R v Craig Raymond Francis [2019] NSWDC 17

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Craig Raymond Francis [2019] NSWDC 17 Hearing dates: 4 February 2019 Decision date: 14 February 2019 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Mahony SC DCJ Decision: Full-time custodial sentence. For orders see [56] Catchwords: Conspiracy to commit armed robbery Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Cases Cited: R v Henry (1998) 46 NSWLR 346 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown) Craig Raymond Francis (Offender) Representation: Counsel: Mr R Hewson (Offender)

Solicitors: Ms L Burgoyne, Solicitor ODPP (Crown)

Mr R Day – Absolve Legal (Offender) File Number(s): 18/103451 Publication restriction: Nil

Remarks on Sentence 1. The offender pleaded guilty to an offence of conspiracy to commit a robbery while armed with a dangerous weapon, which occurred on 3 April 2018. The offence is a common law offence and the substantive offence is to be found in s.97(2) of Crimes Act 1900. The maximum penalty is therefore at large and there is no prescribed standard non- parole period. 2. The offender was arrested on 4 April 2018 together with three co-offenders, namely, Steven Craig Francis (the offender's son), Dale Donnelly and Dean Schumertl. The offender has been in custody since his arrest on 4 April 2018. 3. The offender was born in 1962 and is now 56 years of age.

