R v Eustace
[2019] VSC 189
•26 March 2019
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
S CR 2018 0227
| THE QUEEN | |
| v | |
| DOUGLAS DERICK EUSTACE | Accused |
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JUDGE: | TAYLOR J |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 12 December 2018 |
DATE OF JUDGMENT: | 26 March 2019 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | R v Eustace |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VSC 189 |
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CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence – Murder – Family Violence – Stabbing – Twelve separate wounds – Guilty plea – Remorse – General deterrence and denunciation – Just punishment – Good prospects for rehabilitation – Deportation at expiry of sentence – Sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment with non-parole period of 20 years.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Ms K Churchill | John Cain, Solicitor to the OPP |
| For the Accused | Dr T Alexander | Paul Vale Solicitors |
HER HONOUR:
Douglas Eustace Derick Eustace, you have pleaded guilty to murder.
The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment.
Summary of Offending
You met Mary Freeman on 14 July 2017, while you were visiting Australia from India. Three months later you married. A further three months later, on 27 January 2018, you killed her in a frenzied knife attack in the bedroom of your shared home.
Ms Freeman suffered 12 sharp force wounds to her chest, abdomen, arm and leg. Your conduct in inflicting those wounds was sustained, purposeful and ruthlessly determined. Even after you had been restrained in a head lock and dragged from the bedroom by another occupant of the house, you broke free, returned to the room and stabbed Ms Freeman twice more saying ‘let me go, I want to kill this bitch’.
Ms Freeman’s life ended in physical pain and terror, the magnitude of which is difficult to imagine. The reason why you ended her life in such a manner is unfathomable. But, there is no doubt that your actions were brutal and utterly senseless. You committed the ultimate act of family violence. I denounce your behaviour in the strongest possible terms.
Background
Your marriage to Mary Freeman was, perhaps, of convenience. You were in Australia on a visitor visa when you met at a party. Your first, unsuccessful marriage proposal was made that same day. Two days later you returned to India. From there you and Ms Freeman communicated via social media. You renewed your offer of marriage, which was then accepted. As a result, you returned to Melbourne on 25 August 2017, again on a visitor visa.
Ms Freeman was then living in a share house in Hallam with a married couple, Nilushi and Palinda, and another man, Rushan. You moved in, initially into a separate bedroom. On 7 October 2017 you and Ms Freeman married, at which point you moved into her bedroom in the share house. The arrangement was not successful. There were arguments, and you began to sleep in separate beds. You had, by then, been granted a bridging visa pending the determination of your application for a partner visa. Ms Freeman told Nilushi that she would remain in the marriage only until you received your permanent visa.
26 January 2017
During the evening of 26 January 2017, you, Ms Freeman and Rushan were drinking alcohol together in your joint home. Nilushi and Palinda, who had been out to dinner, returned about 10.00pm. Palinda retired to bed while Nilushi joined your group.
A conversation about the relative superiority of men or women, initially jovial, became heated and then acrimonious. You and Ms Freeman argued bitterly. She told you to ‘fuck off right now to India’. You replied ‘I do whatever you want’. Nilushi attempted to calm the argument, but could not pacify Ms Freeman, who was verbally aggressive towards you.
A Facebook post made by Ms Freeman just after midnight illuminates her frame of mind: ‘And the story goes … when you tell me … about my upbringing … fuck you … I’m alone and stand alone … watch me … and watch this space.’
After Nilushi and Rushan both encouraged you and Ms Freeman to sort out your differences behind closed doors, Ms Freeman went alone to the bedroom.
Shortly thereafter, you went to the kitchen to obtain a large kitchen knife. You secreted it down the back of your trousers before entering the bedroom, where the loud, verbal argument between you and Ms Freeman continued. The argument was so loud that a neighbour heard you both yelling threats to kill each other.
You later told police that upon entering the room you saw Ms Freeman flipping a small green paring knife in her hands.[1] You said that you interpreted that as a warning and asked her if she was planning something. You stated that Ms Freeman replied, ‘oh, so that’s the game you want to play, let’s play.’
[1]A small green paring knife was later located beneath her body.
You revealed your own knife and began stabbing Ms Freeman. You told police that as you attacked her, Ms Freeman was crouching, crying and trying to cover herself. She was also screaming. Upon hearing those screams, Nilushi and Rushan ran towards the bedroom.
