Regina v Robert Charles Veen - [2000] NSWSC 656

CITATION: Regina v Robert Charles VEEN [2000] NSWSC 656

FILE NUMBER(S): SC L019/91

HEARING DATE(S): 31/03/2000, 7/04/2000,14/04/2000, 28/04/2000 and 21/06/2000

JUDGMENT DATE: 7 July 2000

PARTIES :

Regina
Robert Charles VEEN

JUDGMENT OF: Sully J

COUNSEL : C.K. Maxwell QC - Crown
J.C. Nicholson SC - Applicant

SOLICITORS: S. E. O'Connor - Crown
Legal Aid Commission of NSW - Applicant

LEGISLATION CITED: Sentencing Act 1989
Sentencing (Life Sentences) Amendment Act 1993
Sentencing Legislation Further Amendment Act 1997
Sentencing Amendment (Transitional) Act 1997
Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

CASES CITED: Veen v The Queen (No. 2) at 164 CLR 465
R v Boyd, unreported, NSW CCA 18/9/95
R v Cribb, unreported, NSW CCA 4/11/94
R v Dennis, unreported, NSW CCA 28/10/92
R v Lannigan, unreported, NSW CCA 31/8/92
R v Glen, [1999[ NSW SC 1018, Wood CJ at CL
R v Lawson, unreported, Badgery-Parker J, 31/5/94
R v Beavan CCA NSW, unreported, 22/8/91
R v Camilleri CCA NSW, unreported, 8/7/90
R v Turner NSW SC, Wood J, unreported, 20/8/92
R v Schneidas NSW SC, Grove J, unreported, 16/12/93
R v Leaver NSW SC, Carruthers J, unreported, 17/11/93
R v Lyttle NSW SC, Newman J, unreported, 6/3/96
R v Cox NSW SC, Badgery-Parker J, unreported, 13/12/96
R v Robinson NSW SC, Abadee J, unreported, 28/11/97
R v Picknell, NSW SC, Wood CJ at CL, unreported, 10/11/98

DECISION: Application granted. Sentence re-determined . Imprisonment for a minimum term of 20 years to commence on 9 November 1983 and expire on 8 November 2003; and additional term to commence on 9 November 2003 and to continue for the balance of natural life.

38
SUPREME COURT OF
NEW SOUTH WALES
CRIMINAL DIVISION

SULLY J

Friday 7 July 2000

L019/91 - Regina v Robert Charles VEEN

JUDGMENT

HIS HONOUR:
Introduction

1 The applicant, Mr. Robert Charles Veen, seeks to have re-determined a sentence of life imprisonment that was passed upon him by Hunt J of this Court on 17 December 1985. The sentence was passed consequent upon the conviction of the applicant of the manslaughter by stabbing of one Paul Hoson, that crime having been committed on 27 October 1983. The Crown opposes outright any present re-determination. 2 The applicant, when he stood for that sentence, did so with significant criminal antecedents. Two in particular of those antecedent matters have a special relevance to the present application. The first of them occurred on 8 October 1971 and involved the non-fatal stabbing by the applicant of his then landlady. The second of them occurred on 16 February 1975 and involved the fatal stabbing by the applicant of one Terry Ward. 3 What has been said, albeit briefly, thus far will make plain that there is nothing routine about the present application. All to the contrary, the application raises difficult issues of public policy, and difficult questions of law and of fact. Dr. W. E. Lucas, who gave evidence in support of the present application, puts those difficulties, if I may so, very neatly in a report dated…

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 Robert Charles Veen

Details

AGLC: Regina v Robert Charles Veen [2000] NSWSC 656
Case: [2000] NSWSC 656
Decision Date: 7 July 2000

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Sully J heard an application by Robert Charles Veen to have his life sentence re-determined. Veen was convicted of the manslaughter of Paul Hoson by stabbing, an offence committed on 27 October 1983. The court examined Veen's criminal history, including two previous non-fatal and fatal stabbings, and the relevant sentencing legislation and case law. The court concluded that, while granting the application, a carefully calibrated progression of checks and balances was necessary to detect any properly identified, and properly particularised, problems suggestive of an unacceptable risk of danger to the public safety. The application was granted, and Veen's sentence was re-determined as imprisonment for a minimum term of 20 years, to commence on 9 November 1983 and expire on 8 November 2003, and an additional term to commence on 9 November 2003 and to continue for the balance of his natural life.

Orders