IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA	Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication	
AT Melbourne
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR-21-01446

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS		
		
v		
		
JODI HOLT		

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT  	
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne	
DATE OF HEARING:	2 June 2022	
DATE OF SENTENCE:	16 June 2022	
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Holt	
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 933		

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:	Plea – sentencing
Catchwords:		Attempt to pervert the course of justice - harass witness
Legislation Cited:	Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited:		
Sentence:		18 months Community Correction Order

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APPEARANCES:
	Counsel	Solicitors	
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr P. Pickering	Office of Public Prosecutions	
			
For the Accused	Ms M. Walker 	Melinda Walker	

HIS HONOUR:

1	I am going to proceed to sentence you.  I make it clear that I do not propose to impose a sentence of imprisonment, rather, I am going to offer you the opportunity of a community correction order.  We will deal with that in due course but I just wanted to make sure that you understand that at this stage, rather than having to wait until the end of my remarks.
2	Jodi Holt, you pleaded guilty to one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, for which the maximum penalty is 25 years' imprisonment, and to one related summary offence of harassing a witness, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 12 months and/or a fine of 120 penalty units. 
3	You are presently 46 years of age, having been born in June 1976.  You were 44 years of age when you committed the offences to which I have referred.  
4	You have a prior criminal history which you have admitted.  The prosecution presented a written document headed, 'Summary of prosecution opening' which is Exhibit A on the plea.  I am not going to read it out, but briefly, the offending arose out of a relationship that you had had for a number of years with your co-offender Daniel Gibson, who on 21 August 2020 was remanded in custody on multiple charges involving assaults upon a 20-year-old young lady with whom he had been in a relationship.  He was held in Port Phillip Prison from 26 August 2020 onwards. 
5	You had been a friend of his for many years and regarded him as your closest friend.  You felt that you owed him considerable loyalty and a debt of gratitude because as a result of an abusive relationship in which you had suffered injuries and threats and physical abuse over a period of time, he had acted as a protector of you.  It seems that your former partner, who was the abuser, was in fear of Mr Gibson. 	

