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

CR 21-00562

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
MICHAEL RENOOY		

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MULLALY	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	23 July 2021	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 July 2021	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Renooy	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2021] VCC 1224	

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Dr J. Harkess	Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Accused	Mr J. Desmond	Tyler Tipping & Woods	

HIS HONOUR:
1	Michael Renooy, following a favourable sentencing indication hearing given to you on 22 July 2021, you have today pleaded guilty on arraignment to a charge of aggravated burglary and a charge of intentionally cause injury, and a summary bail offence.  
2	You have spent 274 days on remand for these crimes.  In very brief terms, I indicated, upon your plea of guilty, that I would not impose more imprisonment than you had done.  There are some complications about that which I will return to. 
3	The circumstances of your crimes were that on 22 October 2020, you went to the victim's house in Sale.  You knew the victim; he was a friend.  You had given him a laptop computer on an understanding that he would try to repair it.  You believed, separately, that he owed you $600.  Your plan was to reduce the amount of that debt if the computer could be fixed.
4	When you arrived, you and the victim spoke amicably about the laptop.  The victim said he could not fix it.  You decided you did not want the laptop back in that state and left it there.  So far, there were no problems, as would be expected, given that he was your friend.
5	However, as you left the house, an argument developed about how much the victim owed you.  You got about 2 to 3 metres outside the house on the pathway when something said enraged you.  Of course, you now acknowledge that you should have left it as a verbal argument, got in the car and left, but you did not.  
6	You ran to the door and forced the fly screen door open, with the victim trying to hold it shut.  Once in the house, you threw punches at the victim as he retreated, trying to defend himself and avoid being hit.  Punches landed, as the assault continued into the kitchen area.  It was a sustained attack, wholly unnecessary, and caused injuries to the victim that required treatment at the local hospital.  He sustained a broken nose, black eyes, cuts, and other bruises.  
7	In his victim impact statement, the victim makes it clear that he has suffered emotional and a type of psychological difficulty, especially simply going about what he enjoys doing in his hometown with a sense of safety.  In particular, he gave up one of his real pleasures, that is playing and training for cricket, and socialising at the local cricket club.  These impacts are important to acknowledge.  
8	This attack occurred inside the victim's house; thus, the charge of aggravated burglary was charged.  Issue was raised as to the more technical aspects of the charge which, in the end, was made out.  The point there was that if the attack had occurred on the property, but on the pathway, it would have proceeded in the Magistrates' Court for intentionally cause injury.
9	Going after the victim into his house enlivens the offence of aggravated burglary, with its 15 year maximum, and the need for it to be heard on indictment, being in this court.  I am required to assess the gravity of the offence in the sentencing task.  As discussed at the sentence indication hearing and earlier, the real crime here was the assault, though the fact that it was in the victim's house is not unimportant.  The victim was and always is entitled to feel safe in his house, indeed safe anywhere on his property.  
10	Given that the physical fight occurred before you had left, which was your initial analysis or initial explanation, or it had occurred on the pathway, then no aggravated burglary could have been charged, thus there would be a very different outcome, indeed, before a different court.
11	In my view, because of those reasons, this is very different to the aggravated burglary of the type that usually come before this court.  Added to that, given the spontaneous eruption of anger between friends and then the ill-considered but immediate response, that is to go back inside the house, this again is very different to almost all of the other aggravated burglaries that come before this court.  In my view, this is an example of the offence at the lower levels.  
12	Not so, with the intentionally cause injury which was, as I said, sustained, notwithstanding the victim was trying to simply defend himself and was telling you to stop.  
13	Importantly, you did come to your senses later that night and went to the hospital to apologise.  I accept that you have been remorseful from the outset.  That can be discerned from the cross-examination at the committal, which revealed that the main issue was whether you had left the house and come back or were always in it.  And, to an extent, the number of blows that were thrown.  An accused can be remorseful for what happened, even though there is not a plea of guilty because of what is seen, often inaccurately, as overcharging.  
14	Your moral culpability is, what is taken into account, is that you have an intellectual disability.  That means is the person that you are is not someone who can easily make considered decisions. It may well explain your resort to drugs through your life, it may well explain your resort to crime as a consequence.  While there is no direct connection here, I do take into account, in a broad sense, that you are someone who has an enduring intellectual disability and not able to make considered judgments like others.
