Regina v Steer [2006] NSWSC 1198

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Regina v Steer [2006] NSWSC 1198

HEARING DATE(S) : 11/09/06 to 20/10/06, 10/11/06

JUDGMENT DATE : 17 November 2006

JUDGMENT OF : Whealy J at 1

DECISION : In relation to the offence of robbery, armed with an offensive weapon, I sentence you to a fixed term of imprisonment for 4 years. The sentence is to commence on 23 February 2005 and to expire on 22 February 2009. In relation to the offence of the murder of Warren Leslie Dickson, I sentence you to a term of imprisonment comprising a non-parole period of 22 years and the balance of term of 7 years and 4 months. This sentence is to commence on 23 February 2007 and the non-parole is to expire on 22 February 2029, the date upon which you will be eligible to be released to parole. The balance of the term will expire on 22 June 2036.

CATCHWORDS : Criminal practice and procedure - Murder - Armed Robbery - standard non-parole period 20 years for murder - reasons to increase standard non-parole period - objective seriousness of crime - aggravating factor: burning the body of the deceased - absence of remorse

LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

PARTIES : Regina v Brian James Steer

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2006/239

COUNSEL : Mr P. Barnett - Crown Mr D. Stewart - Offender

SOLICITORS : Office of the DDP - Crown Ross Hill & Associates - Offender

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION CRIMINAL LIST

WHEALY J

FRIDAY 17 November 2006

2006/239 - REGINA v Brian James STEER

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: The tragic events involved in this trial occurred late in the evening on 13 February 2005. The scene of the tragedy was a small house at 90 Commerce Street Taree. About midnight, or shortly after, neighbours noticed the smell of smoke. Peter Moy, who lived at 88 Commerce Street Taree, on closer examination, saw a fire flickering inside the house and smoke pouring out the back of the house. Mr Moy rang the Fire Brigade at about 12.28am on 14 February and alerted other neighbours to the fire, which by this time was burning strongly. 2 The Fire Brigade responded to the call and arrived soon after the emergency call. Two trucks arrived at the scene and the fire fighters set about trying to control the blaze. It seems the fire was quite fierce for a time, particularly towards the front part of the house. Eventually, the fire was brought under control and, during this period of time, police officers arrived at the scene. Members of the fire brigade had observed in the main bedroom the badly incinerated body of a male person. This was, in fact, the occupant of the house, Warren Dickson, whom I shall refer to as the deceased. Detective Sergeant Whayne Day arrived at the crime scene at about 4.45am on 14 February 2005. He observed that the deceased had sustained full depth burns to the majority of his body. The deceased was lying on his back on the floor with his legs on the remains of a bed and his head and torso were pointing towards the entry door to the bedroom. Detective Sergeant Day observed a significant area of injury to the front portion of the neck of the deceased. He also observed large amounts of what appeared to be blood in the kitchen of the house, particularly near the rear door, which led to the backyard. Tests were done and these showed strong positive reactions for the presence of blood on the kitchen floor. Commerce Street itself was closed off to traffic and a crime scene was established in accordance with police protocol and procedures. 3 Detective Day's further observations indicated to him that the kitchen window had been broken from the outside and that this had happened prior to the fire. The fire had very substantially damaged the house and parts of it were destroyed. The seat of the fire appeared to be in the main bedroom area. There were marks in the hallway and near the bedroom, which indicated that the deceased's body may have been dragged from the kitchen area through into the bedroom where the fire appeared to have been started. 4 The officer-in-charge of the initial investigation and subsequent matters was Detective Sergeant Rodney Blackman. He arrived at the premises at about 2am on 14 February and inspected the house and the body of the deceased. He said: - "The corpse was terribly burnt. The extremities of the corpse were burnt beyond recognition, the general person was unrecognisable save for, I could establish that it was a deceased male". 5 A little later Dr Lyons a forensic pathologist came to the crime scene and made observations of the deceased's body. Later, Dr Lyons conducted a post mortem on the body. 6 The post mortem carried out by Dr Lyons on 15 February 2005 at the Newcastle Department of Forensic Medicine revealed the following: there were two substantial wounds to the neck of the deceased. The first, although not necessarily the first in point of time, was a gaping wound on the middle of the front of the neck in which the trachea and the oesophageus had been cut right through to the top of the vertebral column. The major structures that were observed in the wound were separated by a gap of approximately 70 millimetres. The second injury was an oblique wound extending under the sternomastoid muscle involving a partial transection of the carotid artery. This is the main artery from the aorta. It distributes blood to the brain. In this instance, there was a gap of 80 millimetres by 20 and, as I have said, the wound was oblique at an angle. 