R v Michael BROWN* [2010] NSWDC 344

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Michael BROWN* [2010] NSWDC 344 This decision has been amended. Please see the end of the judgment for a list of the amendments.

JUDGMENT DATE: 17 September 2010

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ

DECISION: A non-parole period of 2 years and a balance of the term of 2 years.

CATCHWORDS: CRIME - sentence - conviction after jury trial - sexual intercourse without consent - victim is ex-girlfriend of offender - victim and offender have young child - offence lies in the lower range of objective seriousness - relatively short duration and unplanned - penile/vaginal intercourse involving ejaculation - breach of trust - threat - victim impact statement - no relevant criminal record - pre-sentence report - character references - unlikely to re-offend - good prospects of rehabilitation

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900 s 61I Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 s21A

PARTIES: Regina Michael Brown

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/1939

COUNSEL: Mr FDL Holles for the Director of Public Prosecutions Mr G Scragg for the offender

JUDGMENT

1. Things became too much for Michael Brown on the early morning of 3 August 2008. His relationship with Julie White was over. His unfounded jealously regarding another man spiked the night before when all three happened to be together at a hotel. Mr Brown was permitted to share the bed of his former girlfriend Julie White on trust. She even permitted him to share the shower with her that morning.

2. When she refused him a cuddle, that became not acceptable to Mr Brown who stepped in that moment from being a young man highly regarded in his local [place] community to being a criminal. He raped Julie White. He inflicted on his former girlfriend a very serious form of violence.