IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA 
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
GENERAL LIST	Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication	

CR-22-00468
M12257110.1

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
STEVE HOSKIN		

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DOYLE	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	5 May 2023	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	19 June 2023	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hoskin	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1215	

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:					Criminal Law - Sentence
Catchwords:		Guilty plea – attempted armed robbery – resist police – commit indictable offence on bail – relevant criminal history – limbs 5 and 6 of Verdins
Legislation Cited:			Crimes Act 1958 s 321M, s 75A
Cases Cited:		Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102
Sentence:		524 days imprisonment combined with a community corrections order for a period of 18 months
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APPEARANCES:
		Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms D. Manova (Plea)
Mr R. Pirrie (Sentence) 	Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Accused	Mr A. Patton with Mr C. Tom 	SLKQ Lawyers Pty Ltd	

HIS HONOUR:  
1	Steve Hoskin, you pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery and the related summary offence of resisting a police officer, and committing an indictable offence on bail.  The maximum penalty for attempted armed robbery is 20 years' imprisonment; for committing an indictable offence on bail, three months; for resisting a police officer, six months' imprisonment. 
2	The circumstances of your offending are set out in the Prosecution Opening, which was tendered as an exhibit on the plea.  I will summarise the offending.
 Circumstances of the offending
3	On Thursday 28 October 2021, you attended the Woolworths at Victoria Harbour in Docklands.  CCTV footage which was played during the plea shows you at the front service counter wearing black tracksuit pants with ‘Neverlast’ written on the left leg.  You were carrying a light-coloured wooden baseball bat.  At the counter you were served by Ms Alana Powell.  You asked for a packet of cigarettes; you attempted to pay for the cigarettes using a National Bank debit card.  As the transaction was being processed, Ms Powell went to hand the cigarettes to you and you reached over to grab them.  
4	At the same time the transaction was declined, Ms Powell went to grab the cigarettes back and the two of you had a tug of war over the cigarettes for about 10 seconds.  You attempted to take them saying, 'Please let them go, babe'.  Ms Powell finally grabbed them off you.  You then said, 'I'm going to come back and smash this place I have a baseball bat'.
5	Ms Powell called her shift supervisor, Mr Thomas Rogers, who attended and spoke to you.  In his statement, he said that you seemed affected by something and you were slurring your words and you were not sober.  He allowed you to again try to purchase the cigarettes; again, your debit card was declined and he refused to give you the cigarettes. He put them under the counter.  
6	You then became aggressive. Mr Rogers called security over the PA and you said to him, 'Come around here and I'll smash your head in'.  You then said, 'If you don't give me the cigarettes, I'll send you flying'.  You repeated this multiple times.  You then stepped away from the service counter and swung the bat smashing the Perspex safety screen at the service counter. 
7	You pointed the bat at Mr Rogers and continued to threaten him.  You then worked towards the exit, striking a temporary COVID-19 check-in sign with the baseball bat, knocking it to the ground.  You then left the building.  Mr Rogers rang Triple 0, requesting police.  Police attended and obtained an account of what had happened.  By accessing the receipts of the two failed transactions, they were able to identify you as the offender.  
8	Your address was said to be in Docklands.  You were arrested the next day on 29 October 2021 at the Parliament Railway Station.  You were still in possession of the baseball bat that you had with you at Woolworths.  You were waving the baseball bat around and said to police, 'Come on coppers'.  Police then removed from you the baseball bat you were holding.  They tried to arrest you but you resisted and refused to cooperate and held on to the sleeve of a police officer's shirt, causing it to rip.  
9	A scuffle followed that lasted for around 40 seconds, which involved you locking your arms and bracing yourself against the police.  This is the basis of the resist police offence.  The incident was captured on CCTV footage and body-worn camera footage which was also played during the plea hearing.  At that time, you were wearing the same clothing you had been wearing at Woolworths and you had in your possession the NAB Visa debit card that you had attempted to use at Woolworths.  You were taken to St Kilda Road Police Station and interviewed.  You blamed the government for your financial difficulties and said, 'I've had an absolute gutful'.
