IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA	Revised
Not Restricted
          Suitable for Publication	
AT Melbourne
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 22-01046
CR-22-01830 

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
SAMIR MUSTUM 
RONY MALLOUK 		

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR 	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:		
DATE OF SENTENCE:	1 September 2023	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Mustum & Ors	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1581		

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject	CRIMINAL LAW	
Catchwords 	Obtaining a financial advantage by deception – Obtaining property by deception – Multiple offences over multiple indictments – Relevant criminal priors – Plea of guilty – Co-accused	
Legislation 	Sentencing Act 1991	
Cases Cited	R v Grossi [2008] VSCA 51	
Sentence 	MUSTUM – 6 years and 5 months' imprisonment and with a non-parole period of 4 years and 6 months' 
MALLOUK – 18 month Community Corrections Order	

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APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr R. Tudehope		
			
For Accused Mustum
	Mr C. Terry		
For Accused Mallouk	Ms M. Kizana		

HER HONOUR:

Samir Mustum
1	Samir Mustum, you have pleaded guilty before me to the following charges which are contained in four indictments before this court,  beginning with the first indictment, Indictment 1, no.M11571639, six charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, three charges of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception, one charge of obtaining property by deception, one charge of using a false document.  
2	On Indictment 2, which is Indictment no.L10944364.1, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, one charge of obtaining property by deception, one charge of attempting to commit an indictable offence, and one charge of possession of identification information.  You have also pleaded guilty to a related summary charge of possessing a prohibited weapon.
3	Indictment 3 is numbered P10500395.  It contains charges to which you have pleaded guilty, being Charge 1, knowingly concealing the proceeds of crime and, two, possessing a false document.  You also pleaded guilty to the related summary charges, two charges of dealing with property that is suspected of being the proceeds of crime, summary Charges 1 and 2 relating to amounts of money, and a third charge of dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, being a passport.  Charge 4 is Indictment L11928035, one charge of obtaining property by deception.
4	The facts underlying your offending are as follows:  the offending took place over a three-year period between December 2017 and December 2020.  Essentially it was a course of deceptive, dishonest conduct, whereby you sought to defraud, or attempted to defraud, corporate institutions using false documentation in order to obtain lines of credit which you then accessed.  
5	Turning first to Indictment M11571639, Indictment 1.  Charge 1 is what is called a rolled-up charge and comprises six applications made by you to the ANZ Bank in order to set up credit facilities in the name of people who were real, but who had no knowledge of what you were doing.  You obtained three credit facilities for $40,000, two for $30,000, and one for $18,000 in the process.  This was done between 7 December 2017 and 25 May 2019.  You used various falsified documents in each case, including false driver's licenses, payslips, Medicare cards and bank statements.  On occasion you used other people to attend on the bank to verify the identification of false documentation and the funds were then withdrawn.  Most of the funds you obtained from the ANZ Bank were not recovered.  
6	Charge 2 is also a rolled-up charge.  It consists of 13 applications made by you between 28 November 2017 and 24 March 2019 to the Westpac Bank using the same methods.  In those 13 applications you obtained credit facilities for $19,000, $4,900, $8,800, $20,000, $26,400, $40,000, $10,000, $24,400, $30,000, $15,800, $5,300, $30,000 and $20,000.  Most of this money has not been recovered.  I should say it is clear that where moneys have been recovered, it has been because the institution involved has realised the fraudulent nature of the facility granted to you and put an end to your capacity to access that facility before the funds were entirely drained from it.
7	Charge 3 is a charge of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception.  Again, you applied to the Bank of Melbourne on 29 May 2019 using the same methods as you had in the offending in Charges 1 and 2.  In that case, staff were not satisfied as to the veracity of the documentation and the loan was refused.
8	Charge 4 is a rolled-up charge comprising four applications to the National Australia Bank in the names of real people.  This is a charge of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception.  In those cases, the applications, which were made between 1 June 2019 and 18 July 2019, were halted when the bank became suspicious that payslips tendered in support of the applications were fraudulent.  In that case, you attempted to obtain credit facilities in the sums of $15,000, $5,500, $17,500 and $30,000 respectively.  
