IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL DIVISION	Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication	
Case No. CR-23-01492
CR-23-01795

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
JUSTIN LADD		

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE HAWKINS	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	30 October 2023	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	30 November 2023	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v LADD	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 2337		

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:	CRIMINAL LAW - SENTENCE
Legislation Cited:	Family Violence Protection Act 2008 ss 123(2), 125A; Crimes Act 1958 s87(1); Bail Act 1997 s30A(1); Sentencing Act s6AAA
Cases Cited:	Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; DPP v McClusker [2022] VCC; DPP v Thornton [2023] VCC 1720; DPP v Western [2023] VCC 585
Sentence:	Total effective sentence of 3 years and 2 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 2 years and 1 month. 

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APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr T. Crouch	Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Offender	Mr J. FitzGerald	Tyler, Tipping & Woods	

HER HONOUR:
1	Justin Ladd, you have pleaded guilty to:
•	Seven charges of persistent contravention of a family violence intervention order which carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment per charge; 
•	One charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment; and 
•	One charge of blackmail which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.
2	You have also pleaded guilty to the following related summary offences:
•	Two charges of contravene a family violence intervention order which carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment; and
•	One charge of contravene a conduct condition of bail which carries a maximum penalty of 30 penalty units or three months’ imprisonment.
3	You admit your prior criminal history from Victoria and Queensland.
4	The detailed circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary of prosecution opening for plea dated 25 October 2023, the accuracy of which you accepted through your counsel. I will annex that summary to my reasons for judgment as they contain detailed extracts of the many threatening communications you sent to the victim, Audrey Fisher.  The following is a truncated summary.
Background to the Offending 
5	You and the victim, Fisher, were in a three-year relationship in Queensland around 10 years prior to the current offending before the court. Fisher returned to Victoria at the end of this relationship and you moved on to other relationships.
6	Following the death of Fisher’s father in 2017, you reignited contact and resumed a relationship with her. 
7	You moved from Queensland into Fisher’s home in approximately mid-2017. Remaining in her home, you had an 'on' and 'off' again relationship for the next two years. 
8	In 2018, Fisher found a 'spy cam' positioned on the TV facing her chair. Fisher destroyed the camera after finding it. 
9	Fisher was not aware that you had another camera hidden in her garage. One evening in 2017 you purchased a black laceup jumpsuit for Fisher to wear. You had consensual sex in the garage but unbeknownst to Fisher you recorded the encounter. 
10	On approximately 9 July 2019, prior to the offending which forms the subject of this proceeding, Fisher commenced complaining of incidents of family violence to police. These complaints resulted in police obtaining a family violence intervention order, which I will refer to as 'the FVIO', on her behalf. You were ordered to leave Fisher’s home pursuant to this order. 
11	On 23 July 2019, believing promises you had made to change your behaviour, Fisher agreed to vary the FVIO to a what is known as 'safe contact' order which allowed you to return to live with her at her home. 
12	The peace lasted for three days before you resumed perpetrating family violence against Fisher. Your behaviour escalated, and you threatened to 'punch her in the face' if she went to police. 
13	On 10 January 2020, you told Fisher you were going to Moe and taking her phone with you. Fisher wanted to keep her phone but you got angry and held her down pressing your hand onto the side of her head. You grabbed her wrist, took her phone and left. 
14	You were subsequently arrested and charged with contravening the FVIO and two charges of unlawful assault. On 3 March 2020, the criminal charges were adjourned and upon application by police, an interim no contact FVIO was made. A final full no contact order was made on 7 April 2020.
15	On 9 June 2020, you were located back at Fisher’s house and were arrested and charged for breaching the FVIO and released on summons. 
16	On 17 June 2020, you called Fisher from an unknown number, making repeated calls. Fisher turned her phone off and once she turned it back on she saw numerous missed calls and texts from you. 
17	Upon returning from the police station to report these breaches, Fisher found the porch light of her home had been removed. The police attended her property and found you asleep in a locked shed. You were arrested and remanded. 
18	On 19 June 2020, you pleaded guilty to charges arising from this offending and were sentenced to 30 days’ imprisonment in the Magistrates Court. You lodged an appeal and were granted bail to appear at the County Court on 30 October 2020. 
