R v Hearne [1999] NSWSC 605

New South Wales Supreme Court CITATION : R v Hearne [1999] NSWSC 605 CURRENT JURISDICTION : Criminal FILE NUMBER(S) : 70045/98 HEARING DATE(S) : 27/4/99; 6/5/99 JUDGMENT DATE : 4 June 1999

PARTIES : The Crown Murray Walter Hearne JUDGMENT OF : Wood CJatCL

COUNSEL : B. Newport QC (Crown) M. Ramage QC (Prisoner) SOLICITORS : DPP (State) C. Jeffreys CATCHWORDS : DECISION : Malicious Wounding: Fixed Term of Penal Servitude for 6 years from 3/3/98; Murder: Sentenced to a minimum term of penal servitude of 20 years from 3/3/98, to expire 2/3/2018 and a further additional term of penal servitude for seven years to commence on expiry of the minimum term. Earliest date for which eligible for release on parole 2/3/2018

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES CRIMINAL DIVISION

WOOD CJ AT CL

FRIDAY 4 JUNE 1999

NO 70045/98 - REGINA V MURRAY WALTER HEARNE

SENTENCE: 1 HIS HONOUR: The prisoner Murray Walter Hearne has been indicted on two charges: a) The murder on 28 February 1998 of Constable Peter Forsyth; and b) The malicious wounding of Constable Jason Semple on 27 February 1998, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm. 2 To those charges, for which the maximum available penalties under ss 18 and 33 of the Crimes Act respectively are penal servitude for life and penal servitude for twenty five years, the prisoner has pleaded guilty. He is now to be sentenced accordingly. 3 The evidence tendered before me discloses that on the evening of Friday 27 February 1998, the prisoner and his half brother Scott Van Meurs met his half sister Tiffany Thorne and another girl, Cassandra Wee, near the Ultimo Community Centre. It had been their intention to attend a dance at the Centre but when they learned that it had been cancelled at the last moment due to rain, they decided to go on into the City. After filling in time at an amusement centre and at a snooker parlour, they returned to the Centre where they expected to be picked up by the father of Tiffany Thorne. 4 While waiting for Mr Thorne on the corner of Bulwarra Road and William Henry Street, the prisoner tried unsuccessfully to sell a tablet, which was said to be Ecstasy, to some young girls. At about 11.20pm the prisoner and his companions observed Constables Forsyth, Semple and Neville, who were off duty police, walking towards them. Each of these police officers had been drinking for about an hour and a half at the Lord Wolsley Hotel in Bulwarra Road. Constable Forsyth was dressed in a T shirt, shorts and joggers. Constable Semple was still wearing his police trousers and boots but he had replaced his shirt with a T shirt. Constable Neville was wearing a light coloured shirt and jeans. Before leaving the hotel Constables Neville and Semple had drunk four schooners each of beer, some of which were light. Constable Forsyth had drunk five schooners the last of which was a light beer. Patrons and bar staff said that none of these men had misbehaved themselves while at the hotel or had given any signs of being affected to any significant degree by alcohol. Blood alcohol concentrations tested late that night, following the injuries which two of the officers sustained, would generally support that assessment. 5 Constable Forsyth in fact lived with his wife and two children in Hackett Street, a short distance from the Community Centre and the hotel. He and the other officers had decided to walk a little further down William Henry Street to look into another hotel in that street. 6 Tiffany Thorne gave a wolf whistle when she saw these men. At the prisoner's request, Scott Van Meurs yelled out to them, "Do you want to buy an E". Constable Neville said that he called him over and asked him what he had. He replied, "I've got one E left". Constable Neville asked where it was and Van Meurs then asked him, "Are you cops". Constable Neville again asked where the tablet was. Van Meurs said that his brother had it and after saying that it would cost $40 he called over the prisoner. Constable Semple gave a slightly different version to the effect that when Van Meurs came over Constable Neville said to him, "You're a bloody idiot mate, do you always come and ask people this?" Additionally he said that the question from Van Meurs as to whether they were police followed the inquiry where the Ecstasy was, as well as the advice that Van Meurs' brother had it. He said that the reply by Constable Neville to Van Meurs' question was, "Listen, I've got money, mate", an observation which Constable Neville did not recall making. 7 When the prisoner joined them Constable Neville said that he was asked, either by Constable Forsyth or by Constable Semple, what he had. He produced a small clear resealable plastic bag containing a tablet. Constable Semple's recollection was that there was a conversation with the prisoner along those lines but he thought that it was Constable Neville who had asked him what he had. Constable Neville said that he asked the prisoner where he had obtained the tablet, to which he received the reply, "Blacktown". When asked from whom he obtained it the prisoner replied, "A friend, Ahmed". This conversation Constable Semple and Neville both said occurred in the vicinity of a recessed doorway, or alcove. 