Regina v Crespin Adanguidi - [2005] NSWSC 519

CITATION:
Regina v Crespin Adanguidi [2005] NSWSC 519

HEARING DATE(S): 29 March 2005 - 14 April 2005, 20 May 2005, 3 June 2005

JUDGMENT DATE :

3 June 2005

JUDGMENT OF:
Barr J at 1

DECISION:
For the murder of Shiquin Zhu the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for life. The sentence will be taken to have commenced on 1 February 2003. For the murder of Pin Shen the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for life. The sentence will be taken to have commenced on 1 February 2003. For the murder of Christy Bo Shen the offender is sentenced to imprisonment for life. The sentence will be taken to have commenced on 1 February 2003.

PARTIES:
Regina, Crespin Adanguidi

FILE NUMBER(S):
SC 2003/163

COUNSEL:
T Hoyle
L Flannery

SOLICITORS:
S Kavanagh
N Marshall

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION:

- 13 -

IN THE SUPREME COURT
OF NEW SOUTH WALES
COMMON LAW DIVISION

GRAHAM BARR J

3 JUNE 2005

2003/163 REGINA v CRESPIN ADANGUIDI

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: The offender, Crespin Adanguidi, was found guilty by a jury of the murders on 1 February 2003 at Rockdale of Shiquin Zhu, Pin Shen and Christy Bo Shen.

2 The deceased Shiquin Zhu was the mother of the other deceased. The offender did not know them well but he was friendly with Mr Raymond Shen, their husband and father. Mr Shen came to Australia from China in 1991. He studied at university and worked in the travel industry. In 1995 he was joined in Australia by his wife and children. In 2001 he established a travel agency in Sydney. He and the deceased lived together in a home unit at Rockdale.

3 The offender was born in Benin. He came to Australia in about 1998. In 1999 he formed a relationship with Ms Alicia Richards and she gave birth to a son in 2000. They married in 2001. Ms Richards gave birth to a second son in 2001. Until January 2003 the offender was living with his family in a unit at Maroubra. At the time of the events giving rise to the charges against the offender, however, they had separated. The offender occupied the home unit alone. The offender first met Mr Shen in 2000 while he was working as a security guard at the building in Rockdale in which the Shen unit was situated. A friendship developed between them. They discussed business ventures they might possibly undertake together. After some time, their friendship developed into a sexual relationship. While the offender still worked at the building in Rockdale they would meet in Mr Shen’s unit. The offender ceased working in that building in about 2001 and the two men thereafter usually met at Mr Shen’s office after hours.

4 In January 2003 Mr Shen travelled to China on business. He returned on 29 January. On the next day the offender telephoned him and said that he was eager to see him. He invited him to come to his unit at Maroubra at any…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Regina v Crespin Adanguidi

Details

AGLC: Regina v Crespin Adanguidi [2005] NSWSC 519
Case: [2005] NSWSC 519
Decision Date: 3 June 2005

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In Regina v Crespin Adanguidi, the Supreme Court of New South Wales sentenced the offender, Crespin Adanguidi, to imprisonment for life for the murders of Shiquin Zhu, Pin Shen, and Christy Bo Shen. The offender was found guilty by a jury of meticulously planned and executed crimes that involved the assault, robbery, and murder of the victims in their Rockdale home. The court examined the defences of not guilty by reason of mental illness and not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the ground of substantial impairment by abnormality of mind. The jury rejected both defences, finding that the offender was fully aware of the wrongfulness of his actions and had the capacity to reason and plan in great detail.

The court's reasoning focused on the extensive premeditation and execution of the crimes, which demonstrated the offender's acute awareness of the legal wrongness of his actions. The offender's actions, including tying up the victims, stealing their belongings, and killing them to prevent discovery, showed a remarkable degree of control and planning. The court rejected the offender's claims of mental illness, noting the lack of objective evidence and the inconsistencies in his accounts of the events. The expert testimonies were divided, but the court found that the offender's illness, if any, did not impair his capacity to understand the moral wrongness of his acts or to control himself.

The court considered the extreme level of culpability and the heinousness of the offences, which warranted the imposition of the maximum penalty. The court acknowledged the offender's developing illness but concluded that it did not mitigate his responsibility for the crimes. The sentence for each murder was set to commence on 1 February 2003, the date of the offences.

Orders