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IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 14-00968
15-00839
15-00834
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
v
JORDAN DALLWITZ
--JUDGE:
WHERE HELD:
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:

HER HONOUR JUDGE WILMOTH

Melbourne
12, 29 May, 2015
19 June 2015
DPP v Dallwitz
[2015] VCC 833

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

--Subject: Sentence criminal law
Catchwords: pleaded guilty to numerous charges of obtaining/attempting to obtain a
financial advantage/property by deception, 2 charges attempting to pervert the course of
justice by providing to court letters purporting to be from psychiatrist; learned behaviour
from early age having assisted father in dubious accounting practices and providing false
documents; lived beyond means, grandiose life style, might have gambling disorder,
remorse; compensation orders made; specific and general deterrence necessary;
crushing sentence avoided.
Sentence: 6 years imprisonment with 4 years before being eligible for parole.
--APPEARANCES:

Counsel

Solicitors

For the Crown

Mr P. Pickering

OPP

For the Accused

Ms E. Clarke

Stary & Associates

VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT REPORTING SERVICE

7/436 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne - Telephone 9603 9134
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HER HONOUR:
1

Jordan Dallwitz, you have pleaded guilty to charges on three indictments and
for the sake of clarity, I shall list them as follows.

The first indictment is

number C1409484 (CR-14-00968) comprising ten charges of obtaining a

financial advantage by deception, five charges of attempting to do so and
eight charges of obtaining property by deception. An extensive summary of
prosecution opening was tendered, and a copy will be appended to the
sentencing remarks.

The second indictment, number F10582754 (CR-15-

00834) deals with two charges of obtaining a financial advantage by

deception. The third indictment number F11676325 (CR-15-00839) deals with
two charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
2

These offences were committed when you were on bail for the other matters,
and consequently you were charged with the summary offences of having
committed those offences whilst on bail.

You have also pleaded guilty to

those charges. As for the first indictment, charge 1 occurred in June 2013, a
few months after you had completed a suspended sentence imposed in the
Magistrates' Court for similar offending. On 7 June 2013, you purchased New
Zealand currency to the value of $3,357.92 which, in Australian dollars was
$2,740 from a currency trader, using the Westpac credit card details of
Francis Lam.
3

She had been a student at a coaching institute, where you had been
employed.

You had formally been a student there, as had been your wife,

Monique Gebbing, and her father.

As part of your employment, you had

access to student files, which included credit card records. On the same day,
you also used Ms Lam's credit card details to purchase airline tickets for the
sum of $2,740. When this was discovered, Ms Lam cancelled her credit card.
That is charge 2. A few days later, you used the same means to buy airline
tickets using the credit card details of Beverley Unitt, a former student at the
coaching college. That is charge 3.
.RH:CG

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In June 2013, you advertised a motor vehicle for sale which you had
purchased with finance from Macquarie Leasing.

Glenn De Silva inspected

the car and found that it was subject to finance. When he questioned you
about this, you told him this was a mistake and showed him a letter purporting
to be from Macquarie, stating that the car was not under finance. This letter
was false, but after receiving it, Mr De Silva paid $28,000 to you. In August,
he was contacted by a repossession agent working for Macquarie Leasing
and was told that the letter was fraudulent and that he had to return the car to
Macquarie.
5

Mr De Silva contacted you, and you provided him with further letters
purporting to show payments made to Macquarie. The car was repossessed
and despite his attempts at recovering the money from you, he has received
none. That is charge 4. You continued to offend using the credit card details
of your wife, your father-in-law and of 16 persons who had been students at
the coaching college, or had been involved in it in some way, to set up trading
accounts, withdraw cash and to buy various goods and services.

Charges numbered five to 18 were also committed in this way, and I will come
to those details shortly.

You also set up four different foreign exchange

trading accounts during the offending period, using the credit card details of
others, an exercise which involved planning and expertise and drew on the
profits produced, but lost money as well. This would seem to be a form of
gambling using that planning and expertise, unlike the random aspects of
other forms of gambling. On other occasions, you attempted to use credit
card details in the various ways described but were unsuccessful.
7

Charge 5 involved purchasing a large number of items valued at over $3,000

using the credit card details of Matthew Morris. You used his details again to
hire a jumping castle at a cost of $235 for use at the child care centre
attended by your children, after having used false credit card details to
attempt to pay outstanding fees. That is charge 6. That charge, and charge

.RH:CG

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five occurred in November 2013.

8

Charge 7 occurred in December, when you opened two accounts in the name
of your father-in-law and used the credit card details of Mr Morris and those of
two other former students of the coaching college, Ms De Franceschi and Ms
Appleby to fund the accounts. You then made withdrawals from the accounts
over three weeks of sums totalling $123,305. Over the following few weeks
you used the credit card details of Morris and Appleby and those of three
other students; Ms Clarke, Ms Tona and Mr Himing, to pay Eastlink accounts
totalling $348.79. That is charge 8.

