DPP v Duggan
[2006] VSC 153
•24 April 2006
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
No. 1565 of 2005
No. 1576 of 2005
| DPP |
| v |
| TRAVIS GRAHAME DUGGAN |
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JUDGE: | TEAGUE J | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 11 April 2006 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 24 April 2006 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Duggan | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2006] VSC 153 | |
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Criminal Law – Sentencing – Pleas of guilty - Murder and Attempted Murder - Strangling of a former partner – Earlier attempted strangling of the then current partner – Head sentence of 22 years – Non-parole period of 17 years
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms C. Quin | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr D Brustman | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
Travis Duggan, you have pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Linda Duggan on 9 February 2005. You have also pleaded guilty to the murder of Jacinta Green on 2 July 2005.
The principal reason for the two senseless crimes is, or as it appears to me to be, that you are an alcoholic. You have long had a major drinking problem. With each of your two victims and with another woman, namely your wife, there were problems arising from your drinking. Those problems led to your divorcing your wife, to your strangling Jacinta Green, and to your attempting to strangle Linda Duggan. Your wife, to whom you were married in 1995, bore you two children. You separated from her for the final time in 2000, and got a divorce in 2002. With Jacinta Green, a relationship lasted for about two years into 2003. With Linda Duggan, a relationship began in July 2004. It ended with your attempt to strangle her.
In February 2005, you were living with Linda Duggan and her two children at Bendigo. On the night of 8 February, there was an argument between the two of you about your drinking. She locked you out of the house. You broke a window to get back inside. On the following night, you were again drinking. You took up a large kitchen knife and moved aggressively towards Linda Duggan. After she managed to push you off, you took out a Stanley knife and moved at her again. You chose not to use that knife to injure her. Instead, you choose to take her by the throat with both hands. You attempted to strangle her. Indeed, you thought that you had strangled her. Fortunately for you both, she survived, although she was seriously injured physically and psychologically. When you were first interviewed by police, you put the blame for what had happened on Linda Duggan. You portrayed her as suffering from mental health problems. You were charged with assault. You were placed on bail. The murder of Jacinta Green occurred while you were still on bail. To get away from you, Linda Duggan moved interstate. Despite her obtaining an intervention order banning you from contacting her directly or indirectly, you chose to continue to communicate with her, including by sending her emails. At times, she replied. The communications reveal a troubling ambivalence on your part and on hers. Amid the expressions of affection and remorse are expressions of hatred.
You too left Bendigo. You moved to Melbourne. In Melbourne, you sought out Jacinta Green. She had got on with her life after leaving you. She was doing well in her studies and in her work as an accountant. She had a spare room in the house she was renting in Moonee Ponds. As an act of kindness, she agreed to put you up for a couple of weeks. You abused her kindness. You chose to stay longer than she had agreed. On 2 July 2005, she told you that you had to leave the next day. You asked for another few days, but she refused. She insisted that you leave. That night you strangled Jacinta Green in her bedroom. You sent a text message to your brother. It was that you had done a bad thing. It was unthinkably bad. The message led to his contacting the police. By the time the police found the body of Jacinta Green and caught up with you, you had travelled to Newcastle for a court case. In your favour, when you were interviewed by the police you were substantially co-operative. I say substantially, not fully, as you put a questionable slant on some matters. But you accepted that you had attempted to strangle Linda Duggan and had strangled Jacinta Green.
I have read the five victim impact statements tendered on the plea. One was prepared by Linda Duggan. The other four were prepared by each of the adoptive mother, father and sister of Jacinta Green, and her birth mother. Each in his or her different way has been badly affected by the consequences of your senseless criminal actions. The indications are that those adverse consequences will continue long into the future.
You are 32 years of age, having been born in May 1973. Details of your background, which I will but briefly summarise, are provided in the reports of Dr Jager, and they were expanded by Mr Brustman at the plea hearing. You were raised on a farm. You lost your adoptive mother when you were aged six. You completed Year 11. You drank alcohol regularly from the age of 16. Your work history after leaving school was good, but with the qualification that your liking for alcohol led to some good times and a lot of bad times. The same comment can be seen to apply to your relationships. At times, you chose to add to the abuse of alcohol the use of illegal drugs. As the years have passed, your respect for the law appears to have diminished. Three times between October 2002 and September 2004, you faced court for driving without a licence or whilst disqualified. The last appearance also included ten charges of theft, arising from your taking advantage of an employer. You have significant mental health problems as is clear from the reports of Dr Jager. To a degree, those problems moderate your culpability. Your prospects of rehabilitation are difficult to assess at this stage. You will have the chance in prison to work on your further education. In time, you will have to address your alcoholism and the need for counselling and other continuing help for your mental health problems. Letters written by you and referred to at the plea hearing show a level of remorse, but there is a troubling ambivalence about so much of what you have written. I must and do allow a discount for your pleas of guilty. I make the required declaration that you are a serious violent offender and that it be entered in the records of the Court pursuant to s. 6F of the Sentencing Act 1991. Your sentence for murder and attempted murder must be for a long period. I am not proposing to increase it pursuant to s. 6D of the Sentencing Act 1991. I accept the need to allow for the application of the totality principle, and to make an appropriate order for cumulation. I have signed the retention order, there being no objection to my doing so.
I declare at 296 days, the period of pre-sentence detention. I direct that that be recorded. For the murder of Jacinta Green, I impose a sentence of 16 years. For the attempted murder of Linda Duggan, I impose a sentence of 8 years, concurrent as to 2 years, cumulative as to 6 years. The effective head sentence is 22 years. I fix a non-parole period of 17 years.
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