7 Dr Lyons concluded that the deceased had been dead at the time of the fire. The deceased's urine level had been tested for alcohol and Dr Lyons concluded that the tests showed a result consistent with the deceased "having been involved in a light drinking session". He thought the death of the deceased was caused by a combination of mechanisms that related to the two wounds he had sustained. There would have been an inability to breathe normally because of the transection of the airway; and there would have also been a transection of the major vessels resulting in a significant blood loss. Dr Lyons' opinion was that the deceased would have become rapidly unconscious and died within a matter of a few minutes. Either injury would, of itself, have been sufficient to have led to the death of the deceased. The injuries were consistent with the loss of the entire blood volume of the deceased's body. Dr Lyons thought this was consistent with the amount of blood he had observed in the kitchen area. 8 He described the first wound as "an incised wound" and the second as "being consistent with the application of blunt force trauma". In other words, the first was consistent with a slash wound, and the second was consistent with being a stab wound. 9 The police investigation focussed next on two particular individuals. The first was a young lady named Nicole Deluca. She came from Koorainghat, an area just outside of Taree. She lived there with her parents and two children and was involved in running a poultry-egg distribution business. The second person was Brian Steer. (I shall refer to him as the offender, as it later became clear that it was he who killed the deceased). He lived at Hughes Street Taree with his four young children. The offender had been previously married but the marriage had ended sometime before. 10 Ms Deluca and the offender met during chat sessions over the Internet. This occurred back in December 2003. Sometime afterwards, they entered into a relationship. They did not live together but generally spent each weekend together. They appeared to have a good relationship but by January 2005, Ms Deluca was becoming dissatisfied and looking for other interests. 11 On Friday 28 January 2005, Ms Deluca went out with friends. During the evening, she met the deceased. She had not met him before this occasion. They spent the early part of the evening together at the Manning Hotel and then all went back to the house of a friend, Michelle Bennett. Ms Deluca, who later expressed embarrassment about this, was obviously attracted to the deceased and spent the night with him on this occasion. They slept together and it is clear that she was attracted to the deceased and quite interested in extending the friendship. 12 In the following week, this relationship between the deceased and Ms Deluca was rekindled. They met once more and socialised together on both the Wednesday and Thursday of the following week. On the Friday, Ms Deluca stayed the night at the deceased's place and slept with him again. Ms Deluca did not however, tell the offender, in any substance, about her newfound relationship. It seems she rather avoided the topic because she found it difficult to tell the offender that she had decided that their relationship should come to an end. The offender, however, spent some time on the evening of 4 February 2005 trying to locate Ms Deluca. He drove past Michelle Bennett's house and went out to Ms Deluca's home at Koorainghat. He was unable to find her at either place and he surmised, accurately as it happened, that she had spent the night with another man. 13 On 5 February 2005 the offender and Ms Deluca met and gave back their respective keys to each other's house. Thus it was that, by this symbolic and practical gesture, the relationship was brought to an end. 14 The offender, however, did not leave the matter there. He persisted in endeavouring to resecure Ms Deluca's affection during the following week. On 11 February Ms Deluca went to the deceased's house in the early evening. Later, they went to the movies and spent the night again at 90 Commerce Street Taree. Unbeknown to them, the offender followed them home from the movies and, by this stratagem, found out where the deceased lived. On Saturday 12 February, the couple again socialised during the early part of the evening and came back by taxi to 90 Commerce Street Taree where again they stayed the night. Once more, unbeknown to them, the offender, earlier in the evening, had visited the house and observed that both their cars were there, even though the couple apparently were still in town at the time of this clandestine visit. 15 On the afternoon and evening of Sunday 13 February, Ms Deluca continued to enjoy her developing relationship with the deceased. They went to a barefoot skiing competition, and, afterwards, came back to the deceased's home. In the late afternoon, Ms Deluca went to pick up her daughter and returned home to her house at Koorainghat. She did not see the deceased alive again. It was, it will be recalled, during the latter part of this evening that the deceased met his death and the house at 90 Commerce Street Taree was set on fire. 16 The police notified Ms Deluca about 5.30am on 14 February 2005 that the body of Warren Dickson had been found deceased in the burning house at Commerce Street. She was undoubtedly very distressed by this news but went about her usual task of taking her daughter Jamie to the bus stop near the Old Bar turnoff. There, to her surprise, she encountered the offender, waiting for her with his four children. She told him that a friend had been found dead in a house but the offender feigned ignorance about the matter. He gave her a photograph, which had been taken the previous year, of Ms Deluca and himself when they had been on holiday at Lord Howe Island. He asked Ms Deluca whether she would be prepared to move in and live with him. Ms Deluca, who was upset and in tears, indicated that the suggestion was inappropriate at that point of time. Later on the same day, a dozen red roses, which had been ordered the previous Friday by the offender, arrived at Ms Deluca's house. It was Valentine's Day and this gesture, together with his attempts earlier that morning, were plainly manoeuvres calculated to reinstate his relationship with Ms Deluca. 17 On 15 February 2005, the offender sent a text message to Ms Deluca. The message said: - "The police have been to see me. I hope you don't think I had anything to do with this".