the means used to flee this jurisdiction until after you had been arrested and charged. Your counsel submitted that it would be impossible to just leave the trip once you had recognised who Mokbel was, as you were travelling across the Australian desert. Whilst that is a proper argument to consider, it has no relevance to the acts which you each undertook once you arrived in Freemantle, and from that stage on, it was a matter of choice. It is not suggested that every choice that a person makes to remain a law abiding citizen is an easy one, but in my view you both had a choice at that stage.

33 That is the most positive view that can be taken of your offending, equally it is open to find, and I do find, that each of you had an awareness in respect of the trip to Perth that you were, from the beginning involved in something illegal, and not just receiving a holiday generously paid for by your brother in law or father. Even if I accepted, as your counsel have urged, that it was not uncommon for you to accompany either your mother or sister or father and brother in law on holidays, it would be most unusual to receive payment for travelling with them. This is particularly so in light of the fact that Byron Pantazis was unemployed and had been so for a significant time.

34 I do not act, however, on the basis that you were aware that you would be assisting Tony Mokbel to flee Australia, before you say you recognised him on the trip over to Perth. This means that I do not accept counsel's submissions that you were tricked or deceived into doing something illegal. As I say whilst I accept that you were not aware of the identity or the purpose of your travel to Perth, I do find that each of you entered into your activities knowing that it involved some illegality.

35 Whilst these are relevant matters that I must take into account I must also when I am determining the appropriate sentence to be passed in respect of each of you, have regard to each of your personal circumstances, and history.

36 Dealing first with you Angela Nissirios. As indicated you were born in 1962 in the Greek city of Rhodes, the youngest of five children. You migrated with your family to Australia in 1964 when you would have been aged approximately two. Your father worked in a factory and your mother cared for the children. You described your early years to psychologist Mr Patrick Newton as being austere and harsh. You said your father enforced a strict traditional code of conduct upon the family through harsh physical discipline and you described your father's behaviour towards you and others in your family as abusive and said that you lived in near constant fear throughout your childhood.

37 In 1968 your sister Foula had gone through an arranged marriage to a man in Sydney, that marriage clearly collapsed at a later stage. In 1969 your father returned to Greece with the family after selling the house in Sydney, on the basis that it was a permanent removal back to Greece. In 1971 you, together with your family, returned to Sydney to live and your parents opened a fish and chip shop in Merrylands with your sister Foula and her then husband. By 1974 your father had sold the fish and chip shop and he was on a pension for asthma. Your brother John Nissirios died from an illness, and the family moved to a housing commission house at Riverwood. Then in 1977 the family again returned permanently to Rhodes in Greece. You were, by that stage, 15 and you commenced working in a supermarket. You have attended over the years a number of different schools both in Australia and in Greece. You described yourself as a poor student and you were very unhappy during your school life. Your father viewed education for girls as being valueless and you were actively discouraged from attending school beyond the minimum school age. As a result you have worked continuously in a number of unskilled positions both in Australia and in Greece. At one point you started training to become a hairdresser but that was not completed.

38 In 1978 your father again returned the family to Australia. One of your sisters, Despina, stayed on in Rhodes and married. Your mother remained with her at that time. You were very unhappy about residing with your father and in 1979 you bought a one-way ticket to Greece and lived with your sister Despina in Rhodes. You worked in the family restaurant they ran there. In 1980 you were given an ultimatum by your mother, to either get married or come back to Australia to live and you chose to come back to Australia.

39 Your sister Foula, in 1982, married Byron Pantazis. The best man for that marriage was George Verykios. You were living with Foula and, ultimately, you entered into a relationship with George Verykios and when you were approximately 20 years of age in 1983 you married him. You moved to Sydney and resided with your husband and your mother-in-law. You had five children to your husband George; in 1983 Vicki, in 1984 Johanna, in 1987 Eve, in 1990 Thomas and in 1993 Appostoli. In 1985 your husband injured his back at Corinthian Doors and never worked again. In 1988 the family moved to Melbourne. Your husband had received a work settlement in relation to his back and you purchased a house in Lalor. You continued working in milk bars or doing factory work during the time. Your husband was on a pension due to his health.

40 Your life continued on in this manner with you working and your husband not working but being on a pension until December of 2002 at which point you separated from your husband. You left the house and took with you the children who were then aged 19, 18, 15, 12 and 9. You described your marriage in negative terms when you were interviewed by Mr Newton. You told him:

Ms Nissirios has described her marriage in startling negative terms. She said that her husband had been addicted to marijuana and had smoked it heavily throughout their marriage. Ms Nissirios said that he had been paranoid and possessive of her and that she had endured harsh and austere conditions. She stated that for most of their marriage her husband had refused to work and that she had therefore supported the family from the meagre income she derived from the various unskilled positions she occupied.

You told him that there was a protracted separation process and your husband refused to acknowledge the children as being his children until each of the children had been DNA tested and it was not until 2007 that the settlement between yourself and your husband was finally complete. During all of this time relating to the divorce and prior to the settlement, you rented a house and you continued working. You are a little unclear on dates in respect of this matter with different dates being provided to your counsel, being 2006 when the settlement occurred, and I am unclear as to whether the divorce settlement was in fact complete before your involvement in these offences.

