REGINA v GALANTE [2008] NSWSC 319

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : REGINA v GALANTE [2008] NSWSC 319

HEARING DATE(S) : 18 February 2008, 5 March 2008

JUDGMENT DATE : 11 April 2008

JURISDICTION : Common Law

JUDGMENT OF : Adams J at 1

DECISION : Non-parole period of 20 years commencing 1 March 2006 and ending on 28 February 2026 and a balance of term of seven years commencing on 1 March 2026 and ending on 28 February 2033.

LEGISLATION CITED : Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

CATEGORY : Sentence

CASES CITED : R v AJP [2004] NSWCCA 434

PARTIES : Regina Mark GALANTE

FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2007/836; 2007/1903

COUNSEL : Ms E A Wilkins SC (Crown) Ms C T Loukas (Offender)

SOLICITORS : S C Kavanagh (Crown) S E O'Connor (Offender)

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

Adams J

11 April 2008

2007/836, 2007/1903 – REGINA v GALANTE

SENTENCE 1 HIS HONOUR:

Introduction 2 Jody Galante was murdered by Mark Galante at Bilpin on 7 January 2006. The offender was arrested on 1 March 2006 and, on 18 February 2008 pleaded guilty to the charge of murder. 3 At the time of the offence the offender was 27 years of age and had no prior criminal record. 4 For the purpose of the proceedings an agreed Statement of Facts was tendered, together with other material. The following account is extracted largely from the Statement of Facts though it is necessary also to refer to the offender's interview with police following his arrest and the statement of one Owen Manton made on the same day.

Factual outline 5 The offender and the victim had known each other since they were teenagers. After some time of being boyfriend and girlfriend they married in 2002 when they were 23 years of age. Their daughter was born in early 2003. There is convincing evidence that, at least by the second half of 2005, the marriage was not a happy one and Jody told a number of persons that she was thinking of leaving the offender, saying at the same time, however, that she loved him too much to do so. She was also worried that she might be unable to take her daughter with her as well. Some time in about mid-October 2005 Jody fell pregnant. Although the offender claimed that Jody had told him that the child was not his, there is no independent evidence either that this was indeed said or that this was the case. I do not need to determine the fact. What is clear however, is that the offender was aware, when he killed Jody, that she was about 3 months pregnant. It was apparent that this pregnancy, at the least, did not instigate the offender's decision to kill his wife since he first attempted to purchase a handgun in mid-October 2005, offering Owen Manton the very substantial sum (from the offender's point of view) of $8,000 or $9,000. About two months after the offender's enquiry, Manton obtained a .22 calibre handgun. The offender saw the weapon at the end of December 2005 and, about a week later, returned to Manton's home and purchased it and about 20 loose rounds of ammunition for the sum of $9,000 in cash. To put this amount in context, at this time the offender was working from home selling sweets via the Internet without any significant success. 6 The offender's daughter went to day-care on weekdays and the victim worked full-time during the week in an office. It seems likely that, for some time, the offender was a heavy user of marijuana. There is no suggestion that this played any significant part in the commission of the crime and I mention it only because his use was, I think, a cause of marital discord. If true, it strongly suggests the offender's unsuitability as a carer for his young daughter. There is evidence that Jody was concerned at what she claimed to be the offender's increasing use of cannabis and had expressed this to a number of people.