White, Philip Charles v. The Queen [1981] FCA 86

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA ) ) NORTHERN TERRITORY DISTRICT REGISTRY ) No. NIG. 24 of 1980 ) GENERAL DIVISION ) BETWEEN: PHILIP CHARLES WHITE Appellant and THE QUEEN Respondent FOX, MUIRHEAD, REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 4 FEBRUARY 1981 McGREGOR JJ. (EX TEMPORE)

FOX J: The judgment and reasons which I deliver are those of

the court. Philip Charles White, the appellant, appeals against the sentence imposed upon him on 6 October 1980 in respect of a conviction for manslaughter, recorded against him on 29 September 1980. On that day the appellant was charged with the murder of the deceased

to which he pleaded not guilty but guilty of manslaughter. The Crown accepted that plea in discharge of the indictment.

On 3 June 1980 the appellant, then unemployed, as he

had been for much of the previous year, spent the day drinking in the hotel at Humpty Doo with the deceased

and his wife. It seems that the three left the hotel

at about 6.30 p.m. and drove to a house adjacent to which were two caravans. In one of the caravans the appellant lived. The home was occupied by the deceased and his wife. The appellant at that time, to quote his own words,

"liked" the deceased's wife "more than I should have".

In fact, they had agreed to go away together though the evidence does not establish that the deceased knew this. The relationship between the appellant and the deceased, until the events immediately prior to the death of the deceased, had so far as it appears been a reasonably friendly one and there had been no quarrel between them while they were in the hotel. Prior to the day in question, according to the appellant, the deceased had ill-treated his wife to the annoyance of the appellant and on their return to the caravan park on 3 June 1980 the deceased had at least spoken harshly to his wife in the appellant's presence. According to the appellant he became "upset" at this, remonstrated with the deceased and then decided to "scare" him with the appellant's rifle. Outside the caravan park he fired a shot into the air, whereupon, according to him, the deceased laughed and called him an idiot. The appellant then went into the kitchen of the house where the deceased was seated at a table. The appellant reloaded the gun and, so he said, intending only to scare the deceased, discharged the rifle again. In 4 record of interview he said he meant only to shoot up in the air or over the deceased's head but the bullet struck the deceased in the forehead and he died from the wound within a very short time. The deceased had fired the gun from a position at about his right hip, without