R v Stretton [2017] ACTSC 313 (20 October 2017)

SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

[2017] ACTSC 313

8 July; 14, 23 September; 20 October; 23 November; 2 December 2016; 31 January; 6 March, 27 April; 16 June; 29 September 2017

CRIMINAL LAW - JURISDICTION, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE - Judgment and Punishment - Sentence -possession of prohibited firearm - possession of ammunition - possession of prohibited substance - possession of drug of dependence - drive motor vehicle without consent - offences in breach of good behaviour order attached to suspended sentences - depression and anxiety - polysubstance use - importance of rehabilitation for young adult offenders - repeated adjournments to enable completion of residential rehabilitation - further offending while on bail - offender aware that drug abuse significant factor in re-offending - good behaviour order cancelled and original sentences imposed - need for completion of residential rehabilitation program - recommendation of one-to-one counselling to identify sources of anger.

Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 (ACT), s 110

Drugs of Dependence Act 1989 (ACT), ss 169(1), 171(1)(b)

He Kaw Teh v The Queen [1985] HCA 43; (1985) 157 CLR 523

R v Hughes (Unreported, Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, Nield AJ, 8 August 2013)

R v Stretton [2014] ACTSC 96

SCC 91 of 2013; SCC 197 of 2013; SCC 106 of 2016; SCC 107 of 2016; SCC 167 of 2017

1. Nathan Stretton is before me today for sentence on four offences committed on 20 November 2015, which I shall call the 2015 offences, and two offences committed in June 2017, which I shall call the 2017 offences.

2. I must also deal with Mr Stretton for breaching a good behaviour order, made on 22 April 2014 and expiring on 21 October 2015, by committing an offence (the Magistrates Court offence) for which he was dealt with by Magistrate Cook in April 2016. I shall call the offences in respect of which that good behaviour order was made the old offences.

3. As to the 2015 offences, Mr Stretton has pleaded guilty to one charge of being knowingly concerned in Brandon Henry Rankin possessing a prohibited firearm contrary to s 42A(3) of the Firearms Act 1996 (ACT), which carries a maximum penalty including 10 years imprisonment.

4. He has also pleaded guilty to three other charges, being:

(a) possessing ammunition for a firearm contrary to s 249(1) of the Firearms Act with the maximum penalty of a $1,500 fine.

(b) possessing a prohibited substance contrary to s 171(1)(b) of the Drugs of Dependence Act 1989 (ACT), the maximum penalty for which includes 2 years imprisonment; and

(c) possessing a drug of dependence contrary to s 169(1) of the Drugs of Dependence Act, the maximum penalty for which also includes 2 years imprisonment.

5. Those last three offences are before me for sentencing under s 90B of the Magistrates Court Act 1930 (ACT) and s 68D of the Supreme Court Act 1933 (ACT). For the purposes of s 68D(2) of the Supreme Court Act, I note that I consider it would be in the interests of justice to deal with those offences in these proceedings.

6. The 2017 offences are two offences of driving a motor vehicle dishonestly and without consent, an offence which arises under s 318 of the Criminal Code 2002 (ACT) and carries a maximum penalty including 5 years imprisonment.

7. Mr Stretton has also pleaded guilty to these offences.

8. The incident from which the 2015 charges arose took place during the day on 20 November 2015. The police observed Mr Stretton and another man sitting in a car in a car park at a unit complex in Bonython in the ACT. The police were already aware that Mr Stretton was in breach of a bail condition imposed in August 2015 that he live at his father's home in Bredbo in NSW. When the police approached the car, they removed the two occupants, who had initially locked the car doors and refused to get out. The police then saw a single shot, bolt action .22 calibre rifle, with no stock and a shortened barrel, lying between the front passenger seat and the centre console.