Nilushi, arriving first, saw Ms Freeman covered in blood and a knife in your hand. She tried to pull you out of the room, but you told her to leave. Nilushi went to get Palinda. Rushan then entered the bedroom and, as I have said, put you in a headlock and dragged you out. You resisted, announced your continuing intention to kill Ms Freeman, and returned to the room to resume your attack. The stab wounds you then inflicted were to the upper thigh and knee cap.
Palinda, woken by Nilushi, arrived. It took he and Rushan together to physically remove and disarm you. They locked you outside the house and called emergency services. You made several phone calls, including one to an acquaintance from whom you requested a lift to a police station. You attended at the Dandenong police station at about 1.00am, where you were arrested after stating that you had stabbed your wife.
Meanwhile, police officers and paramedics attended at the Hallam house in response to various 000 calls. Ms Freeman was declared deceased at 1.14am.
Forensic findings
A post mortem examination of Ms Freeman’s body revealed 12 sharp force wounds to her body, namely:
(a) four incised wounds to the right chest;
(b) three incised wounds to the left breast;
(c) one incised wound to the right iliac fossa;
(d) one incised wound to the right elbow; and
(e) three incised wounds to the right leg.
Two of these wounds caused serious injury to the underlying structures. One of the chest wounds extended from front to back, right to left and downwards through the sternum to a depth of 6cm, damaging the right ventricle of the heart and causing bleeding into the heart cavity. Another of the chest wounds had a tract right to left largely horizontally and extended front to back to a depth of 10cm. It penetrated the liver. Two injuries to the lower right leg were deeply into muscle and caused significant blood loss. Death was caused by a combination of injuries.
Police interview
You twice participated in a record of interview with police on 27 January 2017: at 1.24am and again at 11.00am. Between those interviews you were examined by a Forensic Medical Officer. You exhibited no signs of alcohol or drug related intoxication. You had smears of blood on your right hand and left calf, and a superficial incision on your left index finger.
During the police interviews, you admitted that you had stabbed Ms Freeman. You said the marriage was not working, that you had been arguing, and that you initially took the knife to threaten and scare her. You said you did not know why you stabbed Ms Freeman. You said you were angry and drunk but had no right to take her life.
Victim Impact Statements
I have received and considered victim impact statements from six people who are devastated by the death of Mary Freeman. Their evidence was extremely powerful.
Her daughter speaks of how she cannot fully understand why her mother, an amazing and wonderful woman, will not be with her on her wedding day and will never have the opportunity to be a grandmother. She speaks of your betrayal of her family, after she accepted you into it. That sentiment was also expressed by Ms Freeman’s sister, who also speaks of Ms Freeman’s generosity and kindness. The ex-husband of Ms Freeman speaks of the pain of the loss of the woman he has known and loved most of his life, and who was still his friend and the mother of his daughter.
Nilushi, Palinda and Rushan, the housemates of Ms Freeman, all speak of the absence of their friend in their lives and the trauma of witnessing your murderous actions and the manner of Ms Freeman’s death. A permanent disquiet has pervaded their lives.
It is clear that Mary Freeman was a much loved and valued woman, and those who were closest to her are still struggling with the impact of her death.
Personal Circumstances
It is necessary to say something about your personal circumstances.
You were born in Chennai on 8 May 1974. You were 43 years of age at the time of your offending. You are now aged 44.
You are the eldest of five sons born to your parents. Your mother, now aged 64, was a teacher. Your father, now deceased, was an aggressive alcoholic. When the first of your brothers was born, your parents and that child moved from your paternal grandparent’s home, leaving you to live with your grandfather.
Your schooling, which included boarding school, was unremarkable and in 1993 you commenced work as a mechanic, for an engineering contactor as well as for your father, who owned a garage. Your subsequent work history shows you to be a man of industry.
In 1996, following the death of your father, you obtained work in the Kingdom of Bahrain. You remained there working as a sandblaster and rigging foreman until 2002, when you returned to India to live with your mother and commenced work as a self-employed mechanic. A year later you returned to Bahrain to again work as a rigging foreman. In 2007 you returned again to live in India. From that time until 2017, you worked on oil rigs at various locations.
Prior to meeting Ms Freeman, you had two significant relationships. In 2004 you entered into an arranged marriage with a woman named Princey. She lived in Dubai when you worked in Bahrain. The marriage was not of long duration. In 2005 you met a woman named Irish in Dubai. Irish lived with her daughter in the Philippines. Until 2013, when that relationship ended, you would travel there to see Irish and her daughter. From that time you continued to provide financial support to them.
Analysis
Your offending is self-evidently extremely serious.
