EDITORIAL NOTE: NO SUPPRESSION APPLIED.
IN THE DISTRICT COURT
AT PALMERSTON NORTH
CRI-2016-087-001636
[2016] NZDC 25142
NEW ZEALAND POLICE
Prosecutor
v
PARIS GLYNN LLOYD
Defendant
Hearing:
6 December 2016
Appearances:
Sergeant M Lochrie for the Prosecutor
P Walker for the Defendant
Judgment:
6 December 2016
NOTES OF JUDGE D G SMITH ON SENTENCING
[1]
Mr Lloyd, you are appearing for sentence on 11 charges and I am going to
deal with the facts of each of them in turn.
[2]
The first is that on 2 September this year, being a person sentenced to
60 hours’ community work in August this year you failed, without reasonable
excuse, to report to your probation officer as required. This was after you had signed
a form, namely the induction confirmation document, confirming that you
understood what was required of you.
[3]
You have been visited at home and sanctioned; however, you continue to fail
to report as directed. At the time the information was laid you had completed no
hours of the community work. There was still 60 hours outstanding.
NEW ZEALAND POLICE v PARIS GLYNN LLOYD [2016] NZDC 25142 [6 December 2016]
[4]
You have pleaded guilty to a charge of shoplifting on 24 September,
namely $191.97 worth of property from The Warehouse in Dannevirke. You went to
The Warehouse; you hid the goods on your person and exited without paying. Only
some of the goods were recovered. There is still $59 worth of goods outstanding.
[5]
Then on 26 or 27 September, you took without any right to do so, but not so
as to be guilty of theft, a Nissan Primera valued at $2000. That is a charge which
carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
[6]
Then on 18 October you took another vehicle, a Daewoo valued at $2000,
again, a charge carrying seven years.
[7]
On 20 October you stole a portable DVD player valued at $60 from The
Warehouse in Whakatane and on the same date, you stole meat valued at $61.33
from New World in Whakatane.
[8]
Those goods were fully recovered. Your explanation for the thefts was that
firstly you wanted to use the first theft for a gift for your son and the second you said
you needed the meat for the evening meal.
[9]
Then there is a charge for 10 October, having been released on police bail on
24 September, you failed to turn up at Court when required, that is a charge carrying
three months. On 23 October you stole alcoholic beverages valued at $105 from the
Plains Hotel. While you waited in the vehicle, your associate went in, with your full
knowledge of what was intended, took the goods and left without paying. You have
been charged as a person that was a party to that theft.
[10]
On 26 October this year, having been released on Court bail you failed to turn
up at Court when required, a charge carrying one year’s maximum sentence. On 28
October you took another car, a Nissan worth $8000 and that again carries seven
years’ imprisonment.
[11]
You used the key taken to drive that car to Dannevirke. You said you took
the car to go and visit your children but you also stated you needed assistance to deal
with your methamphetamine habit that you are struggling with.
[12]
The last charge, the one to which you have just pleaded guilty today is
another one carrying three months’ imprisonment, is that being a prisoner you had in
your possession an unauthorised cellphone. Your explanation for that was that a
gang member had given it to you and you did not wish to argue with him.
[13]
The pre-sentence report does not make particularly happy reading. It says
you have established a pattern of resorting to dishonesty in order to address your
basic needs and you demonstrate a lack of responsibility for your actions and
ongoing issues with non-compliance.
[14]
You have previously been sentenced to reparation, community work,
home detention and imprisonment. When you got home detention in 2014 it was
following four breaches of that sentence and had to be cancelled. That resulted in
you serving a sentence of imprisonment.
[15]
The report makes it clear that you show no remorse, and I will come to your
letters in a moment, and you blame drug use and others for your actions. I note that
there is an address available with your grandparents for home detention.
[16]
But the report says you do not exhibit any motivation to change while in the
community and coupled with your lack of accountability, issues with drugs, lack of
remorse, a sentence of imprisonment is recommended.
[17]
As a punitive measure, it may assist you in grasping the seriousness of your
offending and reinforce the importance of complying with community-based
sentences.
