Director of Public Prosecutions v LH
[2020] VCC 282
•18 March 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-17-02210
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| LH |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE TAFT | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 19 December 2019 and 25 January 2020 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 18 March 2020 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v LH | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 282 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords: Jury trial - Intentionally causing serious injury to 6 week old baby – uplifted offence summary offence of breaching intervention order - life threatening injuries – injuries inflicted by blunt force and by shaking – extensive criminal history of violent offending – grave example of offence – history of drug use - bleak prospects of rehabilitation
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence: Imprisonment for 14 years with non-parole term of 11 years
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr R. Hammill (Plea) Ms D. Shivakumar (Sentence) | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr P. Kounnas |
HIS HONOUR:
1 LH, a jury has found you guilty of intentionally causing serious injury to your six week old daughter, KH. The maximum penalty attaching to that offence is imprisonment for 20 years.
2 In addition, you have pleaded guilty to breaching a family violence intervention order. You have also admitted a criminal history which includes three prior convictions for recklessly causing serious injury.
3
On 10 June 2016, when home alone with your daughter at a house in
Forsyth Avenue Horsham between 3.30 pm and 4.29 pm, you inflicted blunt force trauma and shook KH.
4 OFFENDER: No, I didn't.
5 HIS HONOUR: She was taken to hospital by her mother and her brother’s partner around 6.30 pm that evening.
6 A forensic paediatrician, Dr Merryn Redenbach, detailed the child’s injuries. They included:
· fracture of the right parietal bone of the skull;
· large subgaleal haematomas in the scalp overlaying the skull fracture;
· multiple subdural haematomas in the membranes between the skull;
· extensive bleeding, bruising and swelling in all lobes of the brain;
· diffuse damage to the tissue surrounding the spinal cord and associated swelling;
· metaphyseal fractures in at least six distinct sites in KH’s legs;
· probable fractures of two ribs;
· probable metaphyseal fractures of both bones in her right wrist; and
· probable fracture of her right third fingertip bone.
7 On the timing and causation of injuries, Dr Redenbach expressed the opinion that there was evidence suggestive of an older episode of brain injury consequential upon the infliction of blunt force trauma, which may have been inflicted within a few days prior to KH’s attendance at the Horsham Hospital. However, the marked swelling which developed rapidly after the baby’s attendance at Horsham Hospital suggested a further more recent application of blunt force trauma within the hours prior to the attendance which, at least, caused a re-bleed and explains the rapid onset of swelling.
8 The extensive subdural haematomas had both a chronic and acute component caused by shearing trauma associated with shaking.
9 The extensive brain damage throughout all lobes of the brain were caused by shaking and was an acute injury likely occurring in the hours before the attendance at Horsham Hospital.
10 The spinal damage and associated swelling were consistent with a recent shaking episode. The leg fractures were associated with an episode of shaking.
11 The probable fractures to the ribs and to the wrist and finger may have occurred at an earlier time, 7-10 days before presentation.
12 You are to be sentenced for having inflicted serious injuries upon KH
13 OFFENDER: I didn't inflict injury on her.
14 HIS HONOUR: - - - in the afternoon of 10 June 2016 and which resulted in her hospitalisation. It is unknown as to the circumstances in which earlier injuries sustained by KH occurred and you are not to be sentenced as responsible for causing those injuries.
15 OFFENDER: I didn't cause any of the injuries.
16 HIS HONOUR: Upon arrival at Horsham Hospital, KH presented as settled but with a constant downward gaze. Soon after her arrival, she began making jerky movements in her right arm and right leg and showed minimal activity or interaction with medical staff.
17 Medical staff conducted a physical examination and identified a small boggy swelling over the right parietal region of the scalp. Further medical examinations identified the boggy mass to be intracranial haemorrhage (bleeding within the skull) with interventricular haemorrhage (bleeding into the brain’s ventricular system). The swelling associated with this injury was noted to have doubled in size by 11.00 pm. As medical staff were preparing to intubate KH to stabilise her breathing, they noticed bruising beginning to appear on her right foot and observed that both calves were 'tight'. She was airlifted to the Royal Children’s Hospital for specialist treatment and remained there until being discharged on 1 July 2016.
18 In addition to a number of tests involving an MRI, x-rays, CT scans and a head ultrasound, surgeons undertook bilateral fasciotomies of both calves due to the degree of swelling. The skin and connective tissue capsule around both of KH’s calves were cut open to prevent her lower legs and feet from being further damaged as a result of impaired blood flow.