6	It seems to have been out of that relationship with Mr Gibson that you committed these offences.  Whilst Mr Gibson was in custody, he engaged with another co-offender by the name of Mr Justin Hofer in another attempt to pervert the course of justice by endeavouring to persuade the victim of Mr Gibson's assaults to change her story to get him off the charges that had been laid as a result of his assaults upon her. 
7	Your offending arose as a result of an endeavour by Mr Gibson to obtain bail.  You were asked to attend an address in Blackburn where the person who had been selected by Mr Gibson and Mr Hofer as a person prepared to offer his home as a suitable address for Mr Gibson to convince the Magistrates' Court that he was a worthy candidate for bail lived.  Apparently in the belief that this gentlemen had no prior convictions, he was regarded as a suitable candidate to offer his address for that purpose, the intention being that Gibson would not actually reside there but that they would present a false story to the magistrate to persuade the magistrate that Mr Gibson had a suitable address for granting bail. 
8	You participated in attempts to put together and deliver a false story to the magistrate and acted as a go-between between Mr Gibson and this gentleman.  
9	The bail application was heard on 3 December 2020.  As it turned out, despite Mr Gibson's belief to the contrary, the person selected had a criminal record and was deemed to be unsuitable as a provider of a bail address.  The application for bail by Mr Gibson was unsuccessful.  However, police investigations of telephone calls involving you and Mr Gibson recorded at the Port Phillip Prison resulted in the police approaching you and interviewing you about the matter. 
10	You were arrested on 24 March 2021 and participated in an interview with police and made full admissions to your offending, and indeed to the offence of harassing a witness, which involved you sending a lengthy abusive text message to the victim of Mr Gibson's assault with a view to discouraging her from giving evidence at the pending committal hearing that Mr Gibson was facing. 
11	Those are the brief facts of the two events to which you pleaded guilty.  Attempting to pervert the course of justice is a serious offence; harassing a witness is also a serious offence, but given the maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years for attempting to pervert the course of justice, clearly that is regarded by the law as a very serious offence.  Ordinarily, it demands a term of imprisonment. 
12	Turning to matters personal to you.  I have been provided by your counsel with a brief outline of submissions on the plea, which is a helpful document in setting out a number of matters in mitigation of sentence.  That is Exhibit 1 on the plea.  I have also been provided with a report dated 24 January 2022 from a forensic psychologist, Marlese Bovenkerk.
13	Ms Bovenkerk's report gives me a good deal of history about your childhood and your background generally and provides a diagnosis of your mental health disorders, which are itemised as general anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.  
14	It seems from the history in the report that you had a somewhat troubled childhood, that you clearly had emotional problems from an early age and that that background has led to the mental disorders to which I have just referred.  
15	During the period of your childhood from about aged eight through to your early adulthood at age 24, you were engaged in self-harm and also you had attempted suicide on previous occasions.  
16	You have a long history of drug abuse, both illicit drugs and abuse of prescription drugs.  Although in recent years you have been able to control that, you have also in more recent years had difficulties with alcohol, all of which will have contributed to a continuing mental health issue which no doubt contributed to your offending.
17	I find it difficult to see a clear link between your mental deficiencies and your offending; however, I am prepared to accept that in combination they did play a significant part and that there is a sufficient nexus to your offending to engage the Verdins principles to reduce your moral culpability and particularly the need to hold you up as an example for the purposes of general deterrence.  
18	You have continued to have anxiety in the last several years.  I note that you had a service dog for 15 years and you are hoping to get another one quite shortly, that first dog having died at the age of 15 years.  It seems that you still have an ongoing need to control your anxiety, in particular with the help of a service dog. 
19	You have expressed remorse for your offending.  It is always difficult to make a clear assessment of the extent of remorse when I do not have evidence on oath from you about it.  But I am prepared to accept that you see your offending conduct now in a clearer light and realise the seriousness of the offending, in particular the attempt to pervert the course of justice.  This was clearly borne out of a misplaced sense of loyalty to Mr Gibson and probably an inadequate understanding of the extent of his offending conduct.  
20	No doubt you felt exposed at that time without him there to protect you from what seems to be continuing harassment from your former partner.  Without Mr Gibson there to protect you, you were dependant entirely on your former partner’s willingness to obey the terms of the family violence intervention order that you had obtained from the courts to offer you some degree of protection. 
21	That is the context of the offending.  I think you will need continuing support in the form of the community correction order that I have imposed to assist in your further rehabilitation.  
22	I think it is difficult to regard your prospects of rehabilitation as good at this stage.  I think that those prospects are guarded.  I am sure you have a hope and willingness to participate in further rehabilitation, but I think, given the matters set out in the psychological report, that one has to be cautious in being overly-optimistic about those prospects.  
23	I do not regard your prior convictions as particularly significant in the overall sentencing process.  I note that you are still facing another court appearance arising from your use of a credit card obtained from Mr Gibson, which clearly was a stolen credit card.  I do not draw any further inferences about that, other than to note that you are not completely out of the woods yet.  
24	The offences to which you pleaded guilty require the courts to denounce conduct of that kind and generally to impose a term of imprisonment.  Indeed, I sentenced Mr Gibson to 10 months' imprisonment for the offences on the indictment to which you have pleaded guilty.  
25	Had it not been for the various matters that have been put forward to me in mitigation, in particular the psychological report, the other matters in mitigation may not have saved you from a term of imprisonment; however, you have pleaded guilty and you have done so in these COVID times.  That is consistent with remorse; it is consistent with a willingness to further the course of justice and it has considerable utilitarian value in these COVID times, so you are entitled to very significant credit for that.     
26	I have already indicated that I do not propose to impose a term of imprisonment, rather I am going to take you through the terms of the community correction order that I propose to impose, subject to your consent. 
27	You have been assessed as suitable for a community correction order.  I will now read the terms of the proposed order to you.  	

28	The order that I propose is a community correction order for a period of 18 months.  The order will commence today and will end on 15 December 2023.  The correction centre you will be required to attend is the Box Hill Community Correctional Services offices at 703 Station Street, Box Hill.  You must telephone there - the number is on the order which you will be provided with.  You must attend there within two clear working days after the commencement of the order, which therefore requires you to attend by 4 pm on Monday, 20 June – that is next Monday.  You must telephone there because due to the COVID pandemic, you cannot at this stage attend in person.
29	 All of the mandatory terms of a community correction order apply and the additional conditions I intend to impose are that you be under the supervision of a community correction officer throughout the period of the order; that you perform 150 hours of unpaid community work as directed by the regional manager; that you undergo assessment and treatment including testing for alcohol abuse or dependency as directed by the regional manager; and that you undergo mental health assessment and treatment including but not limited to mental health, psychological, neuropsychological and psychiatric treatment if necessary in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager.  
30	I further order that 75 hours of treatment and rehabilitation satisfactorily undertaken by you are to be counted as hours of unpaid community work for the purposes of the unpaid community work condition.  In other words, if you turn up and participate satisfactorily and complete the rehabilitation hours that are prescribed to you, then those can be deducted from the 150 hours up to a total of 75 of those hours.  So you will still have to do 75 hours on top of that to complete the 150 hours, but you can at least reduce those hours by satisfactorily completing your rehabilitation as prescribed by the regional manager.  	

