Regina v Clissold (Revised to include second counsel) [2002] NSWCCA 356

New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal

CITATION : Regina v Clissold (Revised to include second counsel) [2002] NSWCCA 356 revised - 15/11/2002 FILE NUMBER(S) : CCA 60340/02 HEARING DATE(S) : 19 August 2002 JUDGMENT DATE : 19 August 2002

PARTIES : Regina v Ian Raymond Clissold JUDGMENT OF : Hodgson JA at 26,28; Simpson J at 27; Smart AJ at 1

LOWER COURT JURISDICTION : Supreme Court LOWER COURT FILE NUMBER(S) : 70002/01 LOWER COURT JUDICIAL Greg James J OFFICER :

COUNSEL : (C) P Ingram (R) C B Craigie SC and Ms C T Loukas SOLICITORS : (C) S E O'Connor (R) Sydney Regional Aboriginal Corporation Legal Service CATCHWORDS : Crown appeal against sentence - accumulation of sentences - special circumstances - judge not bound to adhere to three-quarters rule for the total sentence - wide discretion of judge - correct construction of s.44 of Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act. LEGISLATION CITED : Nil CASES CITED: Nil DECISION : Appeal dismissed

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEAL

60340/02 HODGSON JA SIMPSON J SMART AJ

Monday, 19 August 2002 REGINA v IAN RAYMOND CLISSOLD JUDGMENT

1. SMART AJ: The Director of Public Prosecutions has appealed against the following sentences imposed upon Ian Raymond Clissold, the offender, in the Supreme Court on 17 May 2002: (i) assault occasioning actual bodily harm - four years imprisonment commencing on 25 January 2000 (the date of the offender's arrest) (ii) manslaughter - 14 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of eight years to commence on 25 January 2002. 2. Thus the effective total sentence is 16 years and the applicant is eligible for release on parole after 10 years, that is, on 24 January 2010. The attack of the Crown centres on the non-parole period which it contends should be 10 years so that the offender becomes eligible for release on parole after 12 years, that is, on 24 January 2012. 3. In brief, on 4 August 1999, the offender and two other men entered the house of Gregory Mark Symonds, assaulted him and assaulted and abducted Peter John Ledger using a knife to do so. Subsequently Ledger was killed. 4. The offender was initially charged with murder. The judge gave two pre-trial rulings. In one he rejected evidence directed towards establishing the place of the death of the deceased, Peter John Ledger, on the basis that the evidence was of little probative value and merely gave rise to speculation. In the other, the judge determined that the evidence of Symonds identifying the offender as the assailant was admissible. However, the judge raised in that ruling limitations on what might occur at trial concerning identification. The plea of guilty to each charge were entered following that ruling.