R v Steven Paul HAINES [2009] NSWDC 418

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Steven Paul HAINES [2009] NSWDC 418

JUDGMENT DATE: 18 November 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence - plea of guilty at earliest opportunity - prior criminal record - offence committed while on bail - pre-sentence report - history of significant drug use - unsuitable for Community Service Order or Periodic Detention Order - keen to rehabilitate - psychological report - offence in lower range of objective seriousness - imprisonment necessary but suspended

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900 s 112 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 s 9, s 12

PARTIES: Regina Steven Paul Haines

FILE NUMBER(S): 2008/20482

SOLICITORS: Mr Lee for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) Ms Cotton for Mr Haines

JUDGMENT

SENTENCE

1. Steven Paul Haines has been convicted of a very serious offence. He pleaded guilty to the crime called aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence. That is a crime under s 112(2) of the Crimes Act 1900 which is the law in New South Wales. Parliament regards the crime as so serious that it has fixed a maximum sentence of twenty years imprisonment to that crime. Not only that but Parliament has provided that in certain circumstances the standard non-parole period for this crime should be prison for five years.

2. Mr Haines was charged with this offence and pleaded guilty at what is agreed was the earliest available opportunity. I convict him of the offence.

3. It is important in sentencing anyone that the judge sets out just what happened in the crime so that everyone can appreciate how serious the crime is.