R v TREGONNING [2009] NSWDC 430

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v TREGONNING [2009] NSWDC 430

HEARING DATE(S): 21 August 2009 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 21 August 2009

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: Sentenced to imprisonment I set a non-parole period of two and a half years and set a head sentence of five years.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Aggravated break, enter and steal - Breach of parole - Mental illness

PARTIES: The Crown Kylie Katrina Tregonning

FILE NUMBER(S): DC 2009/11/0507

SOLICITORS: Director of Public Prosecutions

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Kyle Tregonning pleaded guilty in the Local Court to an offence of aggravated break, enter and steal. In order to reflect the utilitarian value of the plea, the sentence I will ultimately impose upon her is twenty-five per cent less than it would otherwise be.

2 Ms Tregonning has been in custody for a significant part of her life. Recently she was serving a sentence for break, enter and steal. The non-parole period expired in October 2007. Less than two months later she had breached her parole and was back in custody. She remained there until 12 February 2009 when she was again released to parole. A mere eleven days later she committed the offence which now brings her before the court.

3 She explains that she was in a halfway house, but when they discovered that she had purchased or used some marijuana she was told to leave, and was thus homeless. She has been a drug user for many years, using either heroin or amphetamines, depending on what was available.

4 She says that she met up with another drug user, who said that he could go and get either drugs or money from a friend of his. Ms Tregonning waited, but when the man had not come back for a while she made further inquiries and discovered that he had in fact broken into some premises. He told her to pick up as much stuff as she could. As the two of them were doing this, the owner of the apartment came home. He saw two strangers in his lounge room and gave chase. The offender's friend ran away, as did the offender herself. She was caught.