Supreme Court: Fletcher Simmons appeals prison sentence
A man who held a knife over a taxi driver’s neck, ransacked a home and told a two-year-old baby – whose home he was burgling – to ‘shut the f**k up’ as part of a three-week crime spree has appealed his sentence.
Fairfield
Don't miss out on the headlines from Fairfield. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A man sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for a string of crimes across Sydney’s south and inner west has had his appeal dismissed.
Fletcher Simmons was handed a 10-year jail sentence after a three-week crime spree in 2016 which saw him ransacking cars for cash to robbing a house where three children were sleeping.
During the rampage, he also held a knife to a taxi driver’s throat before telling a two-year-old baby to “shut the f**k up” as he rummaged through another house.
Simmons was handed a 10-year prison sentence for 17 offences from October 4 to 26 in late 2016, but has taken his case to the Court of Criminal Appeal asking for leniency.
Among the most serious crimes Simmons pleaded guilty to occurred on October 11, when he called a taxi driver to pick him up from Greenacre Public School at 1am under the alias “Jimmy”.
He instructed taxi driver Mohumad Ismail to drive towards a cul-de-sac in Villawood when he pulled out a 10cm knife and held it just above his throat. He then took about $75 from Mr Ismail’s top pocket, before demanding his phone.
Mr Ismail instead told him he had five children and asked Simmons if he was going to kill him, according to court documents.
Simmons grabbed Mr Ismail’s wallet and fled, leaving behind sunglasses marked by his fingerprints.
On the day of his arrest, October 26, Simmons robbed two inner west homes.
He squeezed through the dog door of a Cabarita home at 6.15am and rummaged around looking for money and belongings, while three kids slept.
The father, who was on the way to work, spotted Simmons armed with a metal tool and grabbed a long knife from the kitchen block. However, Simmons rummaged his way through the home, the adjoining business and the family’s car, stealing three watches and fleeing before police could arrive.
But they would catch him about an hour later, after he searched a Mortlake duplex, demanding money from a woman, telling a crying two-year-old to “shut the f@#k” up and causing an elderly woman to be knocked over.
Simmons was sentenced to 10 years in jail with a non-parole period of five and a half years on November 2, 2018. The sentencing judge applied a maximum discount of 25 per cent for pleading guilty early, and started the term of imprisonment from the date of his arrest, more than two years earlier on October 26, 2016.
Simmons’s representatives said he had four grounds of appeal at his hearing on February 5. These include the sentencing judge making mistakes by taking into account Simmons’s previous convictions; that he was on a good behaviour bond; that the sentence was out of proportion, and; that the combined sentence was way out of proportion.
All three Supreme Court justices dismissed the appeal on February 14.