9	Charge 5, a charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, it also involved the National Australia Bank and involved one occasion on 17 June 2019 when you made application for a credit facility for $17,500, again using the names of real people who were unaware of your activity and using false documentation in order to authenticate the application you were making.  In that case you were granted the facility, you withdrew $25.24 and the account was then suspended after the bank became suspicious.
10	Charge 6 is a rolled-up charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.  This involved the CitiGroup Bank and three applications made by you between 16 July 2019 and 18 October 2019.  You obtained credit facilities for $30,000, $15,000 and $30,000 respectively.  
11	Charge 7 is a rolled-up charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.  This involved a major deception on Telstra.  Between 20 July 2019 and 
2 December 2020, you set up eight false contracts with Telstra.  You used false identification documents and other false supporting material to enter contracts with the Telstra Corporation for the provision of phones, smart phones and services.  Telstra ultimately supplied goods and services to you as a result of your fraudulent activities of $540,181.60.  You received iPhones, iPads and 
SIM cards and AirPods.  
12	The activity included 19 sub‑transactions totalling $462,494 for services and goods provided to you between 16 March and 19 June 2020, as well as services supplied on credit.  That particular activity you undertook representing yourself as an employee of the Dental Group Pty Ltd which was linked to BUPA.  You falsely represented yourself as a person authorised to place orders on behalf of that company.  You obtained 206 phones in this way.  
13	Between 30 April 2020 and 10 October 2020, at which time you were in gaol, you continued this business from gaol.   A number of Arunta calls, which are calls made from the gaol made by inmates of the gaol which are recorded, demonstrated that you were continuing to oversee this fraudulent activity via the transactions carried out by your associates.  You told them what to do, you told them how to sell the phones and you told them how to divide up the money once that had been done.
14	Charge 8 is a charge of attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception.  It occurred between 24 and 31 July 2019.  You applied to Westpac for a credit facility of $19,200 using the same method, employing false documentation said to support the application of a person who was a real person, but ignorant of your activities.  The credit card that was obtained was accidentally sent to the actual person in whose name you made the application and was never obtained by you or used.
15	Charge 9 is a rolled-up charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and relates to the Bank of Western Australia.  Between 1 November 2019 and 20 March 2020, using the same method that I have outlined, you made two applications for $20,000 each for a credit facility in that amount.  
16	Charge 10, a charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, relates to the financial institution Latitude Financial Services.  On 11 December 2019 you obtained a credit card from them under false pretences with a $7,000 limit.
17	Charge 11 is a charge of using a false document.  This relates to offending committed by you between 1 and 31 March 2019.  You approached an organisation, EduFunding, in order to obtain a home loan for your wife in the sum of $607,500.  You used false papers and a falsified CBA bank statement in support of this.  Officials at that organisation became suspicious and the application was rejected.  
18	Charge 12, which is also a charge of using a false document, also relates to offending which occurred between 1 and 31 March 2019.  At the same time as you were making an application for a housing loan to EduFinances, you applied with your wife to 4Finances to obtain exactly the same home loan from them, that is, in the sum of $607,500.  You used two of the same false payslips and the same false bank statement to support that application as you had when you approached Edu.
19	Ultimately, you were arrested on 27 July 2021 and you undertook a no‑comment record of interview with police.  The maximum penalty for obtaining a financial advantage by deception is 10 years' imprisonment, the maximum penalty for obtaining property by deception is 10 years' imprisonment and the maximum penalty for using a false document is 10 years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty for attempt to obtain a financial advantage by deception is five years' imprisonment.  
20	Mr Prosecutor, I do apologise.  I appear to have missed out on the charge of obtaining property by deception.  Could you assist me?  What charge should that be?  All I talked about was - - -
21	MR TUDEHOPE:  Charge 7, Your Honour.
22	HER HONOUR:  Charge 7.  All right.  That's in relation to Telstra?
23	MR TUDEHOPE:  Telstra, that's right.
24	HER HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  That should be a charge of obtaining property by deception.  Thank you very much.
