R v Job

The defendant, Neville Job, was sentenced by Palmer J in the High Court of New Zealand Auckland Registry. Job pleaded guilty to one charge of wounding with reckless disregard for the safety of his then-partner in August 2017. The maximum penalty for this offence is seven years' imprisonment. The court was required to decide the appropriate sentence for Job, taking into account the purposes and principles of sentencing as set out in the Sentencing Act 2002. The court had to consider the gravity of the offending and degree of Job's culpability, the desirability of consistency with sentences for similar offending, the effect of the offending on the victim, and the least restrictive outcome that was appropriate in the circumstances.

Job and the victim had been in an on-and-off relationship for five or six years, which was characterized by mutual violence and excessive drinking. On the day of the offence, Job and the victim were drinking with a friend at a motel where the victim was staying. An argument ensued, and Job produced a knife and attacked the victim, causing serious injuries. The court considered the attack to be highly reckless, and the use of a weapon and attack to the head as aggravating factors. The court also took into account the family violence nature of the attack and the fact that Job continued to attack the victim after she had suffered a serious wound to her head. The court set a starting point of two years and ten months' imprisonment, taking into account comparable cases for this offence.

The court then considered adjustments to the starting point, including Job's personal history of substance abuse and his efforts to rehabilitate himself. The court made a discount of two months for the effect Job's incarceration would have on his children, and a discount of two months for the positive rehabilitative efforts he had made. The court also made a discount of six months for Job's early guilty plea. The court did not make any discount for remorse, as there was little expression of that. The court sentenced Job to imprisonment for two years for the offence of wounding with reckless disregard for the safety of another.