R v Timothy NEWTON [2009] NSWDC 230

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Timothy NEWTON [2009] NSWDC 230

JUDGMENT DATE: 8 May 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ

DECISION: For the offence of aggravated break and enter with intent to steal - non-parole period of 24 months and balance of term of 15 months. For the offence of take and drive a conveyance without consent - non-parole period of 18 months and balance of term of 6 months.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - aggravated break and enter with intent to steal - take and drive conveyance without consent - plea of guilty not long before trial - discount available for plea of guilty - psychological report - genuine desire for rehabilitation - prior criminal record - need for personal and general deterrence

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900 s 113(2), s 154(1)(b)

Harmouche v The Queen (2005) 158 A Crim R 357 CASES CITED: Thomson v The Queen (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 Dib v The Queen [2003] NSWCCA 117 Borkowski v The Queen [2009] NSWCCA 102

PARTIES: Regina Timothy Newton

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/117657

SOLICITORS: New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales

JUDGMENT

1. I am sentencing Timothy Adam Newton for two crimes committed by him on 8 March 2008. I have just determined an appeal by him from the severity of sentences imposed upon him by a magistrate partly for other crimes committed on the same day. The issues in this sentence which I need to address include the percentage of discount for his plea of guilty and the structuring of the sentences to the extent that they might run together.

2. The appeal which I have just determined concerned in part a fire set by Mr Newton on the night of 8 March 2008. After he had set that fire he got himself to a nearby suburb and broke into a house where a party was being held and then stole a car and drove away. That involved him being charged with aggravated break and enter with intent to steal, an offence against s 113(2) of the Crimes Act 1900 which carries a maximum of fourteen years imprisonment. It also resulted in a charge of taking and driving a conveyance without consent, which is a crime against s 154A(1)(b) of the Crimes Act and carries a maximum of five years imprisonment. It is for those two crimes that I am now sentencing Mr Newton.