9. The 2017 offences were committed on two consecutive days in June this year after Mr Stretton had failed to appear on a bail undertaking on 16 June 2017, and after arrest warrants were issued on that day. On 22 June 2017, the police observed Mr Stretton driving a blue Honda Civic that had been reported stolen 10 days earlier. The police lost sight of the vehicle, but later the same day it was found, burnt out, near Tharwa. Also on that day, a vehicle was stolen from a driveway in Macquarie. The next morning the police saw Mr Stretton driving the vehicle in Wanniassa. When the vehicle was parked in Fadden a couple of hours later, the police approached the car and arrested Mr Stretton.

10. In April 2016, Mr Stretton was sentenced by Magistrate Cook for the Magistrates Court offence, which was committed on 30 June 2015. That offence involved riding in a stolen motor vehicle being driven by a co-offender. Mr Stretton was sentenced to 5 months imprisonment to run from 20 November 2015 to 19 April 2016.

11. As noted, that offence breached a good behaviour order that I made in April 2014 (R v Stretton [2014] ACTSC 96), and he was remanded in custody to the Supreme Court for that breach to be dealt with.

12. The old offences, for which I had sentenced Mr Stretton in April 2014, were one of attempted aggravated burglary, one of aggravated burglary, and one associated offence of theft, all committed in 2013.

13. On 16 May 2016, on the sixth mention in the Magistrates Court, Mr Stretton pleaded guilty to the charge of being knowingly concerned in Mr Rankin's unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm, and was committed to this Court for sentence.

14. On that date he also pleaded guilty, on the first mention in the Magistrates Court, to the three associated charges, being the possession, respectively, of ammunition for a firearm, a prohibited substance (namely methylamphetamine or Ice), and a drug of dependence (namely MDMA or Ecstasy).

15. Mr Stretton pleaded guilty to the 2017 offences on the second mention in the Magistrates Court.

16. Most of the guilty pleas are conceded by the Crown to have been early, and this will be recognised with sentencing discounts.

17. The total sentence imposed in 2014 for the old offences was 18 months, backdated to 21 December 2013 to reflect pre-sentence custody and therefore to run until 20 June 2015, and suspended with immediate effect (that is, from 22 April 2014). Mr Stretton was ordered to sign a good behaviour undertaking for 18 months (so expiring on 21 October 2015) with conditions including a supervision condition. Thus, by 22 April 2014 he had served 122 days (just over 4 months) of the 18-month sentence.

18. Mr Stretton was arrested on 20 November 2015, charged with one of the 2015 offences the following day, and remanded in custody. The sentence imposed in the Magistrates Court in April 2016 was backdated to take account of Mr Stretton's continuous period of custody beginning on 20 November 2015, but it did not apparently account for a period of 37 days that Mr Stretton spent in custody earlier in 2015 after being arrested for the Magistrates Court offence itself. After 19 April 2016, when the Magistrates Court sentence expired, Mr Stretton spent a further period of 82 days, until 10 July 2016, in custody in relation to the 2015 offences.

19. Mr Stretton has now been in custody continuously since he was arrested on 23 June 2017 in relation to the latest offences, a total of 119 days as at today, 20 October 2017.

20. After Mr Stretton was sentenced in the Magistrates Court, he was referred to the Supreme Court for me to deal with the breach of the good behaviour order I made in 2014. After he was granted bail from 10 July 2016 to enter residential rehabilitation at Odyssey House in Sydney, the Supreme Court hearing was adjourned to 14 September 2016.

21. From the time of that grant of bail, there was a series of mentions and adjournments while Mr Stretton attempted several different rehabilitation programs:

(a) On 14 September 2016, the defence tendered a letter from Odyssey House indicating that Mr Stretton would benefit from continuing to stay at Odyssey House, and requesting that the Court adjourn Mr Stretton's matter for a further 8 to 12 weeks for him to make greater progress in the program and for a more comprehensive report of his progress to be made.

