Regina v Connolly [2001] NSWSC 787

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Regina v Connolly [2001] NSWSC 787 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 70091/00 HEARING DATE(S) : 20/7/2001 JUDGMENT DATE : 20 July 2001

PARTIES : Regina Geoffrey William Connolly JUDGMENT OF : Dowd J at 1

COUNSEL : Mr P Dare- Crown Ms L Flannery- Prisoner SOLICITORS : Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales CATCHWORDS : Manslaughter - Stabbing - Delusional disorder - Special circumstances LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedures) Act 1999. Crown v Thompson and Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383. R v Blacklidge (Unreported, NSWCCA, 12 December 1995). R v Carter (Unreported, NSWCCA, 27 June 2001). CASES CITED : R v Hill [1981] 3 ALR 397. R v Troja (Unreported, NSWCCA, 16 July 1991). Veen (No. 1)(1979) 143 CLR 458. Veen (No. 2)(1987-1988) 164 CLR 465. DECISION : 1. The prisoner is guilty of manslaughter; and 2. The prsioner is sentenced to seven-and-a-half years imprisonment, to commence on 14 August 2000 and to conclude on 13 February 2008; and a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years, to commence on 14 August 2000 and to conclude on 13 February 2005.

THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES CRIMINAL DIVISION

DOWD J

20 JULY 2001

70091/00

Regina v Geoffrey William CONNOLLY

Remarks on Sentence 1 HIS HONOUR: The prisoner was indicted in that on 14 August 2000, Geoffrey William Connolly did murder Ji Wang Yin Connolly. To that indictment the prisoner pleaded not guilty. A trial date was appointed for 27 August 2001 with an estimated duration of two weeks before Mr Justice Barr. On 6 July 2001, the prisoner was re-arraigned. He then pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter, which plea was accepted in full satisfaction of the indictment. He was remanded in custody for sentence until today. 2 The basis of the acceptance and indeed the entry of that plea was based on medical evidence establishing that his capacity to control himself was substantially impaired by an abnormality of the mind, arising from an underlying condition so as to entitle the prisoner to warrant liability for murder being reduced to manslaughter. An underlying condition is defined by s23A of the Crimes Act 1900 ('the Act') meaning; "A pre-existing mental or physiological condition other than a condition of transitory kind". 3 It should be noted that for the purposes of s23A of the Act, if a person was intoxicated at the time of the acts or omissions, causing the death concerned and the intoxication was self-induced, the effects of that self induced intoxication are to be disregarded for the purposes of determining whether the person is not liable to be convicted of murder, by virtue of the section. That of course does not disentitle the prisoner to have the matter taken into account on sentence. 4 The prisoner was employed for some twelve years as a part-time book keeper for a plaster business, and during that time he became close friends with the two owners of the business. 5 In 1995 the prisoner divorced his first wife after forming deep suspicions about her as to her fidelity, those suspicions having no foundation whatsoever. 6 Some twelve months later, the wife of one of his employers put him in contact with the deceased, who then lived in China. They began to correspond and to meet and then married. They then underwent the lengthy process of migration of the deceased to Australia, who on arrival to Australia went to live with the prisoner in a rented unit. 7 Initially, the relationship appeared very happy and positive, but then a couple of months before the death of the deceased, the prisoner told one of his employers that he suspected, again without foundation, that the deceased was being unfaithful to him, and that she was proposing to leave. Some three weeks before her death, the prisoner told that same employer that he was considering killing her. The matter was at that stage passed off by the employer, as though the prisoner was joking. 8 The prisoner rang one of his employers and told him that he had killed the deceased and left that same message on his sister's answering machine. The other employer rang the prisoner and was told the same. Police who attended the prisoner's residence were told by the prisoner, "I think I've killed my wife". 9 The deceased was found in the bedroom. She had severe chest wounds and a large knife was found embedded in her back. There were no signs of life, and attempts at revival were abandoned.