R v SP (Young Person) [2021] NSWDC 617

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v SP (Young Person) [2021] NSWDC 617 Hearing dates: 10 September 2021 Date of orders: 14 September 2021 Decision date: 14 September 2021 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Buscombe DCJ Decision: Sentence imposed one of 22 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 months Catchwords: SENTENCING — Juvenile offenders — Sentence of imprisonment CRIME — Violent offences — Cause grievous bodily harm with intent Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 33(1)(a) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 21A(1)(c), s 21A(2)(ea), 21A(2)(g) Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), ss 6, 17 Cases Cited: Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37 KT v The Queen [2008] NSWCCA 51 Category: Sentence Parties: SP (Offender) Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Representation: Counsel:

Mr Brock (Young Person) Ms Narayan (Crown) File Number(s): 2020/333346 Publication restriction: Name of young person

SENTENCE

Introduction 1. The young person stands to be sentenced at law having pleaded guilty to the following offence: 2. That on 23 November 2020 at Parramatta he wounded AA with the intention of causing him grievous bodily harm. That is an offence under s 33(1)(a) of the Crimes Act and has a maximum penalty of 25 years imprisonment. There is no applicable standard non-parole period because of the age of the young person.

The Facts 1. The facts are agreed and the following is taken from the agreed facts. 2. The young person attended Arthur Phillip High School along with the victim, AA, and they attended in the same year. 3. On 24 August 2020 the young person brought a knife to school and showed friends in the school bathroom. After school the victim was walking home and realised the young person was following him. The young person said, "Come on I want to talk to you". The victim was near a police officer. He told the officer he did not feel comfortable. The officer told the young person to leave the victim alone. 4. On 27 August 2020 the young person had an argument with the victim in class following which the young person punched the victim and the victim retaliated by punching him back. Two days later the young person was arrested outside Woolworths in Mascot. The young person was charged with affray and armed with intent. He was granted bail in relation to that matter. The young person was still subject to those bail conditions at the time of the current offence. 5. As a result of the 27 August 2020 incident, the young person was suspended from school for three months. He was due to return to school on 23 November 2020, the date of the present offence. Before his return to school a meeting with the school occurred where he agreed to comply with random bag searches for knives. 6. At about 7.30am on 23 November 2020 a fellow student, NT, caught the 802 public bus travelling towards the Parramatta railway station. At about five minutes into the journey the young person boarded the bus and sat directly behind NT. The young person told NT that he wanted to stab the victim because the victim was "talking bad stuff about my family a while ago". The young person invited NT to feel his shoe, which he did. NT felt what appeared to be a knife inside the young person's shoe and the young person agreed that he had a knife in there. The young person said, "I have to stab [the victim]. I want to do it and even if I get expelled I want to go out with a bang. I want people to know me and ask about me". The young person also said to NT, "When I'm done should I run out of the school or should I stay in the school? If I get arrested in school everyone will see and I will get famous." When NT suggested the young person should just talk to the victim, the young person replied, "Nah I will I've already set my mind on it. I don't wanna kill him I just want to stab him in the thigh and the belly". 7. Later whilst at school the young person approached NT and his friends near the toilets. The young person asked what time the victim would be arriving at school. He said, "I'm going to shank [the victim] and do it today. He's such a piece of shit." He again said that he had a knife in his shoe. The young person then entered the bathroom, removed the knife from his shoe and placed it down the front of his pants. He left the bathroom and told another student, "I put the knife on my belt. If you tell anyone about this I'm going to shank you and (no named included)." The young person then walked towards the front gate near the turnstiles. From 8.03am to 8.25am the young person was captured on CCTV footage waiting. The young person is captured near the entrance of the school where the turnstiles are located. 8. At about 8.25am the victim arrived at school. The young person immediately approached him and said, "Come here I want to talk to you." The victim replied, "Not now. I'm talking to you later after class". The victim turned away from the young person. Several students then observed the young person remove a black-handled kitchen knife from the front of his pants. The young person held the knife in his right hand and stabbed the victim twice in the upper back. The victim felt "a little sting" towards his shoulder. The victim held up his right arm to protect himself and the young person stabbed the victim twice in his right forearm. The victim was scared and saw that his arm was bleeding. He ran from the young person, but the young person pursued him. The young person chased the victim around the school still armed with the knife. 9. A student support officer, Ms Catherine McFarlane, saw the young person chasing the victim through the handball courts. She saw him slip and fall on the wet ground, but that he immediately got up and continued pursuing the victim. He looked enraged. Ms McFarlane yelled, "Stop, stop". Another teacher, Ms Siddiqui, saw the young person chasing the victim whilst holding a knife in his right hand. The victim ran into a group of Year 11 boys. The young person yelled, "Fucking pussy". The victim approached a Year 11 student. He said, "Please help me, help me". The victim was holding his left upper shoulder area with his hand. He said, 'I got stabbed. I got stabbed." 