Related Summary Offences
19	Shortly after being granted bail on 19 June 2020, at 6:31 pm you sent an email remonstrating Fisher for your predicament. The email referred to Fisher as a 'dog' and contained threats to disseminate a 'picture'. This breached the FVIO and forms the basis for related summary Charge 2 and your conditions of bail forming the basis for related summary Charge 4.
20	On 20 June 2020, you accessed Fisher’s email account using her personal information. You sent an email to Fisher’s daughter containing a photo of Fisher smoking what appears to be a bong or a pipe. When her daughter told Fisher, she was devastated and her mental health suffered.  That forms the basis of related summary Charge 3.
21	Shortly after receiving appeal bail you returned to Queensland, effectively abandoning that appeal. 
Circumstances of this offending
22	On 29 August 2021, Fisher reported further family violence offending to police. That offending forms the basis of the charges on the current indictment.
Charge 1 – Persistent contravention of the family violence intervention order between the dates 9 and 16 February 2020; Charge 2 – Attempt to pervert the course of justice:
23	In breach of the 23 July 2019 FVIO, between 9 and 16 February 2020, you sent Fisher 13 threatening emails.  Edited extracts of those emails include:
(a)	'Subject: Bed 	
Look out Audrey you might wake up one day tied to the bed and your house on fire but I’ll save you cause I want you to know what it’s like to be fucked over and left with fucken cheating useless selfish cunt of a thing you're gonna fucken pay for what you’ve done I’ll make sure that you should of give us a go.' (sic)
(b)	'Subject: Chance	
You should of given us a chance Audrey and tried heaps to get this to work instead you did nothing and used me now I’m left with nothing AGAIN and you just continue on I’ve lost more than you Audrey what about the dogs they were a big part of my life what about lots of things I should poison every fucken plant I had something to do with cause I did shit loads for you that you’ll never ever see […] ' (sic)
24	On 16 February 2020, you sent eight emails threatening Fisher, demanding that she change her police statement by contacting the informant and telling him a different story. You threatened that if she did not cooperate you would disclose to her family that she was a drug addict.
25	These are the circumstances of the offending which make up Charges 1 and 2 on the indictment, persistent contravention of a FVIO and attempt to pervert the course of justice. 
Charge 3 – A rolled-up charge of Blackmail which is said to have occurred between the dates of 16 February 2020 and 30 June 2021
26	After 16 February 2020 your demands escalated and you sent further threatening emails to Fisher. You made repeated demands threatening that if Fisher did not put money into your bank you would, amongst other things:
(a)	'(…) put some money in my bank or I'll tell fucken everyone your little secret. (…) I'll burn your fucken house to the ground with you in it but I won't let you die I'll save the day and you'll be burnt from head to toe then no-one will want you not even your dogs so fucken put some money in my bank(…)'; (sic) and
(b)	'[Get] some money in my bank or I’m ringing her [Fisher’s daughter, Katie] back and spilling my guts to her Audrey I’m serious ay I’ve had your selfish attitude don’t think I won't.' (sic)
27	In June 2020, you made further demands for money. You sent her a photo of Fisher having sex with you, which was filmed without her consent. You acknowledged how devastating it would be for Fisher if you sent pictures to her daughters and to others. You taunted her that you were beyond the reach of Victoria Police. You also sent Fisher the photo of her smoking what appears to be a bong or a pipe and threatened to send that photo as well. On 20 June 2020, you did send that photo to her daughter.  That part of it is related summary Charge 3.
28	Overall, those matters form the circumstances of the offending which make up Charge 3 on the indictment, blackmail.
Charge 4 – A charge of persistent contravention of an FVIO between dates 6 and 30 January 2021
29	At approximately 4:00 pm on 6 January 2021, you connected a new mobile phone number using Fisher’s personal details without her permission. Over an eight-hour period you harassed Fisher with 92 calls and text messages. 
30	Between 6 and 30 January 2021, you made 109 calls and sent 928 text messages to Fisher. 
Charge 5 – A further charge of persistent contravention of an FVIO between dates 1 and 28 February 2021
31	On 1 February 2021, you phoned Fisher and told her to give you money or you would send the covert sex video to all her contacts. 
32	Between 1 and 28 February 2021, you sent 1,087 text messages and made 16 calls to Fisher. In fear that you would carry out your threats, Fisher deposited a total of $10,000 to you over this period.
Charge 6 – Persistent contravention of an FVIO between 1 and 29 March 2021 
33	In March 2021, you acquired a new mobile phone number and continued demanding money from Fisher. In fear of your threats, she acceded to your demands. 
