Regina v John Kiseljev [2004] NSWSC 1030

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Regina v John Kiseljev [2004] NSWSC 1030 HEARING DATE(S) : 21 May 2004 JUDGMENT DATE : 12 November 2004

JUDGMENT OF : Dunford J DECISION : Sentenced to imprisonment for 16 years with a non-parole period of 11 years

CATCHWORDS : Criminal Law - Sentencing - murder - guilty plea - some degree of provocative conduct by victim - prisoner aged 64 LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 PARTIES : Regina v John Kiseljev FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 70113/03 COUNSEL : W L Robinson QC - Crown P J O'Donnell - Prisoner SOLICITORS : S Kavanagh - Crown Beilby Wager, Solicitors - Prisoner

- 6 - IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

DUNFORD J

FRIDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2004

70113/03 REGINA v JOHN KISELJEV

SENTENCE 1 HIS HONOUR: The prisoner has pleaded guilty on arraignment to the murder of his wife, Nadejda Zassoukhina on 29 November 2002. 2 It appears that following the death of his first wife from cancer in 1987, the prisoner met and befriended the deceased, who was a young Russian woman in this country on a student visa. They went out socially a few times and had sexual intercourse once before the deceased moved in with the prisoner to his house at Mount Druitt on 8 August 2002. Subsequently, she told him that her visa was due to expire and she suggested they marry so that she could obtain permanent residency and ultimately become an Australian citizen, the suggestion being that they would live together as husband and wife for two years to satisfy the Immigration Department. That such was her intention is confirmed by statements contained in the Brief of Evidence made by the deceased to her friend, Min Yuan, to Lucy Ivacheff, the welfare officer at the Russian Ethnic Community Centre, and to Constable Allen on 24 October 2002 and by the prisoner to Chief Inspector Ross on 26 October 2002. 3 They were married on 23 September 2002 in the presence of the prisoner's sister and brother-in-law, but his own children were not told of the marriage because he knew they would not approve. He was at the time 64 years old and the deceased was 22 years old. I note that the deceased complained to Ms Ivacheff about the prisoner on 10 and 16 September, prior to their wedding. 4 According to the prisoner (and the deceased is not here to tell her side of the story), after the wedding everything changed, sexual intercourse ceased and they occupied separate bedrooms. She became very demanding as to her domestic requirements, forced him to drive her to and from her place of employment and accused him of stealing her papers. He in turn accused her of stealing his mail and removing other items from his bedroom. She said she needed to be able show that she had the resources to finance her proposed university studies so the prisoner obtained $15,000 from one of his children which he believed was to be deposited in a joint account, but in fact the account was opened in her sole name at St George Bank on 30 September 2002. There was also a dispute over a sum of $1,400 which she claimed he had taken from her and she subsequently took his bank books and attempted to obtain money from his bank by forging his signature. She re-sold their wedding rings to the jeweller for vouchers worth $250. 5 She did not come home every night and when she did, she argued with the prisoner and kept him awake, accusing him of stealing her papers and other things. Ultimately he put a barrier, and subsequently a lock on his own bedroom door and kept food, drink and a bucket for urinating at night in his room to avoid being confronted by her. 6 The police were called to the premises on two separate occasions prior to the deceased's death. On 24 October 2002 at about 11:20pm, they were called following a verbal argument over money. The deceased was happy to remain at the house that night. 7 Two days later (26 October), police were called again about midday. The prisoner complained that the deceased had broken a window of the premises. She agreed she had, but said it was because the prisoner had locked her out of her room, and so she had broken the window to gain access and she complained to Constable Dunn that he had assaulted her and purported to show the bruises, but Constable Dunn could see nothing. She said she was leaving and did so, but returned about an hour later when the police were again called and the prisoner complained that she would not give him any peace or let him sleep. She eventually left the premises on that occasion. 8 According to the version given to police in his recorded interview on 29 November 2002 following his arrest, the prisoner was at home by himself about 10:30pm when he went to bed to go to sleep. The deceased arrived home at about 12:37am and banged on the door to be let into the house. The prisoner got up, let her in and returned to his bedroom where he locked the door and went back to bed, after which the deceased spoke, yelled and kicked at his bedroom door for about 40 minutes. He then opened the door, shook her by the arms asking her to desist, whereupon she stepped into his bedroom and a scuffle followed during which the prisoner kneed the deceased in the stomach. They both fell to the bedroom floor, he again put his knee into her stomach and hit her on the head. It appears the deceased was screaming, and in order to stop that he put a cloth over her mouth and held it there. He got her shoe and hit her over the head with the heel of the shoe numerous times and shortly after he stopped he realised that she was dead. He had a drink of water, a cigarette and a shower. About 3am went to the home of his daughter and son-in-law, which was a granny flat in the backyard of his house, and told them what had happened. He then telephoned Mount Druitt Police Station and at their request, waited at the house until they arrived shortly afterwards. 9 The photos of the deceased taken at the scene and at post-mortem revealed multiple and extensive injuries to her head and body and the post-mortem examination showed severe bruising to the head and body, a broken nose, her fourth, fifth and twelfth ribs on the right side were broken, her bowel was bruised, there was a haemorrhage around the left kidney and a small amount of patchy subarachnoid haemorrhage to the brain. The cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and trunk, and asphyxia. An examination of the prisoner disclosed 8 lacerations to his right forearm and a fracture of the fifth finger on his right hand, and he complained of a painful right hand, thus indicating the violence of his attack. 10 It appears that the prisoner, as was his custom, had been drinking port wine prior to the fatal attack, and may have been slightly or moderately affected by alcohol, although urine analysis taken later did not disclose the presence of anything of significance.