Background
19 You had been involved in a volatile on and off relationship with KH’s mother (KS) since 2009. As at the date of your offending, you had one other biological child with KS, and she had two other children who were the product of other relationships.
20
In 2010, KS and you moved to Horsham and around that time both the police and the Department of Human Services became involved. Between 2010 and 2016, you were involved in 12 family violence incidents resulting in police attendance. Eight of the family violence incidents involved you and
KS.
21 Both you and KS were regular users of ice.
22 On 18 October 2015, police attended upon your address in Horsham and were informed that you had chased KS through the house whilst holding a knife and a kettle full of boiling water.
23 OFFENDER: Crock of shit.
24 HIS HONOUR: You denied the allegations and KS made a statement of no complaint. As a consequence, no charges were laid against you, but police were concerned about the safety of KS and her four children, and applied for a family violence intervention order for their protection.
25 On 28 October 2015, a family violence intervention order was issued by the Horsham Magistrates’ Court and was to remain in force until 8 July 2016. It provided that you must not commit any family violence against the protected persons who were KS and her three eldest daughters - - -
26 OFFENDER: Never did.
27 HIS HONOUR: - - - or approach or remain within 5 metres of each of the protected persons, or go and remain within 200 metres of any space where a protected person lived, worked or attended school/childcare.
28 Despite that order, and with the consent of KS, you continued to regularly live at the same house in Horsham.
29 OFFENDER: Yeah, cause KS forced me to stay there, that's why.
30 HIS HONOUR: Could I ask you to be silent please, LH.
31 OFFENDER: Your Honour, this is very hard for me to sit by and listen to what you're saying when it's not true.
32 HIS HONOUR: You must be silent or I will have you taken to the cells downstairs - - -
33 OFFENDER: None of it's true.
34 HIS HONOUR: - - - where you'll hear the sentence without interrupting me. Would you please speak to your client, Mr Kounnas, and impress upon him the need for silence and respect.
35 MR KOUNNAS: Yes, Your Honour, I'll do that.
36 HIS HONOUR: On 21 May 2016, a further incident occurred in which it was alleged that you grabbed a knife and made threats towards KS whilst she was holding KH. KS attempted to call police, but before she could do so, you grabbed the phone and snapped it in half. After a further physical altercation, KS ran from the house screaming for help and police speedily attended.
37 Emergency accommodation was arranged for KS and her four children. At the time, her four daughters were respectively 7, 5, 1 and 23 days old.
38
As a result of the incident, the Department of Health and Human Services ('DHHS') implemented a 'safety plan' in order to prevent future family violence and to prevent you from returning to the premises. The plan required
KS’s 22 year old brother CSF and his 18 year old partner CLB to reside at the home address. They did so around May 2016. CLB told the jury that she heard you say that you hated KH and that she was not your child. Despite the intervention order, you continued to stay at the address most nights and would hide when police attended the premises whilst you were present. You and the other three occupants of the house used ice on a daily basis.
39 Had KH died the ‘safety plan’ would no doubt be the subject of formal findings at a coronial inquest. I consider it astonishing that DHHS should entrust the welfare and safety of children to youthful ice addicts who were complicit in your breaches of the intervention order. In practice the ‘safety plan’ heightened the risk of violence and sadly that is what eventuated.
40 At around 4.30 pm on 10 June 2016, KS caught a taxi from Bunnings to her home. You were sleeping on the couch and KH was sleeping in a bassinet. About half an hour later, CSF and CLB arrived home and, shortly afterwards, KS heard KH cry in pain as she lifted her legs to change her nappy. KS noticed that KH’s lower legs appeared abnormally tight and began to panic. A taxi was called at 6.22 pm and KS, CLB and KH were driven to Horsham Hospital Emergency Department.
41
At 1.28 am on 11 June 2016, you sent a message to your mother,
PH, stating:
'Hey mum [KH] injuries not good she’s not in a good way at all she gone to royal children’s hospital bleeding round brain and leg trauma gotta go to melb tomoz if I can use ur car plz would b bloody awesome this is fucked old girl I’ve got mixed emotions don’t know how this happened she’s always safe up high supervised I’ll talk to u more in morning gotta get some sleep love u mum'.
42 On 11 June 2016, you were arrested in respect of the family violence incident that occurred on 21 May 2016.
Record of interview
43 On 16 August 2016, you were interviewed by police at Ararat Police Station. You lied comprehensively. You claimed that you had not stayed at the Forsyth Avenue house on the evening of 9/10 June 2016, but arrived at the address around 10.00 am on the morning of 10 June. Secondly, you stated that you discovered KH’s head injury when you arrived at the premises in the morning. You said that your mother had also attended at the home after she finished work and observed KH’s head injury. You said that you discussed the nature of the head injury with your mother and that she said that KH should go to hospital as soon as possible.
