R v Jeffrey John MASON [2009] NSWDC 364

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Jeffrey John MASON [2009] NSWDC 364

HEARING DATE(S): 3 November 2009

JUDGMENT DATE: 3 November 2009

JURISDICTION: District Court Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: The offender is sentenced to imprisonment. I set a non-parole period of two years and a head sentence of four years.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Aggravated break, enter and commit serious indictable offence - Assault occasioning actual bodily harm - Mental illness

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900

PARTIES: The Crown Jeffrey John Mason

FILE NUMBER(S): DC 2009/137742

COUNSEL: J. Booth - Offender

SOLICITORS: Director of Public Prosecutions Legal Aid Commission - Offender

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Jeffrey John Mason appears for sentence today, having pleaded guilty in the Local Court to a most serious offence. That is an offence of aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence. The serious indictable offence he committed was an assault occasioning actual bodily harm upon a person by the name of Mervyn Hamill. The circumstance of aggravation relied on by the Crown in the charge is that the offender maliciously inflicted actual bodily harm upon Mr Hamill, but the Crown could have relied on other aggravating features of Mr Mason's conduct, a matter I will return to when considering the appropriateness of the standard non-parole period for the present offence.

2 Mr Mason pleaded guilty in the Local Court, as I have mentioned, to this offence and so the sentence I will ultimately impose is reduced by 25 per cent to reflect the utilitarian value of his plea of guilty.

3 Mr Mason and Mr Hamill were neighbours. They got on reasonably well, sharing meals occasionally, but there was a problem with Mr Mason's mental state. He had been receiving treatment from a community based crisis team for some time because of problems he was having, in particular, paranoid schizophrenia. He was on antipsychotic medication for a while, which controlled his aggressive behaviour. However, Mr Mason told the crisis team lies. He told them that he was doing well and not experiencing fits of rage, when these in fact were not true. The crisis team, no doubt due to scarce resources, accepted what Mr Mason said, and so his regular injections stopped. This led to a further deterioration of his behaviour, culminating in the attack on Mr Hamill on 1 January this year.