R v Goder

[2019] NSWDC 413

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Goder [2019] NSWDC 413
Hearing dates:	18 April 2019
Decision date:	18 April 2019
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	Colefax SC DCJ
Decision:	Imprisonment of 4 years 6 months, with a non parole period of 2 years 6 months, for the offence of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm; and imprisonment for 6 months for the offence of steal from the person.
Catchwords:	CRIMES - SENTENCE - recklessly causing grievous bodily harm - steal from the person - special circumstances to vary ratio of the head sentence to the non parole period.
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) ss 35(2) and 94
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Regina (Crown) Matthew Goder (Offender)
Representation:	Ms Bhat (ODPP Parramatta) Mr Parsons (for the offender)
File Number(s):	2017/389303
Publication restriction:	Nil

​JUDGMENT

1. Matthew Goder, you appear for sentence today in relation to two offences which you committed on 22 December 2017. 

2. The first offence for which you are to be sentenced is that of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm. This involves a contravention of s 35(2) of the Crimes Act.  The maximum penalty for that offence is 10 years' imprisonment and there is a standard non‑parole period of 4 years' imprisonment. 

3. The second offence for which you are to be sentenced is that of stealing from the person. This involves a contravention of s 94 of the Crimes Act.  The maximum penalty for that offence is 14 years imprisonment and there is no standard non‑parole period.

4. The facts surrounding your offending are contained in a document called Agreed Facts.  Slightly recast by me as to style but not substance, the facts are as follows. 

5. As at December 2017, you were living in a Department of Housing home unit in Noller Parade in Parramatta and, at the same time, Mr Al Mansuri lived in another home unit complex in the same street.  Mr Al Mansuri shared his home unit with a friend of his, Mr Saeef. 

6. You and Mr Al Mansuri had known each other, as at December 2017, for about 6 months.

7. On 22 December 2017, Mr Al Mansuri and his friend, Mr Saeef, at 2am went to a 7‑Eleven store in Parramatta to get some cigarettes.  When they were walking home, they came across you.  You were standing on a footpath holding some balloons.  Why you were there at that time holding such objects is not recorded in the Agreed Facts.

8. As soon as you saw Mr Al Mansuri you became quite agitated.  You began yelling and swearing at him. You came up and confronted him,  demanded money, and used offensive language. Without any more you then struck him to the face, causing blood to come from above the left eye.

9. Mr Al Mansuri tried to get away from you.  He stepped to one side but you pursued him.  You shoved his face into a streetlight pole.  This caused Mr Al Mansuri to briefly lose vision but you didn't stop.  You grabbed Mr Al Mansuri by his shirt and threw him to the ground.  You stood over the top of him and reigned down blows with your fists to his head and his body. Then you kicked him, and you punched him some more. Then you stomped on his face; then you kicked his face. 

10. He was pleading with you to stop.  Rather than stopping, you kept on demanding money and demanding drugs. 

11. It was a vicious, cowardly and brutal attack. 

12. In total, you struck Mr Al Mansuri somewhere between 16 and 20 times.  

13. Mr Saeef tried to intervene but he was unsuccessful.  Finally, Mr Al Mansuri managed to get away from you and he ran off.  His intention was to get a taxi to go to the police. 

14. Whilst he was waiting for a taxi, Mr Al Mansuri took some money out of his pants.  You then came up and stole $250 from him.  You punched him again and threatened to kill him if you did not get some more money from him.  You then ran off. 

15. Mr Al Mansuri took a taxi to Parramatta Police Station where the incident was reported, after which he was taken to the Westmead Hospital.

16. The agreed statement of facts sets out, with some particularity, the very serious injuries to Mr Al Mansuri's face which you inflicted.  The facts say that it was recommended that he should be seen by a maxillofacial surgeon, which suggests the degree of seriousness. But, unhelpfully, the agreed statement of facts do not go any further.  The Court has not been told whether, in fact, it was necessary for your victim to have facial surgery.  In fact, the Court is told nothing about what happened to your victim after he was initially seen at Westmead Hospital.

17. Certainly, there is no victim impact statement available for the Court to understand what, if any, long term psychological (as well as physical) injuries you inflicted on this man in the early hours of this morning. 

18. However, I do know this - that so brutal and violent was your attack, that one of your hands was broken. 

19. When you were interviewed by police when you were arrested on 24 December 2017, you told them that Mr Al Mansuri had, on an occasion about four months earlier, been to your flat and that he had taken two packages of ice from you and that he had not paid you for those drugs.  You told the police that you had beaten Mr Al Mansuri because of this drug debt.