44 Subsequent to the police interview, you repeated those lies in a letter to DHHS and in letters that you attempted to send to police and to KS from the Metropolitan Remand Centre where you were held. In phone calls to your mother, you attempted to enlist her to confirm the lies that you told police about seeing a lump on KH’s head and then ringing your mother, who came to Forsyth Avenue and observed the injury. By the time of your calls, your mother had provided a police statement in which she said that the first time she heard about the injuries to KH was when she received the text message from you to her on 11 June 2016.
45 The record of interview extends over some 167 pages. You doubted whether KH was your daughter and undertook a frontal, vituperative attack on KH’s mother, KS. You said that she was addicted to methamphetamine, hated her children and was violent towards her four daughters. You told police that in contrast to her, you only used drugs once in a blue moon and that you were a hardworking and protective father who shielded the children from KS’s anger, violence and neglect.
46 OFFENDER: I fucking did.
47 HIS HONOUR: You claimed that drug use for you was ‘non-existent’ and alleged that the exception to that was an occasion when KS injected you with ‘chard’ [methamphetamine] when you were sleeping. You invited the interviewing police to arrest KS and throw her in gaol.
48 You did not give sworn evidence before the jury but relied on the record of interview where you claimed KS had injured KH. By its verdict, the jury clearly rejected the proposition that there was a reasonable possibility that KS had seriously injured her baby daughter.
49 OFFENDER: Fucking did.
KH’s current condition
50 HIS HONOUR: Despite sustaining serious injuries, and her critical status on admission to hospital, KH has made a better than expected recovery. However, some deficits remain which will have long term consequences.
51 In September 2016, KH underwent a procedure whereby a ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt was inserted into her brain to reduce swelling due to hydrocephalus. The shunt is intended to remain inserted in the brain and requires regular checking for signs of displacement or dysfunction.
52 KH suffered a seizure in June 2019, during which medical reports note facial twitching, followed by a period of becoming 'unresponsive and floppy'. Paramedics were called and administered the seizure medication Midazolam before taking her to the Royal Children’s Hospital Emergency Department, where she was vomiting and continued to have a facial droop. KH recovered on the same day and has not had a recurrent seizure, however she must have access to Midazolam at all times. An August 2019 neurological review showed EEG results consistent with a diagnosis of 'benign occipital epilepsy or a symptomatic focal epilepsy'.
53 KH additionally suffers from a right convergent squint or extropia. This refers to KH’s right eye turning inwards, giving her a cross-eyed appearance and resulting in depth perception issues. She is under review by the ophthalmology team and reviews have raised a consideration of future surgery to correct this.
54 Reports indicate that while KH has made good progress in her range of movement given the severity of her original injuries, she has at times had issues with her feet turning inwards and dragging when she runs. The right side of her body is reportedly weaker overall than the left side.
55 Reports also indicate KH has experienced speech and hearing difficulties. Her speech was delayed, and KH has now undergone speech therapy and is reported to demonstrate 'good expressive speech in sentences'. An audiology review described her as having 'mild to moderate hearing loss in at least the better ear' and hearing that was 'not optimal for normal speech and language reception', however by November 2018 her hearing was considered to be 'adequate for normal speech and language development'.
Victim Impact Statements
56 A Victim Impact Statement was tendered, authored by KS. She states that her life has fallen apart as a consequence of what happened to KH.
57 A further Victim Impact Statement was provided by KH’s foster mother. KH was released into her care when discharged from the Royal Children’s Hospital in July 2016. Doctors provided detailed information about how to care for KH. Scans showed that fluid around her brain was not draining and her head had to be measured every hour. KH’s foster mother states:
“She didn’t make a sound all the way home, for the first 6mths she made no sound:
…we had a monitor on her we watched her ALL the time
… Those first few months there was no response from her, no smiles no giggles no crying, nothing she was just there.
Once [KH] had her shunt put in when she was 5mths old (another operation, another general anaesthetic) it released the swelling on her brain and she slowly started to make some progress.
She learnt if she cried we would pick her up, she would be cuddled, fed, loved, she learnt to trust us. She learnt to smile, that first smile was worth all the tears and silent months there had been. That smile was our ray of sunshine our hope her brain was slowly starting to heal.