8 Constable Neville said that while he was having the conversation, Constable Forsyth had taken the prisoner by the right arm and chest and had pushed him into the recess up against the door. Constable Forsyth, he said, asked him, "Do you know who we are?" Constable Semple said that both the prisoner and Van Meurs were manoeuvred into this alcove and that he and Constable Forsyth ended up facing the prisoner while Constable Neville stood directly in front of Van Meurs. He recalled Constable Forsyth prefacing the question mentioned by Constable Neville with the words, "You'se are bloody idiots." When the question was put which he thought was, "You know who we are, don't you", he noticed the prisoner looked down at his police boots and uniform trousers. 9 Constable Neville turned his attention at this stage to Van Meurs because he attempted to run away. He seized Van Meurs by the arm and asked him if he had identification. Van Meurs asked, "Are you cops", to which Constable Neville said he replied, "Yes". Van Meurs reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be some bank notes. At this stage they were a metre or so away from the prisoner and the other police. Whilst Constable Neville was talking to Van Meurs he said that he heard Constable Forsyth instruct the prisoner to sit down. Constable Neville said that he gave Van Meurs a similar instruction. Before those instructions were given Constable Semple had a recollection of Constable Forsyth saying, "You are drug dealers. I live in this street, I've got kids that live in this street". 10 He noticed the prisoner sit down on his haunches. When the prisoner was asked for his identification Constable Semple said that he stood and he began to rifle through his bum bag. Constable Semple said that he then became aggressive and said, "I'm going, I'm out of here". Both Constable Semple and Forsyth grabbed him by the upper body and pushed him back against the door. He was told that he was not going anywhere. He began to struggle with Constables Forsyth and Semple who tried to contain him. It was at this stage that Constable Semple said that he felt blows to his chest and stomach. He stumbled back, pulled up his T shirt and saw blood pouring from his chest and stomach. He yelled out, "Pete, he's got a knife". 11 Constable Neville said that he noticed the prisoner grappling with Constables Forsyth and Semple and that he heard Constable Semple's warning about the knife. He then seized the prisoner from behind around the upper arms and threw him towards the street. The prisoner, he said, stood his ground for a short time and then ran away. 12 In the meantime Van Meurs had already taken off and was heading in a westerly direction down William Henry Street in front of the prisoner. Constable Neville pursued the prisoner a short distance but then returned to assist the other officers after he heard Constable Semple call out, "I'm leaking". It was realised at about the same time, that Constable Forsyth had also been stabbed because he had collapsed face forward. 13 Ambulance and police officers responded quickly to a triple O call and both officers were conveyed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after treatment at the scene. Although the precise sequence of blows is not known it is now evident that, during the grappling described by Constables Neville and Semple, the prisoner stabbed Constable Forsyth through the heart and Constable Semple once in the abdomen and once in the chest. Constable Forsyth died from the wounds to his heart shortly after midnight. Constable Semple was successfully treated for his wounds which included lacerations to his anterior stomach wall, to his liver and to his left epigastric artery. 14 After running for some distance from the scene of the stabbing, the prisoner stopped near a car park. He informed his companions that he had stabbed the men and he showed them the knife which had blood on the blade. Tiffany Thorne said in an interview that was tendered that, when she observed that she had to tell someone what had happened, the prisoner replied that he would kill her if she did. Some residents in the area did hear words consistent with that threat spoken by a male person in the street. A phone call was made to Mr Thorne by Tiffany advising that the prisoner and Scott Van Meurs had been the victims of an attempted robbery and had been beaten up. They arranged to meet Mr Thorne at Central Railway. While waiting for him the prisoner changed into different clothes which he had in a back pack. He later informed Mr Thorne that he had fought off the men who had attacked them and that he and Scott had escaped. Mr Thorne drove the girls to their home in Lilyfield and then drove the prisoner and Van Meurs to their home at Blacktown. 