Police v Rowe [2017] NZDC 453 (13 January 2017)

Last Updated: 17 March 2017

_{EDITORIAL NOTE: NO SUPPRESSION APPLIED}

IN THE DISTRICT COURT AT PALMERSTON NORTH

CRI-2016-054-002579 [2017] NZDC 453

NEW ZEALAND POLICE

Prosecutor

v

DYLLAN GLENN ROWE

_Defendant

Hearing:	13 January 2017
Appearances:	Sergeant K Outtrim for the Prosecutor R Bedford for the Defendant
Judgment:	13 January 2017

_{NOTES OF JUDGE S B EDWARDS ON SENTENCING}

[1] Dyllan Rowe, you appear for sentence on five burglaries, in effect, a spree of burglaries committed on 13 and 14 September 2016. There is also a charge of operating a vehicle causing sustainable loss of traction from 12 September.

[2] The summary of facts for the burglary charges states that on 13 September you were on a property in Rodeo Drive sometime during the day. You attempted to jemmy open two windows, then successfully opened a third and went inside. You set the alarm off, so you went to the garage and ripped the alarm box off the wall, disabling it. You searched the entire inside of what was clearly a residential address and took a quantity of property, including a television and stereo, leaving it at the front gate.

[3] The second burglary was on 14 September, between 5.00 and 7.00 am. It was a residential address in Fitzherbert Avenue. You used a screwdriver to jemmy open a

NEW ZEALAND POLICE v DYLLAN GLENN ROWE [2017] NZDC 453 [13 January 2017]

window and climb inside. The occupants were asleep upstairs. You took a handbag, containing credit and Eftpos cards, electronic items and car keys, before leaving.

[4] On the same day, between 2.00 pm and 2.25 pm, you were at a residential property in Racecourse Road. You jemmied a bathroom window down the side of the house open. You, again, activated an alarm at that house so went to the garage and pulled the alarm box from the wall. You searched the entire address and took a significant quantity of jewellery.

[5] Shortly after that you were at a nearby address in Aintree Crescent. You first went into an unlocked garden shed and got a pair of hedge clippers and used those to jemmy open a window into the garage. Once again, you deactivated the alarm by disconnecting the cables to the alarm box but the alarm had already gone off and the resident had contacted a neighbour who saw you inside the address. When you saw the neighbour you ran from the address.

[6] The last burglary was just before 4 o'clock. You entered the property by walking down the side of the Palmerston North Golf Course and coming into the backyard. Once again you deactivated the alarm, when it went off, by ripping the control box from the wall. You took a quantity of jewellery from this address as well.

[7] You were caught on 19 September. You were observed down the driveway of a rural address on Fitzherbert East Road and were stopped by police as you left. In the car you were in were tools used to commit burglaries, including screwdrivers, jemmy bars and cable cutters.

[8] You told police that you had crashed a gang member’s car earlier in the week and had committed the burglaries to repay the cost of the damage you caused.

[9] The sustained loss of traction charge is from 12 September. You were driving a Holden you had just purchased in Palmerston North when you accelerated heavily as you were turning a corner. This caused the rear wheels to lose traction and you to

lose control of the vehicle. You mounted and crossed a grass verge and concrete footpath before going through an iron fence.

[10] The burglary offences, committed over such a short period of time, place you in the category of a spree burglar, however, you are also a recidivist burglar.

[11] You do not have any previous convictions in this country but you have a significant history from Australia, where you were living until May last year, when the Australian authorities returned you to New Zealand.

[12] The pre-sentence report summarises your Australian conviction history as including 19 convictions for burglary, four for receiving, two for entering a dwelling with intent, and four for entering premises to commit an indictable offence.

[13] The factors which make these burglaries more serious are that they are all of residential premises. During at least one of them the occupants of the address were home and asleep upstairs. The potential for confrontation between burglars and home owners is a seriously aggravating feature. The summary also indicates that at at least two of the addresses a substantial quantity of jewellery was taken. These are likely to be items of considerable sentimental value to their owners. It is not clear whether any of that property has been recovered.

[14] I do not have any victim impact statements from the victims of your offending before me but from experience I imagine they would talk about the sense of invasion of their privacy, the fear, and feeling unsafe in their own homes after they were burgled. No doubt there is also the considerable inconvenience of having to make insurance claims and have the security measures they had already taken re- installed after you destroyed them.

[15] Based on the guidance that the Court of Appeal and the High Court have provided on starting points for a number of residential burglaries, I consider the lowest appropriate starting point available to me is two and a half years’ imprisonment.

[16] There must be some uplift to reflect the fact you are a recidivist burglar. In my view it should be a further six months’ imprisonment, taking the total to three years.

[17] While you initially entered not guilty pleas to these charges I accept your counsel’s submission that the negotiation process with the prosecution resulted in some charges being withdrawn, so your guilty pleas can still be considered to have been entered at a reasonably early opportunity. I am therefore going to allow you the full available discount of 25 percent for your guilty pleas.

[18] That results in an end sentence of 27 months, or two years and three months’ imprisonment. That is not a sentence where commuting it to home detention is an option available to me, as it is over the two year mark. It will be a matter for the Parole Board to consider your release and what conditions should apply. I must say Mr Rowe that, even if the end sentence had been under two years, I would not have been prepared to commute that to a sentence of home detention in any event. You committed these offences while subject to a Returning Offenders Order, made when you returned here in May of last year, and that, in my view, is a factor which works against you, in terms of your suitability to serve a sentence of imprisonment at home, in the community.

[19] There are some reparation orders that I am going to make. Given that I am imposing a lengthy sentence of imprisonment and your ability to pay is limited, I am only going to impose the payments sought by the victims to cover their direct losses. I am not going to make a reparation order in relation to the claim from the insurance company. They will, no doubt, take steps to pursue you civilly for that $3400 in any event. On CRN 3445 the reparation order is in the sum of $350. On CRN 3447, the amount is $400. You can make arrangements to pay those by instalments on your release.

[20] On the charge of driving with sustained loss of traction, you are convicted and disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence. That is for the period of six months but it will not commence until 1 July this year. By my calculations, the earliest date you will be eligible for parole and could be released will be in June

of this year. If you are not released then, you will be disqualified while you are still in custody but in the event you are released, you will be disqualified for six months, starting from 1 July 2017.

S B Edwards

District Court Judge