One day as my arm went across her face as I reached for something [KH] blinked (about 8mths old) Slowly her eyesight started to come back.
Today [KH]’s eyesight is good, although her eyes turn so she looks cross eyed, she can see but has a depth deception issue … She doesn’t play like other kids she is slower weaker in her legs, scared of the unknown she doesn’t see because of the depth perception.
…
At the moment [KH] doesn’t notice she is different from other children, she doesn’t realise other kids don’t have a tube in their head. She has asked about her leg scars once, I told her they made her run faster. She was happy with that answer for now. She doesn’t understand when people comment on her crossed eyes or ask about the scars, she’s young it doesn’t matter yet.
…
People often say she is very lucky she has us, I always answer we are the lucky ones to have her. We are so lucky [KH] is in our lives.”
Personal circumstances
58 You are 37 years old and an only child who was raised by your mother and stepfather. In a report authored by Karly Doyle, clinical forensic specialist, dated 20 November 2019, it is reported that you told Ms Doyle that you were conceived during a casual encounter and never met your biological father. You have been told that he was Aboriginal, but for your part you have no connection to country. Your mother and stepfather had three more children.
59 You described your childhood experience as marred by emotional and physical abuse at the hands of your stepfather. You report that you would regularly present at school with bruising to your body, but do not recall any protective services involvement. You indicated that you sought to protect your younger stepsiblings from your stepfather’s anger. You identified your mother as your main support and continued to have regular telephone communication with her whilst on remand until recently.
60 You completed Year 12 at Horsham Secondary College and proceeded to obtain jobs involving shearing of sheep, the retail sector, garden maintenance, warehousing and labouring.
61 You told Ms Doyle that you were diagnosed with schizophrenia when held at Fulham Prison in 2005. You indicated that you had been prescribed antipsychotic medication since that time but appeared to be unresponsive to pharmacotherapy treatment.
62 You stated that you first experienced visual hallucinations around twelve years of age, when you saw ghost-like images in your bedroom, and that those images were increasingly troubling and violent as you grew older. You also reported that you experienced auditory hallucinations from the age of sixteen, and continue to hear voices on three to four occasions per week.
63 You reported a history of suicidal ideation around 18 years of age and last experienced self-harming thoughts around 2015.
64 You have a long history of abusing alcohol and illicit drugs. You started smoking cannabis at the age of 16 and that pattern of use remained fairly consistent until you were 21. After spending time in prison, you then resumed your use of cannabis between the ages of 24 to 28, but over the last ten years have reduced your consumption.
65 Although you used alcohol to excess when you were younger, you report that you have not been intoxicated since 2009.
66 Of particular concern is your use of amphetamine and methamphetamine. You started using amphetamine at the age of 17 and would inject that drug before attending social gatherings on one to two occasions per week. You denied any further use of speed after being released from prison when you were 24.
67 You started using methamphetamine when released from prison at the age of 24 and typically injected on a weekly basis. In the time leading up to the offending before this court, you said that you had injected methamphetamine on no more than six occasions, although I note in the record of interview you claimed that you only used 'once in a blue moon'. Other occupants of the house stated that you used on a daily basis and I accept their evidence.
68 You told Ms Doyle that you were injecting methamphetamine over the second half of 2016, around half a gram a week, and increased that usage between December 2016 and February 2017, when you were typically injecting half a gram every day. You said you relied on 'ice' over that period in order to complete daily household tasks and to allow you to be the primary carer for your four children. I assume the dates recorded in Ms Doyle’s report were intended to be a reference to the period prior to your offending.
69 You have reported limited use of heroin, having smoked it socially on about six occasions between the ages of 20 to 30. Although you have not had an opioid dependence, you report having commenced on a methadone program some 18 months ago in attempts to reduce psychotic symptoms.
70 You have stated that you used illicit drugs in attempts to deal with your mental health issues and that methamphetamine would help to 'stop the voices, the images and the smells'. Further, you said 'I’d get sick of it [psychosis] and want to feel at peace'.
71 In order to better understand your mental health history, this court obtained a psychiatric report from Dr Jaydip Sarkar, consultant forensic psychiatrist and Personality Disorder specialist at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare). That report is dated 5 February 2020. Dr Sarkar augmented his report with oral evidence.
72 Dr Sarkar expressed the opinion that you attract the diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder which also features the presence of narcissistic personality traits. You also meet the criteria for the diagnosis of Substance Use Disorder of methamphetamine and cannabis, and your self-reported symptoms of hearing voices and seeing visions seem to be exacerbated by the use of these substances.
