This is a case study involving a plea that relates to a breach of Community Correction Order due to health reasons. A Community Correction Order is one step below a term of imprisonment and balances the need to rehabilitate and punish the offender. Several conditions can be attached to an order to balance these competing obligations.
What is alleged to have occurred?
Our client was charged with breaching their Community Correction Order by not complying with the conditions and further offending. The conditions of the order included 300 hours of unpaid community work, supervision, mental health treatment and rehabilitation and programs to reduce reoffending.
The original charge related to creating a false document which amounted to our client receiving a substantial amount of money. The client was not charged with financial crimes.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, while a breach of a Community Correction Order carries a maximum penalty of 3 months imprisonment.
As our client’s original Community Correction Order had expired, they were facing a term of imprisonment on both the breach charge and the original offending. As a result of our client’s involved personal circumstances and significant decline in their physical health, they wanted to avoid a further Community Correction Order being imposed.
What happened at court?
The Magistrate was extremely concerned that our client had failed to engage with the order at all and was considering resentencing our client to a term of imprisonment. Their Honour was also concerned that our client had reoffended during the Community Correction Order and was sentenced to a total sentence of 6 months imprisonment. Three months of that sentence related to a breach on a separate Community Correction Order and the original offending.
Our client had several significant health diagnoses that had left them unable to complete the unpaid community work (i.e. the breach of Community Correction Order was due to health reasons). At the time of the offending, our client cared for their ill parents, who passed away within a year of each other, and their life at the time was relatively unstable.
They now cared for their seven children, was assisting their older child with building their business and was productively working towards rebuilding their life after their release from custody.
At Court, we outlined that:
- Our client’s involved personal circumstances, namely that they had seven children to care for and that their return to custody would be detrimental not only to our client, but their family’s ability to support themselves,
- Their poor physical health,
- That there had been significant delays in having these matters heard, of which were not attributable to our client,
- That our client had not reoffended since the order was made and therefore was successfully rehabilitated,
- That the order had effectively served its purpose, given that they
- That our client had previously served a term of imprisonment for the same offending relating to this breach and therefore, this matter should have been dealt with some years ago.
We also highlighted that a further Community Correction Order would not only be extremely difficult to complete due to our client’s poor physical health, but that it would also amount to further punishment than originally intended.
What was the result?
Our client received a $1,000 fine with conviction for the breach of the Community Correction Order and no further order was made on the original offending.
DISCLAIMER: This is a real case study of an actual case from our files. Details pertaining to the client have been changed to protect their privacy. The sentence imposed and the charge have not been altered. These case studies are published to demonstrate real outcomes and give an indication of possible tariffs in Court. We do not guarantee a similar case on these charges will get the same result. Please note that we post results at our discretion, therefore while many case studies are average results, others are notable for their exceptional outcomes. PUBLISHED 01/11/2024