10	In relation to the resist police, you said you dropped the baseball bat the moment the police approached you and there was no intention to hurt anyone or do anything. The footage shows that is not accurate.  
11	You made a no comment record of interview otherwise.  You were remanded in custody on 29 October 2021.  You have been in custody ever since.  You have served two other sentences during the period you have been in prison.  As I understand it, you served a 60-day sentence at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 13 December 2021 for other matters, and then for an offence involving an incident which took place during a directions hearing in this matter, you were also sentenced to another period of imprisonment.  It is hard to work out the pre-sentenced detention but I have been told this morning that you have 524 days attributable to this offending, although you have been in continuous custody for a significant longer period than that.  You were on three sets of bail at the time of these offences.  
Victim impact
12	Mr Rogers made a victim impact statement, which was read out at the plea hearing by the prosecutor.  The incident has caused him anxiety and fear, which manifests when he hears sudden noises, causing him to panic.  He becomes angry, which has affected his relationship with his partner.  He has had difficulty sleeping since the incident, which has been a significant ongoing problem also affecting his partner.  
13	During the remainder of his employment at Woolworths, he experienced fear, stress, anxiety and anger.  He describes himself as having become a recluse since the incident. He does not feel safe in public and maintains high vigilance when he is out.  He has suffered from procrastination and has not been able to focus on his future; for example, he has not been able to think clearly about career opportunities or undertaking post-graduate study although he is now finding the motivation to put this incident behind him.  These are matters that I must have regard to in deciding the sentence in this case.  
Personal circumstances
14	Your personal circumstances are set out in the written submissions of your counsel, Mr Patton, and in the psychological report which was tendered from Ms Carla Ferrari.  You are now 39 years old; you were 38 years old at the time of the offending.  You were born and raised in Warragul.  You are the eldest of three children.  You are close to your two sisters, Elisha who is 39 years old, and Bree-Anna who is 30 years old.  I am told Elisha has her own addiction and mental health issues.  
15	You describe your upbringing as stable.  You continue to have a close relationship with your parents, who are now retired, and live in Merimbula.  Before their retirement, they ran a four-wheel drive mechanic and suspension business.  During the period you have been in custody, you have maintained contact with your family.  The support of your family is apparent from their attendance at the plea hearing and during this sentence via internet link.  
16	You have had two significant relationships in your adult life.  You were married to a woman named Lisa for seven months and were together in total for about three years.  You have a daughter who is 13 years old.  You have an amicable relationship with Lisa, and before you were remanded in custody you were seeing your daughter every fortnight.  
17	You also had a three-year relationship with a woman named Michelle.  You have a daughter with Michelle, who is three years old.  You were also having contact with her before being remanded in custody.  
18	You struggled at school with behavioural and learning difficulties.  You were diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 14.  You completed primary school at Warragul Primary School, and then you went to Warragul Secondary College.  You were expelled during year 10 for behavioural issues.  After you were expelled, you worked with your father in the family business.  You pursued an apprenticeship for three and a half years as a mechanic, but you left that employment due to conflict with your father at that time.
19	You have worked in abattoirs and have performed seasonal work as such tree planting.  You have also worked as a labourer, and you successfully completed a carpentry apprenticeship.  You then ran your own carpentry business for seven years.  After that, you moved into concreting and you were self-employed in that area over the last seven years.  You have been, it seems, a person with stable employment since you left school.  I am told, and I accept, your longest period of unemployment was during the lockdowns in the COVID-19 period.
20	By way of background into the offences, Mr Patton described your personal situation leading up to the offending, also dealt with in the report of Ms Ferrari.  You said you were struggling mentally because you had lost your job and you were not seeing your children, and you were not receiving full COVID relief payments.  Against that background, you were drinking too much and using drugs.  On the day of the offences, you were intoxicated.
