Regina v Robert Theo Sievers [2002] NSWSC 1257

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Regina v Robert Theo Sievers [2002] NSWSC 1257 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 70037/02 HEARING DATE(S) : 6 and 13 December 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 18 December 2002

PARTIES : Regina Robert Theo Sievers JUDGMENT OF : Sully J at 1

COUNSEL : D. Howard - Crown P. Winch/T. Keaney - Prisoner SOLICITORS : S. E. O'Connor - Crown William Dickens - Prisoner LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) Reg v Harris (2000) 50 NSWLR 409 R v Baker, unreported, NSWCCA 20/9/95 CASES CITED : R v Twala, unreported, NSWCCA, 4/11/84 Veen v The Queen (No. 2) (1988) 164 CLR 465 Miles (2002) NSWCCA 276 Barac (1999) NSWSC 61 DECISION : Sentenced to life imprisonment

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES CRIMINAL DIVISION

SULLY J

Wenesday 18 December 2002

70037/02 – REGINA v ROBERT THEO SIEVERS

ON SENTECE

1 HIS HONOUR: On 21 October 2002, the prisoner, Mr Robert Theo Sievers, was presented in this Court for trial upon an indictment charging him with having murdered, on 4 July 2000, Michelle Campbell, a young woman with whom he had been living in an intimate relationship. 2 The prisoner pleaded that he was not guilty of murder, but that he was guilty of manslaughter. The Crown declined to accept the manslaughter plea. A jury was thereupon empanelled. The prisoner, upon arraignment before the jury, pleaded not guilty and he stood thereupon, trial by jury. On 31 October 2002, the jury found the prisoner guilty of murder. I formally convicted him and remanded him until 6 December instant for the hearing of evidence and submissions on sentence. Those proceedings on sentence concluded on Friday last, 13 December instant. 3 The relevant facts can be shortly stated, not least because they were at trial, and are, largely, uncontroversial. On the material evening, the prisoner and the victim had an argument. According to the prisoner, the victim approached him holding a small kitchen knife. He took the knife from her; folded his arms about her in order to quieten her down; struggled with her; "totally lost it", to use his own words; and stabbed her fatally with the knife.