25	I now turn to Indictment 2, that is, Indictment no.L10944364.1.  Charge 1 relates to an application by you to ANZ for a deposit account with an attached debit card.  You sought a personal loan in a false name for $30,000, employing false payslips in order to authenticate that application.  The loan drawdown was approved by the ANZ on 19 March 2019.  You activated the account.  
26	Charge 2 relates to the money taken by you from that account.  You purchased items from JB Hi‑Fi the day after the loan drawdown was approved - goods worth $29,950.  Charge 2 is a charge of obtaining property by deception.
27	Charge 3 is a charge of attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception.  On 23 March 2019 you applied to the ANZ Bank for a $50,000 personal loan in the same name as that previously sought in Charge 1.  The transaction was identified as fraudulent and refused.  
28	Charge 4 is a charge of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.  You purchased two telephones from JB Hi‑Fi at Highpoint Shopping Centre in a false name, each worth $2,499.  You arranged for payment of that phone to be charged to a real person's Telstra account.  That person, of course, had no knowledge of your activity.  Ultimately that person was billed and notified police.  
29	On 15 October 2019 police executed a search warrant at your home and located false bankcards in the name of the person to whom you falsely attributed billing for the phones that you had obtained.  At the same time police also found an extendable baton in our possession and that underlies the related summary charge of possessing a prohibited weapon without excuse.
30	Charge 5 also relates to the search undertaken by police who discovered in your home photocopies of personal identification information of the Experience Apartments guest list.  That contained details including the full name of the guests, their contact numbers and copies of identification material such as driver's licences or passports.   It was clear you intended to use that material to create false identifications and open fraudulent bank accounts.  Again, you were spoken to by police in a record of interview on 15 October 2019.  You essentially made no‑comment answers with some denials in response to those questions.  
31	I have already outlined the maximum penalties for obtaining a financial advantage by deception and obtaining property by deception.  The maximum penalty for possession of identification information is three years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for possessing a prohibited weapon is 240 penalty units, or two years' imprisonment.
32	I now turn to Indictment 3, no.P10500395.  On 18 March 2020 you were intercepted by police driving a white Mercedes Benz vehicle along 
Nepean Street in Broadmeadows.  Your son and an associate were with you as passengers in the car.  You were unable to produce a driver's licence and police then discovered $653 in cash in the vehicle.  Your possession of this money underlies related Summary Charge 2, dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime.  
33	The car was searched and police found an envelope containing six Telstra 
SIM cards which had been ordered in a fraudulent name.  Your possession of those underlies Charge 1 on the indictment, knowingly concealing proceeds of crime.  They also found a falsified Medicare card and proof of age card, and your possession of those underlies Charge 2 on the indictment, possessing a false document.  Police also found a second falsified proof of age card, possession of which underlies Charge 3 on the indictment, possession of a false document.
34	In a bum bag under the car seat police found cash totalling $28,350.  Your possession of that underlies Summary Offence 1, dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime.  Police also found a genuine passport belonging to another person which had previously been stolen.  Your possession of that passport underlies related Summary Charge 3, dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime.  A record of interview was conducted but essentially you made denials about knowledge of any of the items which were found in the car and which were the subject of these charges.
35	The maximum penalty for knowingly concealing the proceeds of crime is 
20 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for possessing a false document is 10 years' imprisonment.  The maximum penalty for possessing property suspected of being the proceeds of crime is two years' imprisonment.
36	I now turn to Indictment no.4, no.L11928035.  This is a charge of obtaining property by deception and is a rolled-up charge.  It relates to the purchase by you of four Apple iPhones using a credit card fraudulently obtained in the name of a real person but unbeknownst to them.  On 18 October 2019 you applied to Westpac for a Mastercard which was approved and the card was issued.  Using this card, you on 26 October 2019, purchased two iPhones at Harvey Norman in Springvale, each valued at $3,798, and two phones at Harvey Norman in Dandenong, valued at $3,798.  
37	The real person involved reported the matter to police on finding a suspicious activity on her Telstra account.  A search warrant was then issued on your home and false documents in that person's name were found.  You declined to be interviewed.  