21	References were tendered: one from your father, Steven, and another from your sister, Bree-Anna.  Additionally, I received a reference from a friend of yours named Mr Shane Youngman, also a concreter, and a person who also knows you through playing football with you.  Your father and your sister describe you as a lovely, caring person in the family and a caring father.  They both refer to problems you were experiencing around the time of the offences, including a relationship breakup, financial difficulties, drug and alcohol abuse and separation from your children.
22	More recently, I received a further letter from your father which indicates that your parents want you to come and live with them in Merimbula, where they now live.  But in the short term, an address is available for you in Darnum. 
Gravity 
23	As conceded by Mr Patton in his submissions, attempted armed robbery is an inherently serious offence, carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years.  Sentencing principles of general deterrence of denunciation are important in decided the appropriate sentence for an offence like this.
24	Your offending was a frightening display of public aggression against a person engaged in his duties of employment.  The incident has plainly had significant consequences for your innocent victim, Mr Rogers.  That said, I accept that as an example of attempted armed robbery, this offence falls at the lower end of the spectrum for the reasons advance by Mr Patton in his submissions, namely: that you were not in company; that you did not physically assault the victims; that the offending was of short duration; and that the offending was unsophisticated, unplanned and detection was inevitable.
25	Nonetheless, your conduct in walking around with a baseball bat is concerning.  The following day, when you were arrested by police, you still had the baseball bat with you and your conduct was consistent with the aggression you had earlier displayed in the supermarket.  You were on three sets of bail at the time you committed this offence, which is of course an aggravating factor.  
Criminal history
26	You have a relevant criminal history dating back to the year 2000, which includes prior convictions for assault and criminal damage.  Those prior convictions indicate a propensity towards violence and aggression on occasions, which was a feature of the offending here.  You have a previous conviction for assaulting police and another for intimidating a road safety camera operator.  You have a subsequent offence where you damaged a NAB ATM with a baseball bat in January 2021.  I was shown still images of that offence.  Although some of your convictions are dated, as recently as 2018 you were fined for unlawful assault.
27	You have not, before this offending, received a period of immediate imprisonment but you have been placed, in the past, on a community-based order and a community correction order.  Of course, you are not to be punished again for your previous offences but your prior convictions are relevant to the weight to be given to community protection, specific deterrence and the assessment of your moral culpability and prospects of rehabilitation.
28	A psychological report was tendered from Ms Carla Ferrari.  You have not ever been formally diagnosed with a mental issue other than ADHD when you were a child, however, Ms Ferrari suggests in her report that you meet the criteria for PTSD in that you were experiencing symptoms at a subclinical threshold and may have a resurgence of symptoms, which meet the criteria for a formal diagnosis.  As to your alcohol and substance abuse, you reported to Ms Ferrari drinking three to six beers daily after work, and that this was part of your work culture.
29	You reported some cocaine use on the weekends but this had increased and become problematic by the time of the offending. You engaged in methylamphetamine use in your late 20s but you have been abstinent from that since completing a rehabilitation program in 2013.  You reported your father was 'a bit of a drinker on the weekends', and your sister has struggled with substance abuse.  You have undertaken alcohol and drug counselling in the past as part of CISP bail and court orders.
30	Your suspected PTSD is said to emanate from some traumatic events in your adult life, including rescuing a drowning man who died at the rescue scene; and that you saved an elderly woman moments before her vehicle went up in flames; and that your partner's best friend committed suicide at your house and that you were treated as a suspect before being exonerated. 
31	Ms Ferrari assessed you as experiencing moderate depressive symptoms. She said you had indications of an adjustment disorder with depressed mood, both before and during the offending period, triggered by significant changes in your circumstances during COVID-19 and exacerbated in the lockdowns because you could not see your children, you lost your employment and were suffering from financial stress.  Most important was the loss of employment, described as an outlet for you, in managing your mental health challenges.
32	Mr Patton had, as I have said earlier, relied on these matters as contextual to the offending.  Ms Ferrari assessed you as being a moderate risk of future violent offending and said your offending appears to be in the context of heavy alcohol use and your risk is reduced if you can address that issue.  In the assessment for a correction order report that I ordered, you are assessed as a high risk of re-offending.  In the context of recent events, and what is happening with you in prison, I accept that assessment.