Charge 9 was a series of unsuccessful attempts totalling $23,830 to use the

credit cards of a number of former students during December and charge 10
was the use of Ms Popper's credit card details to make a purchase of supplies
in the sum of $147.89. Charge 11 concerns various transactions using the
credit card details of a former student Annette Twine to avoid paying debts to
third parties. You have purchased furniture from Casey Auctions in the sum
of $3,464. A deposit of $1,000 was paid by your wife using her credit card,
but when you attempted to pay the balance the next day, the three credit
cards you offered were all declined and then you used a fourth successfully.
The transactions were disputed leading to a police investigation, following
which the furniture was recovered from your house and returned to the
auction house.

10

Charge 12 involved the setting up of a foreign trading account in September

2013, using credit cards in your own name but falsified with the details of the
credit cards of two former students, Ms Reading and Mr Westcon.
December

you

made

withdrawals

totalling

$12,250

and

In

attempted

unsuccessfully to withdraw a further $5,000.

11

Also in September you repeated this process using the credit card details of
Mr Himing, Ms Reading and Mr Westcon and tried to withdraw a total of

.RH:CG

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$10,350 in three transactions and this is charge 13.

12

Charge 14 involved your use of credit card details of Ms Appleby to buy lottery
tickets in December in the sum of $6,949.80.

13

Charge 15 comprises nine purchases from ITunes in December and January

totalling $105.99, using the credit card details of Ms Clarke.

14

Around the same time, you used Ms Hutton's credit card details to purchase
items worth $873.64 and to pay your mother-in-law's car registration. This is
charge 16.

15

Early in 2014, you set up an account in your father-in-law's name and funded
it using the credit card details of seven former students of the coaching
college, then attempted to withdraw funds totalling $16,500. That is charge
17.

16

A few days later, you set up another account and funded it using the credit
card details of four former students and then withdrew sums totalling $11,005.
That is charge 18.

17

Charge 19 covers a large number of unsuccessful attempts over ten days to

withdraw a total of $11,978 from the same account. Again, using the credit
card details of seven former students.

18

Charges 20, 21 and 22 are transactions that all occurred over two days in
January. Charge 20 is an unsuccessful attempt to pay an Eastlink account of
$60 using the credit card details of a student, Ms Reid.

19

Charge 21 deals with the purchase of a printed for $229.000 using the credit
card details of Mr Himing.

20

Charge 22 involved again the funding of an account using a student's credit

card details and withdrawals totalling $1,550.

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21

The final charge, charge 23, occurred on 20 January when you used credit
card details of Ms Tona to make a purchase of $172.

22

You were arrested on 4 February 2014 and interviewed.

You made

admissions in respect of the charges involving former students of the college.

At that time, you were 25, and you are now aged 27. The circumstances of
the plea made on your behalf are very unusual.

Ms O'Brien of counsel

appeared for you on 25 February this year before His Honour Judge Dean.
She outlined your background extensively and thoroughly but His Honour
adjourned the matter for a report to be obtained from a forensic psychiatrist.
Before the return date His Honour became aware that two letters, purported to
have been written by your treating psychiatrist to the court in support of an
adjournment application had been fraudulently written by you.
23

His Honour recused himself from the case and defence counsel returned the
brief. The letters have given rise to the two charges of attempting to pervert
the course of justice, charges 1 and 2 on indictment numbered F11676325
and to the related summary charge of committing an indictable offence while
on bail. The matter was listed for hearing on 12 May, and on that day I heard
from the learned prosecutor that there had been further developments. These
were charges arising from your conduct in June 2014 and were to be the
subject of a first mention in the Magistrates' Court in a few days' time and the
charges of perverting the course of justice and attempting to do so were ready
for filing with the court.

24

These two sets of charges needed to be taken through the necessary steps to
bring them before me for hearing together with the original indictable charge,
a course with which you agreed. Accordingly, the matter was adjourned until
29 May for further hearing.

On that day, you pleaded guilty to the further

charges and Ms Casey, who appeared on your behalf made a further plea.
25

The summary in respect of the further deception charges is as follows. After

.RH:CG

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your arrest on 4 February 2014, you were remanded in custody until 28 May,
and then released on bail to live with your aunt Karen Jones.
26

The next day you advised the ANZ Bank that your visa card had been stolen
and you were supplied with the replacement. You then made four deposits
totalling $4,000 from your credit card accounts, via the internet, into a foreign
exchange trading account, Axicorp, which you had established. That gives
rise to the related summary offence.

27

You then used that amount for foreign exchange dealings. A few days later
you advised the bank that the Visa card had again been stolen and disputed
the transactions whereby money had been deposited in the Axicorp account.
As a result, $5,000 was debited to Axicorp and the money was re-credited to
your ANZ account. That is charge 1 on indictment, number F10582754.

