R v Halacoglu

[2019] NSWDC 384

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Halacoglu [2019] NSWDC 384
Hearing dates:	07 May 2019
Date of orders:	07 May 2019
Decision date:	07 May 2019
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	M L Williams SC DCJ
Decision:	Dismissed pursuant to s 19B(1)(c) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth): at [7].
Catchwords:	SENTENCING — Commonwealth offence — single offence SENTENCING — Mitigating factors — No record of previous convictions — Plea of guilty — Good character SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Character of offence SENTENCING — Penalties — offence proved — charges dismissed.
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1914 Criminal Code (Cth)
Cases Cited:	Nil
Texts Cited:	Nil
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Crown (Regina)   Onur Halacoglu (Offender)
Representation:	Mr McCauley (Crown)   Mr Healey (Offender)
File Number(s):	2016/247107

Judgment

1. These sentence proceedings can be disposed of economically due to the very efficient and economical preparation of the case by counsel for the Crown and by Mr Healey for the offender. Onur Halacoglu, born in 1984, has pleaded to one count of using a carriage service to menace under s 474(1)(7) of the Criminal Code (Cth). It carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment. He pleaded guilty today, which was to be the commencement of a trial for this and other more serious offences.

2. The Crown does not contest that an appropriate ultimate outcome is to deal with the matter under s 19B of the Crimes Act1914, and I propose to do so, for the reasons that follow.

3. The offender came here in 2010 on a student visa sponsored by the victim. They were in a relationship and living with victim’s two children from a previous relationship. Notwithstanding that, it seemed that in February 2016 the victim commenced a relationship with someone else and there were troubles in the relationship between the offender and the victim.

4. On 14 July 2016, there was a series of text messages exchanged between them in relation to the victim being fed up with his behaviour and telling him that his belongings were out at the front door. It got to the point where he said to her in a text, in Turkish, “If I’m not going to live, you are not going to live either” and the text exchange went on for a couple of hours after that. She reported feeling threatened by the offender and Police interviewed the offender. He agreed that he used the words that I have mentioned, but said that they had a different meaning.

5. He has no criminal record. I am told that his student visa has expired and he is on a bridging visa. The consequences in terms of his immigration status of any outcome of these proceedings are irrelevant as the authorities demonstrate.

6. The only subjective material tendered includes medical records in relation to the victim and a testimonial from a friend as to the apparently previously happy relationship of the offender and the victim, as does the victim herself in a document prepared at 2014, obviously before things fell apart.

7. As Mr Healy puts, this is an offence at the very low end of the scale of objective seriousness and given that he has been on bail with strict conditions and has had this matter hanging over his head for almost three years without any offending, it is appropriate in my view to deal with him under s 19B of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), having regard to the findings I have made as to the objective nature of the offence and the character and antecedence of the offender. The orders that I make are:

1. I find the offence proved. Without proceeding to conviction the charge is dismissed pursuant to s 19B(1)(c) of Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

Note - These extempore remarks were revised without access to the court file

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Decision last updated: 07 August 2019