38	I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are now 50 years of age and were born in Lebanon, one of six children born to your parents.  You completed Year 9 at school.  Your father was a carpenter, your mother had the occupation of home duties, and your parents are still alive and living in Lebanon, as are most of your siblings.  You came to Australia in 1993 as a result of an arranged marriage which, however, did not last for long.  
39	Before leaving Lebanon, you completed Year 9 and then went to work weaving chairs and then working as a welder with an uncle.  Your counsel informed me that whilst in Lebanon you experienced some difficulties.  You were sexually abused by an older man in your early teens, and when working with chairs were also sexually threatened by other workers there.  
40	When you came to Australia, you actually began on a good note.  You came here in 1993, at which time you were aged 20 and came here as a result of an arranged marriage with you first wife. That marriage lasted only three months.  However, you began full-time work at Chef Home Appliances where you worked for about nine years, rising to the position of foreperson.  
In 1996 you entered a second arranged marriage of which two children were born, a son and a daughter now in their early 20s.  
41	In 2001 you were made redundant from your work.  You were given a payout, but it appears that depressed at the loss of your job, you began using cannabis, but in particular began being involved in gambling, I have been informed by your counsel that gambling has a been a lifelong problem for you and underlies the reason why you became involved in the fraudulent activities that you have over the years.  
42	You were involved in a serious car accident in 2003.  In about 2004 to 5, you began using methamphetamine.  This continued to be a problem for you over the years.  You undertook some casual work as a pizza delivery driver and in courier work, but essentially have not worked since 2005.  In 2006 you married again.  You and your current wife have three children aged 15, 12 and 10.
43	I now turn to your criminal record which is extensive and involves offending in precisely the same way over a period of time.  You first appeared before the Magistrates' Court in 2005 when you received a partially suspended sentence on charges of theft, obtaining a financial advantage by deception and attempting to commit an indictable offence.  In February 2008 you appeared before the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court for five charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, for which you received a 10-month suspended sentence.
44	On 22 June 2010 you appeared before the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on charges of obtaining property by deception and attempting to obtain property by deception.  You appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 
6 August 2010 on multiple charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception, obtaining property by deception, dealing with property being the proceeds of crime, attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception and going equipped to steal.  Again, you received a suspended sentence.
45	On 29 December 2010 you were imprisoned for 30 days for shop stealing.  
On 6 May 2011 you received 15 months' imprisonment with a non‑parole period of seven months on multiple charges of obtaining property by deception, dealing with the proceeds of crime, attempting to commit an indictable offence, obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and you were ordered to pay multiple sums of compensation.
46	You appealed this decision in May 2011.  An amount of time that you also received from the Magistrates' Court in May for breaching a suspended sentence was set aside and you received an aggregate term of 10 months.  
On 22 June 2011 you were further gaoled on charges of obtaining property by deception, obtaining a financial advantage by deception, receiving a total effective sentence of five months.  Again you appealed this sentence, which was allowed, and ultimately a lesser aggregate sentence was imposed.  
47	On 3 November 2011 you appeared before the Dandenong Magistrates' Court where you received 20 months' imprisonment on further charges of obtaining property by deception, attempting to obtain property by deception and so forth.  On 22 February 2013 you appeared before the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on further charges of obtaining property by deception for which you were placed on a Community Corrections Order.
48	In February 2016 you were imprisoned for one month for two charges of obtaining property by deception.  On 1 August 2018 you appeared before the Frankston Magistrates' Court again on charges of obtaining property by deception, attempting to obtain property by deception and making a false document to the prejudice of another, for which you were placed on a Community Corrections Order.  
49	Finally, on 13 February 2020 you received three months' imprisonment on charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and obtaining property by deception and negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime.  You last appeared before court on 28 February 2020 on charges of obtaining property by deception and using a false document to the prejudice of another, for which you were placed on a Community Corrections Order.