10. The Year 11 student saw the young person running towards them holding a knife. He was concerned he would also be stabbed, so he lunged at the young person and grabbed him. He forced the young person up against a recycling bin and repeatedly told him to drop the knife. 11. Ms Siddiqui also approached them and demanded the young person drop the knife. The young person held out his hand and dropped the knife on the concrete floor. Ms Siddiqui placed her foot over the knife to secure it. 12. At about 8.33am the young person ran from the school. He was last seen ducking underneath the turnstiles and running on Macquarie Street. Meanwhile the victim had run to the office to seek help. Police and paramedics were called. Many students and teachers observed a trail of blood throughout the school where the young person had chased the victim. 13. Shortly after 8.33am police and paramedics arrived. The victim was then taken to the Westmead Children's Hospital. Police were also directed to a black-handled kitchen knife which was dropped by the young person. The 22 centimetre knife was seized, its serrated blade was 12 centimetres long with a 10 centimetre long black handle. 14. At 10.00am the young person's mother arrived at school. She made numerous attempts to contact her son, however, the young person would not answer her calls. Ms A told investigators that she had searched the young person's bag at 6.30pm the night before and did not find any knives. 15. After the offence the young person posted several messages on Instagram with a number of smiling emojis. He posted, "Still not caught" followed by smiling emojis, "No more being a hard cunt for ya". The young person also shared a video compilation with four images. The first image was that of a bleeding finger followed by the words "see yars in 6 months", followed by a news article about the stabbing, followed by smiling emojis. In a thread headed "victory or death", the young person messaged a friend. The friend asked, "where did ya stab him", and the young person replied, "back" and "put 3". The friend then messaged, "your going to get done mad". The young person replied, "IK" (a reference to I know) and "I'm on the run". He then wrote "wanna a kb (reference to kickback) at parra after school". 16. Police attended the home of the young person's father at an address in Merrylands. Mr P indicated that he had tried several times to call his son, however, the young person did not answer the calls. The young person's parents consented to a search of their premises. During the search the young person's mother told police that she hid all the knives in the house. The young person's mother did this as she was worried about the young person accessing the knives. 17. At 8.00pm the young person presented to the Auburn Police Station with his father where he was placed under arrest. At the time of arrest the young person had a small laceration to his index finger consistent with the Instagram video posted earlier that day. The young person was also wearing the same clothing as seen on the CCTV. He declined to participate in a record of interview exercising his rights. 18. The victim presented to the Westmead Children's Hospital and was treated for his injuries. A CT scan was performed and the victim was taken to an operating theatre for assessment, exploration and repair of the forearm wounds. He was discharged the following day. Medical records indicate the following: 19. The victim sustained four stab wounds in total, two in his back and two in his right forearm. All stab wounds were approximately 1.5 centimetres in length. The victim also sustained several other superficial lacerations as a result of other attempts by the young person to stab him. One of the wounds on the victim's back was a 1.7 centimetre soft tissue laceration to the left of his vertebral column at the upper thoracic level. It was about 3 centimetres deep and was sutured closed. The other stab wound on his back was near his right shoulder. The wound was about 2 centimetres deep and stopped at the scapula. The victim sustained two wounds to his right forearm. One of the wounds penetrated the arm and exited the other side. This wound required surgery. Doctors noted some mild muscle damage. The wound was cleaned and Steristrips were used to close the entry and exit wound. 20. The victim attended the Wound Clinic seven days later where the sutures were removed. The opinion of the paediatric surgeon, who treated and assessed the victim on 23 November 2020, was that, "The wounds on the back were of a minor nature and the outcome is expected to be good". 21. The Crown included in its tender bundle a document dated 13 November 2020 by a school counsellor which recorded, in effect, the basis upon which the young person was permitted to return to school. That document records that the young person had agreed to allow the school to search his bags and demonstrate that he was not carrying any prohibited items such as a knife upon entry to school. It also records that the young person indicated that he would choose to disengage in verbal and physical conflict even when agitated by others. The content of that document serves to highlight the level of planning that the young person took in order to have a knife on the school premises in order to commit the offence. 22. The Victim Impact Statement details the significant impact the offence has had upon the young victim. It will clearly take some time for him to be able to put behind him the physical and emotional scars left by the attack upon him when all he was doing was attending school. I note in particular that he has left the school where he was settled as a consequence of the attack. The Crown did not submit that the aggravating factor under s 21A(2)(g) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act that substantial harm was made out here, but also submitted that the injuries could not be said to be so minor as to be not substantial. In my opinion the injuries remain serious although towards the lower end of the range of seriousness.