REGINA v Leslie Arthur Davidson PETTY [2002] NSWSC 1220

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : REGINA v Leslie Arthur Davidson PETTY [2002] NSWSC 1220 FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 001003 HEARING DATE(S) : 22/11/02 JUDGMENT DATE : 12 December 2002

PARTIES : REGINA Leslie Arthur Davidson PETTY (Applicant) JUDGMENT OF : Bell J at 1

COUNSEL : R. Hulme SC (Crown) J. Stratton (Applicant) SOLICITORS : SE O'Connor Legal Aid Commission of NSW LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Mill v The Queen (1988) 166 CLR 59 Regina v Maiden [2000] NSWCCA 519 CASES CITED : R v Miles [2002] NSWCCA 276 R v Previtera (1997) 94 A Crim R 76 R v Purdey (1992) 65 A Crim R 441 DECISION : Re-sentenced to imprisonment for twenty-five years to date from 22 September 1988; That sentence will expire on 21 September 2013; Non-parole period of twenty years and six months specified; The first date upon which the applicant will be eligible for consideration for release to parole is 21 March 2009

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES CRIMINAL DIVISION

BELL J

12 December 2002

001003 REGINA v Leslie Arthur Davidson PETTY

JUDGMENT 1 BELL J: This is an application brought pursuant to Sch 1 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 ("the Act") by Leslie Arthur Davidson Petty for the determination of a term and a non-parole period for the sentence of life imprisonment that was imposed on him by Hunt J following his conviction for the murder of Mark Gerald White at Glenreagh on 25 November 1987. 2 The applicant was jointly tried with a co-offender, Steven Arthur Maiden ("Maiden") for the murder of Mark White. Both were convicted. Both were sentenced to terms of penal servitude for life. Those sentences were expressed to commence on the day they were imposed, 22 September 1988. 3 On 8 April 1999 Dunford J re-sentenced Maiden to a term of penal servitude for a minimum of eighteen and a half years commencing on 21 September 1988. An additional term of six years was imposed. The earliest date upon which Maiden will be eligible for release on parole is 20 March 2007. Maiden appealed against the severity of the redetermined sentence. On 13 December 2000 that appeal was dismissed: Regina v Maiden [2000] NSWCCA 519. I will return to the significance of the redetermined sentence imposed upon Maiden in due course. 4 The applicant and Maiden escaped from Cooma Jail on 11 October 1987. They travelled to South Australia where they remained for several weeks. 5 On or about 21 November 1987 they left South Australia and drove to Sydney in a stolen car. They were accompanied by two men, Thomas Patterson and Ronald Crawley on this trip. After a brief stopover the four continued their journey north arriving in the Nambucca River area on 24 November 1987. 6 The deceased, Mark White, was aged seventeen years. He and his fifteen-year-old girlfriend, Danielle Curry, left Sydney on 23 November 1987 intending to hitchhike north to visit a friend who was believed to be living in the Coffs Harbour area. On the morning of 25 November the applicant and his companion picked up Mark White and Danielle Curry on the Pacific Highway, near Macksville. The group travelled to Coffs Harbour where they spent some time before driving to Grafton via Glenreagh. 7 During the course of the trip they stopped at a swimming hole in the Glenreagh area. Sometime after this the applicant and Maiden killed the deceased. 8 The applicant gave an account of his knowledge of the killing in an interview conducted by the police on 17 February 1988. He said that Maiden and the deceased had been involved in a fight that had been initiated by the deceased. The deceased had met his death at Maiden's hands. The applicant had assisted Maiden to bury the deceased. 9 At the trial the applicant gave an unsworn statement which was described by Hunt J as being unbelievable and characterised by a deal of extravagant irrelevance. Hunt J was not in a position to determine the role played by either of the offenders in the killing of the deceased.