(b) The sentence hearing was adjourned to 6 December 2016, but on 23 September Mr Stretton appeared before me, having handed himself in after being discharged from Odyssey House. He had applied to two other residential rehabilitation programs, and was granted bail to live with his father while pursuing entry to such a program.

(c) By 20 October 2016, when Mr Stretton next appeared in court, good progress seemed to have been made with finding a residential rehabilitation program, and another mention was set for 23 November; Mr Stretton was excused from that mention if he had entered residential rehabilitation by then. I also varied Mr Stretton's bail to allow him to accompany his family on a holiday at the Gold Coast.

(d) On 23 November 2016, Mr Stretton was represented at the mention. He had entered residential rehabilitation in Wagga Wagga, but the letter from the rehabilitation provider indicated that, contrary to Mr Stretton's earlier indications, he was now only intending to complete the first six-week segment of the residential rehabilitation program, after which he would return to Canberra and possibly take up non-residential rehabilitation support. I was concerned by this apparent change of plan, and adjourned the mention for Mr Stretton's then lawyer to obtain further instructions.

(e) On 2 December 2016, before counsel was able to advise of any further instructions, Mr Stretton presented himself at the Supreme Court registry, having been discharged from the residential program in Wagga Wagga for using cannabis in breach of the program's rules. I adjourned yet again to allow Mr Stretton to pursue another rehabilitation option, noting also that Mr Stretton was due in court in New South Wales in January 2017 in relation to proceedings in that State dating back some years and relating to taking a motor vehicle without consent, and damaging property.

(f) On 31 January 2017, Mr Stretton appeared before me. He had an appointment to be assessed for the Arcadia House program. There was discussion about the NSW matter, which was next in court in Batemans Bay in February 2017. The ACT matters were listed before me again, with the aim of finalising them on 6 March 2017.

22. By that time, however, Mr Stretton had been offered a place in a drug rehabilitation program in Sydney, involving a two-week detox program and then a four-week residential rehabilitation program. He was released on bail, yet again, on that day to begin that program on 1 May, with a warning that this was his last chance to do a rehabilitation program before the good behaviour breach and the sentencing for the new offences would be finalised on 16 June 2017.

23. There is little new information for me about what happened then, and it seems that Mr Stretton never made it to the Sydney rehabilitation program, nor had he been in touch with his parents. What is clear is that he did not turn up in court on 16 June 2017 when this matter was due to be finalised, and that only a week later he committed, and was arrested in relation to, the new motor vehicle offences. It seems, noting the comments in the April CADAS report and the August pre-sentence report, that Mr Stretton had relapsed into serious drug abuse some months previously, despite apparently being well aware that this was a significant factor in his continued re-offending.

24. As well as the statement of facts for the 2015 and 2017 offences, the following material is in evidence before me:

(a) a criminal history dated 6 July 2016 and an updated criminal history dated 23 June 2017;

(b) CADAS reports dated 27 June 2016 and 21 April 2017;

(c) a photo of a firearm Mr Stretton had possessed in the 2015 offence;

(d) an Australian Federal Police report titled "Examination of Shortened Firearm";

(e) further updated pre-sentence reports dated 18 April 2017, 24 August 2017 and 18 October 2017;

(a) a chronology;

(b) my sentencing remarks made on 22 April 2014;

(c) Magistrate Cook's sentencing remarks made on 22 April 2016;

(d) a pre-sentence report dated from September 2013;

(e) two CADAS reports from 2013;

(f) a letter from Odyssey House dated September 2016;

(g) two letters from Calvary Riverina Drug and Alcohol Centre dated 14 October 2016 and 21 November 2016;

(h) a letter about Mr Stretton's discharge from the Wagga Wagga rehabilitation program;

(i) a copy of Mr Stretton's NSW bail conditions;

(j) a letter from Construction Charitable Works dated 26 April 2017; and

(k) a letter from Corrective Services dated 7 October 2017 confirming Mr Stretton's attendance at various anger management sessions, as well as student-led counselling sessions, since 19 August 2017.