20. Mr Al Mansuri has not given any evidence in these proceedings.  Whilst you told the police that there was a drug debt owed, I make no finding at all as to the truth of that. I am not, in these remarks, expressing any view that Mr Al Mansuri was a receiver or user of drugs but, rather, I am simply repeating what you told to the police. 

21. The Court is required to make a finding of the objective seriousness of each of these two offences for offences of their kind.  The recklessly cause grievous bodily harm is above the mid-range of objective seriousness.  The steal from the person is towards the bottom of the range.

22. You are now 31 years old. 

23. Your life has not been a happy one.  Your parents were not satisfactory parents and you have been, effectively, homeless since you were 16 years old.

24. From the age of 17 you have had numerous admissions to psychiatric units of public hospitals. 

25. Notably, you have been using cannabis since you were 14 years' old and Dr Elliott, who prepared a report for the Court, has incisively made the following comment at the bottom of p 5: "He" (meaning you, Mr Goder) "expressed regret about his early cannabis use, perceiving correctly that it had led to many of his problems".

26. In addition to your long‑term use of cannabis, you have also (in recent years at least) been a frequent and regular user of methylamphetamine. 

27. The use of those drugs, combined with your chronic condition of schizophrenia and (possibly) borderline personality disorder, is a diabolical combination. 

28. Dr Elliott does not express an opinion as to whether or not the cannabis has caused the schizophrenia,  but the taking of those mind altering drugs and the non‑taking of your prescribed legitimate drugs whilst suffering from schizophrenia, is very problematic for you - and the community in which you live.

29. You left school at an early age and you have not had a good work history. 

30. You have been largely itinerant until relatively recent times. 

31. At the time of your offending, you were on a disability support pension.  How it was, whilst on that pension, that you were able to spend $200 a week on methylamphetamine is not revealed by any of the material before me.  Suffice to say, there is no evidence that it was paid for by legitimate employment. 

32. Considering your long‑term use of illegal drugs and your mental health conditions, you have a relatively modest criminal history.  You have previously been to prison, but that was in 2011 when you were convicted of an offence of violence (again, recklessly cause grievous bodily harm) -the facts of which have not been put before the Court.  You are not entitled, therefore, to the leniency which, in appropriate circumstances, is extended to first offenders.

33. I have spent some time referring to your mental health condition and your drug addictions.  I am not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that either of those matters had any causal connection with your offending on this night.  As Dr Elliott has recorded in his report, your offending behaviour was motivated by a drug debt and was not causally connected to your mental health issues or your drug use issues. 

34. You have not expressed remorse for what you have done.  In large part, I suspect, that is a consequence of your mental health issues, including potential borderline personality disorder.

35. It is sad to say, Mr Goder, but I have concluded that your prospects of rehabilitation are, in fact, poor.  However, notwithstanding that they are poor, they have some prospects and they would be increased by a longer period on parole. 

36. Because of that finding, and because of your mental health issues, I am going to make a finding of special circumstances to vary the ratio of the head sentence to the non‑parole period. 

37. I recommend that, if and when you are admitted to parole (that being a question entirely for the parole authority), the treatment recommendations contained in exhibit C by Dr Elliott be provided to the probation and parole officers who are to supervise you.

38. Whilst, because of your mental health issues, general deterrence (that is, fixing a sentence that would deter others from your offending) is of reduced significance, it has still some application.  Furthermore, because of your mental health issues, specific deterrence (that is, imposing a sentence that discourages you from re-offending) is also of reduced but still applicable consideration.  The protection of the community, however, is an issue that is fully engaged. 

39. In both cases, the s 5 threshold is crossed.  In other words, in both cases, no sentence other than a period of imprisonment is appropriate.

40. You pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and, accordingly, you are to receive a discount of 25% for the utilitarian value only of the plea.

41. The sentence will be backdated to the date of your arrest, namely, 24 December 2017. 

42. In relation to the offence of grievously cause bodily harm, except for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of 6 years.  Because of the plea of guilty, the term of imprisonment is 4 years and 6 months.  I fix a non‑parole period of 2 years and 6 months to date from 24 December 2017 and which will expire on 23 June 2020.  I fix a balance of 2 years to date from 24 June 2020 and which will expire on 23 June 2022.

43. In relation to the steal from the person, except for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of 8 months.  Because of the plea of guilty, the term of imprisonment is 6 months to date from 24 December 2017 and which expired 23 June 2018.   

44. You may now go with the officers.

Decision last updated: 13 August 2019