R v Bussey

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Bussey [2020] NSWDC 802

Hearing dates:

5 June 2020; 6 July 2020; 7 July 2020

Date of orders:

7 July 2020

Decision date:

07 July 2020

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

W Hunt DCJ

Decision:

The offender is sentenced to imprisonment for 4 years and 6 months. There is to be a non-parole period of 3 years.

Catchwords:

CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence – Jury verdict – Aggravated sexual assault – Deprivation of liberty.

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act,

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act

Cases Cited:

Dinsdale v The Queen [2000] HCA 54

202 CLR 321; 74 ALJR 1538; 175 ALR 315.

Filippou v The Queen [2015] HCA 29.

R v GDP (1991) 53 A Crim R 112

R v Henry (1999) 106 A Crim R 149

R v Lattouf (Unrep. CCA NSW) 12 December 1996:

R v Miller [2015] NSWCCA86

R v O’Neill [1979] 2 NSWLR 582

R v Olbrich (1999) 108 A Crim R 464

R v Qutami [2001] NSWCCA 353

Weininger v The Queen [2003] HCA 14; (2003) 212 CLR 629.

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

The Crown
Derek David Bussey

Representation:

Counsel:
S Goodwin – the offender

Solicitors:
Director of Public Prosecutions – the Crown
Monica McKenzie Solicitor.

File Number(s):

2018/00343640

Publication restriction:

There is to be no publication of the name of the complainant or of any material which may tend to identify the complainant.

Judgment

1. HIS HONOUR: These are ex tempore reasons in relation to the facts to be found and the reasons for the sentence that I am going to impose on Mr Bussey in circumstances where I considered evidence and written and oral submissions yesterday, first, on 5 June 2020 and against yesterday and then adjourned the matter overnight just to consider some of the factual issues. A relevant short chronology of the matter is that the offender was arraigned on an indictment averring four counts before me and pleaded not guilty to each of those counts. A jury trial commenced on 3 March 2020.

2. The jury commenced to deliberate about lunchtime on 20 March 2020 and, after I gave a majority verdict direction on the afternoon of 24 March 2020, the jury returned verdicts of not guilty in relation to count 1, count 2, and count 4 on the indictment, and found Mr Bussey guilty of count 3, which is an offence in breach of s 61J(2) that for that matter is provided a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment and a standard non-parole period has application. I will have regard to both of those as benchmarks or guideposts in the way contemplated by the authorities and, in due course, I will articulate in short some of the reasons that I have departed significantly from the standard non‑parole period, notwithstanding that this was a verdict after trial.

3. The fact-finding exercise in this matter is made, it is accepted by the parties and articulated by me, quite difficult in circumstances where the jury…