26. In considering the objective seriousness of the new offences, I have had regard to the following matters.

27. The four 2015 offences, all involving possession of something prohibited, were committed while Mr Stretton was on bail granted on 5 August 2015 in respect of the Magistrates Court matters.

28. Possession offences as charged here may involve only a state of affairs rather than conduct as such (He Kaw Teh v The Queen [1985] HCA 43; (1985) 157 CLR 523 at [564], Brennan J). In this case, the evidence does not go beyond the simple fact of possession, so there is no need, nor indeed any opportunity, to consider Mr Stretton's intentions. That is, unlike Nield AJ in the matter of R v Hughes (Unreported, Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory, Nield AJ, 8 August 2013) which was handed up by the prosecutor, I am unable to infer to the requisite standard that either Mr Rankin's putative possession of the firearm, or Mr Stretton's knowing involvement in that possession, reflected an intention to commit a criminal offence. I do note, however, the evidence suggesting that the rifle was able to be fired.

29. The pre-sentence report reported that Mr Stretton had accepted responsibility for the 2015 offences and had shown both insight into the causes of his offending and remorse, especially for the impact on his family - since there were no direct victims of the new offences, Mr Stretton's focus on the impact on his family does not suggest an inappropriately narrow scope for his remorse.

30. The 2017 offences are a different matter, since in each case there was a clear victim. Mr Stretton has told the pre-sentence report author that he also accepts responsibility for the 2017 offences, and attributes his poor decisions to his drug abuse, but has not apparently expressed any remorse as such.

31. I accept counsel's submission that the entry of early pleas of guilty can be treated as some evidence of remorse, notwithstanding that it might also reflect a recognition of the strength of the Crown case.

32. Apart from being committed while Mr Stretton was on conditional liberty, the 2015 offences seem to be relatively less serious examples of the offences concerned. One of the disturbing things about the most recent offences, however, the motor vehicle offences in particular, is how entirely pointless they appear to have been. It may be that they were simply expressions of the significant anger which, while largely unexplained, seems to be a major motivating factor for Mr Stretton. I shall return to this at a later point.

33. I have also had regard in this sentencing to Mr Stretton's subjective circumstances.

34. Mr Stretton is 22 years old. When I sentenced him in April 2014 I made the following comments:

Mr Stretton ... grew up in Canberra in a family of three children and is close to both his younger siblings and his parents. However, his behaviour deteriorated dramatically after his parents separated about five years ago. I note, however, that both his parents have been here to support him during these court proceedings. When Mr Stretton was 17 he went to live with his grandmother because of conflicts with his mother, but has moved back in with his mother since being bailed. ...

Mr Stretton finished Year 10, despite being regularly in trouble at school for his behaviour and truancy. He has worked as a roofer and for his uncle as a tiler.

Mr Stretton says he has used cannabis for some years, and methylamphetamine recently, including shortly before he committed the first attempted aggravated burglary. He initially claimed serious alcohol abuse starting from the age of 12, but when I challenged this, having regard to his mother's claim to have been unaware of this until quite recently, he withdrew the claims of significant alcohol and cannabis abuse, while maintaining his claim of methylamphetamine use just before the offence was committed.

Mr Stretton has no physical health problems and says that his mental health (which may involve depression and anxiety) has been better since he has reduced his drug use.

35. At that stage, Mr Stretton's criminal history in the ACT consisted of an offence of car theft and two offences respectively of using an uninsured vehicle and an unregistered vehicle; these charges all arose from an incident in which Mr Stretton and several companions stole an unregistered car from a nature strip and used it to do burnouts. Then there are the offences for which I dealt with Mr Stretton in 2014, the later offence dealt with by Magistrate Cook, the NSW offences earlier mentioned, and the new offences to be dealt with in this sentencing.

