R v Payne

Warwick Payne was convicted of various serious offences against a woman, including unlawful confinement, choking, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, and assault on a frontline worker. The offender unlawfully confined the woman for approximately eight hours, during which time he choked her multiple times, punched her, threw knives at her, cut her hand with a knife, and forced her to put her hand in hot salted water. The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory was required to decide the appropriate sentence for the offender, taking into account the objective seriousness of the offences, the subjective circumstances of the offender, and the other relevant sentencing considerations.

The court found that the offences were of mid-range to high objective seriousness, with the unlawful confinement and assault occasioning actual bodily harm charges being in the mid-range and the choking charge being at the upper end of the mid-range. The subjective circumstances of the offender included his borderline personality traits, substance abuse issues, and history of disciplinary problems in custody. The offender's age, criminal history, and identified risks of reoffending were also considered. The court discounted the offender's plea of guilty by approximately 10% due to its late entry. The court also took into account the offender's time spent in custody and compared the case to other similar cases.

The court found that specific and general deterrence, denunciation, and holding the offender accountable were the most significant sentencing considerations. The court imposed a sentence of 32 months imprisonment for the unlawful confinement charge, reduced to 32 months due to the plea of guilty, with a non-parole period of 27 months. The court imposed a sentence of 18 months imprisonment for the assault occasioning actual bodily harm charge, reduced to 18 months due to the plea of guilty, with a concurrent sentence of 12 months and 15 days imprisonment for the choking charge. The court imposed concurrent sentences of 10 days and 7 days imprisonment for the common assault and frontline worker assault charges, respectively. The sentences were ordered to be served concurrently, with a total sentence of 39 months and 10 days imprisonment.