Reference no: EM133466675
Assignment:
FACTS
Luchia Adams is 16 and a half and in year 10 at Riverdales High School, in an outer suburb of Melbourne. Luchia works at the local woodfire pizza shop and is saving to get a car. Her plan is, after completing year 10, to drive to Melbourne to try to get apprenticeships in restaurants as her dream is to work as a chef.
Luchia works part-time 3 days a week, often from 4pm until 9pm at night. She has saved $2,500 from her job so far and knows of a car dealership in town where she could purchase a cheap car. She struggles to hand in all of her schoolwork due to her part-time job, however, feels pressured to continue working due to her family situation.
Luchia lives at home with her single mother as well as her little brother who is in primary school. Luchia's Indigenous mother has had various issues with drugs and alcohol and at times Luchia needs to provide money to her mother in order to assist with paying bills and food. Her father left when she was little, and she no longer has any contact with him. Her mother sometimes forgets to take her brother to school, so sometimes Luchia drops him off in the morning and often makes him a packed lunch to take with her.
Luchia's boyfriend, Axel is older than her and at 19 works full-time in a clothing store. He likes to smoke marijuana occasionally after work and would often hang out with his mates while waiting for Luchia to finish her shift. He likes to walk home with her and they often chat about their plans once she finished year 10. Luchia's mother likes Axel and has no issue with her hanging out with him, however, Axel's parents do not like Luchia and so they avoid spending any time at his house preferring instead to hangout after work at her house, the local park or at their mutual friends' houses.
Axel also lives at home, however, unlike Luchia he is an only child and his parents are still together. His mother works as a teacher at the local school and his father as the manager of the clothing store that Axel works at. Axel finished year 12 and has been working for the past 8 months to save money to purchase a car. However, he spends quite a bit on drugs, which he takes occasionally during the week, but mostly on the weekend. He does not drink, however, does smoke marijuana and occasionally will have some ecstasy with friends who like to travel to Melbourne to go to the bigger nightclubs.
Luchia does not smoke cannabis often but had tried it a couple of times. She first tried it with Axel, but it makes her feel nauseous. Axel had been given a caution by police six months ago for finding a half-smoked joint on him during a routine inspection outside of the train station. The police had also given a caution to Axel's friend, Jamie, who was also with him at the time but who is well-known to police for other activities.
One night after work, Axel was waiting outside as usual to pick her up. He looked very upset. Luchia asked him what was wrong and he said that he needed to pay back $1,500 to a local dealer who he and his friends owed money to. Axel had bought a substantial amount of cannabis 'on tick' to both sell and smoke. However, he and his friends ended up smoking it all and now had no way of quickly coming up with the money.
The dealer was known for being violent with people who did not pay for cannabis and would often confiscate money or other property until the debt was paid or as part payment of the debt. Axel felt that there was high likelihood of him, or his family, getting hurt as he had no property or money to offer to offset some time to pay back the loan.
Luchia offered to give the money she had saved for her car to Axel after he assured her that he would pay her back. His plan was that he would sell some marijuana that he still had for personal use and use that money to pay her back. He also told her that he would be picking up extra shifts at work due to the COVID restrictions lifting and people wanting to shop more.
Luchia and Axel walked to the ATM where Luchia withdrew the money and gave it to Axel. Luchia did not know that Axel had 20 grams on him already. He told her that he would arrange to pay her back within the next month. Just as Luchia gave the money to Axel, his friends pulled up in a car that Luchia and Axel had not seen before. It looked to be an older sedan and was a little beaten up already.
"Get in quick!" the driver shouted, and without thinking further about the situation both Luchia and Axel jumped in the back of the car. Jamie, the driver, was Axel's friend and Luchia noticed his other friend Andrew, sitting in the front seat. As she got into the car a strong smell of alcohol and marijuana wafted out.
The car sped off down the street. Although Luchia was a bit scared - she knew Jamie did not own the car and had no license - she thought it would be fun to have some excitement given that she worked all of the time as well as attending school.
Axel asked them to take him to the dealer's house and patted his pocket where the cash was. Jamie pulled the car over, got out and Axel moved into the driver's seat and proceeded to speed off towards the dealer's house. He wanted to get there quickly so that the situation did not escalate further.
As they passed the street where she lived, Luchia saw a police car turn around the corner with its lights flashing and shouted out "Cops!" She realised at this point that she was sitting in a stolen car and that she'd likely get caught. She started to panic. Axel put his foot on the accelerator, lost control and mounted the curb hitting a parked car. Axel, knowing that he had both marijuana and money on him, opened the door to run, yelling at Luchia to follow him. Andrew also ran, but Jamie and Luchia remained in the car.
Luchia was in shock in the backseat and was detained by the police. She started crying and telling the police that she had only just hopped into the car and pleaded with them to take her back to her mothers' house. The police officer took her to the police station for questioning. Luchia's mother attended the questioning with her daughter, but at that point did not ask for a lawyer.
Axel was found and arrested at his home after police obtained information from Jamie about Axel's address. Axel was not very happy at being located and when the police came to the door Axel had tried to leave his house and was detained. In the process he had scratched one of the officers. After being searched when arrested, police found both the 20 grams and cash on his person and in looking around his room found an empty gram bag, a bong, some remnants of cannabis and small change.
Axel's parents asked the officers who else was involved as they suspected that Luchia and Axel's friends convinced him to participate. The officers declined to provide the details, though did say 'it was a young lady' and told his parents that they would be taking him to the local station to be processed.
Both Luchia and Axel were charged with vehicle theft and property damage. Axel was also charged with possession of cannabis, leaving the scene of an accident, and driving unaccompanied with a learner's license. His parents were furious with him and blamed everything on Luchia.
Question
- What court is most appropriate for Luchia and why?
- What court is most appropriate for Axel and why?
- What sentencing considerations are open to the court for each offender?