STATE OF TASMANIA v JYE PETER CORDWELL 13 MARCH 2025
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CUTHBERTSON J
Jye Peter Cordwell, you have pleaded guilty to pervert justice. On 30 June 2024, you were arrested at the Eastlands Shopping Centre. The police asked for your name during the arrest and you initially mumbled “Jye Cordwell”. You then told the arresting officers that your name was Josh Cordwell. He is your cousin. You continued to tell police that your name was Joshua Cordwell and gave them your cousin’s date of birth while you were being processed at the police station. You were granted police bail that evening under your cousin’s name. You signed the bail document as ‘Josh’. Later that evening, you were arrested on other matters. During the course of that arrest, police found the bail notice you had signed earlier in the evening. You were taken to the police station and interviewed by police the next morning where you told them you had initially given your real name during the arrest, but then the arresting officers did not listen so you “just went along with it“. You said you gave a false name because you had a warrant out for your arrest and you did not want to get arrested that day. You explained you could not handle remand, were stressing out and had heaps of stuff going on.
You were charged, processed and detained for Court that evening. You were initially remanded in custody on this charge until you were released on bail on 5 August 2024. Due to your suspension on bail on a number of other occasions, you were remanded in custody for a further eight days on this matter. This amounts to a total amount time spent in custody on this complaint of 45 days. I understand that you were remanded on other charges as well during this period. In addition, you have spent a further 31 days in custody on unrelated matters. None of the period of time in custody has been taken into account in the course of sentencing you for other matters. I am told you found this time in custody very difficult. It was your first experience of adult prison.
At the time of committing this offence you had no prior convictions but had been sentenced on matters in the Youth Justice Division of the Magistrates Court. You were 18 at the time of committing this offence. You are now 19 years old. You are single and have no dependents. You are not currently working although you have previously had some fruit picking work. You pleaded guilty at an early stage in the Hobart Magistrates Court. This offence occurred during a period where your life was very unstable. Your parents separated when you were young. You were mostly raised by you father and paternal grandmother and did not have much involvement with your mother and other siblings. Your father moved to Western Australia a few years ago. You stayed in Tasmania and lived with your grandmother and your great uncle. I am told you and your great-uncle have not always gotten on. You have had arguments and you have been made to live in a shed without electricity from time to time when you fell out. You found it difficult to be at home during such periods. In addition, you reconnected with your mother in 2023 when she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Sadly, she passed away last year. I accept that all of this has been very difficult for you.
Your counsel tells me you cannot read or write and may have some learning problems. Your father has now returned from Western Australia to assist caring for you and provide you some support. You have no income of your own. You do not receive a Centrelink benefit because you have not had any form of identification which you need to make the application. It appears you have not had support to assist you to do that. Therapeutic Services at the prison helped you to apply for identification documents, so it is hoped you will soon have access to benefits.
You have recently been sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court for offending that occurred prior to and after you committed this offence. The sentence imposed in that matter was a Community Correction Order that you perform community service for 60 hours. I am told that you are reporting as required but are at the early stages of engagement with Community Corrections. Community Corrections have assessed you as requiring a high level of intervention and are planning to refer you to services to address your health issues, provide you with some financial counselling assistance and counselling for substance abuse.
The crime of perverting justice is always regarded as serious because of its tendency to undermine the justice system. You lied to police about your name for the purpose of avoiding arrest or the execution of warrants. Fortunately, in this case your lies did not result in anyone else being charged and it was discovered and resolved quite quickly. People who commit this crime are often sentenced to imprisonment, not only to punish them but to send a clear message to others who might be tempted to do what you did that prison is a likely outcome. Prison sentences are sometimes imposed even in a case such as yours where the attempt to undermine justice was ultimately unsuccessful.
I take into account you initially told police your correct name, and that your lies ultimately did not have the effect of undermining justice. I accept that your lie was not particularly sophisticated and was quickly discovered. Your counsel tells me that you did not think police would believe you when you gave a false name because you have had so much contact with them in the past. You should not, however, have persisted with the lie once it became apparent that they did believe you. I am told you did not appreciate the seriousness of your conduct. I am quite sure you do now after spending some time in custody. I also take into account your early plea of guilty and your young age at the time of the offending. Your counsel urged me to consider convicting you and not imposing any further order given you are already the subject of a community corrections order and are required to complete a significant number of community service hours. I do not think such a sentence sufficiently reflects the seriousness of your conduct. It is clear you were motivated to avoid having warrants executed and to avoid being remanded in custody which is a blatant case of perverting the course of justice. I do not, however, consider it necessary to impose a period of imprisonment that is required to be served immediately.
Jye Peter Cordwell, you are convicted of perverting justice. You are sentenced to one month imprisonment wholly suspended for 12 months from today. It is a condition of that order that while it is in force you do not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment. You must understand that can be any offence so things like shop lifting, breach of bail, those are all offences punishable by imprisonment. If you commit an offence like that, then the court must order that you serve the term of one month imprisonment as well as any additional sentence unless that is unjust.