New South Wales Supreme Court CITATION : Regina v Ronald Rex Edward Garland [2007] NSWSC 1360 HEARING DATE(S) : 22 October 2007, 23 October 2007, 24 October 2007, 1 November 2007 JUDGMENT DATE : 29 November 2007 JUDGMENT OF : Barr J at 1 DECISION : The offender is sentenced to imprisonment for a period of five months. The sentence will commence today 29 November 2007 and will expire on 28 April 2008. PARTIES : Regina Ronald Rex Edward Garland FILE NUMBER(S) : SC 2007/1250 COUNSEL : Crown: P Barnett SC Offender: P Marr SOLICITORS : Crown: S Kavanagh Offender: John Anthony Solicitors IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COMMON LAW DIVISION GRAHAM BARR J 29 NOVEMBER 2007 2007/1250 REGINA v RONALD REX EDWARD GARLAND REMARKS ON SENTENCE 1 HIS HONOUR: The offender, Ronald Rex Edward Garland, was committed to this Court for trial, jointly with his co-accused, on 17 January 2007. On 13 April 2007 he pleaded not guilty to the charge that between 19 and 28 March 2006 at Newcastle, knowing that Jeremy Michael Hunt had unlawfully killed Shandele Macey, he thereafter comforted, maintained and assisted him. The trial of him and his co-accused was fixed to begin on 22 October 2007. On that day he asked to be arraigned again and pleaded guilty to the charge. 2 The offender lived in Mayfield, Newcastle and one of his co-offenders, Jeremy Hunt, resided with him. Hunt was a friend of Brian Kaiser. Kaiser knew the deceased, Shandele Macey. He resented her because they were former lovers and she had brought the relationship to an end and because she had failed to pay him money for amphetamines which he had sold her. Kaiser engaged the assistance of Hunt to avenge himself on the deceased. Hunt and another co-accused, Michelle Rowena Rocco, travelled to the deceased's house on the night of 20 March 2006. At one o'clock in the morning of that day Hunt fired three shots from a .22 rifle at the front window of the house. One of those shots struck and killed the deceased. Hunt did not realise straight away what effect the shot had had. Very shortly afterwards he telephoned the offender and told him about the shooting. Over the next few hours it became apparent to Hunt and the offender that the shot had hit Ms Macey and killed her. Knowing this, the offender permitted Hunt to stay at his home until he fled Newcastle on 22 March. On 23 March Hunt told the offender on the telephone that he needed seventy dollars and the offender agreed to deposit funds into his bank account. Hunt sent his account details to the offender but it is not clear whether the offender ever made the promised deposit. Hunt remained in the northern or western part of the State until 24 or 25 March. Throughout his absence the offender kept him informed of events in Newcastle and the state of the police investigation as he understood them. He advised Hunt what to do. He counselled him not to return to Newcastle. The two spoke about who may have been assisting the police over Hunt's involvement. On Hunt's return to Newcastle he stayed in premises at Mayfield. He had further contact with the offender. He escaped a police raid on those premises on 27 March and fled Newcastle again after the arrests of Kaiser and the offender. Hunt was arrested at Coonamble on 29 March 2006. 3 The objective seriousness of the offence is gauged by consideration of the seriousness of the principal offence – an unlawful killing by the use of a firearm - combined with the comfort and encouragement that the offender gave Hunt over the ensuing days. One important feature of the criminality is the result, that Hunt was able to understand something of the police investigations and thereby evade arrest on 27 March and remain at large altogether for about a week. The course of justice was thereby impeded. 4 The offender was born on 2 April 1971. He has been before courts on many occasions over the last fifteen years, facing charges of use of illegal drugs, the possession of loaded firearms and the receipt of stolen goods. He has served quite a number of periods of imprisonment. He was arrested for this offence on 27 March 2006 and entered bail on 27 July 2006, so he has spent a period of four months in prison for this matter alone. Having obtained bail, he committed further drug offences and was arrested on 18 September 2007. He was refused bail on those charges. He has not yet been dealt with. I shall reduce the sentence to be imposed on the offender by four months to take account of pre-sentence custody. 5 The offender does not claim to be remorseful, and indeed he is not. His plea of guilty, coming at the last minute, is no evidence of remorse. It has saved the community some money and trouble, however, and attracts a discount very low in the appropriate range. 6 The offender's prospects of rehabilitation look dismal. I think it likely that at the conclusion of the imprisonment which I shall impose he will continue to offend, as he has done for some years now. 7 Ronald Rex Edward Garland, I sentence you to imprisonment for a period of five months. The sentence will commence today 29 November 2007 and will expire on 28 April 2008. ************** DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. 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