R v Charles

[2001] QCA 320

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Charles  [2001] QCA 320

PARTIES:

R
v
CHARLES, David Douglas
(applicant/appellant)

FILE NO/S:

CA No 66 of 2001
DC No 25 of 2001

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

Appeal against Conviction and Sentence

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court at Bundaberg

DELIVERED ON:

10 August 2001

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

2 August 2001

JUDGES:

Davies and Williams JJA, Byrne J

Judgment of the Court

ORDER:

(1)Allow the appeal against conviction for the offence of doing grievous bodily harm to Alison Imelda Gayton and quash that conviction but record a conviction for the alternative offence of unlawfully assaulting Alison Imelda Gayton and thereby doing her bodily harm.  

(2)Order that for the offence of unlawfully assaulting Alison Imelda Gayton and thereby doing her bodily harm (count 3 on the indictment) the appellant be imprisoned for a period of 9 months but order that the whole of that sentence of imprisonment be suspended and that the operational period be fixed at a period of 2 years.     

(3)Refuse the application for leave to appeal against the sentences of 3 months and 6 months imprisonment imposed with respect to counts 1 and 4 respectively on the indictment.  

CATCHWORDS:           

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL AND INQUIRY AFTER CONVICTION – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – PARTICULAR GROUNDS – MISDIRECTION AND NON-DIRECTION – GENERAL MATTERS – OTHER MATTERS – whether direction given on s 23(1A) Criminal Code without reference to s 23(1)(b) was misleading – where complainant may have been predisposed to injury – where no complaint made of injury until some months after incident and injury would heal overtime – whether sufficient evidence that injury constituted grievous bodily harm – whether direction as to grievous bodily harm adequately addressed causation and permanency

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL AND INQUIRY AFTER CONVICTION – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – APPEAL AGAINST SENTENCE – APPEAL BY CONVICTED PERSONS – APPLICATIONS TO REDUCE SENTENCE – WHEN REFUSED – PARTICULAR OFFENCES - OFFENCES AGAINST THE PERSON – GENERALLY – whether sentences of 3 months and 6 months for assaults occasioning bodily harm were manifestly excessive

Criminal Code, s 23(1)(b), s 23(1A)

COUNSEL:

P J Callaghan for the applicant/appellant
P D Kelly for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid Queensland for the applicant/appellant
Director of Public Prosecutions (Queensland) for the respondent

1. THE COURT:   As a result of events at a nightclub in Bundaberg in the early hours of the morning of 3 October 1999 the appellant (the proprietor of the nightclub) was charged with the following offences:

(1)        Assault P C Gayton and thereby did him bodily harm;

(2)        Did grievous bodily harm to A I Gayton;

(3)        Alternatively,    assault A I Gayton and thereby did her bodily harm;

(4)        Assault A I Gayton and thereby did her bodily harm.

1. The appellant pleaded guilty to the charge involving P C Gayton but pleaded not guilty to the charges involving A I Gayton ("the complainant").  The charge of doing grievous bodily harm related to…