R v Seater
[2000] VSC 289
•4 July 2000
| SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA | |
| CRIMINAL JURISDICTION | Not Restricted |
No.1482 of 1999
| QUEEN |
| v |
| SHANE ANDREW SEATER |
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JUDGE: | Teague, J | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 4 July 2000 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | R. v Shane Andrew Seater | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2000] VSC 289 | |
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Crime – murder – burglary x 8, aggravated burglary x 2, theft x 14, reckless conduct endangering a person x2, recklessly causing serious injury x 1 and escape from lawful custody x 1 – drug user
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
For the Prosecution | B. Kayser | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | J. Smallwood Q.C. | Jones & Dowling |
HIS HONOUR:
Shane Seater, a jury has found you guilty of the murder of Peter Orr on 15 December 1998. You have also pleaded guilty to 28 counts involving various crimes committed between 28 November and 15 December 1998, which I will now summarise.
Counts 1 and 2. In the morning of Saturday 28 November 1998, you illegally entered the office of a hostel for the elderly in Burwood. Once inside the hostel you removed the keys to a Ford Falcon belonging to a personal care worker, and used them to steal the car from the hostel's car park.
Counts 3 and 4. Later that morning you illegally entered the office of a shopkeeper in the Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre. You stole from the office a briefcase belonging to the shopkeeper.
Counts 5 and 6. Two days later, on Monday 30 November, you were in police custody at the Kew Police Station. You were handcuffed behind your back. You were placed in the back seat of a marked police car and secured with a safety belt. The car was driven to a location in Balwyn. It was parked in front of the Ford Falcon you had stolen in Burwood. Inside the Ford Falcon was the briefcase you had stolen in Forest Hill. The two police members with you got out of the police car to go to the Ford Falcon. The keys were left in the ignition. You were left in the back seat, secured and handcuffed behind your back. You moved into the driver's seat and drove the police car away.
Count 7. About an hour later, while driving the police car in Laverton, you called to the driver of another car to get out of her car. The driver, who had two young children with her, believed you to be a policeman and she complied. You then called to her to bring over her bag to the police car. She approached the police car with her bag and purse. You still had the handcuffs on. You grabbed the purse, but she was able to pull it away. You then drove off. Some time later you abandoned the police car at Melton.
Counts 8 and 9. In the early hours of the next morning, Tuesday 1 December, you illegally entered a residence in Doncaster while residents were asleep. You removed the keys to a Nissan Patrol parked in the carport of the house and stole the Nissan patrol. Some time later you removed the handcuffs that had been put on at the Kew Police Station.
Counts 10, 11 and 12. On the following Friday, 4 December, you illegally entered the office of a library in Blackburn. You stole from the office a handbag belonging to a volunteer library assistant. Inside the bag were keys to a Nissan Pulsar. You stole the Nissan Pulsar, which you later abandoned in Healesville.
Counts 13 and 14. On the following Thursday, 10 December, you illegally entered the office of a bingo centre in Blackburn. You removed a bag belonging to the manager of the centre, who owned a Holden station wagon parked at the centre. You then stole the Holden station wagon.
Counts 15 to 18. In the early hours of the following Sunday, 13 December, you illegally entered a residence in Upwey while residents were asleep, and removed jewellery and other items. Later that day, you illegally entered a Salvation Army residence for high-risk adolescents and removed certain items from a bedroom there. Later that day, you illegally entered a different residence in Upwey and removed cash, jewellery and other items. Later that day, you stole a Mazda car from the car park of a hospital in Upwey.
Counts 19 and 20. Late in the morning of the next day, Monday 14 December, you entered the office of a church bargain centre in Ringwood and removed two purses belonging to staff. A short time later you stole a Magna from outside a Richmond factory.
Counts 21 and 22. You drove the Magna to a cul-de-sac in Blackburn South. You parked it at the end of the cul-de-sac. A female was with you in the car. Mark Amos and Shaun Young were two of a number of policemen who were sent to apprehend you. They made their move to apprehend you early in the afternoon. Their car was driven at an angle close to the driver's door of the Magna. Mark Amos got out of the police car and called out, "Police. Don't move". He went to the driver's door window and tried to break it. He realised the window was partly open and put his left arm in. You prepared to drive the Magna off. He felt the car starting to move. He was still getting his arm out as you drove the Magna forward. Shaun Young had moved from the police car intending to speak to the female passenger. That meant moving in front of the Magna. He realised he might be hit as the Magna moved forward. He stepped back, but was still struck on the right knee as the Magna moved forward. In the event, no serious injury was sustained. You took no notice of gunshots fired by police at the scene. The Magna was abandoned nearby.
Counts 23 and 24. On that same afternoon, you illegally entered the office of church book centre in Nunawading and stole purses from the handbags of two staff members.
Count 25. On that same afternoon you stole a Mazda from outside a panel-beating workshop in Ringwood.
Count 26. About 7 a.m. On the next morning, Tuesday 15 December, you illegally entered the residence of a retired teacher in Heathmont and removed a bag containing keys and a purse.