31	I believe you have already had the mandatory terms of the community correction order explained to you, but I will just go over them again.  Those terms are that:
•	you must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time that the order is in force;  
•	you must comply with the requirements of regulation 17 of the Sentencing Regulations, which essentially set out the obligations that you have as to attendance at the community correctional centre, such things as not turning up either drug or alcohol affected;  
•	you must report to and receive visits from a community corrections officer;
•	you must report to the community corrections centre – that is the Box Hill centre - within two clear working days, and as I have already indicated, that is by next Monday, 20 June by 4 pm; 
•	you must notify a community corrections officer of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after that change;
•	you must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from a community corrections officer;
•	you must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of community corrections officers - such directions may be given either orally or in writing.  
32	Do you understand all of those conditions?
33	OFFENDER:  I do, Your Honour, yes. 
34	HIS HONOUR:  Are you willing to abide by those conditions?
35	OFFENDER:  Absolutely, yes. 
36	HIS HONOUR:  I am going to ask you to formally give your consent after I have said a few more things. 	

37	If you are ill or if there are exceptional circumstances, the order may be suspended for a period of time, and if your circumstances materially alter, you may apply for a variation or cancellation of the order.  In either case, you must notify the Box Hill Community Corrections Centre.  I recommend that you obtain legal advice if any of those things happen. 
38	But I must warn you that if you do breach any condition of the order whilst the order is in force you will be brought back to this court, probably before me, and one of the options open to me, or to any judge of this court you appear before, is to cancel the community correction order and re-sentence you on the original charges.  You may also be dealt with for the breach of the order by imposing a term of imprisonment for up to three months.  
39	So you do risk still being imprisoned if you breach the terms of the order, both for actually breaching the order and in relation to the offences for which I am sentencing you today.  In other words, you may leave the Court with little option other than to send you to prison for the two offences to which you have pleaded guilty. 
40	OFFENDER:  Yes. 
41	HIS HONOUR:  So be sure you do not commit any further offences whilst the order is in force, that is, offences punishable by imprisonment.  Do you understand the consequences of breaching your community correction order?
42	OFFENDER:  Yes I do, Your Honour. 
43	HIS HONOUR:  Having heard all of that, do you consent to be placed on the order that I have just outlined to you? 
44	OFFENDER:  Yes I do, Your Honour. 
45	HIS HONOUR:  I take your consent therefore as an agreement.  I will therefore treat it effectively as being signed by you, even though of course that is not possible.  I will then sign the order.  
46	I think we will print out a new order with the agreement.  Since you will not be signing the order in person, it will be noted on the order that you have given your agreement and that you understand the effect and conditions of the order and your consent to it being made by video link, do you understand?  That will appear on the order and therefore the order will be enforced as if you had actually signed it yourself, once I have signed it of course and that will be done in just a moment. 
47	OFFENDER:  Yep, sure.
48	HIS HONOUR:  So the orders that I make, Ms Holt, are that in respect of the two offences to which you have pleaded guilty, you are convicted and you are sentenced to a community correction order for a period of 18 months in the terms that I have just outlined and which are enshrined in the document that I have just signed and you have agreed to.  Are there any other orders that need to be made, Mr Pickering?
49	MR PICKERING:  I think Your Honour indicated you were going to make the disposal on the last occasion. 
50	HIS HONOUR:  Sorry?
51	MR PICKERING:  I think Your Honour indicated on the last occasion you were going to make the disposal.  I don't think that's been made. 
52	HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  I do make the disposal order.  Have I signed it?  Apparently I have signed the order too.  Section 6AAA needs to be attended to. 
53	MR PICKERING:  I don't think Your Honour has to – you don't have to give a 6AAA unless it's over two years CCO.  
54	HIS HONOUR:  Is that right?
55	MR PICKERING:  I just looked it up, Your Honour, it is so. 
56	HIS  HONOUR:  Good.  Well, if you are comfortable with that, then I will not do it. 
57	MS WALKER:  I agree with that. 
58	HIS HONOUR:  I will not make a 6AAA order if I do not have to.  I think you might infer however, Ms Holt, that had it not been for your plea of guilty, you would have gone to gaol. 
59	OFFENDER:  Fair enough.  Thank you, Your Honour. 
60	HIS HONOUR:  Thank you both for your help. 
61	MS WALKER:  As the court pleases. 
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