73 Dr Sarkar reported:
'His personality [is] characterised by borderline features (impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, interpersonal chaos, anger dyscontrol and poor distress tolerance) in the context of a marriage gradually descending into a chaos leading to potentially to fear of being left all alone and abandoned emotionally, as well as by narcissistic features (the feeling of entitlement of support and acknowledgement of his needs by his partner, the need to increasingly control her to have his needs met and the anger experienced on account of failing to do so), appear to have contributed towards the alleged offence as long-standing chronic factors.
The extensive use of illicit drugs would have acted as a major disinhibiting factor, allowing him to act upon his wishes and desires. His reported mental symptoms of "schizophrenia" could have acted as an additional destabiliser/stressor, but is unlikely to have played any significant role in and of itself in the perpetration'.
Criminal record
74 You have an extensive criminal record which includes multiple appearances for violent offending.
75 On 26 July 2000, you were placed on a community correction order at the Horsham Magistrates’ Court for recklessly causing injury. You breached that order when you recklessly caused serious injury and were dealt with at Horsham Magistrates’ Court on 12 October 2000. A sentence of two months’ imprisonment was directed to be served by way of an intensive correction order.
76 During 2001 and 2002, you appeared in the Magistrates’ Court on a number of occasions in respect of a variety of offences including using a telecommunications service to harass, resisting police and burglary.
77 On 17 March 2003, you were convicted and fined for unlawful assault. Some three months later, on 4 June 2003, you were sentenced to a wholly suspended term of imprisonment for offences including criminal damage, making a threat to kill and assault in company. On the same day, the previous suspended sentence imposed on you on 20 September 2002 was restored.
78 At Horsham Magistrates’ Court on 3 July 2003, you were sentenced to a term of imprisonment for recklessly causing injury and making a threat to kill. That sentence was appealed and ultimately an aggregate term of five months’ imprisonment was imposed. The offending arose from an incident when you and the victim were at the same house watching television and when you punched him to the right hand side of his face.
79 On 29 October 2003, the Horsham County Court also presided over a plea in which you admitted to the digital penetration of a 13 year old girl after coaxing her into your bedroom. You were sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
80
On 26 November 2003, you were sentenced to 14 days’ imprisonment in respect of two charges of resisting arrest. Then, in the Melbourne
County Court on 11 April 2005, you pleaded guilty to charges of arson, theft and obtaining property by deception. You were sentenced to a total of four years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and six months. The charge arose when the elderly owner of a property at which you were undertaking some gardening work, asked you to leave and to remove your belongings. You became angry and set fire to the property by lighting the stuffing of cushions that you had ripped open. You then siphoned petrol from the tank of a car and spread it about the property before fleeing. The 75 year old owner of the property was devastated at the loss of his house.
81 Further, on 9 September 2005, you pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious injury. That offending arose when you attended the victim’s cell and assaulted him.
82 Following your release from prison you appeared in the Magistrates’ Court and were fined for various offences between 2008 and 2011.
83 On 3 May 2013, you were placed on a community correction order in respect of two charges of contravening a family violence intervention order. Subsequently, on 15 August 2013, you were sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment in respect of charges of making a threat to kill, recklessly causing serious injury and assaulting police on duty. Those charges arose in part from an argument you had with KS on 16 June 2013 when she was threatened with violence by you. Your brother intervened and you assaulted him, causing him to drift in and out of consciousness. When police were called, you became agitated and armed yourself with two large kitchen knives and started threatening the occupants of the house.
84 On 11 December 2013, you pleaded to charges of contravening a community correction order and contravening a family violence intervention order.
85 Still later, on 9 August 2016, you were sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment of six months for contravening a family violence intervention order, assault with a weapon, criminal damage and persistent contravention of a family violence intervention order. The victim was KS, who was at home with her four daughters. When police attended she was screaming for help. You followed KS into the kitchen after pushing her to the floor. You then took a knife and waved it around. KS ran out of the house and screamed. You threw an empty bassinet at the window causing the window to break. You left the premises and hid in bushes around the corner.
86 The recitation of your criminal record demonstrates that you are a man with a propensity for violence and uncontrolled outbursts of anger. I consider that you represent an enduring danger to the community.
Sentencing submissions
87 Your counsel sought to invoke principles elaborated in Verdins[1] and Bugmy.[2] In my view, there is little basis for enlivening those principles in this case.