41 In relation to your son Appostole, in approximately 2005 the Family Court ordered custody of your son be granted to your husband. You have been in fairly continuous employment and there is no doubt you have been a hardworking citizen.

42 After your return from Perth and your involvement in this offence, you continued working with Wilsons Car Parks and finally in 2008 you purchased a house at Burnside for $270,000, of which you had a deposit of $85,000 clearly as a result of the settlement of the family law matter.

43 You were arrested on 5 June 2008. You made initially made a no comment record of interview, but on 10 June you agreed to assist the police and a statement was subsequently made and signed on 17 June 2008. You were bailed on 24 June and have remained on bail since that time until your plea of guilty before me.

44 As I indicated, you have no prior criminal history. You have had no involvement in illicit drugs, gambling or any other antisocial behaviour.

45 In the report provided by Mr Newton he discussed your mental status. You told Mr Newton that you had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication, being diazepam, from your mid-teens in relation to the problems you experienced with your father and your peer networks at school. There was no information as to how long you remained on that medication.

46 In the mid-1980s you were involved in an automobile accident and you were prescribed antidepressants by your general practitioner for approximately two years. Further, when you separated from your husband in 2003 you were prescribed antidepressants in relation to, what Mr Newton described as, a further bout of intense depression, which you reportedly continued to take until 2008. You have also been prescribed anti-anxiety medication to assist with claustrophobic panic attacks relating to small places. You have not been prescribed any psychotropic medication at any stage.

47 You were referred to Helen Pang, a psychologist, by your general practitioner on 5 December 2008. Ms Pang in her report indicated the reason for the referral was to provide counselling in relation to your depression and claustrophobia anxiety. Between 19 December 2008 and 20 February 2009 you attended six one hour sessions. She provided a report to the court dated 26 February 2009 which appears to deal more with your panic attacks relating to confined spaces. She has been, she states, counselling you in respect of your depression and anxiety and also teaching you strategies such as stress management and relaxation strategies for improved coping and functioning in confined spaces. The history she refers to has already been referred to in the submissions of counsel and the report of Mr Newton.

48 Mr Newton in his recommendations and conclusions indicates that you have depressive symptoms which have not yet reached the proportions of a major depressive disorder but believes that your symptoms are sufficiently severe to warrant the diagnosis of a dysthymic disorder and recommends that you continue to receive appropriate professional treatment and support. In relation to that, he has referred to your suicidal ideation which was transient and a large proportion of which related to your concern about being returned to the custodial environment. Mr Newton conceded in his report that there may be a degree of hyperbole attached to your expressions of distress but he remained concerned about your personal safety and asked that appropriate cautions be taken in respect of that. He also indicated that your time on remand, a period of some days, and more particularly any period that you spent in solitary confinement and transportation to and from the prison you found almost intolerable. He found that your anxiety in this regard seemed to have become melded with your other worries which has intensified your agitation and distress. He also tested your intelligence. He found you to be quite intelligent with an ability to learn quickly and your capacity for non-verbal reasoning was in fact in the top eight percent of the population. It is, accordingly, very unfortunate that you were not given the opportunity to complete your education and encouraged to rise to the level of your potential. He further found the jobs in which you had been engaged must have been extraordinarily dissatisfactory to you in light of your obvious intelligence.

49 Both Mr Newton and Mr Pang made recommendations that you receive a sentence that allowed you to remain within the community and continue ongoing therapy.

50 I should point out that, in respect of the role of psychologists, I do not expect when I receive reports from them for them to be expressing that a particular sentence is an appropriate sentence for the court to pass, that is not their role and they should be well aware that that is not their role. Despite that, I will take into account the circumstances that each have referred to regarding the mental health issues that you face and the problems that incarceration may cause for you.

51 I have also read the five personal references that have been tendered. Two are from your daughters and one from your daughter-in-law. One from a person with whom you worked and one from what appears to be a family friend of yours who has known you for over 20 years. Particularly, your daughters talk about you as a mother, your kindness, your capacity for work, your encouragement of them in their lives and your belief in their abilities in the future. There is no doubt that you have been until this time a good, law abiding, valuable contributing citizen, and that factor is something that does count in your favour and I will use it in combination with many of the other factors that I have to consider when imposing sentence.

