R v Dudgeon [2008] NSWDC 131

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Dudgeon [2008] NSWDC 131

HEARING DATE(S): 10 June 2008

JUDGMENT DATE: 10 June 2008

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Bennett SC DCJ

Imprisonment: DECISION: Overall period - 3 years full time custody Non-parole period - 1 year

CATCHWORDS: CRIME – dangerous driving occasioning death – s 52A (1) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) – offender driving utility vehicle – impaired by midrange blood alcohol level –excessive speed at night across unfamiliar rough terrain – deceased thrown from rear tray – aggravating and mitigating factors – s 21A Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) – assessment of moral culpability

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

R v Khatter [2000] NSWCCA 32 CASES CITED: R v Previtera (1997) 94 A Crim R 76 R v Whyte (2002) 55 NSWLR 252

PARTIES: The Queen Christopher Daniel Dudgeon

FILE NUMBER(S): 2008 / 00007099

COUNSEL: Mr T Healey (Offender)

Mr M Ferguson (Crown) SOLICITORS: Turnbull Hill Lawyers (Offender) Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown)

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JUDGMENT

Introduction

1 Christopher Daniel Dudgeon, the offender, reached his thirtieth birthday on 11 March this year. His friend, Timothy Hillis, did not reach the point of being able to celebrate his twenty fourth birthday. In the early hours of 28 January 2007 he died from extensive injuries suffered when he was thrown from the back tray of a 4-wheel drive vehicle, which then rolled over onto him, after the offender was driving it in pursuit of a kangaroo across a paddock in Gunnedah. The offender now faces the certainty of imprisonment and the continuing burden that he will carry for the balance of his life, knowing that he was the reason for the death of his younger friend.