Peter Lane v Regina [2006] NSWDC 164

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Peter Lane v Regina [2006] NSWDC 164

HEARING DATE(S): 20th September 2006 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 09/27/2006

JUDGMENT OF: Nicholson SC DCJ

DECISION: Appeal dismissed, conviction confirmed, sentence confirmed.

CATCHWORDS: Criminal Law - Appeal from Local Court - indecent assault - disinhibited behaviour - alcohol - significant power imbalance because of complainant's disability.

PARTIES: Peter Lane - Appellant Regina - Respondent

FILE NUMBER(S): 06/22/1338

COUNSEL: H. Barker, Crown Prosecutor's Chambers, Penrith

SOLICITORS: Defence: Mr J. Mulder, Legal Aid Commission

JUDGMENT 1 HIS HONOUR: Peter Lane, who gave an address at Ingleburn when he was arrested, appeals against the severity of a sentence imposed upon him by her Honour Magistrate Barry in the Penrith Court.

2 Her Honour dealt with him for an act of indecency that occurred in the late afternoon of 7 December 2005 at Penrith. She imposed a sentence of fifteen months imprisonment which was backdated to 24 June 2006 when the appellant was arrested.

3 The Court's task is to evaluate, by way of rehearing, the evidence before the learned magistrate and come to its own view about the sentence that ought to be imposed; always bearing in mind that if a sentence greater than the magistrate was to be imposed that the appellant ought be warned.

4 Luke T. is aged twenty. He suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autistic characteristics of moderate range. He was first diagnosed as autistic at the age of two and a half. He was at the Nepean Accident and Emergency with his father. He had gone to the male toilets, had locked the door behind him, sat on the toilet seat and urinated.