50	Some of that previous offending involved large amounts of money.  I was informed by your counsel that one of the activities in which you engaged netted you an amount of $102,746.  That was offending that occurred in 2011 as a result of purchases made by you with false documentation.  Again, in 2011 there was separate offending involving the fraudulent purchase of electrical equipment worth $44,000.  In 2011 also you obtained a financial advantage and property worth $21,159, again using the fraudulent methods I have outlined.
51	I should add that the total value of the property and financial advantage gained by you in the activities that have brought you before this court total $1,265,000.  Of this, $1,128,000 has yet to be recovered.  It is the Crown case that all of those moneys that were obtained were used by you for your benefit.  They involved 67 transactions over 36 dates and it was pointed out by the prosecutor that your criminal offending sometimes was carried out at the rate of two to three times per day.
52	Over the years you have been assessed obviously in relation to the numerous court appearances that you have made.  There have been diagnoses of major depression, bipolar, so forth and so on.  Again, there was an assessment of you by psychologist Jeffrey Cummins.  He talked about the difficulties you have faced in your life.  He talked about you having a depressive disorder and anxiety disorder.  You were also neuropsychologically assessed by Dr Simon Crowe who incredibly, in my view, came up with an IQ putting you in the mid‑60s which means you would be intellectually disabled.  
53	I simply do not accept that diagnosis.  It is quite clear to me the offending you engaged in was sophisticated, involved recruitment by you of numerous people, including people who created documentation for you.  You undertook a wide variety of activities in order to obtain services and goods and lines of credit with a wide range of financial institutions.  I do not regard your offending as in any way reflective of the activity of a person suffering an intellectual disability.  Indeed, it was noted by Dr Crowe in his report that the results could not really be relied upon because he felt that you were not giving of your best - in other words, malingering, Mr Mustum, and I do not accept the findings.
54	In terms of this offending, it appears that you have always entered a plea at a relatively early stage.  It also appears, however, that when you have been apprehended in relation to this offending the evidence against you has been strong.  The problem is, Mr Mustum, that, firstly, gambling is not seen by the courts as a mitigatory circumstance and it is not a matter that I apply in mitigation of you.  The case of Grossi specifically sets that out, the Court of Criminal Appeal decision.
55	You have been given numerous opportunities by the courts.  You have been placed on suspended sentences.  You have been given Community Corrections Orders and you have simply gone on to offend in precisely the same way - to continue, in fact, offending from gaol and to offend in ever increasing amounts and at an ever increasing magnitude.  I regard you as an entrenched and remorseless offender.  I understand in gaol you are undertaking counselling for gambling.  
56	You have been informed by your wife that this is your last opportunity, and I note that you involved her in some of your offending – and that she will no longer tolerate you within the marriage.   Your wife is taking care of your three children.  She is employed and a I have a letter from her employer, who is a person who owns a flower farm, offering you work on that property when you are released.  These are certainly matters which are helpful to you, but, overall, it is clear to me that general deterrence, specific deterrence, that is, deterrence of you specifically, protection of the community and denunciation of your activity dominate the sentencing exercise before me.
57	In sentencing you I take into account your plea of guilty.  I take into account some of the difficulties you have had in your life.  They fall away, in my view, in face of the entrenched nature of your offending which has gone on uninterrupted, undeterred by experiences before the courts essentially since 2005.  It was put to me by your counsel that you desisted from offending for a period of time between I think 2013 and 2018.  You were serving a sentence in that time, sir, and it is quite clear that your offending was still going on well before you were apprehended.
58	You are a person who has to understand that this offending will not be tolerated.  If you want to keep going this way, Mr Mustum, it is a matter for you, but if you do I advise you to become very familiar with gaol routine, because you will be spending a great deal of time there.  No court in the future is ever going to look at your record, in particular in relation to this last bout of offending, with anything other than a jaundiced eye and a conviction, that you are an entrenched criminal with a particular mode of behaviour, which you will continue to employ no matter any assistance that might be offered to you by the courts or deterrent by way of imprisonment.
