R v Turner

The case of R v Turner involved the applicant, Turner, who had pleaded guilty to a five-count indictment and a bench charge sheet involving 14 summary offences, including dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm while under the influence of an intoxicating substance. Turner was driving dangerously while on bail, disqualified from driving, and with an overloaded vehicle. He was pursued by police, avoided a tyre deflation device, and eventually collided with a parked vehicle, resulting in serious injuries to three of his passengers. Turner was sentenced to six years imprisonment for the dangerous operation offence, which was declared a serious violent offence.

The legal issues before the court were whether the declaration of the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm offence as a serious violent offence was appropriate, and whether the sentence was manifestly excessive. Turner argued that the serious violent offence declaration rendered the sentence manifestly excessive, and that his dangerous driving was accidental due to his intoxication. The court rejected Turner's arguments, finding that his driving was deliberate and that the risk of injury was inherent in the manner of his driving. The court also found that Turner's injuries and psychological symptoms were not relevant to the decision to impose a serious violent offence declaration.

The court found that the discretion to declare the dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing grievous bodily harm offence a serious violent offence was exercisable by the sentencing judge, and that the offence in respect of which a declaration is made, not the offender, is the focus of the declaration. The court found that the offence was a crime pursuant to s 328A(4) of the Criminal Code and is listed as a serious violent offence in Schedule 1 to the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld). The court found that the features of the offence, including the police pursuit, passenger overload, substantial distance driven dangerously, and the fact that the dangerous driving ceased only as a result of the collision, contributed to the characterisation of the offence as beyond the norm for this kind of offending.

The court refused Turner's application for leave to appeal against sentence.