R v GILLETT [2005] NSWDC 3

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v GILLETT [2005] NSWDC 3

HEARING DATE(S): 2 November 2004 - 25 November 2004 4 March 2005,

JUDGMENT DATE: 18 March 2005

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: Sentenced to imprisonment; Effectivel sentence of 7 years with a non-parole period of 5 years and 3 months.; See paragraphs [52] - [55]

CATCHWORDS: Criminal Law - Sentence - Dangerous Driving Causing Death - Epilepsy - Abandonment of responsibility

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act

R v Chad unreported CCA, 13 May 1997 R v Whyte & Ors (2002) 55 NSWLR 252 CASES CITED: R v Jurisic (1998) 45 NSWLR 209 R v Price [2004] NSWCCA 186 R v Wilkins (1998) 38 A Crim R 445 R v Blair [2205] NSWCCA 78

PARTIES: Crown Ross Gillett

FILE NUMBER(S): 03/11/1112

COUNSEL: W. G. Roser (Crown) W.C. Barber (Offender)

SOLICITORS: NSW DPP Ian Rolfe Solicitor

Sentence 1 On 2nd May 2003 the offender was driving home. He said that he planned to call in to see someone on the way. Many other people were also driving home that Friday evening, looking forward no doubt to relaxing over the weekend. But as a result of the offender's wrongdoing, 3 lives were lost and many more lives were shattered.

2 The offender should not have been driving that day. He only had a driver's licence because he told repeated lies to the Roads and Traffic Authority. Many times he told them that he did not have epilepsy, but that was not true.

3 The offender displayed an attitude of remarkable selfishness. Each time he renewed his driver's licence he had a choice: he could choose to either tell the truth which would have meant a possibility of not being able to drive, which would in turn have caused him inconvenience and perhaps hampered his career, or he could choose to lie, and put countless lives at risk. It is not his fault that he suffers from epilepsy – but he is fully responsible for the tragic consequences of his lies. He deserves severe punishment.