R v Lonesborough [2020] NSWDC 825

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Lonesborough [2020] NSWDC 825 Hearing dates: 8 October 2020 Decision date: 08 October 2020 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Haesler SC DCJ Decision: Sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 3 years 4 months. Non parole period 1 year 8 months. Catchwords: CRIME - detain a person with intent to obtain an advantage aggravated by causing actual bodily harm SENTENCING – relevant factors on sentence - early guilty plea - mentally ill offender - prior failures to deal with mental health and substance abuse problems - background of disadvantage – treatment plan available Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 Cases Cited: Courtney v R [2007] NSWCCA 195 DPP v De La Rosa [2010] NSWCCA 194; (2010) 79 NSWLR 1 R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269 Category: Sentence Parties: Steven Matthew Lonesborough (the offender) Director of Public Prosecutions Representation: Counsel: Mr S Fraser, Public Defender (for the offender)

Solicitors: Legal Aid NSW (for the offender) Ms A Kerr (for Director of Public Prosecutions) File Number(s): 2019/00319142

SENTENCE – ex tempore revised

Introduction 1. Steven Lonesborough is for sentence today for an offence of detaining a person with intent to obtain an advantage aggravated by his causing actual bodily harm to his victim. He acknowledged his guilt in the Local Court. The offence, pursuant to s 86(2)(b) Crimes Act 1900, carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment. That maximum is one guide to the exercise of my sentencing discretion. 2. Lonesborough comes to the Court acknowledging the harm that he caused his victim and expressing, through his letter to me, appropriate remorse. He comes to the Court with a plan for his rehabilitation on release. It is set out in a letter to the Court from his sister, who currently works with other Aboriginal people who have alcohol and other drug and mental health issues. She and the offender have had an opportunity to discuss his future. She acknowledges, frankly, that until those discussions he had not demonstrated any hope or plans for changing a life that had been blighted by mental health and drug issues. 3. He professes now to want to change his ways, accept the problems that he's had and do something about them. The change in him between when he committed this offence on 12 October 2019 and today is reflected in all the material before me. In particular, his letter, his sister's letter, and a report from Dr Richard Furst, a respected consultant forensic psychiatrist. Dr Furst concludes: "After a thorough and professional examination of Mr Lonesborough, ... he has a major mental illness in the form of bipolar affective disorder, complicated by long-term trauma-related and abandonment-related emotional issues in the form of borderline personality traits and the destabilising effects of drug use over the last two decades… It is borne out by the facts before me that he was, at the time he committed the offence, acutely psychotic and paranoid. He is now stable in mood and thought with no current signs of psychosis remaining or depression and he is engaged in programs with Corrective Services to improve his capacity to obtain work in the future and increase his capacity to obtain employment."