The sentence hearing 1. The sentence hearing took place on 4 February 2019. The Crown Sentence Summary became Exhibit A. It included an Agreed Statement of Facts. That document comprised 16 pages and outlined much of the evidence the Crown relied on by way of recorded conversations between the offender, his co-offenders and an undercover police operative ("UCO"). 2. The Agreed Facts in respect of this offender may be summarised as follows. The offender had previously owned a company named Forster Palms Security which conducted cash-in-transit services collecting cash from various licenced premises in the Forster-Tuncurry area and conveying it to the bank. The company provided those services for many years up until 2013. In October 2013 the offender was arrested and charged with stealing $10,000 in cash from a club in Tuncurry, having collected it as part of his security business. 3. In March 2018 Police began monitoring movements and activities of the offender and his son Steven. On 18 March 2018 the co-offender Steven Francis met the UCO and he outlined to the UCO a planned robbery to take place on the first business day after the Easter public holiday by robbing a cash-in-transit vehicle at an RSL club in Forster. He told the UCO that he expected there would be $200,000 to $250,000 in cash, that there would be a guard on the vehicle but that the guard would not be armed. He told the UCO of his father's involvement in the cash-in-transit business previously. 4. Steven Francis told the UCO that the offender will probably want a cut of the proceeds and that he has told his father how much they can expect to gain from the robbery. Steven Francis outlined the plan for the armed robbery and the UCO showed him firearms located in the UCO's car. 5. On 28 March 2018 the UCO met Steven Francis and another co-offender, Dale Donnelly, in Forster when they discussed the details of the plan to commit the armed robbery. During that meeting, whilst the UCO was out of the room, Steven Francis described the offender as a silent partner and said his father was already the focus of police attention, having been questioned about a recent robbery at another club. 6. During the further lengthy conversation with the UCO and co-offender Donnelly about the detail of the planned robbery, Steven Francis informed them that the offender had suggested that a hoax call be placed to police shortly before the offence so that police resources were diverted away from Forster to Blackhead. Steven Francis said that his father had agreed to make the call. After that meeting the three men drove around Forster with Steven Francis showing the others the cash-in-transit route. They then drove to the RSL Club and through the carpark where Steven Francis informed the others about the location of CCTV cameras and indicated where staff parked their vehicles. The three men agreed to do a dry run the day before the robbery on 2 April 2018. The co-offender Donnelly agreed to purchase clothing and masks for all of them. 7. At 4.50 pm that afternoon, the UCO and Steven Francis met the offender near the Nabiac Hotel. The offender provided the two men with detailed information about cash-in-transit operations in the Forster area. He explained the system changed after he stopped doing it. He said that the Sports club now takes cash to the RSL so that the RSL has both Sports club and RSL Club money. He warned that the club may do an ATM drop on the Sunday, if they had too much cash over the long weekend. The offender said he was not going to be at the club for the robbery itself, but would take part by making the hoax phone call diverting police away from the scene. He told the men that he would call police and say that he has seen "a group of blokes with balaclavas on." 8. At the end of the meeting the UCO said that he would be back on Monday 2 April and they should all meet up to get everything sorted, to which the offender said "Yep, sounds good". The offender said to the other two men, "We'll go and have a look tomorrow, you know and um make sure they come out either at the back or down the front. If they come out the back it's perfect. They have more cameras at the front than the back." 9. On Saturday 31 March 2018 the co-offenders exchanged messages about the clothing and on 1 April 2018 Steven Francis and the UCO exchanged text messages confirming their meeting the next day. 10. On 2 April 2018 the three co-offenders met in Forster. Steven Francis indicated he had spoken with the offender who was ready to make the hoax call to the police. The two co-offenders and the UCO then conducted a dry run of the robbery, driving into the carpark at the RSL Club and discussing how the robbery was to unfold and the getaway route. Later that night, there was an SMS exchange between the offender and his son Steven confirming that the offender would make the hoax call at 9am and that he would meet Steven at Bulahdelah after the robbery. 11. The next day, Tuesday 3 April 2018 at 8.26am, Steven Francis phoned the offender and in a recorded conversation confirmed that the offender was to make the hoax phone call at 9am. The offender agreed to meet his son at the old service station at Bulahdelah after the robbery and agreed that after he had made the call, he would send a message namely "Yes". 12. The co-offender Steven Francis explained to the UCO that the offender would send him that text message once the hoax call had been placed. In a further conversation they agreed that the offender would take a percentage of the proceeds of the robbery, which Steven Francis suggested would be 20%. 13. At 9.04am the offender sent a text message to his son Steven which read "Yes". Steven then indicated the content of that text message to the UCO. Shortly thereafter, when the UCO left the motel room in which the men were preparing, police entered and Steven Francis was arrested together with another co-offender Dean Schumertl. 14. The offender was arrested on the same day at his home in Nabiac. He participated in an electronically recorded interview and agreed that he met with his son and a man at Nabiac and that the man told him about plans to hold-up the RSL Club. He said he suspected the man was a police officer from the beginning and just strung him along. He said he probably did agree to make the hoax phone call, but that he had been drinking. Police read back contents of the conversation he had with his son earlier that morning and the offender claimed he didn't really know what the conversation was about. 15. Exhibit A contained the criminal antecedents of the offender, which confirmed that on 26 February 2015 he had been sentenced at the Forster Local Court in respect of an offence of larceny of property value greater than $5,000 and less than $15,000. On 11 September 2015, on appeal to the District Court, he was sentenced on that charge by way of an Intensive Correction Order for a period of 9 months, commencing on 11 September 2015 and concluding on 10 June 2016. 16. Exhibit B was a Sentencing Assessment Report dated 25 January 2019 under the hand of Ms K Lisciotto. The report noted the offender had a long history of stable employment but that he had been unemployed for approximately five years following the loss of his business, because of the larceny charge in 2015. 17. Under the heading "Attitudes", the author stated that the offender gained insight into his offending behaviour and took full responsibility for it. He expressed his willingness to co-operate with any order imposed by the court, and described being motivated to live a conventional and prosocial life upon his release. 18. The offender reported an increase in alcohol consumption in the preceding 12 months leading up to the offence. Although he had not been offered any financial reward for his part in the offending, he was under the impression that he may have benefited financially from the offence. 19. The offender also stated that he had been diagnosed with depression after the loss of his employment in 2013. He expressed genuine remorse, stating "I'm glad it didn't go ahead" and acknowledged the potential harm to the community had that occurred. 20. The author noted that his prior response to supervision had been described as "exceptional" and he was commended on his reliability in relation to his community service work. 21. The offender was assessed as a medium risk of re-offending. A supervision plan was outlined and he was assessed as being suitable to undertake community service work.