STATE OF TASMANIA v TARRAN WOODS 17 APRIL 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Woods, you have pleaded guilty to the crimes of aggravated burglary aggravated robbery, and stealing firearms and other property.
These crimes were committed on 2 April 2020, during the course of a home invasion perpetrated by you and another man. In the early hours of the morning, you and the co-offender drove to the complainant’s house, which is located in a remote rural location. The complainant lives there alone, and you must have anticipated that, at that time, he would be asleep. You were both wearing balaclavas, which were pulled down over your faces, and at least one of you was armed with a knife. You both entered the house, and then went directly to the main bedroom where the complainant was sleeping. One of you woke him by punching him to the face and yelling “I’m going to fucking kill you, where are your guns”. That man then pulled the complainant out of bed, held onto him with one hand and pushed a knife into his arm with the other, causing a significant wound. The man repeated the demand for the location of the firearms, and again threatened to kill the complainant. Given that he had already wounded the complainant with the knife, this clearly was not an empty threat. I infer that the complainant did not respond, because the man for a second time, pulled him from the bed and pushed the knife into his other arm. The other man watched all of this happening. After this, the complainant led you both to the gun safe and gave you the keys. He escaped by running from the house while you were entering the gun safe. He ran from the house towards a neighbouring property, but returned to his house when he saw your vehicle driving away. You took two firearms, a considerable amount of ammunition and a mobile telephone, with you when you left the property.
The only available inference is that this was a planned and targeted break-in of an occupied home in a remote rural location, and that your objective was to steal the firearms. During the sentencing hearing, the question arose as to the role that you played in the commission of these crimes. Prior to the hearing, the identity of the other offender had not been ascertained by police, and obviously not revealed by you. Your counsel claimed in his plea in mitigation that you had no recollection of the crime, but then, in direct contradiction, positively asserted that you were not the man who actually perpetrated the violence. When I made it clear that I would not accept such an assertion without evidence to support it, you instructed your counsel to identify your co-offender. On this basis, the prosecution accepted that it was the other man who actually perpetrated the violence. However, the prosecutor submitted that there is no basis for any significant distinction between the moral culpability of each of you. I have no difficulty accepting this submission. The prosecution asserts criminal liability of each of you on the basis of common purpose to commit the burglary, with the aggravated robbery being a probable consequence of that crime. As I have already noted, it is obvious from the immediate targeting and torture of the complainant, and the fact that you came prepared with masks to disguise your identity, that you both knew that the house was occupied when you broke into it. It is also obvious that the plan was to force the complainant to provide you with access to the firearms. It is not clear, and I will not assume that you knew that the other man was armed with the knife, it is obvious to me that you both anticipated that violence in some form would be used to force the home’s occupant to cooperate with you. When the other man used the knife to wound and torture the complainant into giving up the location of the firearms, you stood by calmly and did nothing to interfere with his violence. While you did not actually inflict the injuries, what happened was perpetrated in the prosecution of the common purpose, and I agree with the prosecution that there is little to distinguish between your respective culpability.
After you left the property, the complainant drove himself to his father’s residence to seek assistance. He was treated in hospital for his injuries. These included a small cut to his nose, bruising to his face and the two open wounds, one on each arm. The wound on the left arm was so deep that a completely severed tendon was visible at the base of the cut. The complainant required surgery to repair the tendon and otherwise treat the injury.
I have received an impact statement from him. I will not repeat the detail of it, but he describes the understandable terror he experienced during this ordeal. Running barefoot through the farmland to escape was painful, and aggravated symptoms of asthma. He continues to experience ongoing physical symptoms as a result of the wounds. He also continues to experience considerable emotional and psychological impact. This impact has had significant consequences for various aspects of his life, including social interaction and his employment. He has also found the delay in resolving this matter difficult.
