By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim
Over 20 January 2021 to 16 June 2022, NSW woman Rania Bazzi perpetrated a string of offences that Justice Richard Button of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (NSWCCA) went on to describe as crimes that were not “of the utmost gravity”, but the nine offences she plead guilty to were “notable by their number and repetitive” nature, as well as their commission not being entirely spontaneous.
Bazzi’s offences were all committed whilst she was under various forms of conditional release, including having been on bail and parole.
The accounts of the criminal incidents that resulted in the long list of charges are rather bizarre in nature. In one instance Bazzi was spotted on 23 February 2021 in the office of a school deputy principal without any excuse, prior to her then stealing a teacher’s wallet, which contained cash and various debit and credit cards.
The woman then entered a sport’s club whilst in possession of the wallet and urinated on the floor, while attempting later in the day to make eight fraudulent charges using the teacher’s cards from the wallet she’d stolen. Her conduct behaviour led to seven charges being placed on a Form 1, which permits extra crimes to be considered alongside a principal offence.
Bazzi also entered Escape Hunt on Sydney’s George Street and stole $1,136 in cash on 16 June 2022. This resulted in three charges laid against her, with two of them being larceny offences, whilst the third was a key contributor to the defendant successfully appealing her trial outcome before a three-justice panel of the NSWCCA on 1 December 2023.
Bazzi was arrested on 25 February 2021 in relation to the school incident. She initially appeared in court on 13 May 2022 and, during eight separate hearings over different dates that ended in sentencing on 2 December 2022, she was granted bail and continued to offend.
During the period that led to her recent appeal, Bazzi was either out on bail awaiting sentencing or on parole in relation to a break and enter to commit serious indictable offence committed in September 2018. She also served 6-months in prison during this period.
A long list of offences
Bazzi pleaded guilty to one count of destroying or damaging property, contrary to 195(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), which is an offence that carries up to 5 years imprisonment when tried on indictment in the NSW District Court, as was the case here.
If the offence had been tried summarily in the Local Court, the maximum it could carry is 2 years gaol time.
The defendant was also charged with two counts of larceny, contrary to section 117 of the Crimes Act, which carries up to 5 years inside.
One count of obtain property by deception, contrary to 192E of the Crimes Act, which carries up to 10 years gaol time, was also involved.
Seven more charges under section 192E that involved six counts of obtaining property by deception, and one of obtaining financial advantage by deception (also known as fraud) were taken into consideration on a Form 1, which means that Bazzi did not formally plead guilty to these crimes but agreed to have them dealt with in relation to a charge of larceny.
The Form 1 process involves crimes related to a principal offence that are placed on a document referred to as a Form 1, and while they do not plead guilty to them, the offender does acknowledge responsibility, and the sentencing judge then takes them into account when sentencing for the main crime.
Bazzi further pleaded guilty to two counts of being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, contrary to section 114 of the Crimes Act, which makes those convicted liable to up to 7 years inside.
One count of break and enter with intent to commit serious indictable offence, contrary to section 113 of the Crimes Act, further garnered a plea of guilt. And it carries up to 10 years imprisonment.
Another count of break and enter and commit serious indictable offence, under section 112 of the Crimes Act, was also on the indictment and it carries up to 14 years inside.
And the final count that Bazzi pleaded guilty to was convicted offender armed with intent, contrary to section 115 of the Crimes Act, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years inside.
On 2 December 2022, NSW District Court Judge Penelope Wass sentenced Bazzi to 3 years and 1 month prison time, with non-parole set at 2 years. The sentence reflected a 25 percent discount due to the utilitarian value of Bazzi having pleaded guilty to the crimes at the earliest possible point.
All grounds upheld
Bazzi went on to appeal her sentences to the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal based on three grounds.
The first was that the sentencing judge was in error when considering that the crimes were all committed on conditional liberty and therefore, this should serve as a factor in assessing the objective seriousness of the offending.
The second ground related to the judge considering Bazzi’s “long history of like offending” in assessing the objective seriousness of one offence being in error.
And the third ground related to the section 115 offence being triggered by the section 114 crime and another past conviction, which it was posited then comprises of double punishment.
NSWCCA Acting Justice Carolyn Simpson explained in her 13 March 2024 determination that offending on conditional liberty should be noted in sentencing and have a bearing on its outcome.
However, when assessing the gravity of an actual crime, known as the objective seriousness of the offence, past offending should have no impact upon this.
So, the first ground was made out. As for the second ground, it was found that in assessing the section 115 offence, Judge Wass considered “the long history of offending” prior to the commission of this offence, and again, past offending cannot be considered in order to make a harsher assessment of a new offence. So, this ground was too upheld.
The third ground related to the section 115 offence of being a convicted offender with intent, which is a crime that comprises of a convicted offender, meaning a person who has a prior conviction over an indictable offence, now having also committed a fresh offence under section 114; the latter offence being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.
So, in order for her to have been convicted and punished under the section 115 offence, Bazzi had to have been a convicted offender, in this case due to the original 2018 break and enter offence, plus she had to have committed a section 114 offence of armed intent, which was listed on the same indictment.
But the issue with applying this law is that in order to be convicted and punished under it, one has to have specifically committed the section 114 offence and be convicted of another crime, but in being convicted over these other offences, the offender has received or will be receiving punishment in relation to them.
So, any further punishment resulting from a section 115 conviction is a direct result of the commission of two other offences, which have or will be the subject of punishment, and therefore, further penalisation amounts to double punishment.
The sentencing principle of double punishment means that an offender cannot be prosecuted or punished in relation to an offence that they’ve already been convicted and punished in relation to.
So, double punishment is exactly what the section 115 offence results in, and therefore, this third ground was also made out, and the appeal was upheld.
Orders of the day
On 13 March 2024, NSW Acting Justice Simpson ordered that the appeal be granted, and the original sentence be quashed. Bazzi was then resentenced to 3 years imprisonment, with non-parole applying after 2 years.
Both NSWCCA Justices Richard Button and Richard Weinstein agreed with their colleagues’ orders.
But Justice Button did provide different reasons in regard to the ground involving section 115 double punishment, and he suggested that such an offence appearing alongside a section 114 conviction has no place in the NSW court system of 2024.