36. The most recent substantive pre-sentence report (dated April 2017, and prepared before Mr Stretton's current period in custody) said:

Mr Stretton currently has no income. He states that he occasionally assists his mother with commercial cleaning jobs but that it is sporadic at best.

Mr Stretton has previously stated that he was a regular consumer of alcohol from the age of 12 until he was almost 18 years of age. Since then, [Mr Stretton] claims to have replaced alcohol with his drug use. ...

Mr Stretton has a significant history of polysubstance use. [He] stated that he began smoking cannabis at 12 years of age. By the age of 13 he was smoking this substance at a cost of $30 per day. The offender has previously reported that he maintained this level of use, but at the age of 15 also began using amphetamines. Mr Stretton has said that when he started smoking methylamphetamines the amount he consumed per day would differ depending on what he was able to obtain.

Since his drug use began, Mr Stretton has been admitted into four different rehabilitation services, and has successfully completed only one of them. He has registered his interest in attending another rehab, after his most recent CADAS report.

Mr Stretton has previously reported sporadic use of cocaine, hallucinogens, benzodiazepines and prescription pain relief but stated his use of these substances never became problematic for him.

A self reported substance use tool was administered on 14 March 2017 and assessed Mr Stretton's substance use over the preceding 12 months as substantial, with further assessment required.

Mr Stretton reports no physical health concerns.

While incarcerated at the AMC, [Mr Stretton] was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and began receiving medication for these diagnoses. After 14 months of taking his medication as prescribed, Mr Stretton ceased his treatment of his own volition. It is unknown whether this has impacted further on his offending behaviour.

37. Then the opinion set out in that pre-sentence report was:

Mr Stretton is a [22] year old man who has significant criminal history and ongoing issues surrounding his polysubstance use. Despite his involvement with the criminal justice system and having served three periods of incarceration, it would appear Mr Stretton has not adjusted his behaviour to achieve a socially accepted lifestyle. He has continued to lead an unconventional lifestyle, using illicit substances that have contributed to his offending behaviour.

Mr Stretton is assessed as a medium risk of reoffending. This risk could be reduced should [he] commit to reducing his substance abuse issues, and seeking suitable employment.

38. The recent CADAS report referred to Mr Stretton's work with his mother and contained the following additional information:

When CADAS enquired as to other supports in his life at the moment, Mr Stretton indicated that he saw little reason to provide other information, because the charges he was facing were "old matters". When asked why he was back in court, he replied "breaches of my bail". When asked about the types of offences he had been breached for and what was making compliance difficult, he would not elaborate except to say that he had fresh charges.

39. The CADAS reporter also mentioned her understanding that Mr Stretton was keen to attend a residential rehabilitation program in Sydney that was mentioned in Court in April 2017, and saw it providing him with more guidance and "more direction". As already noted, it is not clear what went wrong with Mr Stretton's plan on that occasion.

40. The April CADAS report also recorded Mr Stretton's claim that, contrary to the material in the pre-sentence report, he was still taking prescribed medication for depression and anxiety. However, given the circumstances of the CADAS assessment, that report may not have been reliable. The failure to take prescribed medication for mental health is unlikely to improve Mr Stretton's chances of avoiding illicit substance abuse and avoiding re-offending, and I am pleased to note counsel's advice, indeed Mr Stretton's advice, today that he has recently been prescribed and is taking new medication.

41. A very brief pre-sentence report was prepared in late August 2017. It recorded that there had been no disciplinary action taken against Mr Stretton during his time in custody, and that he had begun to participate in an anger management program after the commission of the 2017 offences. The letter from Corrective Services, concerning his attendance at these sessions since 19 August 2017, noted that Mr Stretton had practised a number of anxiety management strategies and improved his distress tolerance skills. As part of the program, Mr Stretton had also been involved in student-led counselling sessions, where Ms Pauletto, his student counsellor, reported that Mr Stretton had shown insight into his triggers and had indicated a positive motivation to maintain control of his substance abuse and addiction behaviours.

