R v Edmonds HC Napier CRI 2008-020-2948

[2010] NZHC 1022

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND NAPIER REGISTRY

CRI 2008-020-2948

QUEEN

v

PATRICK SHAUN EDMONDS

Hearing:         27 April 2010

Counsel:         R J Collins for Crown

AJS Snell for Prisoner

Sentencing:     27 April 2010

SENTENCING NOTES OF MILLER J

[1]      Mr Edmonds, you appear for sentence on one charge of wounding W with intent to injure him under s 188(2) of the Crimes Act 1961.

[2]      The facts are that you and W, publication of whose name is suppressed in connection with this offence, met at a party in Flaxmere on 3 August 2007.   You stabbed him several times with a knife, apparently without any provocation, after the two of you and another man had been urinating by a tree in the backyard.  W then left the party without being pursued.   He suffered deep knife wounds to his right hand  and  left  arm.    Fortunately  he  seems  to  have  suffered  no  lasting  physical

consequences.

R V PATRICK SHAUN EDMONDS HC NAP CRI 2008-020-2948  27 April 2010

[3]      You  were  initially charged  with  wounding with  intent  to  cause  grievous bodily harm.  After the trial began yesterday and W had completed his evidence in chief, the Crown indicated a willingness to accept a plea to a lesser charge.

[4]      The aggravating features of this offence are the use of a knife, the serious injuries inflicted, and the lack of any provocation.  The maximum sentence is seven years imprisonment.   In the circumstances I consider that a starting point of four years is appropriate.  I will list in my sentencing notes the cases on which I draw for

that conclusion.[1]

[1] R v D [2008] NZCA 254; R v Scott [2007] NZCA 589; R v Vincent [2007] NZCA 238;

Mokomoko v Police HC Auckland CRI 2007-404-0375, 21 February 2008.

[5]      To that would be required an uplift of 25 per cent for your history of violent offending.  You have about 160 convictions spanning more than 25 years, some 27 of those convictions are for violence.  You have served many terms of imprisonment. Despite your age, now 40, you continue to offend.

[6]      You  are  presently serving a  sentence of  preventive  detention  which  was imposed on you in the High Court at Wellington on 6 November 2009, for offending some time after the date of the present offence.   I am sentencing you, with your consent, on the basis of the presentence and psychological and psychiatric reports prepared on that occasion.  That involved the more serious offence of wounding with intent  to  cause  grievous  bodily  harm,  in  a  case  in  which  you  had  launched  a sustained and very brutal attack on a helpless victim.  The starting point adopted was nine years.  Clearly you do have a very strong propensity for violence, particularly when fuelled by alcohol, and you are unwilling to give up the gang lifestyle, which fosters  violence.    Ronald  Young  J  considered  that  there  is  an  overwhelming likelihood that you will commit further qualifying offences in future.  However, the sentence of preventive detention means that I need not increase the present sentence for  the  need  to  protect  the  community  which  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  those reports.  I treat this sentencing as a stand-alone exercise.

[7]      In mitigation, there is the guilty plea for which a significant discount must be extended  in  the circumstances.    That  is  the only mitigating factor.    I make an allowance of 12 months or 20 per cent for that.

[8]      In the result, Mr Edmonds, your sentence is four years imprisonment.  It will obviously be served concurrently with the sentence of preventive detention.

[9]      You may stand down.

Miller J

Solicitors:

Crown Solicitor, Napier for Crown