R v Williams

[2015] QCA 276

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

R v Williams [2015] QCA 276

PARTIES:

R
v
WILLIAMS, Darren James
(respondent)

FILE NO/S:

CA No 210 of 2014
SC No 3 of 2014

DIVISION:

Court of Appeal

PROCEEDING:

Sentence Application

ORIGINATING COURT:

Supreme Court at Toowoomba – Unreported, 6 August 2014

DELIVERED ON:

18 December 2015

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

30 November 2015

JUDGES:

Philip McMurdo JA and Jackson and Bond JJ
Separate reasons for judgment of each member of the Court, each concurring as to the order made

ORDER:

The application for leave to appeal is refused.

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – APPEAL AND NEW TRIAL – APPEAL AGAINST SENTENCE – GROUNDS FOR INTERFERENCE – SENTENCE MANIFESTLY EXCESSIVE OR INADEQUATE – where applicant pleaded guilty to one count of burglary and was convicted after trial on one count of attempted murder – where applicant had broken into his estranged wife’s house and stabbed her while she was asleep – where applicant’s two year old daughter was asleep next to the victim – where applicant in breach of a domestic violence order – where  offence led to considerable emotional harm to the victim and applicant’s daughter – where applicant had plead guilty to alternate charge of doing grievous bodily harm with intent – where offence was premeditated and unprovoked – where applicant sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder – whether sentence was manifestly excessive in all the circumstances

Barbaro v The Queen (2014) 253 CLR 58; [2014] HCA 2, cited
R v Ahmetaj[2015] QCA 248, cited
R v Batchelor[2009] QCA 150, considered
R v Goodwin; Ex parte Attorney-General (Qld)[2014] QCA 345, cited
R v Kay[2012] QCA 327, considered
R v Kerwin[2005] QCA 259, considered
R v Mallie, Ex parte Attorney-General (Qld)[2009] QCA 109, considered
R v Rochester; Ex parte Attorney-General(Qld)[2003] QCA 326, cited
R v Schaefer[2001] QCA 327, considered
R v Seijbel-Chocmingkwan[2014] QCA 119, considered
R v Tout[2012] QCA 296, cited
R v Witchard;ex parte Attorney-General (Qld) [2005] 1 Qd R 428; [2004] QCA 429, considered

COUNSEL:

C W Heaton QC for the applicant
S J Farnden for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid Queensland for the applicant
Director of Public Prosecutions (Queensland) for the respondent

1. PHILIP McMURDO JA:  I agree with Bond J.

2. JACKSON J:  I agree with Bond J.

3. BOND J:  Late in the evening a little less than a year after he had separated from his wife of one year and only a week after he had learned she had started a new relationship, the applicant armed himself with a knife; drove to and broke into his wife’s home; made his way to her bedroom where she was sleeping on her back with their two year old daughter by her side and – using both hands – plunged the knife deeply into her chest and ran off.

4. His wife immediately woke in terrible pain, finding a…