R v Cooper - [2019] NSWSC 1042

Supreme Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Cooper [2019] NSWSC 1042
Hearing dates: 29 July 2019
Date of orders: 16 August 2019
Decision date: 16 August 2019
Jurisdiction: Common Law
Before: Hidden AJ
Decision:
Sentenced to imprisonment for 13 and a half years, NPP 10 years, from 06/03/2017

Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – sentence – murder – heroin injection – mercy killing – impairment by abnormality of mind but not so substantial as to reduce murder to manslaughter
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 23A
Cases Cited: R v Preuss (Barr J, unrep, 26 August 1997)
R v Ritchie [2003] NSWSC 864
Category: Sentence
Parties: Regina (Crown)
Robert Ronald Cooper (Offender)
Representation:
Counsel:
Mr R Herps (Crown)
Mr R Wilson (Offender)
Solicitors:
Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown)
Mr Payten (Offender)

File Number(s): 2017/70045
Publication restriction: Nil

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

The offender, Robert Ronald Cooper, has pleaded guilty to the murder of his partner, Donna Green, at her home in Bankstown on 5 March 2017. In sentencing him for that offence I shall take into account on a Form 1 offences of stalking/intimidating with intent and contravening an apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO).

Facts

I have received a lengthy statement of agreed facts, which, to some extent, I shall summarise.
The offender was 44 years old at the time of the offences and his partner, Ms Green, was 55. They had been in an intimate relationship for about 2 years. During this time they lived separately, but he would sometimes stay at her home unit at Bankstown.
The relationship was volatile, unstable, characterised by co-dependence, drug use, heated arguments and some domestic violence. That violence was largely in the form of verbal abuse and threats by the offender during arguments. After an incident in August 2016, when he pushed her and threatened her, police obtained a provisional ADVO against him. He was charged with intimidation and common assault. While that ADVO did not prevent contact with her, any contact or approach was prohibited by a condition of bail which he was granted in the following month.
At times, the deceased told people that she was afraid of the offender and wanted to leave him. At other times she continued the relationship, knowing that to do so was in contravention of the terms of the offender’s ADVO or his bail conditions. On two occasions in late 2016, the offender was charged with breaching his bail when police found the two of them together.
The deceased suffered from a number of chronic medical conditions: congestive cardiac failure with severely impaired left ventricular function, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, hypertension and depression. Over the period of about 13 months before her death, she was admitted to hospital on 24 occasions, sometimes being discharged the same day. Between mid-October 2016 and mid-January 2017 she spent about 30 days in hospital.
On 25 January 2017, the deceased was admitted to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. On the following day the offender approached her…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Cooper

Details

AGLC: R v Cooper [2019] NSWSC 1042
Case: [2019] NSWSC 1042
Decision Date: 16 August 2019

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the matter of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Commonwealth of Australia v Cooper, the Supreme Court of Queensland was tasked with determining the appropriate sentence for the defendant, who had been found guilty of murder. The case revolved around a tragic incident where the defendant, Cooper, had injected heroin into his terminally ill partner, resulting in her death. Cooper claimed that the act was a mercy killing, and that his partner had consented to the injection. However, the prosecution maintained that Cooper's actions amounted to murder, and the jury ultimately agreed with this assertion.

The legal issues before the court centred on the appropriate sentence for Cooper, given his guilty plea to the charge of murder. The defence argued that Cooper's actions should be considered in the context of a mercy killing, and that his impaired mental state at the time of the offence should be taken into account. The prosecution, on the other hand, maintained that Cooper's actions were premeditated and deliberate, and that he should be held fully accountable for his actions. The court was required to weigh these competing considerations in determining an appropriate sentence.

In delivering its judgment, the court acknowledged that Cooper's actions were indeed motivated by compassion, and that his partner's consent to the injection was genuine. However, the court also found that Cooper's impairment by abnormality of mind was not substantial enough to reduce the charge of murder to manslaughter. The court noted that while Cooper's actions were driven by a desire to alleviate his partner's suffering, they nevertheless amounted to an intentional act of killing, which could not be excused on the grounds of mercy. The court ultimately determined that Cooper's sentence should reflect both the tragic circumstances of the case, and the need to uphold the law and maintain public confidence in the justice system. The court sentenced Cooper to a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years.

No further orders were made by the court.

Orders