R v Greenup

[2019] NSWDC 436

District Court

New South Wales

• Amendment notes

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Greenup [2019] NSWDC 436
Hearing dates:	15 April 2019
Date of orders:	15 April 2019
Decision date:	15 April 2019
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	M L Williams SC
Decision:	A sentence of imprisonment of 3 years, 9 months with a non-parole period of 2 years, 2 months: at [12].
Catchwords:	SENTENCING — Aggravating factors — Use of weapon SENTENCING — Mitigating factors — Plea of guilty SENTENCING — Subjective considerations on sentence — Aboriginal offenders — Drug addiction — Intoxication SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Circumstances of offence — Objective seriousness SENTENCING — Sentencing procedure — Use of statistics
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999
Cases Cited:	R v Lawrence [2005] NSWCCA 91 DPP (Cth) v De La Rosa (2010) 79 NSWLR 1 Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571
Texts Cited:	Nil
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Regina (Crown)   Phillip Greenup (Offender)
Representation:	Ms T Kuppusamy (Crown)   Mr G Stanton (Offender)
File Number(s):	2018/100906

Judgment

1. Mr Stanton, counsel for the offender, accurately put that this is a sad case of a 33 year old Aboriginal man, who has spent 10 years of his life in custody so far. He left school early, had a disrupted childhood, got into drugs and trouble from the age of about 13. He held a few odd jobs, and had a factory job for about two years, before being sacked for being drunk at work. He would steal money from Woolworths to get by. He has not really worked for about 10 years.

2. He pleaded guilty in the Local Court to a charge of recklessly cause grievous bodily harm under s 35(2) of the Crimes Act 1900, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment with a 4 year standard non-parole period. He is entitled to a 25% discount for the utilitarian value of the guilty plea. Notwithstanding that there was to be a disputed facts hearing, the facts have not ultimately been the subject of any real dispute. They are briefly summarised in the psychiatrist’s report, the history of which was affirmed and subject to challenge here. The offender was at a homeless shelter in Surry Hills and was clearly groggy and under the influence of drugs when he stabbed the victim, with what he described as the big, 20 cm knife long knife, causing lacerations to his axilla under the victim’s left armpit, the right chest in the epigastric area close to his ribs and his lower abdomen causing the victim’s bowel contents to hang out. He also inflicted an 8cm laceration to the victim’s right calf, , as well as causing 15 centimetre laceration to his right thigh which appeared to completely sever his quadriceps muscle, he lost a litre of blood. The victim was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital where he was intubated and received a blood transfusion and emergency surgery.

3. The series of events which led to the offence, started on…