SENTENCING | The 25-year-old man who followed a Ballarat family from a Melbourne shopping centre to their Alfredton home, then pulled a gun and stole their car, has been jailed.
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Judge Mark Taft on Monday jailed Steven Mouldon for seven years and nine months.
"Your conduct was terrifying," judge Taft told Mouldon during his sentencing hearing at the Melbourne County Court.
"Your conduct represents a serious example of an armed robbery."
When determining a sentence, Judge Taft said he could not accept Mouldon's future prospects of rehabilitation were good.
On the armed robbery charge Mouldon was jailed for five years and nine months.
He was also jailed for four months for attempted theft, two years for burglary (six months to be served cumulatively), two years for the theft (six months to be served cumulatively), two years for being a prohibited person who possessed firearms (six months of which will be served cumulatively), 15 months jail for possessing an unregistered handgun (three months to be served cumulatively), and nine months' jail for trafficking a drug of dependence (three months to be served cumulatively).
He was also jailed for three months on the summary charge of dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
The total sentence was seven years, nine months.
Mouldon will be eligible for parole in five years, nine months.
He has already served 437 days.
If not for the plea of guilty, Judge Taft said he would have jailed Mouldon for 10 years.
UPDATE | The 24-year-old man accused of using a shotgun during an armed robbery on an unsuspecting Alfredton man will likely be sentenced in April.
Steven Mouldon, who faces up to 25 years' imprisonment, has been remanded into custody while a psychiatrist report is completed.
The report is expected to assist County Court judge Mark Taft determine the most appropriate sentencing when the matter returns to court on April 11.
Mouldon’s lawyer, Charlotte Duckett, made a number of sentencing submissions during the second day of his plea hearing on Tuesday.
She said while ultimately it would be obvious all sentences could not run concurrently, the offending did not warrant the most significant term of imprisonment.
Ms Duckett said her client’s offending was not the most serious example of a sophisticated armed robbery attempt, such as that on an armored truck or bank.
But Judge Taft said a number of the specifics of the robbery, particularly the gun being brandished in front of a 13-year-old girl, meant it could only be regarded as a serious example.
Ms Duckett told the judge she did not want him to be under the impression the young girl was next to her father during the robbery, but partially behind a car in the garage.
The remainder of the plea hearing will be heard in Melbourne in April.
Judge Taft indicated Mouldon faced a substantial period of time behind bars, with the discrete offences warranting some level of accumulation when sentencing.
DAY ONE OF THE HEARING | A 24-year-old man who held a shotgun to the chest of a Ballarat father of one and demanded the keys to his $63,000 luxury car faces up to 25 years behind bars.
On Monday the County Court heard Steven Mouldon - who pleaded guilty to armed robbery, attempted theft, theft, possess a firearm, burglary, trafficking a drug of dependence and possess an unregistered handgun - was the man holding the shotgun.
He also faces one summary offence of dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime.
A Crown prosecutor said the victim, his wife and 13-year-old daughter had pulled into their Cuthberts Road address on December 27, 2015, and were unpacking their shopping when the accused and an unknown male confronted them.
Mouldon, who had followed the victim from a shopping centre in Melbourne with the unknown co-accused, had his face covered as he held the double barrel shotgun to the victim’s chest and said: “Give me your keys or I’ll shoot you”.
The court heard Mouldon then told the victim not to call the police or he would come and get his daughter.
Mouldon, who is prohibited from possessing any firearms, was arrested on February 12 last year in possession of the luxury car and seven stolen firearms.
A search of Mouldon’s Lang Lang address on the same day also found 12g of methamphetamine (a traffickable amount), a handgun and $5500 cash suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Mouldon’s barrister, Charlotte Duckett, told the court there was no doubt her client used ice on the day of the armed robbery.
But she said while Mouldon did use drugs in times of stress, he had worked and contributed to the community for a number of years.
As for the guns, she said Mouldon carried a handgun for “business related” reasons and planned to sell the seven stolen guns.
She added Mouldon had been released from prison two months before, but struggled to readjust and instead went back to a criminal lifestyle where his offending subsequently escalated in violence.
Judge Mark Taft said he was at a loss to what it was that made Mouldon offend so seriously.
“The offending ... is intense, targeted and desperately dangerous,” he said.
“I have insignificant material to make an assessment of Mr Mouldon’s prognoses, the risk he represents to the community and his prospects of coming good.
“I need to know more before I pass sentence.”
The hearing continues.