52 You Yvonne Warfe, as I indicated, were born in March 1974. You are the daughter of Foula Pantazis and the step-daughter of Byron Pantazis. Your father was Mr Karaveladzis who was a man who married your mother in an arranged marriage in Sydney in 1968. He was some 15 years older than your mother Foula. From the age of 4, Byron Pantazis has been your step-father, although he did not marry your mother until you were aged approximately eight. When you were five you moved to Melbourne with your mother and your step-father. You lived in Thomastown and then moved to Reservoir. You were schooled at St Clare's in Thomastown then St Joseph The Worker in Reservoir and finally at St Monica's in Reservoir. You left St Monica's at the end of third form to assist in running a family business, a children's wear clothing shop. You and your mother ran that business for approximately two years - it failed. At the end of those two years, you decided that you would go back to school, which you did. You went to Merrilands Secondary College and you successfully completed Years 10, 11 and 12 and you passed your VCE in 1993 having just turned 19. Whilst you were undertaking your schooling at Merrilands, you also worked part-time three or four nights a week plus weekend work. When you left school you got a full-time job at a supermarket in Thornbury and you worked there for a year, saved money for a holiday and then went to Greece for a period of four months. When you returned you went back to the same supermarket and stayed there another four years. You left that position to go and join your brother in Sydney when he had opened a fish and chip shop - you were about 25 at that time. You worked there for about five months, left and came back to the same supermarket in Thornbury and worked there for a further six months. You left that position in the supermarket as you had a full-time job at Wilson Parking when you became the cashier at the Royal Melbourne Hospital Parking. You then became a receptionist for an accounting firm in Coburg for a year, then for another accounting firm for a short time and then back to Wilson's Parking, this time at Sunshine Hospital, full-time as a cashier. In 2002 you met your husband, Wesley Warfe, who is a senior mail officer with Victoria Post, an organisation with whom he has worked for 22 years. You became engaged in 2004 and married in 2005. Your husband had been previously married and has a child from that marriage. There are two children of your own from your marriage to your husband Wesley, one aged two and one aged three. When you had your first child you returned to work on a casual basis. Your son who is three is the seven month old child that accompanied you on the trip to Perth with Mokbel. You were at that stage some four months pregnant. In December of 2007 you obtained casual work at the Australian Wave retail shop at Tullamarine Airport, and when you were arrested your employer sacked you from that position. You reside in a newish suburb called Burnside which is between Caroline Springs and Deer Park. You and your husband have a $200,000 mortgage on your home, you have a redraw facility of approximately $1000 and you have two small old cars, you have some outstanding moneys owed in respect of a television and a credit card, some $1400 in total.

53 Your counsel described you as having basically led a fairly normal life. Your counsel said that your father, whom I presume him to be referring to Byron Pantazis, was in his early days a printer at the Herald Sun. There is no doubt that, from the age of approximately four, Byron Pantazis was the only father that you knew and he treated you apparently as he did the other children of the family.

54 In relation to your health, I have two medical certificates, the first from the West Group Medical Centre dated 23 February 2009 which indicates that you suffer from migraine-type headaches associated with nausea and vomiting, low back pain and multiple recurrent abscesses. You had an MRI of the brain which showed that you have two cystic lesions in the left temporal region. You are under the care of a neurosurgeon at the Royal Melbourne Hospital but you are not due to have a further MRI brain scan until September of 2009. This situation is being kept under review and there may at some stage be a need for a removal of the cystic lesions but it has certainly not reached that point as yet. Further, you have what is referred to as hidrodenitis suppurativa which involves a 12 month course of antibiotics - they are in fact boils. Your daughter Paris has some ongoing hearing difficulties which is being attended to by the Royal Children's Hospital. She is due for review in April of this year.

55 Your husband is in full-time employment. Your mother Foula Pantazis has been the primary carer for your grandfather, although I am unclear where he is residing. Your mother also allegedly, according to the information I have, has had some involvement in this offending but, once again, it is not clear if she is going to be charged. The care of your two small children is an issue that I need to take into account when determining the appropriate sentence to be imposed.

56 You had what your counsel described as an unremarkable life, in that you have not done anything out of the ordinary, you have been industrious and not involved in any breach of the law until this time, living what could be described as a perfectly ordinary life. They are matters that are to be considered in your favour.

57 You are both entitled to use the benefit of your lack of prior convictions and your willingness to cooperate in the future. Also your perfectly ordinary decent lives, which you both have led up until this stage are in your favour. That, of course, needs to be a matter factored in and balanced with the other matters to which I must pay heed, which include the need to impose a sentence that reflects the offence, your role within it, deterrence both personal and general, and the overall need to impose a just and appropriate sentence.

58 Your counsel have both submitted that a sentence of imprisonment is the appropriate penalty, but that any such sentence of imprisonment should be wholly suspended. I do not agree, whilst the circumstances in your favour are considerable, the factors relating to your involvement, your motivation, and the consequences are too significant to be met by the imposition of a wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment.

59 Accordingly in relation to the one count on the presentment you are both convicted and I sentence you Angela Nissirios to be imprisoned for a period of 2 years and nine months imprisonment. I direct that you are to serve a period of 17 months before being eligible for parole. I sentence you Yvonne Warfe to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months and I direct that you are to serve a period of 9 months before being eligible for parole.

60 I declare that you Angela Nissirios have spent 49 days in pre sentence detention and I direct that such be noted in the records of the court.

61 I declare that you Yvonne Warfe have spent 49 days in pre sentence detention and I direct that such be noted in the records of the court.

62 I am obliged to indicate what sentence I would have passed were it not for your pleas of guilty, and allowing only for that matter - in respect of Angela Nissirios the sentence would have been a sentence of 3 years and 3 months, and in respect of you Yvonne Warfe it would have been a sentence of two years.

At a glance

Court

Decision date

Before

Source

Judgment (72 paragraphs)

Parties