R v Quinn [2002] NSWCCA 508

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : R v Quinn [2002] NSWCCA 508 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60299/02 HEARING DATE(S) : 13 December 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 19 December 2002

PARTIES : Regina Allan John Quinn JUDGMENT OF : Sperling J at 1; Buddin J at 21

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : District Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 01/21/0326 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Gibson DCJ OFFICER :

COUNSEL : Mr W Dawe QC for the Crown Mr J Stratton for the Applicant SOLICITORS : S E O'Connor for the Director of Public Prosecutions D J Humphreys for the Applicant CATCHWORDS : Criminal Law - sentencing - no question of principle LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes Act 1900, s112, s117, s178BA, s300 CASES CITED: Hammoud (2000) 118 A Crim R 66 Pearce (1998) 194 CLR 610 DECISION : (1) Application for leave to appeal on severity of sentence granted; (2) Appeal allowed; (3) Set aside the sentence imposed for the offence under Count 7; (4) Resentence the applicant for the offence under Count 7 as follows: The applicant is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of three years commencing on 1 July 2002 with a non-parole period of one year expiring on 30 June 2003, on which date the applicant is to be released from custody.

- 6 -IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL 60299/02

Sperling J Buddin J

Thursday, 19 December 2002 R v Allan John Quinn Judgment 1 Sperling J: The applicant was born on 13 January 1952. He is now 50 years of age. He has a very extensive criminal record dating back to childhood, with numerous convictions for property offences, including break, enter and steal and armed robbery, and for crimes of dishonesty such as obtaining money by false pretences. 2 In the present matter, the applicant pleaded guilty to seven counts of obtaining money by deception contrary to s178BA(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 (maximum penalty five years imprisonment), five counts of making a false instrument contrary to s300(1) (maximum penalty ten years imprisonment), five counts of using a false instrument contrary to s300(2) (maximum penalty ten years imprisonment), two counts of larceny contrary to s117 (maximum penalty five years imprisonment) and six counts of break enter and steal contrary to s112(1) (maximum penalty 14 years imprisonment). 3 In addition, the following matters were taken into account on Form 1: 55 counts of obtaining money by deception, one count of attempting to obtain money by deception, one count of stealing from the person, two counts of stealing, 32 counts of making a false instrument, 30 counts of using a false instrument and four counts of break enter and steal. 4 The offences were committed between 10 April 1997 and 9 February 1999. The total amount involved in the offences was in excess of $300,000. 5 The applicant had been sentenced in Queensland on 17 November 2000 on 24 counts of a similar nature. The amount involved there was approximately $100,000. The applicant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of four years on certain of the counts, and a term of two years' imprisonment, cumulative, but with a non-parole period of two years over-all. The effective sentence was six years commencing on 1 July 1999, with a non-parole period of two years. 6 The applicant's modus operandi appears to have been much the same in relation to the offences committed in both Queensland and this state. It was described as follows in Gibson DCJ's remarks on sentence here: [T] he Prisoner entered the homes of elderly people by posing as a bank official or breaking in, and persuaded them to give him details of their banking and stole cheque books or bank deposit books or ATM cards after tricking them into giving a copy of their signature. He would then go to their bank or machine and withdraw their money. It was a cruel and heartless trick carried out on exceedingly vulnerable elderly citizens and was consistent with his conduct over a large number of years.