A St Albans teen, who was sentenced to four years’ prison for attempted armed robbery and recklessly causing injury, has had his sentence reduced on appeal.
Liah Pitone, 19, was sentenced in the County Court on April 29, 2016, after pleading guilty to attempting to rob a St Albans liquor store with a baseball bat and meat cleaver in September 2015.
In the attempted robbery, Mr Pitone struck a female employee on the heel with the bat and cut her right index finger with the cleaver, before fleeing empty handed.
Mr Pitone claimed the length of the sentence was manifestly excessive when considering his age, cognitive impairment, early guilty plea, remorse and prospects of rehabilitation.
Dr Nina Zimmerman, a consultant psychiatrist, noted in a submission to the initial trial that “a term of incarceration will increase the appellant’s risk of reoffending” and “limited cognitive facility also places him at risk of victimisation in the prison environment”.
Dr Zimmerman pointed out that Mr Pitone’s childhood “appears to have been characterised by witnessing domestic violence”.
She also put forward her view that Mr Pitone “suffers from a cognitive disorder, but requires expert neuropsychological testing”, and that “he also suffers from well-established substance misuse disorders”.
In granting the appeal, Justices Phillip Priest and Joseph Santamaria acknowledged the seriousness of the crimes, but agreed a reduction in the sentence was warranted.
“I have come to the view that the sentence imposed is beyond that available in the sound exercise of discretion,” justices Priest and Santamaria said. “Although such a conclusion does not depend upon the attribution of specific error, I think it likely that the appellant’s youth and cognitive impairment must not have been given sufficient weight.
“It is generally accepted that an offender’s youthfulness is a proper reason for extending leniency.”
While justices Priest and Santamaria said Mr Pitone’s prospects of rehabilitation were only “fair”, his sentence was reduced to three years, with a non parole period of 18 months.
