Regina v Phillip Raymond PARKES [2006] NSWSC 331

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Regina v Phillip Raymond PARKES [2006] NSWSC 331

HEARING DATE(S) : 10/02/06, 13/03/06, 11/04/06

JUDGMENT DATE : 5 May 2006

JUDGMENT OF : James J at 1

DECISION : Non-parole period of 13 years commencing on 18/02/2005 and expiring on 17/02/2018. A balance of the term of 5 years.

CATCHWORDS : CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - murder - guilty plea - prisoner murdered his mother.

LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act

CASES CITED : R v Way (2004) 60 NSWLR 168

PARTIES : Regina v Phillip Raymond PARKES

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2005/1791

COUNSEL : J Bennett SC - Crown Ms L Flannery - Prisoner

SOLICITORS : R Ianna - Solicitor Director of Public Prosecutions - Crown N Marshall - LAC - Prisoner

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION

JAMES J

Friday 5 May 2006

2005/1791 REGINA v Phillip Raymond PARKES

REMARKS ON SENTENCE 1 HIS HONOUR: The prisoner Phillip Raymond Parkes pleaded guilty to one count of murder, that on 16 January 2005 at Collaroy he murdered Grace Winifred Parkes, who was his mother. 2 Proceedings for the sentencing of the prisoner were conducted before me on 10 February 2006, 13 March 2006 and 11 April 2006. 3 Documentary evidence in the proceedings on sentence included: (1) for the Crown - A statement of facts prepared by the Crown and four volumes of witness statements, transcripts of interviews, reports and other documents which had been obtained by the Crown, some individual documents in those volumes being made separate exhibits: (2) for the prisoner - Two reports about the prisoner by a psychiatrist Dr Michael Giuffrida, reports about the prisoner by other medical practitioners, a letter from one of the prisoner's children, a reference from his former employer, some documents about the prisoner from the Probation and Parole Service during a period in which the prisoner was on parole under an earlier sentence and some documents about the prisoner from the Department of Corrective Services during the period in which he has been in custody on remand for the present offence. 4 In the proceedings on sentence Dr Giuffrida and the prisoner gave oral evidence. 5 After the hearing on 13 March 2006 I received comprehensive written submissions from both the Crown prosecutor and counsel for the prisoner. 6 In the proceedings on sentence there was little or no challenge to the Crown's statement of facts, with the exception of the last part of the statement which was headed "The Accused", and the following statement of the background to the commission of the offence, of the facts of the offence and of events following the commission of the offence is derived from parts of the Crown's statement of facts which were unchallenged and which I consider I should accept, supplemented to some extent by other evidence in the proceedings on sentence which I consider that I should accept.