Prospects of rehabilitation
33	It seems to me clear enough that you do need ongoing assistance for a number of issues.  As to prospects of rehabilitation, I would assess those as fair to reasonable but perhaps better than that, if you can accept the support that is provided and address the underlying problems of your offending.  Mr Patton submitted that because, as he said, the offending arose out of situational and contextual factors, I should assess your prospects as good but he accepted that your prospects are linked to your mental health and substance abuse and your ability to obtain work when you are released from prison.
34	The prosecution at the plea hearing submitted I should take a guarded view given the ongoing displays of aggression as reflected in the prior convictions.  As I have said, it seems to me fair to reasonable is the best assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation.  

Guilty plea
35	I take into account your guilty plea in this matter.  Although there was a contested committal, I accept that was on a narrow legal issue rather than a denial of the conduct.  I accept you have taken responsibility for the offending and your plea indicates a willingness to facilitate the course of justice.  It has significant utilitarian value.  I apply the principles outlined in Worboyes and other cases.  Your plea of guilty must be reflected by a real and palpable discount in sentencing.  
36	The extent of your remorse is very hard to gauge, but I accept your plea indicates some remorse, and you indicated remorse to Ms Ferrari and some insight into the effects on the victim of your conduct.  
37	I take into account that your time on remand has been more burdensome by reason of the restrictive conditions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Your access to programs and courses in prison has been restricted; there have been lockdown periods and quarantines as well.  It has been a difficult and isolating time for you, which has weighed heavily on you.
38	Mr Patton submitted that limbs 5 and 6 of the Verdins principles apply based on Ms Ferrari's report where she said that impairment in emotional regulation and low coping resources has resulted in a greater than the ordinary burden of imprisonment.  She also said that there is no doubt that the unpredictable, volatile and tense prison environment will cause exacerbation in your mental state. So, I take into account limbs 5 and 6 of Verdins apply and justify some moderation in sentencing.  
39	Mr Patton conceded the offending warranted a term of imprisonment but submitted that I should impose a combination sentence.  The prosecution, in the end, submitted that a combination sentence was open in all in the circumstances.  
40	I have ultimately formed the view that, although your history is very concerning, the period you have spent in custody is a sufficient punitive period for what you did and therefore I have decided to impose a combination sentence.  The extended presentence report recommends a community correction order of no less than 18 months so that the rehabilitative conditions have time to have some impact.  So, I will impose an order for that duration.  
41	I am aware that your parents want you to move back to Merimbula.  It may now be possible for you to do that and transfer the correction order to New South Wales.  That may be the best thing for you to do.  However, in the short term, you have a residential address available to you in Darnum, you seem to have support in Darnum and the potential for employment also exists.  
42	In the circumstances, I do not intend to impose any community work.  What I intend to do is, on all charges, impose a sentence of 524 days together with a community correction order for 18 months, which will have the following special conditions:  Supervision, treatment for drugs and alcohol, treatment for mental health, offending, behaviour programs, all of those are recommended in the report.  I will also have one judicial monitoring in this case which is recommended.  I will make that in a period of three months.  
43	HIS HONOUR:  Mr Hoskin, we will see how you're going at that stage and whether you have taken any steps for transfer or whether that is even possible at that point.  So, I will just order one, we will fix a date for that.  Mr Hoskin, do you consent to an order in those terms? 
44	OFFENDER:  I do, yes, Your Honour. 
45	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Mr Hoskin, every correction order has core conditions.  They include that you have to report to corrections.  It will be Warragul.  It will be Warragul within 48 hours.  I hope some arrangements have been made to get him from wherever he is to where he is going. 
46	MR PATTON:  There will be, Your Honour. 
47	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  So, you have to go to Warragul Corrections within 48 hours.  If you do not do that, you will be in breach.  You have got to perform all those special conditions I just outlined.  If you do not do that, you will be in breach.  You have to live at the address in Darnum.  What is that address?
