Regina v Mercy

[2004] NSWSC 472

CITATION:

REGINA v MERCY [2004] NSWSC 472

HEARING DATE(S):

5/4/04, 6/4/04,14/4/04, 15/4/04, 19/4/04

JUDGMENT DATE:

19 April 2004

JURISDICTION:

Common Law

JUDGMENT OF:

Adams J at 1

DECISION:

Sentenced to a minimum term of two years and three months imprisonment, to commence on 19 April 2004 and ending on 18 July 2006, on which date the offender will be eligible for parole. The balance of the sentence is two years and eight months which will expire on 18 March 2009.

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW - manslaughter - sentence - offender sexually abused

LEGISLATION CITED:

Sentencing Act 1995 S44

CASES CITED:

Veen v The Queen (No 2) (1988) 164 CLR 465

PARTIES :

Regina

v

Beryl Anne Mercy

FILE NUMBER(S):

SC 70114/03

COUNSEL:

Mr N A P Harrison (Crown)
Mr C Bruce (Offender)

SOLICITORS:

Mr A Horowitz (Crown)
Mr B E Snelling (Legal Aid Commission of NSW)

THE SUPREME COURT

OF NEW SOUTH WALES

CRIMINAL DIVISION

ADAMS J

LISMORE: MONDAY 19 APRIL 2004

70114/03 - REGINA v BERYL ANNE MERCY

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: I should say by way of introduction, that although I have once referred to the name of the deceased, I am aware that Aboriginal people have a sensitivity to mentioning the name of a deceased person and accordingly I do not otherwise refer to his name.

2 The offender, Beryl Anne Mercy, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Berrin Dean Charles on 12 February 2003, with whom she was then living in a de facto relationship. The deceased died from a wound inflicted by the offender with a kitchen knife to the left back of his chest.

3 The circumstances of the wounding, though not completely clear, are not controversial. The offender and the deceased, who are both Aboriginal, had known each other for almost twenty years, having had a brief relationship when the offender was nineteen years of age. She will be forty years old in six months time. As a result of that relationship, the offender and the deceased had a daughter Neesha. Thereafter they continued with a platonic and casual friendship over the ensuing years until about nine months or so before the deceased was killed, when they commenced living together in a de facto relationship. The offender had left a longstanding relationship of some fifteen years with a Mr Paul Johnston, to whom she had four children, to live with the deceased. Despite this Mr Johnston, who had continued to look after the children, has said that he would be prepared to resume a family relationship with the offender when she is free. It is important to note that although the offender left her children in Mr Johnston's care whilst living with the deceased, she visited them frequently and often stayed with them for two or three days at a time. I do not doubt that she very much cares for them, and that her separation from them is painful for her.

4 It is clear that the offender has had a serious…