34	On 6 March 2023, you sent Fisher several covertly recorded videos of you having sex together.
35	When one evening in March Fisher said 'no' in response to your threats, you sent her another video in which she was naked and said it was on the internet. 
36	Fisher called you to question you about this and you said you would put the video on the internet and send it to all the male contacts in her phone if she refused to pay you more money. 
37	In fear that you would carry out your threats of distributing the images and videos, Fisher deposited a further $4,410 into your account. 
38	Between 1 and 28 March 2021, you sent 995 text messages and made 55 phone calls to Fisher. 
Charge 7 – Persistent contravention of an FVIO between 1 and 28 April 2021 
39	In April 2021, you sent 540 text messages and made four phone calls to Fisher. She continued making deposits into your bank account in fear that you would distribute the covertly obtained material of her.
Charge 8 – Persistent contravention of an FVIO between 1 and 28 May 2021 
40	In May 2021 you sent 493 text messages and made 11 phone calls to Fisher and she continued to make deposits into your bank account.  
Charge 9 – Persistent contravention of an FVIO between 1 and 28 June 2021 
41	In June 2021, Mr Ladd, you sent further vile and threatening emails to Fisher. One email as an example reads as follows: 
(a)	'You’re a nasty piece of work leaving me like this and I'm gonna fix you up for that. You’ve had the capability to help me but you've left me hurting and hungry and in my book that’s so evil I'm gonna show you evil Audrey I fucken warned you cunt.' (sic)
42	Fisher continued making deposits into your bank account in fear that you would carry out the threats you had made. During this period, Fisher deposited a total of $13,090 into your account.  
Uncharged acts
43	You continued to contact Fisher in December and January 2022.
44	You were subsequently arrested on 6 March 2023 and extradited from Queensland and brought back to Victoria on 7 March 2023. You have been remanded in custody since that date.
Personal Circumstances
45	You are now aged 44.
46	Your father worked as a manager of a pharmaceutical company and your mother worked in a cleaning company that your parents owned together. Their relationship was volatile. Your father was a heavy-handed disciplinarian and your mother an alcoholic. 
47	Your parents separated when you were around eight years old. You recall your mother packing up and leaving with your sister. They moved to Queensland and you remained living with your father. 
48	You visited your mother approximately twice a year. When you were 11, you begged to be able to live with your mother. Your relationship with your mother was not much better as she too was a heavy disciplinarian. 
49	You went to a different school every year from Grade 5. You were a poor student and often absent. However, you were very good at mathematics and physical education. 
50	You have had a consistent work history. After leaving school, you worked on prawn trawlers operating out of Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast for several years. When you were 21 you began a rendering apprenticeship. Since 2001, you have worked as a plasterer. Your most recent job has been working for On Point Commercial Projects as a plasterer and framer.  
51	When you were 22 you met the mother of your first child. You had a good relationship but drifted apart after about three years. 
52	You then formed the relationship with Fisher which ended in around 2009 when she moved back to Victoria. 
53	In 2009, you formed a relationship with another woman, to whom you were married in 2012. In 2015, you had a son together. This relationship ended in 2017 and you consider this time to be a turning point for the worse in your life.
54	In 2018, you returned to Melbourne and recommenced your relationship with Fisher. 
55	You returned to Queensland in 2020. You were homeless for some time and lived in a backpackers’ hostel until 2022 when you formed a relationship with your current partner, Jasmine Reed.
56	You have used various drugs over the course of your life including alcohol, cannabis and amphetamines, often as a coping mechanism for when you were dealing with relationship breakdowns or other pressures in life. You began drinking alcohol at the age of 15 and started using cannabis at 16.
57	You intend to relocate to Queensland after your release from custody. You will live with your current partner and have been promised work at On Point Commercial Projects. 
58	You have a relatively limited prior criminal history. Your prior family violence offending before the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court involved this victim and overlaps in time with the matters presently before this court. I will treat this offending as context only and you will not be punished a second time for those matters. I will also take this sentence into account when considering the sentencing principle of totality.  
Sentencing Considerations
59	The offences of blackmail and attempt to pervert the course of justice are inherently serious offences as reflected by their maximum penalties of 15 and 25 years respectively.