15	You are now 38 years old.  The most prominent aspect of your background or personal circumstances is your lifelong addiction to drugs, and your resort to crime.  Your criminal history is long and involves many serious drug offences that have seen terms of imprisonment.  Of relevance is that you have prior convictions for aggravated burglary in 2017 and 2008.  They were dealt with in the Magistrates' Court, indicating your intent was alleged to be to steal.  
16	You have other prior convictions for violence in 2003 and 2004 and 2014.  You have been imprisoned and, in combination or separately, put on community corrections orders to assist you to reform, especially with regard to drug treatment.  Obviously, those efforts have not been completely successful.  
17	You have been involved in relationships that have had their difficulties.  At present, you are in a relationship.  Your partner has problems with her own addictions and has, in the last few months, it seems, gone into the intense rehabilitation provided at Odyssey House.  
18	At the time of your offending, she had just given birth to twin boys.  You have not been there to help her as she dealt with the newborn twins, dealt with her drug difficulties and the social disruptions of COVID-19.  You recognise that you had let her down and have a commitment not to do so again.  Proof of all that, Mr Renooy, will be in how you behave.  Simply put, if she was here, no doubt she would say, 'Don't let me down again'; take that into account.
19	You have been assessed as suitable for an Odyssey House placement and want to take up that position immediately.  It is hoped arrangements can be made to allow that to occur.  I had you assessed for a community corrections order.  You were found suitable, notwithstanding past experiences of community corrections order.  You will need intense case management and supervision from the community of corrections office, that needs to dovetail with the programs at Odyssey House.  
20	It was not mentioned in the assessment by the community corrections office that you have an intellectual disability or were, in recent times, seen suitable for a justice plan, which I have now discovered, although a report was sought, you were not placed on a community corrections order with a justice plan by the magistrate at Sale in February 2021.  
21	I do not intend, notwithstanding I have learnt that you have an intellectual disability, I do not here seek out assessments for a justice plan, as that will add many, many weeks to the resolution of this case.  That said, I am not prepared to impose a sentence without a significant level of post release supervision.  I will do so by a community corrections order, and I expect the community corrections people will be able to work in tandem with the disability services to ensure appropriate programs for you; that is what programs you do, you can understand and participate in.  
22	Your counsel's submissions were that you have developed insight into your offending and the waste that is involved in these prison terms by reason of drug addiction.  As I have said whether that is well-established, that is you do have this insight, will soon be seen.  What is clear is that your time on remand has been more onerous or difficult due to the pandemic.  The isolation from visits and the like and the curtailing of rehabilitation programs multiplies what is understood as the onerousness of prison - prison is different in pandemic times.  
23	Also, your plea of guilty in COVID times must attract a more significant benefit than before.  The utilitarian benefits of your plea of guilty are ever more mitigatory in these times when the criminal justice system is under such pressures due to the suspension of jury trials during each lockdown.  I must make the benefit of the plea in COVID times palpable to you, obvious to you and to others.  
24	The sentencing purposes here that are important are denunciation and, importantly, general deterrence and specific deterrence.  The prosecution has emphasised these aspects.  I add to that, protection of the community from you, and also emphasise that your rehabilitation is not overlooked, but it is guarded.  It seems to me that - and is accepted by all - that those sentencing purposes can only be satisfied by the imposition of a term of imprisonment.  The prosecution contended that the appropriate form of that was a head sentence and a non-parole period being fixed. 
25	Your counsel argued at the sentence indication and reiterated on the plea that a sentence of imprisonment, which he conceded, should be limited to your current period on remand and combined with a community corrections order.  As is made clear in the sentence indication, I was persuaded that your time on remand was enough, and I am firmly of the view that a community corrections order is needed.  
26	The principles articulated in Boulton v The Queen about simultaneous punishment and the facilitation of rehabilitation are very much to the fore in your case.  You are more likely to reform if you undergo serious rehabilitation such as you plan at Odyssey House.  It is acknowledged that time in Odyssey House is far from a soft option.  
27	Indeed, the Court of Appeal in Akoka v The Queen considered that time spent in such facilities should be considered generally as being of such high restrictive nature, but that it should be considered as parallel or a like term of imprisonment, but cannot be, of course, declared as time served under the Sentencing Act.  
28	I emphasise the order I make, and the intent of Odyssey House, is to give you an opportunity to put drugs behind you and fully take up steps to engage in responsible parenthood.  So, it is not so much the importance of how strict Odyssey House is, but what you take from it long-term.  Now, whether you do, and that is become someone who assists in the upbringing of your children and a model for them, it is entirely up to you.  
29	I intend to impose an aggregate term for the crime of aggravated burglary and intentionally cause injury.  I do so because I consider an aggregate sentence is appropriate. Both offences, in this instance, are on the same level as the Court of Appeal has described there needs to be some consideration of - that is the common law that has developed in respect to the interpretation of the statute about aggravated burglaries.  