48	MR PATTON:  Main Street. 
49	HIS HONOUR:  Yes, thanks.  Main Street, Darnum.  That is your residential address, you have to live there, and if you want to change your address, you've got to tell Corrections.  If you get a job and you change your job, you have to tell Corrections.  If you want to leave Victoria, well, you also have to tell Corrections.  So, you can't just disappear.  If you want to leave for a weekend or something, well, you tell Corrections, all right.  
50	They are all conditions.  You have to obey all their lawful directions and you have to accept visits from Corrections.  You have to do all those things.  I am not imposing community work.  My hope is that you can go out and get a job, all right, and ‑ ‑ ‑
51	OFFENDER:  I have worked most of my life, Your Honour.  So, it won't be an issue. 
52	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Well, that will be the best thing because that is a significant factor for you to help your mental health and address your rehabilitation.  So, that will be very positive, but you have got to do the rest of these things, all right.  If you do not do them, you are in breach and if you end up in breach, the matter comes back before me.  There is a range of options but the one that would present itself as pretty likely is that I would have to resentence you for all of this.  Go back to the beginning. 
53	OFFENDER:  May I ask a question, Your Honour?  What is the reasoning for such a lengthy 18 months period? 
54	HIS HONOUR:  Because the Corrections view is that some of these conditions designed to assist your rehabilitation require a period of time of 18 months and that is the recommendation.  I have had no submission, otherwise, in relation to it.  So, that is what I intend.  If you are doing all right, it will be relatively minimal intervention. 
55	OFFENDER:  Yes. 
56	HIS HONOUR:  So, if you get everything done, then the intervention will be minimal, but if you don't do the things, then it drags on and on.  But if you get to what they recommend, well, the requirements of the order won't be particularly onerous.  So, that is up to you.  So, if they recommend that you go and see someone for drug and alcohol and you show up and you do that, well, you will have some sessions and then the program will finish and you will have dealt with that.  Do you understand?  The quicker you do it, the less intervention there will be.  So, that is the reason.  It is recommended. 
57	OFFENDER:  Yes, I can definitely understand, Your Honour.  My concern is just if you want me to seek employment, get ahead in life, and then you deem that on me for 18 months, it is just – I hope it doesn't get in the way of my employment. 
58	HIS HONOUR:  Well, ‑ ‑ ‑
59	OFFENDER:  We will see how we go. 
60	HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right, we will see how you go, yes.  All right.  
61	MR PATTON:  Sorry, I'm just with formal declaration of PSDs. 
62	HIS HONOUR:  524 days to be deducted from the sentence that I have imposed, administratively, pursuant to s 18 of the Sentencing Act.  Now, there was some other orders, I think. 
63	MR PIRRIE:  Disposal, Your Honour. 
64	HIS HONOUR:  Disposal of the bat and anything else? 
65	MR PATTON:  Disposal was the only one, Your Honour.  I think we consented to that. 
66	HIS HONOUR:  Yes. 
67	MR PATTON:  Indicated consent. 
68	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  So, I will make a disposal order for the bat. 
69	MR PATTON:  Yes, Your Honour. 
70	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Well, we are going to have a judicial monitoring.  We will see how you are going in three months.  You won't have to come into the city, but you will have to just show up on video-link, all right.  It will be about 9.15 one morning.  I will get a little report to see how you are going and if everything is going well, then I might make that the only one, all right.  Do you understand? 
71	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour. 
72	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  So, I would not think that I would have a lot of these.  I have done it because it's recommended, but if I get a report back that says you're going well, I don't think I would go on with it from there, but you will have one, all right?
73	OFFENDER:  Yes.  I appreciate that, Your Honour.  Thank you for your time. 
74	HIS HONOUR:  All right, well, good luck.  I don't know what your arrangements are, but you've got to report to Warragul Corrections in the next 48 hours, all right?
75	OFFENDER:  Yes, thank you. 
76	HIS HONOUR:  Right.  Nothing else? 
77	MR PATTON:  No. 
78	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Thanks to all counsel.  I will stand down.  
79	MR PATTON:  As Your Honour pleases. 
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