60	Your family violence offending is a serious example of that offence type. You remained living with the victim in flagrant disregard of court orders and continued to offend even after you had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment for breaching the intervention order and were released on appeal bail. You sent thousands of vitriolic and threatening messages, calculated to manipulate the victim and cause her distress and financial loss.
61	The blackmail is contextually serious offending. Your communications contained threats of violence toward the victim and threatened exposure of intimate images and alleged drug use to the victim’s family and friends. You followed through on one of your threats by sending a photo to the victim’s daughter. You pre-planned your offending by taking videos in 2017 and retaining them for future use, and you did use them to maximum effect. Your actions effectively held the victim to ransom for approximately an 18-month period, which is a significant timespan, and forced her to give you money she could not afford to give.
62	The charge of attempt to pervert the course of justice occurred shortly after the victim had been forced by your escalating behaviour, including your use of physical violence, to make a statement to police seeking their protection. Your response to being charged for assault was to demand the victim change her police statement or you would disclose to her family that she was a drug addict. This is a moderate example of such offending.
63	Mr Ladd, Mr FitzGerald on your behalf concedes that your offending is objectively serious and your moral culpability high. 
64	You reported to psychologist Sandra Cokorilo that you have suffered recurrent bouts of depressions since early adolescence. Based upon self-report, Ms Cokorilo concluded that you displayed indications of symptoms associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and symptoms that are consistent with diagnoses of borderline personality disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, recurrent major depressive disorder, and stimulant and cannabis abuse disorders. She noted that you grew up in a dysfunctional family environment characterised by exposure to chronic parental conflict, maternal alcoholism, and psychopathy, disrupted and insecure parental attachment and maltreatment. She concluded that this early environment would have contributed to the genesis of your psychopathy.
65	Despite this history, Ms Cokorilo notes that your offending is uncharacteristic, given your lack of violent disposition or antisocial cognitions. She concluded that your offending is attributed to a deterioration in chronically compromised mental health following a series of negative life events which resulted in problems of a scope and kind that exceeded your ability to cope.
66	Ms Cokorilo concluded that your general risk of reoffending is moderate and that you pose a low risk for future intimate partner violence. Given the duration; the escalation in the level of control you have exhibited during your offending against this victim; your willingness to offend despite the existence of court orders and bail orders, and having chosen to leave the jurisdiction whilst on appeal bail, I draw a more cautious conclusion about your risk of future offending. At best, you pose a moderate risk of choosing to use violence against your intimate partners in the future. 
67	You have a good work history, a supportive partner in Queensland, and a desire to reconnect with your daughter. Given appropriate supports, Ms Cokorilo opines that you show good motivation to reform yourself. You have used your time in custody productively to work and undertake courses to improve yourself. I accept that your prospects for rehabilitation are reasonable.
68	Mr FitzGerald observes that your prior convictions largely relate to the use of drugs and driving and traffic matters and that you have no history of family violence in the context of other relationships. He submits that the custodial experience has already satisfied any need for specific deterrence.
69	Your actions show that you had absolutely no regard for a woman you professed to love. Aware that she had received an inheritance, you returned to Victoria ostensibly to set a life up together but instead callously manipulated and controlled her for your own gain. Such was your level of control that you were able to continue to offend against her once you had fled from Victoria. For these reasons, I consider that specific deterrence remains a relevant sentencing consideration.
70	Denunciation, general and specific deterrence are therefore all relevant sentencing considerations in your case. 
71	Whilst I take your difficult childhood into account in a general sense, given your age and demonstrated resilience to the vicissitudes of life, I conclude that your moral culpability for this offending remains high.
72	In her victim impact statement, Fisher spoke about the profound impact that your offending has had on her. She spoke of how she had envisioned her stable and secure future with you and her plans for fitting out a modest tiny home. She spoke of how you ruined those plans through your emotional and financial abuse.  Fisher fell into a deep depression following your offending, described by her as a 'toxic cycle'. Fisher was in a modest but manageable financial situation before you became involved with each other. She stated that you extorted a significant sum of money from her and left her without the capacity to fit out her tiny house as she had dreamed. She also felt the impact socially, as she is from a small community and felt embarrassed to answer any questions about you and your sudden absence.
73	Four references were provided to the court in your support upon your plea. 
74	Your current partner, Jasmine Reed, was shocked and confronted when she learned about these charges. She said that you have been a great support for her. She feels you would never hurt her, instead you would do anything to protect her.