30	These crimes were interwoven; however, in my view, I see the intentionally cause injury as a very serious aspect of this crime.  What I intend to do is impose upon you for the crimes of aggravated burglary and intentionally cause injury, an aggregate sentence which I calculate as being, in a very tailored way, 276 days.  
31	I then would impose an 18 month community corrections order that has, as its conditions, assessment and treatment for drug addiction, assessment and treatment for appropriate programs to assist in you not reoffending, and supervision.  In respect to the bail offences, I impose a sentence of one month that is concurrent with the other sentences that I have just imposed.  
32	What I declare is this, that the time you have spent in custody has been calculated or reckoned at 274 days.  I declare that 274 days as part of the sentence I have just imposed, the sentence of 276 days.  That means that you will be imprisoned for, hopefully, Saturday and Sunday and be available for release on Monday when arrangements have been made to have you moved directly from the prison at Fulham to Odyssey House intake in Richmond.  
33	I have not caused that to occur by some bureaucratic - some aspect of transport or some aspect of lockdown days, that is regrettable.  My intention is that you remain in prison until you are ready to be received at Odyssey House seamlessly.  I can do no more than say that.  
34	What I also say is that had you pleaded not guilty to this offence and been found guilty of it, I would have imposed a sentence of three years and nine months, with a minimum term of two years and 10 months.  Is there anything else required?
35	COUNSEL:  No, thank you, Your Honour.
36	HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.  Mr Renooy, I will sign a document shortly that will be sent to the prison.  One of the other documents to be sent and is important is that you will be on a community corrections order.  I must set out to you that - although you must have heard it dozens of -well, almost dozens of times before, a community corrections order has conditions that apply to everyone, they are - and most importantly for you - you must not commit an offence for which you could be imprisoned in the 18 months that I have fixed for the community correction order.  
37	If you do that, you will be back before me, the merciful sentence will not be repeated.  I will re-sentence you for this and you will go back to gaol and you will start to do what will inevitably a life term in instalments.  
38	OFFENDER:  Yes.  
39	HIS HONOUR:  The other aspect of the core conditions that apply to everyone are about cooperation.  You have to get in contact with the office of Corrections - I will discover which place that is shortly - within 48 hours of your being released, get on the phone to them, that is how they wished to do it; do you follow?
40	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
41	HIS HONOUR:  Yes, the 274 includes today, so allows me two more days, yes.  So, the next thing is that you have got to tell them if you change your address, if you change your job.  You cannot go interstate without telling them.  You have got to do all that they lawfully ask you to do.  Everything they ask you to do will be lawful.  And that includes they might need to identify you by having a photograph taken so that they know who you are.  Do you understand all those things?
42	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
43	HIS HONOUR:  In addition, the conditions that apply to you separately that are directed to your individual concerns and needs are assessment and treatment for drug rehabilitation, assessment for programs to assist you in not offending, and that you are to be under supervision.  Just do all that.  It will dovetail in; they will work it out. 
44	OFFENDER:  Yeah.
45	HIS HONOUR:  But briefly, while you are in the community, you are under supervision.  You have got to respond to the requirements to visit them or do so by phone if it is arrangements.  It is not voluntary.  If you miss out on that, they will breach you, you will be back before me, the same story.  Do you understand all this?
46	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
47	HIS HONOUR:  Right.  Will you consent to doing that community corrections order?
48	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
49	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  
50	OFFENDER:  Yeah
51	HIS HONOUR:  I will put that you did consent orally at the virtual hearing.  Anything else?
52	COUNSEL:  No, thank you, Your Honour.
53	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  Well, fingers crossed.  You know what should happen, Mr Renooy?  You bring it about as best you can, although we are all in the hands of the authorities.  All right, just bear with me about something.  I am going to vacate other hearings that we - well, other video links that we were going to have.  Does anyone know the - just bear with me, it might be on the document.  
54	You are to contact, it seems to me it seems a bit odd, but you have just got to contact the Sale Justice Service Centre by telephone within two days.  I do not know their number - someone will - and but you have got to contact them within two days, to get this going, of your release.
55	OFFENDER:  Yeah.
56	HIS HONOUR:  And then transfer, obviously, to the most appropriate - Odyssey people might be able to help you through that.  
57	OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.
58	HIS HONOUR:  All right.  If there is nothing further, I think this link goes in very short order.  If you need time with your client, Mr Desmond, we can facilitate that.  Thank you for your assistance, Dr Harkess and Mr Desmond.  
59	MR DESMOND:  Thank you, Your Honour.
60	HIS HONOUR:  I will head away.  
61	MR DESMOND:  Thank you.
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