R v Horwood [1999] NSWDRGC 8

Drug Court of New South Wales

CITATION : R v Horwood [1999] NSWDRGC 8 Crown PARTIES : HORWOOD, Darren Steven

FILE NUMBER(S) : 0238/1999 of 1999 CORAM: His Honour Judge Neil Milson at 1 CATCHWORDS: Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW) - Meaning of Eligible Person - No Useful Purpose - Violent Conduct :- Whether the accused is an "eligible person" under the Drug Court Act 1998 - whether an offence of malicious damage by fire involved "violent conduct". LEGISLATION CITED: Drug Court Act 1998 (NSW) R v Ranse [1999] NSWDRGC 2 ; CASES CITED: R v Sloane [1999] NSWDRGC 3 ; R v Armanios [1999] NSWDRGC 5 ; The Queen v De Simoni (1981) 147 CLR 383 considered. DATES OF HEARING: 18/08/99 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 18 August 1999

J. Pheils, Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: G. Bond, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW)

JUDGMENT: 1. The prisoner, Darren Steven Horwood, has been charged before the District Court with an offence under s195(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 of malicious damage by means of fire. The matter has been referred to the Drug Court and the present argument is to see whether the prisoner is an eligible person within the meaning of s5(2) of the Drug Court Act 1998.

2. Section 5 defines an eligible person and in subsection (2) of that section it provides that a person is not eligible if the person is charged with a variety of offences, including in part (b) an offence "involving violent conduct or sexual assault".

3. The Crown argument is that the present offence is one that involves violent conduct. This Court has considered violent conduct in a number of cases, some of which have been referred to me today, particularly those of R v Ranse [1999] NSWDRGC 2 and R v Sloane [1999] NSWDRGC 3 and there have been others such as R v Armanios [1999] NSWDRGC 5.