R v Pyke
[2005] VSC 370
•21 September 2005
| IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | Not Restricted |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
No. 1539 of 2005
| THE QUEEN |
| v |
| DAVID NEIL PYKE |
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JUDGE: | TEAGUE J | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 16 September 2005 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 21 September 2005 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | R v David Neil Pyke | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2005] VSC 370 | |
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Criminal Law – Sentencing – Murder by use of shotgun in family home – Revenge killing – Plea of guilty – Imprisonment for 27 years – Non-parole period of 22 years
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Crown | Mr R. Elston S.C. | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr J. Montgomery | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
David Pyke. You have pleaded guilty to having murdered Mark Logan on 22 May 2005 at Morwell.
The murder has to be seen in the context of a bashing two years earlier. In June 2003, just out of Morwell, you were assaulted and severely bashed. Because of the head injuries sustained, you cannot remember being bashed. You believed that among those responsible were two men. One was Mark Logan, the other was Scott Farrugia. You received a fractured skull. You suffered brain damage. You lost your hearing in one ear. You suffered other adverse consequences.
You wanted your own form of revenge for that bashing. The police were prepared to investigate. You chose not to help the police. You told your friends that you would be doing something about those responsible. Last year, you did confront Mark Logan. You accused him of having had a hand in your being bashed. He denied it. You chose not to believe him.
On 22 May 2005, you bought a cask of wine. You took it to the house in which you then lived. After lunch, you started drinking from the cask. You got yourself drunk. You also smoked some marijuana. Around 6 p.m., you left the house to walk to the home of your mother. You took with you a shotgun and 4 cartridges. You had had that shotgun for some months. From your youth you had had a familiarity with shotguns. When you arrived at the home of your mother, you borrowed some money from her. You then took, without seeking permission, the keys to the Ford car parked in the drive. That Ford belonged to the man who cared for your mother. You called to see a man who was an acquaintance of both you and Mark Logan. That acquaintance had been present when you had earlier confronted Mark Logan. You raised again the subject of your earlier bashing.
You drove to the home of Mark Logan. You knocked on the door. You had the shotgun by your side, but not so that it was obvious. When Mark Logan came to the door, you told him to come outside so that the two of you could sort things out. He told you that he had not been one of those who bashed you. He would not go outside. He told you to leave. He shut the door. He warned the others in the house that you were there, and that he thought that you had a gun. He went back to the front door, as you were coming in. You fired the shotgun. The shot hit Mark Logan mainly to the left arm and chest. He dropped to the floor in the lounge room.
You left the house. You walked back out to the Ford. You started to drive off. You then reflected as to whether, with your first shot, you might not have killed Mark Logan. You did a u-turn. You parked opposite the house where you had just shot Mark Logan. You reloaded the shotgun. You went back into the house. Mark Logan was then on the lounge room floor. His fiancée, Lydia Galea was then with him, attending to him. You shot Mark Logan a second time. The second time, it was to the abdomen and at very close range.
You left the house for the second time. You did not go immediately to the police. When the police caught up with you some hours later, you were fully co-operative. You answered their questions, for the most part, truthfully. You told the police that you had intended to kill Mark Logan. You said that you had killed him for what he had done to you. At one point, you added that you wished that you had not shot him.
I have read the victim impact statement of Lydia Galea. She writes tellingly of her vivid unpleasant memories of the shooting, of the grief she feels for Mark Logan, and of the various adverse consequences to her and her 3 children arising from his death at your hands. She and the 3 children were in the house when you fired the murderous shots. She was inches away from you, pleading with you to go, when you fired the second of them.
You are 37 years of age. You were born in November 1967. The two psychological reports tendered on the plea provide details of your background. In short, you were the youngest of four boys raised in Gippsland. You have been much of a loner, moving from place to place, from job to job and from relationship to relationship, and too often, from one prison to another.
You have served one long period in prison in Queensland. There have been a number of shorter terms up to 2004 in this state. You have problems with alcohol and with illegal drugs. Your prior offences indicate that you have a disposition to take the law into your own hands. There are several convictions for offences of violence.
Both psychological reports note your tendency to be self-deprecating. The report of Mr Joblin makes more understandable how you linked the bashing that you received to the shooting. It otherwise provides no recognisable basis for significantly moderating the sentence.
There are some mitigating considerations which operate in your favour. You co-operated with police. You have entered at the earliest possible stage a plea of guilty. As well as for other reasons, the guilty plea, like what you said to the police and to Mr Joblin, is an indication of some remorse. You have shown indications of planning to spend your time ahead in prison in an appropriately rehabilitative way.
The sentence that I impose must take account of this being a very serious instance of a very serious offence. I have considered carefully the option of imposing, but do not propose to impose, a life sentence. I have reviewed the three cases referred to on the plea hearing. The sentence must recognise that your execution of Mark Logan was premeditated and cold-blooded. It was fuelled by the ingestion of alcohol and marijuana. There was planning in the preparing of the shotgun, and the stealing of the Ford. The shooting was inside a family home. The second shot was especially cold-blooded, given that it was fired after you returned to the house and in the immediate presence of a loved one. Your prior convictions show you to be a man who needs to be sternly reminded of the sanctity of life.
I have signed the orders prepared by the prosecution, there being no objection on your behalf to my doing so. I declare pre-sentence detention of 122 days to today. I direct that that be entered in the court records. I impose a head sentence of 27 years. I fix a non-parole period of 22 years.
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