[1][2007] 16 VR 269
[2][2013] HCA 37
88 Firstly, in respect of Bugmy, while you have reported physical and emotional abuse at the hands of your stepfather, it is significant that other than your own account, there is no independent evidence which supports your narrative. Your mother was not called in the course of the plea in mitigation and I regard you as a most unreliable historian.
89 I am unpersuaded that any sentence to be imposed on you should be moderated by the application of Bugmy principles. Even if your childhood lacked a nurturing and supportive framework and was marred by episodes of physical abuse, those factors do not provide a basis for mitigating sentence in a most serious case where just punishment, specific deterrence and community protection are salient considerations.
90 Further, your counsel invokes Verdins and submits that your moral culpability is lessened because of the borderline personality disorder identified by
Dr Sarkar.
91 In the course of his oral evidence, Dr Sarkar rejected any suggestion that you were suffering from a psychotic condition at the time that you offended, and in the Personality Assessment Inventory, which is used as a diagnostic tool, you denied having difficulties with anger, impulse control and alcohol use.
Dr Sarkar noted that your psychotic symptoms were self-reported and that there was no evidence that your functional world was affected by these experiences.
92 Dr Sarkar expressed the opinion that even without any objective evidence, your self-reported symptoms 'do not amount to much'. You had led your life in spite of them and they are not in any way contributory to what happened to KH. The abnormalities in your thinking, feeling, impulse control and capacity to relate to others, which are aspects of your borderline personality disorder, do affect your functioning but are difficult to disentangle from your consumption of substantial amounts of methamphetamine.
93 In my view, there is no evidence of a connection between your diagnosed disorder and the offending which would moderate your moral culpability. Indeed, to the extent that your personality disorder underpins your violent offending, I consider it represents a serious risk factor and invokes protective concerns.
94 I regard your prospects for rehabilitation as bleak. You deny responsibility and there is no suggestion that you have any remorse or insight. You have had multiple opportunities to treat your anger in the past, but the trajectory of your offending is escalating.
95 You consistently present yourself as the victim rather than the offender. Despite you having pleaded guilty to arson in 2005, you now claim that you falsely confessed to having set fire to a house in order to be put into prison for your own protection. As to earlier charges of sending messages through a telecommunication service in order to harass others, you now deny being responsible, claiming that it was your girlfriend at the time who used your mobile phone to send threatening messages to another woman. In respect of the 2003 conviction for sexual penetration of a child under 16, you now deny any wrongdoing and state that you were not guilty of the offence.
96 OFFENDER: That's exactly right.
97 HIS HONOUR: That you inflicted life threatening injuries on a vulnerable six week old baby in your care is truly terrible. Your offending is particularly grave. It demands denunciation. You have a wretched history of inflicting violence on others and specific deterrence looms large when sentencing you.
98 You told Dr Sarkar that KH was definitely not your child. While Dr Sarkar posited as a possibility that your assault on KH was a product of displaced anger towards KS, I consider - - -
99 OFFENDER: I didn't fucking assault her.
100 HIS HONOUR: - - - that it is more probable that you seriously injured KH when you were awoken from sleep and assaulted her while affected by ice. However, the actual trigger for your violence will remain unknown.
101 In respect of the charge of intentionally causing serious injury you fall to be sentenced as a serious violent offender. This court must regard the protection of the community as the principal purpose for which sentences are imposed on this offence and may impose a disproportionate sentence in order to achieve that objective. It is not submitted that a disproportionate sentence is necessary.
102 On the charge of intentionally causing serious injury you are sentenced to 13 years and 9 months imprisonment.
103 On the charge of breaching a family violence intervention order you are sentenced to 6 months imprisonment. Three months of that sentence is cumulative upon previous orders. In imposing that sentence I note your numerous prior convictions for breaching intervention orders.
104 The total effective sentence is 14 years' imprisonment.
105 OFFENDER: Fucking dog.
106 HIS HONOUR: I direct that you serve 11 years of that sentence before being eligible to be considered for parole.
107 Pursuant to s.18(4) of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare 1076 days of pre‑sentence detention and direct that an entry be made in the records of the court to that effect.
108 Pursuant to s.6F of the Sentencing Act, I direct that the fact that you have been sentenced as a serious violent offender in respect of Charge 1 be entered into the records of the court.
109 Be seated, LH.
110 Does anything arise from those remarks?
111 MR KOUNNAS: No, Your Honour.
112 MS SHIVAKUMAR: No, Your Honour.
- - -
Note: These Reasons for Sentence have been edited so as to delete a number of remarks of the offender.
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