59	I, therefore, sentence you as follows:
(a)	On Indictment 1, M11571639, Charge 1, two years' imprisonment, 
(b)	Charge 2, two years and six months' imprisonment, 
(c)	Charge 3, four months' imprisonment, 
(d)	Charge 4, 12 months' imprisonment, 
(e)	Charge 5, six months' imprisonment, 
(f)	Charge 6, 12 months' imprisonment, 
(g)	Charge 7, three years' imprisonment, 
(h)	Charge 8, four months' imprisonment, 
(i)	Charge 9, 10 months' imprisonment, 
(j)	Charge 10, eight months' imprisonment, 
(k)	Charge 11, 10 months' imprisonment, 
(l)	Charge 12, two months' imprisonment.  
60	The base sentence for this indictment will be the sentence imposed on 
Charge 7, three years' imprisonment.  I order that six months of the sentences imposed on Charges 1 and 2, three months of the sentence imposed on 
Charge 4, three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 6, two months of the sentences imposed on Charges 9, 10, 11 and 12 be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Charge 7, and all other sentences, giving a total effective sentence on that indictment of five years and two months.
61	In relation to Indictment no.2, that is Indictment no.L10944364.1, 
(a)	Charge 1, 10 months' imprisonment, 
(b)	Charge 2, 10 months' imprisonment, 
(c)	Charge 3, six months' imprisonment, 
(d)	Charge 4, six months' imprisonment, 
(e)	Charge 5, eight months' imprisonment.  
(f)	The related summary charge one month imprisonment.  
62	I order that the base sentence for that indictment be the sentence imposed on Charge 1.  I order that two months of the sentences imposed on Charges 2 
and 5 be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Charge 1 and to each other, giving a total effective sentence of one year and two months.
63	Indictment no.3, being Indictment P10500395, 
(a)	Charge 1, 12 months' imprisonment, 
(b)	Charge 2, six months' imprisonment, 
(c)	Charge 3, four months' imprisonment.  
(d)	In relation to associated Summary Charge 1, two months' imprisonment, 
(e)	associated Charge 2, six months' imprisonment, 
(f)	associated Summary Charge 3, six months' imprisonment.
64	The base sentence will be the sentence imposed on Charge 1.  I order that two months of the sentence imposed on - I am sorry.  I beg your pardon.  I order that one month - I beg your pardon.  I order that one month of the sentence imposed on Charge 2 and the sentence imposed on associated 
Summary Charge 2 be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on 
Charge 1, giving a total effective sentence of 14 months.
65	I order in relation to Indictment L1128035, Indictment No.4, you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months' imprisonment.  
66	I order that six months of each of the total effective sentences ordered in relation to Indictment 2, that is, Indictment no.10944364.1 and Indictment P10500395, together with three months of the sentence imposed on Indictment no.4, Indictment L11928035, be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Indictment no.1 and to each other.  
67	This gives a total effective sentence of six years and five months' imprisonment and I order that you serve four years and six months' imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole.
68	What is the PSD, please?
69	MR TUDEHOPE:  Seven-hundred-sixty-six days, not including today, 
Your Honour.
70	HER HONOUR:  I order that 766 days have already been served by way of pre‑sentence detention.  
71	Pursuant to s6AAA I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of seven years and six months, and order that you serve a minimum term of six years.
72	Now, is that all I need to deal with in relation to Mr Mustum?
73	MR TUDEHOPE:  There's a forfeiture order that's been filed.
74	HER HONOUR:  Yes, I'm aware of that, I'll get that sorted, but I'm going to proceed to the sentencing remarks in relation to Mr Mallouk.  Thank you.
Rony Mallouk
75	I now turn to you, Rony Mallouk.  You have pleaded guilty before me to 
10 charges of making a false statement, one charge of possessing identification information, one charge of possession of equipment capable of being used to make an identification document.  
76	Can I also say in relation to Mr Mustum, that I attach the far more detailed prosecution opening to my sentencing remarks.  
77	The facts underlying your offending are as follows.  After police had received fraud complaint files from various financial institutions, they began an investigation into Samir Mustum.  In the course of that investigation, they seized a number of his devices following the execution of search warrants.  An analysis of those devices revealed that he would request falsified documents and provide details for them to you, who would then prepare those documents.  They were then used by Mr Mustum in fraudulent applications, as I have outlined, for credit facilities.
