R v TM [2009] NSWDC 111

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v TM [2009] NSWDC 111

JUDGMENT DATE: 4 April 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ

DECISION: Sentence of imprisonment. Non-parole period of 2 years and balance of term of 2 and 1/2 years.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - juvenile - plea of guilty - armed robbery with a dangerous weapon - whether to deal with according to law - impact on victims of crime - prior criminal record - crime committed in company - planned - applicability of 'Henry' guideline - Juvenile Justice Report - letter of apology to victims

Crimes Act 1900 s 92(2) LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 s 21A(2)(g) Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 s 18

CASES CITED: R v Henry (1999) 46 NSWLR 346

PARTIES: Regina TM

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/1241

COUNSEL: Mr Singh (def)

SOLICITORS: New South Wales Director of Public Prosecution

JUDGMENT

1 I am going to refer to you as TM because you are a juvenile and the law says that your name is not to be published outside this court. So if my sentence is published it will not identify you except by initials.

2 I am sentencing a young man for a very serious crime. TM is now eighteen but just before Christmas 2008 when he was still seventeen he participated in an armed robbery of a bottle shop at Cherrybrook. It was not an ordinary armed robbery, it was an armed robbery by three young men including TM. In addition, one of the young men was armed with a machete and another young man was armed with a pistol. Hence the kind of armed robbery which TM participated in is called armed robbery with a dangerous weapon under the Crimes Act of New South Wales 1900. Section 92(2) of that Act says that a crime of armed robbery with a dangerous weapon carries a maximum of twenty five years imprisonment. Twenty-five years imprisonment is the longest sentence which the Crimes Act provides for apart from life imprisonment. This crime, in other words, is in the same category as crimes such as manslaughter and sexual intercourse with a child under ten. It is a very serious offence.