75	Your friend, Jessica, speaks of your dedication to work and your kindness towards her family and children. She writes that you have stopped spending time with friendship circles who she believed had led you astray and that you have stopped drinking and are now focusing on your work. 
76	Your co-worker, Mick O’Neil, from On Point Commercial Projects wrote that you have been a pleasure to have on site for the four years you worked with him. He compliments you as one of the best framers he has worked with and states that your teamwork and knowledge is great for the apprentices around you. O’Neil states that he has full-time work for you on-site in future. 
77	Owen Brown, the director of On Point Commercial Projects wrote that you are a trustworthy, highly valuable and reliable worker, who speaks of your dedication to your job and your family and sees you as a long-term employee of the company.
78	Mr Ladd, through your plea of guilty you acknowledge your wrongdoing and you have demonstrated a level of remorse for your actions to Ms Cokorilo.
79	You pleaded guilty at the committal mention of this matter and in so doing you avoided the need for a trial, saved witnesses the stress of giving evidence in court and avoided the use of public resources that would have otherwise been spent in conducting that trial. Whilst the trial backlog in the County Court has now been reduced to pre Covid-19 levels, I accept that your plea has contributed to assist the justice system to recover from the effects of the pandemic. Accordingly, you will receive a sentencing discount for your plea, and in accordance with the principles in Worboyes’ case, a further discount insofar as that is relevant at this point in time.
80	I have taken into account the relevant sentencing principles referred to in section 5 of the Sentencing Act and current sentencing practices for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty, as well as the principle of totality which has relevance in your case.
81	Mr Crouch for the prosecution forwarded three cases to my chambers after the plea hearing, which were illustrative of the offence type and circumstances in which you have been charge.  He did not submit that they were comparable but served to illustrate current sentencing practices.
82	Whilst each charged act properly constitutes a distinct offence, the totality of the offending conduct is founded in an identical factual matrix, which is, in reality inextricably entwined. I therefore consider it appropriate to impose wholly concurrent sentences.
83	The particulars of each charge of persistent contravention of a family violence intervention order are necessarily constrained to incidents occurring over a maximum period of 28 days. The actual time span covered by the Charges 4 to 9 on the indictment is from 6 January to 28 June 2021 and the offending is of an identical nature.  Accordingly, I will impose a single aggregate sentence which is wholly concurrent with the base sentence.
84	I have regard to the sentence of 30 days’ imprisonment, with two days reckoned as served, imposed by the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on 19 June 2020.
85	Mr FitzGerald concedes that given the seriousness of your offending, Mr Ladd, a sentence of imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence in your case. Your partner and your life are in Queensland. Furthermore, a sentence combining a term of imprisonment with a community corrections order would not adequately address the gravity of your offending and satisfy the various sentencing principles, and would only serve to prolong your stay in Victoria, potentially exposing the victim of your offences to further risk. In all the circumstances, I therefore consider that a head sentence with a non-parole period is appropriate.
Sentence
86	Justin Ladd, I sentence you as follows:
87	On Charge 1 you are convicted and sentenced to four months’ imprisonment; 
88	On Charge 2 you are convicted and sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment; 
89	On Charge 3, the charge of blackmail, you are convicted and sentenced to two years and nine months’ imprisonment and this will be the base sentence;
90	On Charges 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 you are convicted and sentenced to and aggregate term of 18 months’ imprisonment;
91	Related summary Charge 1 was withdrawn;
92	On related summary Charges 2 and 3 you are convicted and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, to be served concurrently with the base sentence;
93	I find related summary Charge 4 proven and dismiss it.
94	These terms are to be served concurrently with each other and cumulatively upon the sentence that was imposed upon you on 19 June 2020. That is, the total effective sentence here is 33 months or two years and nine months' imprisonment.
95	I order that you serve 22 months' imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole. 
96	You were arrested and remanded in Queensland on 6 March 2023 and extradited to Victoria on 7 March 2023. On 8 March 2023 you commenced serving the sentence of 28 days that was imposed on 19 June 2020. I will, therefore, deduct 28 days from the pre-sentence detention, a total of 269 days referrable to these matters.
97	Pursuant to section 18 of the Sentencing Act, the period of 241 days of pre-sentence detention, not including today, is hereby declared as having already been served in respect of this sentence and I order that such declaration and its details be entered into the court records.
98	Pursuant to section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I indicate that had you pleaded not guilty and been found guilty after trial, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of four years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years.
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