42. This report was generally confirmed by a further updated pre-sentence report provided this week (18 October 2017), although that mentioned one disciplinary incident in early October. The report also noted that Mr Stretton had applied for the Solaris Therapeutic Community program (the Solaris program) but had been exited from a different drug and alcohol program due to repeated failures to attend. The report also mentions Mr Stretton's request for help from prison Psychological and Support Services after he was assaulted and threatened by other inmates, but it seems he is no longer in segregation and presumably no longer troubled by isolation or lack of access to some amenities as mentioned in that report.

43. In dealing with a young, though adult, offender, rehabilitation is a relatively important factor; this explains the recent repeated adjournments while Mr Stretton has been looking for, or occupying, places in residential rehabilitation programs.

44. Before I sentenced Mr Stretton in 2014, he had completed the Triple Care Farm program, and was described by program staff as having worked hard and made significant progress.

45. Since being charged with the 2015 offences, Mr Stretton has made several attempts to complete another residential rehabilitation program, but so far he has not managed to do so. Instead, he has committed further offences and apparently relapsed into significant drug use. It is hard to avoid the suspicion that Mr Stretton has not recently been as committed to rehabilitation as he apparently was in 2014.

46. The significant 2015 offence for which Mr Stretton is to be sentenced is a charge of being knowingly concerned in Mr Rankin's unauthorised possession of a prohibited firearm. However, I am told that in the Magistrates Court Mr Rankin successfully contested the charge of possessing a prohibited firearm, so there is no co-offender's sentence to consider in sentencing for that firearm offence.

47. I am satisfied that both general and personal deterrence are issues in this sentencing.

48. As already mentioned, it is difficult to accept that Mr Stretton is now any more committed to rehabilitation than he has seemed to be in the last 12 or so months. I cannot see anything more that the Court can usefully do at this stage to further his rehabilitation; accordingly, I consider that the time has come to require Mr Stretton to complete the earlier suspended sentences and possibly some of the sentences for the later offences, and to set a non-parole period, leaving him to deal with the parole authorities rather than the Court about his future rehabilitation plans.

49. I do, however, recommend both to Mr Stretton and to the Corrections authorities the continuing need for Mr Stretton actually to complete a residential rehabilitation program either before or after he is released. I also mention that Mr Stretton's repeated failed rehabilitation attempts and his apparently significant problems with anger suggest to me a so far undisclosed cause for his substance abuse and generally poor behaviour. I recommend that investigating that through the provision of some one-on-one counselling (not just drug counselling as such), might be productive, and I order that this comment be included in the sentencing orders and brought to the attention of the Corrections authorities.

50. I have calculated a backdating date for the start of the sentences I shall be imposing (including on re-sentence) as 26 May 2016. This takes account of the following:

(a) a total of 392 days in custody that reflects:

• (i) time previously served under the 2014 sentences;
• (ii) time in custody attributable to the 2015 offences; and
• (iii) the five months of the Magistrates Court sentence served from late 2015 to early 2016;

(b) as at today (20 October 2017), 119 days in custody since Mr Stretton was arrested on 23 June 2017 in respect of the 2017 offences.

52. The complete concurrency that I propose to apply with the Magistrates Court sentence already served also provides some acknowledgment of Mr Stretton's various, more or less short-lived, attempts at residential rehabilitation in the last 18 months or so - more recognition would have been justified if any of those attempts had seemed to improve matters.

54. First, I note the conviction recorded by Magistrate Cook in April 2016 for an offence of riding in a stolen motor vehicle without consent, which put you in breach of a good behaviour order made by me on 22 April 2014. Under s 110 of the Crimes (Sentence Administration) Act 2005 (ACT), I cancel that good behaviour order, and impose the original sentences, and you will remain in custody at least until those sentences have been completed.

