R v. Dunn

[2007] QCA 153

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Dunn [2007] QCA 153

PARTIES:

R
v
DUNN, Shaun Lyndsay
(applicant)

FILE NO/S:

CA 45 of 2007
SC 82 of 2006

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

Sentence Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court at Brisbane

DELIVERED EX TEMPORE ON:

16 May 2007

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

16 May 2007

JUDGES:

Williams and Holmes JJA and Philippides J
Separate reasons for judgment of each member of the Court, each concurring as to the order made

ORDER:

Application dismissed

CATCHWORDS:

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 – where the applicant was convicted, on a plea of guilty, of one count of grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and one count of manslaughter – where the applicant was sentenced to six years imprisonment on the first count and eight years imprisonment on the second, with both sentences attracting a declaration of a serious violent offence – whether the serious violent offence declarations should have been made

R v McDougall & Collas [2006] QCA 365; CA No 83 & 94 of 2006, 22 September 2006, considered

COUNSEL:

C W Heaton for the applicant
R G Martin SC for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

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

HOLMES JA:  On 26 of February 2007, the applicant was sentenced to six years imprisonment with a serious violent offence declaration on one count of grievous bodily harm with intent to do grievous bodily harm and eight years imprisonment, again with a serious violent offence declaration, on one count of manslaughter.  167 days pre-sentence custody was declared.  He does not quarrel with the sentence for grievous bodily harm with intent, nor with the head sentence imposed on the manslaughter. Rather, his contention is that serious violent offence declarations ought not to have been made. 

The killing and the grievous bodily harm arose out of an altercation between two groups of people in a suburban neighbourhood, the applicant being a member of one group and the deceased, Allan Jordan, and the injured man, Kenneth Gilbert, the other. 

Gilbert and the applicant had had words earlier about a minor matter.  Gilbert made some racist remarks to the applicant and the incident escalated into fisticuffs.  Gilbert got the better of the applicant and then released him but the applicant was in a state of fury and wanted to resume the fight.  The police were called and matters settled down. 
However, Gilbert decided to resume hostilities.  To gain the support of some acquaintances, he cut his own head with a piece of glass and claimed that the injury had been inflicted by the applicant.  He persuaded five friends, armed variously with a baseball bat, a fighting stick, a fence paling and a metal stick,…