R v Zabul [2001] NSWCCA 455

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : R v Zabul [2001] NSWCCA 455 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60290/00 HEARING DATE(S) : 17 October 2001 JUDGMENT DATE : 17 October 2001

PARTIES : Regina Adris Zabul JUDGMENT OF : Wood CJ at CL at 1; Grove J at 30

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : District Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 99/11/0394 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Maguire DCJ OFFICER :

COUNSEL : R.J. Button (Applicant) E.A. Wickins (Crown) SOLICITORS : D Giddy S E O'Connor CATCHWORDS : CRIMINAL LAW - appeals - appeal against sentence - robbery in company - parity - whether legitimate sense of grievance - submission not made good - doctrine of parity should not be applied so as to require imposition of an inadequate sentence - appeal dismissed. DECISION : Leave to appeal granted. Appeal dismissed

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

60290/00 WOOD CJ AT CL GROVE J

WEDNESDAY 17 OCTOBER 2001 REGINA V ADRIS ZABUL Judgment 1 WOOD CJ AT CL: The applicant seeks leave to appeal against the severity of the sentences imposed upon him by Maguire DCJ on 12 May 2001 following his pleas of guilty to four offences of robbery in company. One further offence of the same kind was taken into account on a Form 1 in relation to the first count on the indictment. 2 The sentencing order was framed in the following way: "A. Count 1 - imprisonment for a term of six years and six months to date from 9 March 1999 expiring on 8 September 2005 with a non-parole period of three years and three months. B. Counts 2, 3 and 4 - imprisonment in relation to each for a fixed term of three years and three months to date from 9 March 1999 and to expire on 8 June 2002." 3 His Honour specified that he had imposed fixed terms for counts 2, 3 and 4, having regard to the nature of the sentence imposed for count 1. All sentences were to be served concurrently. FACTS 4 His Honour expressly adopted the statement of facts which had been prepared in relation to the five offences, each of which involved a robbery in company of console operators working at service stations in the northern districts of Sydney. Since there is no suggestion that his Honour erred in relying upon this document when assessing the objective criminality of the applicant, I will simply adopt it as a sufficient statement of the circumstances in which the offences occurred. 5 That statement of facts discloses: "Robbery of Caltex Normanhurst on 9 March 1999. At approximately 4 am on 9 March 1999 Naser Ghaderi and Amir Vojdani entered the Caltex Service Station, Pennant Hills Road, Normanhurst. Once inside the service station area the prisoners selected a packet of chips from the display. They then approached the console area where one produced a silver bladed knife, at that time the blade had not been unfolded. The operator, Durga Gutta, fearing for his safety, was pushed to the floor behind the counter by the prisoners. Ghaderi demanded that the till be opened and Mr Gutta reached towards the till, releasing it. The prisoners then removed the money from the till.