IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
AT MELBOURNE	 Revised
Not Restricted
 Suitable for Publication	
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR 25-00133

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
KANE COOPER		
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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE JOHNS 	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	9 April 2025	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	30 April 2025	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Cooper	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 529		

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:	CRIMINAL LAW – Sentencing 
Catchwords:	Plea of guilty – Attempted Aggravated Burglary – Theft Motor Car – Home Invasion – Substance abuse  -  Bugmy principles – Aboriginal offender - Young Offender -  General deterrence – Specific deterrence – denunciation 
Legislation cited:   Sentencing Act (Vic) 1991
Cases cited           Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37
Sentence:             Charge 1: 12 months,  Charges 2, 4 and 5: 6 months on each, Charge 3: 2 years.
	Total Effective sentence: 2 years and 6 months imprisonment. Non-parole period 16 months.
	PSD: 194 days
	6AAA 4 years, non-parole period 2 ½ years. 

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APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms R. Hamnett	Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Accused	Mr. P. Monagle	Peter Monagle 	

HIS HONOUR:

1	Kane Cooper, you have pleaded guilty before me to:
•	Attempted aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment;
•	Three charges of theft of a motor car, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment;
•	Home Invasion, which carries a maximum of 25 years' imprisonment.
2	You have a relevant criminal record of some length for someone so young.
3	You are now 20 and were 19 at the time of the offending.
Circumstances of Offence
4	The facts of the matter are set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea, which is an agreed statement of facts.  That summary is Exhibit A on the plea, and it forms part of these Reasons for Sentence.
5	I will not recite the facts in the same detail.
6	Your attempted aggravated burglary, committed in company with others, involved a casing of a property in Tarneit. You went down the side of the property and were trying to gain access to the rear of the property when you were observed by the occupant and you and your co-offenders fled.
7	Your gang later attended at a property in Truganina and stole a Volkswagen motor vehicle.
8	You then attended at a property at Mesa Street, Tarneit. You were wearing a grey camouflage jumper and a balaclava. Your co-offenders were wearing surgical masks.
9	You all entered the property through an internal garage door and stole car keys. You exited and re-entered again to continue the search. You stole two motor cars from the property using the stolen keys.
10	Once they realised that they had been the subject of the burglary, the occupants were terrified, one saying he 'felt sick to his stomach,' due to the invasion.
11	These are very serious offences. The home invasion charge in particular is inherently serious involving violation of the sanctity of one’s home. Your commission of this serious offence, the seriousness of which is reflected in the maximum penalty, occurred in the dead of night, in company, whilst you and your co-offenders had your faces covered.
12	It is very serious offending and deserving of punishment. General deterrence and denunciation are prominent sentencing considerations.
Personal Circumstances:
13	You are a 20-year-old Aboriginal man who grew up amidst family instability. Your family moved around often, and you were exposed to family violence perpetrated by your father toward your mother.
14	You are one of four children. You maintain contact with an older brother, Brian, and your younger sister, Molly, who resides with your mother in Deniliquin where you have also lived at various stages. I was told you have little to no contact with your father.
15	You were schooled up to Year 10 level. Your schooling was interrupted due to the family moving between New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria regularly.
16	You have had a couple of short-term jobs since leaving school at McDonalds and a fish and chip shop.
17	You have a desire to study a mechanic course at TAFE in the future.
18	I received a psychological report on your behalf from Christine Kennedy, psychologist. Ms Kennedy opined, amongst other findings, that you seek constant activity, are easily bored and are likely to have an inability to stick to long term projects. You are prone to impulsive and poor decision-making.
19	Your offending occurred in the context of substance use. Ms Kennedy diagnosed you with cannabis and stimulant use disorder, in remission due to the controlled environment you are currently in.
20	You have been in custody for approximately 194 days on this matter. This is not your first time in adult custody. I was provided with detail of your remand and sentence history. For someone so young it is concerning the periods you have spent in adult custody.
21	Ms Kennedy notes a concern with you becoming institutionalised if this trend continues.
22	During the plea I raised the prospect of a sentence of detention in a Youth Training Centre. Through your counsel you were adamant that you did not want to be considered for youth detention and effectively indicated that you would not co-operate with any assessment I might order.
23	The matter was stood down while the benefits of a Youth Justice Centre sentence could be discussed with you. Your mother, who attended the plea to support you, and I note is in attendance again today, was involved as I understand it with that discussion and was supportive of you receiving a YJC sentence.
24	However, due to your attitude I considered that it would be inappropriate and futile to seek a pre-sentence report assessing your suitability for detention in a Youth Justice Centre.