The killing of a domestic partner erodes a fundamental precept of our society, namely that all persons have a right to safety, respect and trust in their most intimate relationships. Whether your marriage to Ms Freeman was of convenience or not, and I note that you profess genuine affection for her, you had voluntarily entered into a state in which you owed Ms Freeman kindness and safety. By your brutal actions you betrayed her trust and the expectation that no matter what issues arise in a family relationship, violence, let alone fatal violence, will never be done. No matter what stressors were operative upon you – fear, anger, intoxication or frustration – you could and should have walked away.
In simple terms, no woman should fear or suffer physical harm because her partner loses his temper. Your killing of your wife for such a reason is at the extreme end of the scale of abominable acts.
That Ms Freeman was your wife and that you murdered her in your home are significantly aggravating of your offending. Family violence and, particularly, family violence resulting in death, are matters of compelling and legitimate public concern. Accordingly, principles of general deterrence, denunciation and just punishment loom large in the sentencing exercise.[2]
[2]Felicite (2013) 37 VR 329.
Also aggravating of your conduct is the use of the knife together with the number of wounds you inflicted, and your continued attack after you had been restrained by Rushan.
The Crown concedes that you did not have murderous intent at the time you took the knife from the kitchen; you told Ms Carla Lechner, who prepared a psychological report tendered on your behalf, that you took the knife to ‘frighten her to shut up’. Rather, that intention was formed at the time you inflicted 12 separate wounds to a vulnerable woman, crouching and covering herself in a vain attempt at protection against your fury. The tenacity of your determination to kill Ms Freeman, evident in your not only returning to the bedroom to inflict a further two wounds, but also in the nature of one of those wounds – a slashing deep into the muscle around the knee cap – is chilling. Even then you had to be restrained and removed a second time.
The objective gravity of your offending and your moral culpability for it are very high.
Sentencing Considerations
You pleaded guilty after a committal hearing, but nonetheless still at a relatively early stage. That plea demonstrates a willingness to facilitate the course of justice. It has significant utilitarian benefit and has spared the witnesses and Ms Freeman’s family the ordeal of a trial.
That plea is relevant to your remorse, which I accept as genuine. You immediately surrendered yourself at Dandenong police station and thereafter made admissions to the killing. You have subsequently expressed your contrition, both in a letter of apology written to Ms Freeman’s family and to Ms Lechner. While there may be some indication that you attempted to minimise the gravity of your behaviour during your interview with Ms Lechner by claiming that Ms Freeman pointed a knife at you, that does not undermine the cogency of the other evidence demonstrating your remorse.
Your partner visa application was refused on 14 August 2018. You will be deported to India upon the expiry of your sentence. Although you have some family in India, I accept that the knowledge of your certain deportation will make imprisonment more burdensome on you than on a prisoner who does not contend with such a concern, and that you have lost the opportunity of settling in Australia.[3]
[3]Guden v The Queen [2010] VSCA 196; Darcie v The Queen [2012] VSCA 11.
I also accept that you will, to some degree, be isolated in custody. You have telephone contact with your aunt in Sydney, your mother and brothers in India, and other brothers in London and Dubai. But family members in Melbourne have ceased contact with you. Having said that, it seems that you have made good use of your time in custody. I have received a number of references on your behalf. These include those from the Catholic Prison Ministry and other prisoners. You have facilitated a prayer service in your unit and your fellow prisoners hold you in great esteem.
The references tendered on your behalf show you to have been a hard-working man and that you were previously of good character. It is common ground that your prospects for rehabilitation are good, and both specific deterrence and the need to protect the community from you are of little moment in the sentencing exercise.
I have been referred to a number of cases to assist me with the range of sentences for an offence such as this.[4] I have had regard to current sentencing practices.[5]
[4]R v Banek [2017] VSC 11; R v Singh [2015] VSC 738; DPP v Browning [2016] VSCA 153.
[5]Sentencing Advisory Council, Sentencing Snapshot: Murder, No 198, April 2017.
Sentence
Mr Derick Eustace, please stand.
Balancing, as best I am able, the competing considerations laid down in the Sentencing Act 1991 (‘the Act’) and having regard to the matters I have just discussed, for the offence of murder, I sentence you to imprisonment for 25 years. You must serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.
I declare that you have already served 423 days of that sentence by way of pre-sentence detention.
I am required by s 6AAA of the Act to indicate what sentence I would have imposed but for your plea of guilty. As such, I declare that I would have imposed a sentence of 28 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 years.
I make the disposal order in the terms sought by the Crown.
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