55. Next, I record convictions on the six new charges, four of them relating to the 2015 possession of, respectively:

(a) a prohibited firearm;

(b) ammunition for a firearm;

(c) a prohibited substance; and

(d) a drug of dependence;

and the others being the two 2017 offences of dishonestly driving a motor vehicle without consent.

(a) for the original 2013 offences: the sentences are the same as they were in the past, so:

• (i) the first sentence, for the attempted aggravated burglary, is 12 months, this time, given the backdating, running from 26 May 2016 to 25 May 2017, so that is already served;
• (ii) for the aggravated burglary, 15 months imprisonment accumulated to extend the sentence by 6 months, so that will run from 26 August 2016 to 25 November 2017;
• (iii) for the associated theft, a penalty of 6 months imprisonment, to run concurrently with the aggravated burglary sentence, and therefore from 26 August 2016 to 25 February 2017 so, again, that is already completed;

(b) for the 2015 offences:

• (i) for the offence of being knowingly concerned in possession of a prohibited firearm, the penalty is 6 months imprisonment, reduced from 8 months for your plea of guilty, and fully accumulated on the previous set of sentences, so that will run from 26 November 2017 to 25 May 2018;
• (ii) for possession of ammunition for a firearm, a fine of $100 for which I provide no time to pay, and you might have picked up earlier, Mr Stretton, that means that fine will be served out through your time in prison;
• (iii) for possession of a prohibited substance and possession of a drug of dependence, in each case, 21 days imprisonment, reduced from one month, and to be served concurrently with the firearm sentence, from 26 November 2017 to 17 December 2017;

(c) for the new 2017 offences, being two offences of dishonestly driving a motor vehicle without consent:

• (i) for the first offence, to 8 months imprisonment reduced from 11 months for your plea of guilty and again fully accumulated on the last set of sentences, so that will run from 26 May 2018 to 25 January 2019; and
• (ii) for the second one, again 8 months reduced from 11 months for your plea of guilty, to add 2 months to the total sentence, so that will run from 26 July 2018 to 25 March 2019.

57. That gives a total sentence of 34 months, backdated to 26 May 2016. As I have said, that takes account of all your time served in respect of the old offences, all your time in custody in respect of the new offences, and includes the period of the five-month sentence imposed by Magistrate Cook as well.

58. The head sentence of 34 months will run until 25 March 2019, and I set a non-parole period of 22 months running from 26 May 2016 to 25 March 2018, so you will be eligible for parole in March 2018, just over five months away.

59. The backdating and the non-parole period mean that by the time you are released, you will have completed sentences for the 2013 offences and two of the possession sentences.

60. I understand, Mr Stretton, that you have applied for the Solaris program. I do not know if you will get into that program in time to complete it before you are eligible for parole but, as already mentioned, I recommend that when you apply for release on parole, if you have not managed to do the Solaris program, and perhaps even if you have, the authorities consider in particular whether you should be required to do a residential rehabilitation program during your parole period.

61. I have also already noted my suggestion, which is to be brought to the attention of the Corrections authorities, that you be offered some one-on-one counselling in the hope that you will be able to identify and perhaps start dealing with whatever it is that apparently led you into very early and significant substance abuse, as well as into crime, that seems to be as much motivated by unexplained anger as by any more rational reason.

62. Mr Stretton, you are still very young but, in a sense, you are running out of time. At the moment you are well on the way to becoming a regular inmate at the prison, just cycling through there for a long time to come, and it seems to me you are far too young to give up and accept that that is your future.

63. I would really hope that you make the most of whatever you can do in the prison in the next five months, especially if you get to do the Solaris program, and make the most of whatever you are required to do under your parole conditions, especially pursue some sort of counselling that might enable you to talk about what has been going on in your head, for the last 10 years, really, whatever that might be.

64. If you have any particular questions about the sentences I have just handed down, I am sure the court officials or Mr Davies will be happy to talk to you about those.

I certify that the preceding sixty-five [65] numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Sentence of her Honour Justice Penfold.