Matters in Mitigation
25	Your youth is a very important consideration and a very important matter in mitigation. Your youth is relevant to your offending and assessing your moral culpability, as well as in assessing your prospects of rehabilitation and an appropriate disposition.
26	I give full mitigatory effect to the factor of youth in your case.
27	You are also entitled to some mitigation for what may be referred to broadly as Bugmy mitigation. I consider that the instability, dysfunction and exposure to violence you experienced in childhood has some relationship with your early gravitation toward alcohol and substance misuse, and also in relation to gravitation towards negative peer groups, and in turn to the offending behaviours.  
28	I find that the Bugmy principle has application to some degree based on my assessment of the extent of that trauma and disadvantage and its connection to the matters before me.  Of course, there does not need to be a connection, the court recognises that when the Bugmy principle is engaged that your moral culpability is not to be treated the same as for someone who experienced a nurturing, stable childhood of advantage.  I have made the assessment of the dysfunction and exposure to trauma as best I am able on the materials, and as I have stated, I find it has some connection to the offending behaviours before me.
29	Your early plea of guilty is also a matter which provides mitigation of sentence.   Your plea of guilty is important as an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and your insight into that.  It is also important because it facilitates justice and has a utilitarian benefit, and accordingly the sentences I impose are discounted to reflect that. 
30	I assess your prospects of rehabilitation as somewhat guarded, but you are not without prospects, of course, principally based on your youth but also the supports you have available to you.  If you can harness the opportunity on parole to enrol in TAFE and pursue pro-social goals, those goals that you have espoused, then your prospects of rehabilitation would be reasonable in my view.
31	As I have already noted, general deterrence is a significant sentencing consideration in a case such as this, as is imposing a sentence that appropriately expresses the community's denunciation of offending of this type.  Specific deterrence has also been a consideration of some importance in relation to your case.
32	I sentence you as follows, Mr Cooper:
33	On Charge 1, the charge of attempted aggravated burglary, you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.
34	On Charge 2, the charge of theft of a motor vehicle, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
35	On Charge 3, the offence of home invasion, you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
36	On Charge 4, the offence of theft of a motor vehicle, you are sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
37	On Charge 5, theft of a motor vehicle, you are also sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
38	I make the following orders for cumulation:
39	Three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 1 is to be served cumulatively on the base sentence which is the sentence imposed on Charge 3.
40	One month of each of the sentences imposed on Charges 2,4 and 5 are to be served cumulatively upon the base sentence and other sentences.
41	That makes a total effective head sentence of two years and six months' imprisonment.
42	I set a non-parole period of 16 months.
43	That disparity between the head sentence and the non-parole period largely reflects the importance of youth as a sentencing consideration.
44	I declare that you have served - is it 194 days pre-sentence detention.
45	MS HAMNETT:  Yes, Your Honour.  
46	MR MONAGLE:  Yes, Your Honour.  
47	HIS HONOUR:  I declare that you have served 194 days as pre-sentence detention in relation to that sentence.
48	Pursuant to s6AAA, were it not for your pleas of guilty I would have imposed a head sentence of four years with a non-parole period of two and a half years.
49	Now, Ms Hamnett, were there any other orders sought - there are no forfeiture or anything like that.
50	MS HAMNETT:  Yes, Your Honour, there was a driver's licence order sought also.
51	HIS HONOUR:  That's right, the - just a moment - - -  
52	MS HAMNETT:  The s89 - - -  
53	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  So, is that s89.
54	MS HAMNETT:  89 sub-s(4), Your Honour, of the Sentencing Act.
55	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Pursuant to s89(4) of the Crimes Act - - -  
56	MS HAMNETT:  The Sentencing Act, Your Honour.
57	HIS HONOUR:  Sorry, Sentencing Act, that's right, of the Sentencing Act.  So in relation to Charges 2,4 and 6 your licence, if held, is cancelled and you are disqualified from obtaining any other for a period of 12 months.
58	MS HAMNETT:  Thank you, Your Honour.  
59	MR MONAGLE:  Thank you, Your Honour.  
60	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  No other orders sought.
61	MS HAMNETT:  No, Your Honour.  
62	HIS HONOUR:  All right, thank you.  Yes, we will adjourn the court.
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