You were 38 years of age at the time of commission of these crimes and you are now 41. You suffered serious and sustained abuse during your childhood and, according to a psychologist who has provided a report, you display symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. I have no doubt that the abuse and neglect you suffered during your childhood has significantly influenced, if not determined, the path that your adult life has taken. Your criminal history reveals that you have been offending on a sustained and serious basis since you were 17 years of age. The offending is consistent and includes a wide variety of offences, but those of most relevance are numerous convictions for burglary and aggravated burglary. You were imprisoned for a serious assault when you were 20 years of age, but your record does not otherwise reflect a propensity for direct violence. You have also had a significant drug problem for most of your adult life and I infer that you continually resort to burglary and stealing in order to obtain funds to support your drug addiction. In 2018, you were sentenced to a drug treatment order. However, it seems that this order was cancelled approximately seven months later. On 2 May 2019, you were resentenced for the offences which underpinned the drug treatment order, as well as for some other offences. You committed this crime about six months after your release from prison on that occasion. You had, in fact, been charged with committing another burglary shortly after your release from prison and you were on bail in respect of those crimes when you committed the crimes with which I am dealing. You have now been imprisoned since your arrest on 23 January 2023 in respect of other more recent offences. I am told that on 5 April 2023, an accumulated sentence of 8 months imprisonment was imposed on you by the Magistrates Court in respect of those charges.
Your counsel claims that since you committed these crimes you have made a concerted effort to deal with your drug problem and put your life on a positive basis. However, it is clear from the psychologist’s report that prior to your arrest in January, you had relapsed into the use of methamphetamine. Further, although I do not know the precise details of the further offending, it would seem to be inconsistent with successful and sustained rehabilitation. I acknowledge the personal difficulties you experienced last year including the breakdown of your relationship, the fact that your contact with your young child has been limited, largely by the intervention of child protection authorities, and your mother’s serious illness. However, you have now reached the stage in your life where there is simply no tolerance for criminal conduct. You have in the past, received the benefit of many sentencing orders designed to encourage and support your rehabilitation, but this did not deter you from committing this serious crime. Further, I see little evidence of remorse or insight into the seriousness of this offending. Your plea of guilty was indicated at a relatively late stage. You have not told police what became of the firearms and you did not identify your co-offender until the exchange that occurred during the sentencing proceedings. The plea has some utility, it will avoid a trial. However, it is not in my view, indicative of remorse. Having regard to all of this, there is clearly a need in this sentence to address personal deterrence.
Further, I regard the objective seriousness of this criminal conduct as very high. This complainant was vulnerable because he lived alone in a secluded location. You broke into his home in the middle of the night while he was asleep and subjected him to what clearly amounts to cruel and violent torture in order to extract the information that you wanted. This violence resulted in the deliberate infliction of serious wounds by the cold-blooded penetration of his body with the knife on two separate occasions. Further, you stole firearms and a significant quantity of ammunition, none of which has been recovered by police. The only possible inference is that these firearms more likely than not are now in the hands of those who would use them for criminal purposes. It is clear that general deterrence and denunciation of your conduct are the primary sentencing considerations. The only possible sentence is a significant term of imprisonment. In fixing the head sentence, I will have regard to the principles of totality, given the sentence that you are now facing as a result of the decision of the Magistrates Court. Having regard to your plea of guilty and your expressed desire to pursue rehabilitation while in custody, I will provide the opportunity for early release on parole. However, the non-parole period will reflect what I consider to be the minimum time that you should spend in custody having regard to the serious nature of these crimes and the need to emphasise both general and personal deterrence.
The orders I make are as follows:
- You are convicted of the crimes to which you have pleaded guilty;
- You are sentenced to a global term of imprisonment of five years, which will be served cumulatively upon the last of the sentences imposed on you by the Magistrates Court on 5 April 2023. You are not eligible for parole until you have served three years of that sentence
- I make a compensation order in favour of Euan Brody in the sum to be assessed. I adjourn that assessment sine die.