15 The prisoner telephoned his girlfriend, Alvina Narayan, and then went to her flat at Chipping Norton where he spent the rest of the night and some of the next day. During the morning following the incident, he informed her that he had stabbed someone, although it was again his account that three men had jumped him and were going to kill him and his younger brother. He made no mention of any attempt to sell drugs or of any police officer being involved in the incident. Miss Narayan dropped the prisoner off at Parramatta Railway Station later that morning and he then caught the train back to Blacktown. He informed Mr Van Meurs senior that he and Scott had walked over to speak to three men who had gone aggro, had pushed Scott up against the wall and had pushed him to the ground. He said that they informed him, "We're going to bash the shit out of you, no, we're going to kill you". He claimed to have head butted one man and smacked the other over the face before they made good an escape. 16 On 1 March he said to another girl, Casey-Lee Baxter, whom he met at the Quix Service Station, that the person who had stabbed the police would be "pretty popular in gaol." When she asked what he meant, he replied, "Well the prisoners are going to admire him for killing a cop". A day or so later she said that he told her that he had stabbed the police officers, and had sterilised the knife which he had hidden at his girlfriend's house. He also showed her several newspaper clippings concerning the murder that he had placed into an A4 art book. In her presence Scott Van Meurs and the prisoner discussed running away together. 17 On 2 March the prisoner informed a young student, AB, who knew Scott Van Meurs and his younger brother Tony, that he had tried to sell a drug to police and that he had stabbed the two officers involved. Later that day Mr Van Meurs senior began to question the prisoner about the stabbing of the police which was receiving extensive media coverage. The prisoner denied any involvement in it, and said that the incident in which he and Scott had been involved had occurred around the corner from the location where the police had been stabbed. 18 On 2 March, acting on information, the police commenced physical and electronic surveillance of the prisoner. He and Scott Van Meurs were followed that day to a Blacktown disposal store where the prisoner was seen to purchase a folding lock knife. Phone calls to and from his home were the subject of lawful interception from this time. The prisoner was heard in the course of conversations over this service to acknowledge that it was he who had stabbed the two officers. He was also heard to express concerns about police identifying him and about others who knew of his involvement talking about him. In a conversation with Tiffany Thorne he threatened to have killed anyone who "dobbed him in". 19 On the evening of 2 March the prisoner moved to his girlfriend's flat at Chipping Norton. When later that evening Scott Van Meurs became aware of police surveillance outside their home in Blacktown, he telephoned the prisoner at the flat and cautioned him. In a number of phone calls they discussed preparations for leaving Sydney. These preparations including procuring or stealing a motor vehicle and assembling the necessary clothes and other items for such a departure. 20 In the early hours of 3 March, Scott Van Meurs' father became aware, from a conversation with his son Tony, that the prisoner had stabbed the police and that he and Scott were planning flight. He telephoned the prisoner at his girlfriend's flat and asked him if he had anything to do with the stabbings. The prisoner admitted being responsible but said that the police had been drunk and had threatened to kill him and Scott. He said that after he was threatened and kicked, he pulled out his knife and stabbed the men. In a series of telephone calls Mr Van Meurs attempted to persuade him to surrender himself to police. He warned him that he intended telephoning police and the prisoner's father. He followed this up by placing those calls. The prisoner then spoke to his father in Victoria and was advised by him to telephone the newspapers and to give them his story. In response to this advice the prisoner telephoned the Daily Telegraph and spoke to Mr Barclay Crawford. 21 In a statement prepared from the notes which he made, Mr Crawford recalls the following salient details: "Mr Hearne said, according to these notes, "My father had told me to tell you this, the police started this, they bashed me and my brother, they kicked me in the ribs and the back of the legs, my brother is still bruised. I could smell beer on them. They say that these police are lovers of kids but it's all bullshit. The police made me stab them, they just turned on me..." Mr Crawford said, "What did you talk to them, that is the police, about". The prisoner said, "You know, it's about, I can't really remember". Mr Crawford said, "Well you must have talked about something, try and remember". The prisoner said, "Ah, just things about the weather, how it was raining". Mr Crawford said, "What made them turn on you, you must have done something or said something?" The prisoner said, "Nothing, nothing, they just snapped". Mr Crawford asked, "What happened then"? The prisoner replied, "They were drunk, they kicked me in the ribs and pushed both me and Scotty into a corner down on the ground". Mr Crawford asked, "Did they tell you they were cops", to which the prisoner replied, "No, not once. They just said, Let's get them, let's kill them". Mr Crawford asked, "OK, what happened then". The prisoner replied, "I thought I was going to die because the cops said they were going to kill me, so I pulled my knife out".