R v Cockburn [2006] NSWDC 131

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Cockburn [2006] NSWDC 131

HEARING DATE(S): 28/09/06

JUDGMENT DATE: 19 October 2006

JUDGMENT OF: Conlon SC DCJ at 1

DECISION: See paragraph 42

CATCHWORDS: Failure of person with parental responsibility to care for child, high degree of recklessness in placing young child under shower before ensuring water was a safe temperature, failure to obtain medical treatment for burns injuries to child

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

R v Darren James Pitcher (unreported NSWCCA 19 February 1996) R v Sharma (2002) 54 NSWLR 300 CASES CITED: R Thomson and Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 R v Smith [2005] NSWCCA 286 Pearce v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 610

PARTIES: Regina Robert Bruce Cockburn

FILE NUMBER(S): 06/41/0037

COUNSEL: Crown - Mr M Fox

SOLICITORS: Offender - Cox Wiseman Davidson

JUDGMENT

1 HIS HONOUR: The offender, Robert Bruce Cockburn, appears for sentence consequent upon his pleading guilty on 29 March 2006 at the Wollongong District Court to one charge of maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm pursuant to section 35(1)(b) of the Crimes Act and one charge of failure of a person with parental responsibility to provide care pursuant to section 43A(2) of the Crimes Act. The first offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment and the second a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

2 The victim was born on 10 January 2002. Her natural mother, Claudia Jones (the co-offender), separated from her father, Mathew Capple, in late 2003. Around mid 2004 Ms Jones commenced a defacto relationship with the offender. They lived together as a family at 230 Nolan Street, Berkeley with the victim and two of the offender's children, being a boy aged five and a girl aged three. Ms Jones was a primary caregiver for the victim however they both shared responsibility for the children.