28

On 18 June 2014, you used the internet to set up another foreign exchange
account which gives rise to the related summary offence. You falsely stated
that you were a "consulting and business analyst", with an annual income of
$100,000 to $250,000. On the same day, you deposited $2000 with Forex
Capital and carried out foreign exchange trades, losing the money deposited.
A few days later, you disputed the transaction with the ANZ Bank and a result
the $2,000 was debited to Forex Capital by ANZ and the money was recredited to your bank account. That is charge 2.

29

Forex Capital contacted you numerous times and you denied the transactions
claiming you would contact ANZ for it to be resolved. You were arrested on 5
February 2015, and you denied all the allegations. Again, there is a related
charge of committing an indictable offence while on bail.

30

At the plea hearing, I heard evidence from Ms Jones who took you into her
home where she lives with her husband and children as part of your bail
conditions from your release in May 2014 until you were remanded again in
February.

Unfortunately you exploited her hospitality and concern for you,

.RH:CG

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and committed the further offences.

31

She described her support for you and the assistance she gave you in
examining your motives for offending. Ms Jones and her husband continued
to support you. They have visited you in prison regularly and Ms Jones said
you were remorseful and you understand that you have jeopardised your
relationship with your children. She considers you now have insight into your
offending and what you lack now is the chance to put it into practice. She was
realistic in agreeing that you knew what you were doing was wrong and you
did it anyway and that remorse has come late.

32

These offences are very serious examples of deception, and a large amount
of money was lost, approximately $211,000.

Many of them are rolled up

charges involving multiple transactions or attempted transactions.

It is

particularly serious that you continued to offend over a long period of time and
did so again while on bail. The creation of the false letters shows a blatant
disregard for the system of justice, jeopardising the reliance on documents by
the courts and the legal profession. That is a very serious matter, an attack
on the system of trust which is of great importance in expediting justice. All
your offending deserves severe punishment as a powerful message of
deterrence to others and to deter you as well from offending again.
33

Your eventual rehabilitation will be subject to your own resolve to return to

fulltime work one day, with a reformed attitude.

You are intelligent and

capable and it is a great pity that your talents have been dissipated in such
dishonest activity.
34

You have a history of similar offending in the past in that you were sentenced
in the Magistrates' Court on 21 February 2011 to 12 months' imprisonment,
wholly suspended for 24 months following your conviction in respect of a large
number of fraud charges.

That sentence was not sufficient deterrence for

you, and you offended again soon after completing the sentence.
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35

It now seems that your recent experience of the structure imposed by prison
life has been salutary for you and may be what is required. You can no longer
spend money you do not have and your very modest prison earnings must be
stretched to pay for the daily phone calls to your wife and children, upon which
I am told you rely heavily. Efforts by others to understand the causes of your
offending lead to your childhood experiences of learning deceptive practices
from your father. He went to prison for deception and you acted accordingly,
undeterred by that consequence.

36

Although you were referred to a psychiatrist recently, you failed to attend all
appointments and take medication in a completely misguided attempt to
facilitate the appearance of a mental illness which you thought would look
good for the court. You fell into debt through the previous court case and by
trying to set up a business. It was to try and repay these debts that you began
the deceptions, but that does not explain the impulsive need to buy expensive
luxury items such as the jet ski and a car, to take your family on expensive
holidays and to gamble at Crown Casino.

37

I turn now to your personal background, to which I have already made brief
reference, to say that you were aged 25 when you committed these offences
and you recently turned 27. When you were two years old, the police raided
your home and your father was charged with deception. Three years later, he
went to gaol for 18 months, and as a five year old you visited him there
regularly.

The point was made by your former counsel, Ms O'Brien, in the

original plea hearing that your own son is now about that age. When your
father was released, he started a security installation business, which went
well, but as you grew older and began to help your father, you became aware
that some of his accounting practices were dubious.
38

Because of your computer skills, you began to help your father create false
documents and you became adept at it. In this manner, your father obtained
such things as credit and car loans that the family could not afford but without

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your mother's knowledge. At the age of 18, you became the sole director of
the business when your father was forced into bankruptcy following legal
action taken by the taxation office. The business had huge debts, and these
spiralled even when the income of the business improved.
39

The creation of further false documents masked the true situation as funds
were raised to pay creditors. Meanwhile, you commenced a relationship with
Ms Gebbing and the two children were born, now aged five and three. You
continued to live beyond your means, spending money in a grandiose fashion
and hiding the truth from Ms Gebbing. Although this behaviour might suggest
that you suffer from a mental health disorder, there is no evidence of that
despite the fact that various types of anti-anxiety medication have been
prescribed for you in the recent past. It appears that you were non-compliant
in that regard, but since your incarceration the medication has been reinstated
and you are experiencing the benefit of it.