[18]
You said that at the time of your offending your ex-partner had taken off with
the kids and you did not consider the consequences of your actions. That, and the
other statement you made seem to me to support the report writer’s statement of you
blaming others for your actions.
It may well be that you had been under the
influence of methamphetamine at the time.
[19]
The most serious charges you are facing are the conversion charges for the
motor vehicles which each carry a seven years maximum sentence. For the third
conversion I am taking a starting point of one year. That takes into account your
previous history of dishonesty, but I note that there have been no conversion charges
in your previous offending.
[20]
For the other two vehicles which you took, I increase that one year by another
year to two years.
[21]
For the two shoplifting and the theft from the hotel charges, I am adding
four months, three shoplifting and one theft so that is four months added for those,
one month for each.
[22]
For the breach of community work I add a month.
[23]
For the breach of the police bail another month.
[24]
For the breach of the Court bail, three months and for the unauthorised
phone,
one
month,
which
brings
me
to
a
total
of
two
years
and
10 months’ imprisonment.
[25]
I am required under the Sentencing Act 2002 to take into account totality and
to ensure that the total sentence imposed is not out of proportion to the total
offending which has occurred. I am therefore reducing that two years and 10 months
to two years and six months.
[26]
I then come to the question of remorse. You have provided letters to me
saying that you fell off the track and found yourself back on drugs and that this was
all due to the concerns you had with your relationship and you wished to see your
kids.
[27]
In relation to the cellphone, you say you did what you were told to avoid a
confrontation or hassle. You say that you are determined to make this work for your
son and that your grandparents will keep you on a tight leash.
[28]
The difficulty that I have, Mr Lloyd, is that you have already had
home detention sentences and you breached them. I have some difficulty accepting
the sincerity of your remorse which has been just received today. I rely upon the
probation report which says that you have got no remorse for offending and that you
blame others. I am not making any deduction for remorse.
[29]
The guilty pleas which have been entered in these matters, your counsel has
argued that you should be granted the full 25 percent discount. I am struggling to
see why that should be since you failed to turn up when you were first supposed to
be in Court, that warrants had to be issued for your arrest and that the pleas were
entered much later than would have been the case, for example, the charge which
was laid on 21 October, you were not in Court until 3 November. You were
supposed to be in Court on 21 October.
[30]
So I am struggling, given that you had avoided appearing in Court and
avoiding arrest to see why you should be given a full 25 percent discount.
Ms Walker may wish to address me on that further at this point.
[Discussion with counsel]
[31]
The question then is as to how much discount I should give you for your
guilty pleas. I am prepared to give you a six month deduction for your guilty pleas
which brings you down to a total sentence of two years.
[32]
Now, that figure is the triggering point to consider whether a home detention
sentence should be imposed. The recommendation in the report is that a prison
sentence is the appropriate course of action, and I have, as I have noted, seen that
you were unable to carry out your home detention sentence previously and that
resulted in you being re-sentenced.
[33]
Amongst other things, I am of the view that your actions in the swathe of
offences that you have committed, requires condemnation and not only should you
be deterred from behaving in this way, but others also. I am of the view that
two years’ imprisonment in total is the appropriate sentence.
[34]
I need to give you individual separate sentences. On the conversion charge
for 26/27 September, you are sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment.
[35]
On the conversion charge for 18 October, the car was not found. You are
sentenced to eight months.
[36]
On the conversion charge for 28 October you are sentenced to one year.
[37]
The two eight months are concurrent but cumulative so that is one year and
eight months.
[38]
To the breach of community work on 2 September, one month cumulative.
[39]
To the shoplifting from The Warehouse on 24 September, one month
cumulative, and you are to pay reparation of $59.
[40]
For the shoplifting at The Warehouse on 20 October you are sentenced to
one month that is concurrent.
[41]
For the shoplifting at New World on 20 October, to one month.
[42]
For the breach of police bail on 10 October to one month cumulative.
[43]
For the theft from the Planes Hotel one month and reparation of $105.
[44]
For the breach of Court bail to two months’ imprisonment and for possession
of the cellphone, one month imprisonment, cumulative.
[45]
I believe that adds up to two years.
[46]
For the conversion on 26/27 September, reparation $2310 is ordered.
D G Smith
District Court Judge