I turn to the murder of Peter Orr. Later on the morning of 15 December you drove the Mazda, stolen from Ringwood the day before, into the carpark of McDonalds in Church Street, Richmond. You walked from that car park into the adjoining grounds of the Lynall Hall Community School. You walked up the outside stairs. You went down to the office of Keith Muller, the principal. Keith Muller had left his briefcase near his desk in his office. The briefcase contained, as well as other things, his wallet and a knife he had confiscated from a student. The knife was missing handles and was in a sheath with a strap. You took the wallet and the knife from the briefcase. You were standing near the desk when Keith Muller returned to his office. He asked you if he could help you. You said you were OK and walked out of the office. Keith Muller asked you to stop, and he walked after you. You increased your speed and so did Keith Muller. You ran and he ran. In the corridor Keith Muller saw Peter Orr coming towards you and him. Keith Muller called out to Peter Orr to grab you. There was then about 10 metres separating you from Peter Orr. Peter Orr continued walking and put his arms out. You ran fast and down the middle of the corridor, straight at Peter Orr. As you ran you tore the knife from the sheath. Peter Orr grabbed you by the jacket in the shoulder area. At or about the time he caught you, you struck at Peter Orr's head with the knife. There was only one strike. It was quick. It was too quick to be seen by Mr Muller as he overshot you. It was forceful. It penetrated bone and went eight centimetres inside the head of Peter Orr. It was to prove fatal. Keith Muller, on seeing first the blood on Peter Orr and then the knife called to Peter Orr to let you go. He then told you to go, and you ran off. You ran to the Mazda and drove away. You abandoned the car in Surrey Hills.
I turn to the last two counts, 27 and 28. From outside a house in Surrey Hills you stole a Range Rover. You drove the Range Rover to the Heathmont Shopping Centre. Peter Clarke was one of a number of policemen who were waiting for you there. You drove the Range Rover at a metal fence, next to a tree. Instead of getting through, the Range Rover became jammed next to the tree. The positions of tree and vehicle made it difficult to gain access to the driver's door and window from the outside. Peter Clarke tried to take hold of you or the ignition keys. He took hold of your right forearm. You reversed and that released the cause of the jamming. You moved the Range Rover forward, causing Peter Clarke to hit the tree. He sustained a dislocated shoulder and significant other injuries. Again, you took no notice of gunshots fired by police at the scene.
I turn from your crimes to you. You are 21 years of age. You were born in April 1979. You have been told some time ago that you were conceived in an act of rape on your mother. Your mother is intellectually handicapped and that has made it difficult for her to care for you. Attempts to have you cared for outside institutions have been made but they have not worked out. In your teenage years, you turned to illegal drugs. To get the drugs you needed money. You were callously prepared to make victims of many people to get their money. You raided their homes and offices and purses. You stole and smashed their cars.
You have a long list of prior convictions. It includes serious and violent offences. It is an appalling record. Mr Kayser has put to me that your position is different from the vast run of persons convicted of murder. Indeed, he claimed it was unique. He points not only to your bad record, but also to other major causes for concern. You have shown a capacity and a readiness to use extreme violence to achieve what you figure is best for you, and regardless of who might be hurt in the process. The policemen who tried to apprehend you at Blackburn South and Heathmont can count themselves fortunate not to have been injured more seriously from your readiness to resort to violence to outsmart them whatever the cost. There are no signs of your being remorseful for injuring the policemen who were just doing their duty, or for causing anguish to the many people whose homes or privacy you invaded, whose cars you damaged so blithely, and whose personal belongings you treated as if they were your own. Your attitude towards Peter Orr was little or no different from that you showed towards the police. Like the police, he got in your way. He was not as fortunate as they were. You made him pay the ultimate price.
I have read the 10 victim impact statements lodged with the court. Most have come from relatives of Peter Orr: His son, both parents, a sister, nephew and brother-in-law. One is from Keith Muller. The others are not linked to the murder but to the other offences, from a policeman injured by you and two persons whose property you stole. As is my practice, I have read them slowly and carefully, being conscious of the time and trauma that can be associated with the preparation of such statements. The statements have an important balancing role at the time of sentencing when the focus is so much on matters relating to the prisoner. They remind me, and you, and the wider community, of the devastating consequences to so many others of crimes like yours, but particularly of the needless taking of the life of a man like Peter Orr.
I have noted with concern the indications generally of a continuing lack of remorse towards most of your victims. On the other hand, I accept that you have shown a degree of remorse for killing Peter Orr. It seems that has emerged as a result of you having had to come close in court to the real people who loved and needed him. Their lives have been devastated by your putting ahead of everything else your selfish need for money for drugs.
I am not prepared to take as pessimistic a view of your future as was urged on me by Mr Kayser. You have youth on your side. There are signs in the report of Dr List of a maturer attitude. I allow for the possibility that your responses to his questions have been shaped by the proximity of your being sentenced.
The seriousness of your crimes has to mean that considerations of general deterrence, and special deterrence and the need to protect the community require that you be sentenced to a long time in prison. You will have ample time to mature further, to become rehabilitated, and to study or train thoroughly for almost any future that might realise your potential.
I turn now to the periods of imprisonment that I impose.
On the conviction for murder, I impose a term of 17 years.
On each of Counts 1, 3, 10, 13, 16, 17, 19 and 26, I impose a term of three months, to be served concurrently with the 17 years imposed for murder.
On each of Counts 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25 and 27, I impose a term of one month, to be served concurrently with the 17 years imposed for murder.
On Count 8, I impose a term of two years, six months of which is to be cumulative on the 17 years imposed for murder.
On Count 15, I impose a term of two years, six months of which is to be cumulative on the 17 years imposed for murder.
On Count 21, I impose a term of one year, six months of which is to be cumulative on the 17 years imposed for murder.
Count 22, I impose a term of one year, six months of which is to be cumulative on the 17 years imposed for murder.
Count 28, I impose a term of three years, one year of which is to be cumulative on the 17 years imposed for murder.
The effective term is 20 years. I fix a non-parole period of 15 years.
I declare that you have spent 385 days in prison up to today, 4 July 2000.
I direct that that declaration be noted in the records of the court.
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