R v Todd Richard AYERST [2007] NSWDC 235

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Todd Richard AYERST [2007] NSWDC 235

HEARING DATE(S): 23 October 2007

JUDGMENT DATE: 23 October 2007

EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 23 October 2007

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: The offender is sentenced to imprisonment with a non-parole period of eighteen months and a head sentence of three years.

CATCHWORDS: Criminal Law - Sentence - Detain for advantage - Vulnerable person

PARTIES: The Crown Todd Richard Ayerst

FILE NUMBER(S): 07/31/0214

COUNSEL: H. Wilson - Crown T. Healey - Offender

SOLICITORS: NSWDPP

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: One morning Ida Schmidt left her home in Cessnock to go for her daily walk; this was early in the morning. She was entitled, of course, to go about her daily activities in safety but on this occasion, on 13 May 2007, she met up with the offender who had been out drinking all night. What the offender did was, I am satisfied, directly related to his substantial level of intoxication but in the circumstances of this case it is not much of a mitigating feature because, to his knowledge, in the past he had committed offences due to his excessive alcohol consumption.

2 The offender came up to Ms Schmidt and asked her the time. She said, "It's 6.30." The offender was acting strangely and Ms Schmidt became concerned. She thought he may have been drunk because he repeated the question, "I'm sorry but what is the time?" and his speech was indistinct. Ms Schmidt stepped onto the roadway but she was almost immediately grabbed by the offender. At this stage she did not realise that the person who grabbed her was the same person who had been asking her the time but she later learnt that it was the offender who was doing both these things.