40

The forensic psychiatrist who assessed you recently diagnosed no disorder,

as I have said, but considered that you may satisfy the criteria for a gambling
disorder because of the persistent and recurrent problematic gambling
behaviour you reported.

He said you would benefit from psychological

treatment to explore the distortions leading to the offending behaviour.

41

From an early age you learned from your father how to cheat people and steal
money. When you put that into practice, you failed to see how wrong it was,
determined as you were to have expensive material goods and live a life as a
wealthy person beyond your means and using further falsehoods to try and
dig yourself out, all the while hiding it from your partner. You even resorted to
members of your partner's family to pay your debts.

42

This may suggest some form of manic disposition but that has not been
substantiated. You have failed in the past to learn from your mistakes and
your chances of rehabilitation must be considered guarded.

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possible gambling disorder, there is no disorder to treat, despite the fact that
the sedative medication appears to be beneficial. Whether the narcissistic or
grandiose thinking which might be behind your offending is treatable or not is
something about which there is no evidence.
43

A period of parole for which you might eventually become eligible would likely
assist with your rehabilitation, the chief motivation being your return to your
family and the resumed relationship with your children. You have written to
the court expressing your remorse and the intention to change when you are
released.

That is important, but specific deterrence must be a significant

aspect of your sentence.

44

In cases of serious crime such as this, general deterrence is also of great

importance. People who might be tempted to act as you did must understand
that they will be severely punished and that the courts will firmly denounce
such behaviour by imposing severe sentences where appropriate.

45

In sentencing you for these matters, I must attempt to avoid a crushing

sentence and apply some reduction to the long prison term that is warranted
by the course of conduct you engaged in. To this end, I have moderated the
extent of cumulation of the individual sentences.

You are entitled to a

discount on your sentence for having pleaded guilty at an early stage. If the
matter had proceeded as a contested case, a trial would have been quite
extensive involving many witnesses and taking up a lot of court time. For
avoiding the expense and inconvenience of a trial, you are entitled to that
discount and I also accept it as an indication of remorse.
46

You are sentenced to a total effective sentence of six years and you must
serve four years before being eligible for parole.

47

The individual sentences of imprisonment are as follows:

48

On the first indictment, C1409484, three years for each of Charges 4, 7, 12, 1

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4 and 18. Two years for each of Charges 1, 5, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19 and 22.
Twelve months for each of Charge 2 and 3. Six months for each of Charges
6, 8, 10, 15, 16, 21 and 23. Three months for Charge 20.
49

On the second indictment, F10582754, two years for each charge.

50

On the third indictment, F11676325,12 months for each charge.

51

For each of the summary offences, one month to be served concurrently with
all other charges.

52

The sentence for Charge 7 is the base sentence for the purposes of
cumulation and I order the following in relation to cumulation.

As to the

charges on the first indictment, one month of each of the sentences for
Charges 1, 3, 6 and 22; two months of each of the sentences for Charges 5,
13, 17 and 19; three months of each of the sentences for Charges 4, 9, 11,
14 and 18; four months of the sentence for Charge 12 be served in cumulation
upon the base sentence.
53

As to the charges on the second indictment, one month of each of the

sentences for those two charges is to be served cumulatively upon the base
sentence.

54

As to the third indictment, three months of the sentence for the first of those
charges is to be served cumulatively upon the base sentence.

55

I have apportioned cumulation on the basis of the number of transactions

involved or attempted and the monetary value involved. In order to achieve
proportionality and to avoid the sentence being a crushing one, I have not
ordered cumulation in respect of every charge, by taking into account charges
involving lower amounts of money or where there was a degree of similarity
as between offences, such as Charges 1 and 2 on the second indictment and
Charges 1 and 2 on the third indictment.
effective sentence of six years.

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11

These orders result in a total

I order that you serve a minimum of four

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years before being eligible for parole.

56

If you had pleaded not guilty to these charges, I would have sentenced you to
eight years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years. You have
been in custody for 229 days not including today and that time is to be
reckoned as already served.

I shall cause that to be noted on the court

record.
57

The prosecution seeks a number of ancillary orders and through your counsel,
you do not oppose them.

Therefore, I make orders that you pay

compensation to Vantage FX in the sum of $123,305. To 49 Fine Food in the

sum of $776.

To Glenn DeSilva in the sum of $28,000. To International

Capital Markets in the sum of $12,2500. To CMC Markets in the sum of

$11,005.
58

I order that items listed in the schedule be forfeited.

59

I also order, pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act that you provide a forensic
sample of saliva. I have to advise you that the police have the power to use
reasonable force to obtain that sample, but I trust that will not be necessary.

60

Are there any other matters?

61

MR PICKERING: No, Your Honour.

62

MS CLARKE: No, Your Honour.

---

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