78	The prosecution accept that you were not involved or a party to the obtaining of those credit facilities by Mr Mustum or received any benefits from them.  Your role and conduct were limited to preparing false documents with the intention that Samir Mustum use them.  The 10 charges of making a false document relate to activities by you as a result of requests from Samir Mustum that you compile them and provide him with them.
79	The Charges 1 to 10 relate to offending by you between 8 January 2018 and 25 November 2020, during which, at Mustum's behest, you on occasion created false bank statements, false authorisation letterheads to collect items, false Medicare cards, Victorian and New South Wales driver's licences, bankcards, payslips, bank statements one occasion, and ATO notice of assessment and proof of age identification.
80	Charge 11 relates to eight falsified Victorian driver's licences and one falsified proof of age card which were found by police when they executed a search warrant in your house on 4 December 2020.  
81	Charge 12 relates to the fact that in that search police also located equipment owned by you which was capable of being used to make identification documentation, including blank white plastic cards, card laminate, an embossing machine and laminate pouches.
82	You were arrested and interviewed on 30 July 2021.  You made no-comment answers, but pleaded guilty at an early stage. 
83	The maximum penalty for making a false document with the intent to induce another person to accept it as genuine is 10 years' imprisonment, the maximum penalty for possession of identification information is three years' imprisonment and the maximum penalty of possessing equipment capable of being used to make identification documentation is three years' imprisonment.
84	I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are 34 years of age,  the eldest of six children.  Both your parents were born in Lebanon and they emigrated here 36 years ago.  You come from a hardworking and law abiding family.  
Your father had a number of occupations which seemed to run at the same time.  He was a musician, a wholesaler of computer parts, a taxi driver and an auto electrician.  
85	You left school after failing Year 11 and went to work with your father essentially in the area of computer parts.  You developed an interest in computers from about the age of eight and got to the stage where you knew how to build a computer yourself.  Your counsel informed me that your prowess with technology was well-known in the Lebanese community.  You were known as something of a computer whizz.  Eventually you completed a computer studies course at a private school called CommSys and you continued to work in this field.  
86	You met your wife in 2016 and the two of you moved in together.  You were working on computers and IT and you also worked with your father-in-law in labouring and construction work.  
87	In early 2018 your first child, a son, was born.  There were medical difficulties almost straight away because he was born only with one kidney and he required fairly frequent hospitalisation, although he seems to have recovered reasonably well.  Then in November 2018 your wife gave premature birth to your twin girls.  They were born at 27 weeks gestation.  They each weighed less than a kilo.  This occurred because of a life threatening infection that your wife contracted during her pregnancy.  
88	Both girls spent months in ICU, then came home, but one daughter in particular has remained very fragile and ill and requires round the clock care.  For a long time, she was unable to ingest solids.  She has undergone open heart surgery.  She has a lung disease.  She has to sleep using a breathing operation machine at night.  I understand, and was informed by your counsel, that the situation has eased somewhat because NDIS funding has been approved, but you and your wife remain extraordinarily involved and busy with your daughters, particularly the daughter I have referred to, who also requires constant medical attention, speech pathology and physiotherapy.  
89	I received a host of reports from the various practitioners who attend upon your daughter.  Those practitioners, together with caseworkers who work with you from NDIS, have attested to your devotion to your children and the extremely active role that you play in their lives.  I am going into this part of your life in quite some detail because I am satisfied that you became involved in that offending that I have outlined at the behest of Mr Mustum because you are unable to work full-time and because you were unable in the circumstances - and when I say you could not work full-time, because of the care that you had to devote to your daughters you were unable to work full-time and were unable to financially provide for them as you would have wished.
90	I also received a large number of references from your brothers, your sisters, from your in-laws, from friends, talking about not just your devotion to your daughters, but your shame at this offending, which I was informed by your counsel relates also to your position as the oldest member of your family.  You were too proud, it seems, to turn to your family for financial assistance at the time.  You were ashamed that you could not provide for your family and you were extremely ashamed at engaging in this offending.
91	You have an almost non-existent prior criminal history.  The only time you have ever offended was for unrelated offending in 2009.  
92	Your counsel informed me that you were first approached by Mr Mustum in 2017.   You created some sort of document for a couple of hundred dollars, and that was it until 2019 when he approached you again, at which time you were fully involved in the care of your very ill daughters at a very early stage in their lives.  I am satisfied this was your driver.  There is no evidence of enrichment and it is agreed by both prosecution and defence, that an appropriate way to deal with you is by way of a Community Corrections Order.
93	Now, in my view that is an appropriate response in this case.  I am satisfied there were particular drivers underlying your offending.  I am satisfied you are remorseful for it.  I am satisfied that this offending was out of character and that you are unlikely to reoffend in the future.
94	I deliberately sentenced Mr Mustum first, Mr Mallouk.  I wanted you to understand the breadth of criminality he was involved in,  how dangerous it was for you to be involved with a man such as that.  No matter the circumstances of your family you cannot afford to behave in that way.  All right?  
95	Your current situation now is that you are hoping to set up your own car detailing business, which is something that will allow you to improve your financial situation, but will give you control of your work hours so you can continue to be involved in the day-to-day physical demands surrounding care of your daughters.
96	It has been agreed that it is appropriate in all the circumstances, given that this offending represents a course of conduct, that I deal with you by way of what is called an aggregate Community Corrections Order, which covers the whole of the offending.  
97	So can you stand up please, sir.  
98	Before I can place you on a Community Corrections Order I must first receive your consent so I need to explain to you the terms of that order.  The order will last for 18 months.  While you are on the order you must not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment.  That does not mean that you have to commit an offence in the next 18 months which will send you to gaol.  It means that if you commit an offence for which you could be gaoled, like stealing a box of matches from Woolworths, that will breach the order, you will be brought back before the court and I will resentence you on this offending.  Do you understand that?  
99	Whilst you are on the order you must not leave Victoria except with the permission of the Community Corrections Office.  You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change.  
You must not attend upon the Community Corrections Office under the influence of drugs and alcohol.  You must report to and receive visits from the Community Corrections Office and you must obey all lawful directions of the Community Corrections Office.  
100	I am going to order some work hours, but not that many because it seems to me your life is very much bound up with the care of your daughters.  So I am going to order that you undertake 100 hours of unpaid community work over that 18 months and I am going to order that you undertake assessment and treatment for mental health difficulties.  Not because I think that you are suffering from any huge psychological difficulties, Mr Mallouk, but because you are a man has been, and continues to be, under a particular amount of personal strain, and it seems to me important that you get some assistance with this.  Are you prepared to enter this order?
101	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
102	HER HONOUR:  Thank you.  You can have a seat.
103	I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of six months and order that you be released on a Community Corrections Order.  
104	Very well.  Now that takes care of eventing.  I will just sign those.  This always happens.  Whenever I've got piles of paper and I get them beautifully organised it all goes wrong on the Bench.  And I know that I put the forfeiture and disposal orders to one side so I could seamlessly turn to them.  Mr Prosecutor.
105	MR TUDEHOPE:  Yes, Your Honour.  Just in relation to the forfeiture order for Mr Mallouk, we're still sorting that out so could we - - -
106	HER HONOUR:  No, that's fine.  Just forward it to us.  I'm looking for the ones in relation to Mr Mustum.  We can sign them in chambers.  Yes.  All right.  I've obviously, you know, carefully put them to one side and then left them in my room.  I apologise.  We will attend to those and forward them to you.
107	MR TUDEHOPE:  As Your Honour pleases.
108	HER HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  Yes, we'll get you to sign that please, sir.  Thank you.  All right.  Yes, thank you.  We'll adjourn to Monday.  Thank you very much.  I thank counsel for their assistance.  Can I just say to Mr Mustum's counsel, you conducted a terrific plea.  So please don't think that the sentence is any reflection on the matters you put before this court.  There's just certain matters you can't get around.  Thank you very much indeed for your assistance, Mr Terry.  
109	MR TERRY:  I'm listening, Your Honour.  Thank you.
110	HER HONOUR:  Thank you.
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