R v KJS [2011] NSWSC 1690

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v KJS [2011] NSWSC 1690 Hearing dates: 4.05.11-6.05.11, 9.05.11-12.05.11, 16.05.11-20.05.11, 23.05.11-25.05.11, 9.08.11 Decision date: 25 August 2011 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Hidden J Decision: Imprisonment for 20 years, NPP 15 years, from 14 April 2009. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - murder - after trial - only issue provocation - killing spontaneous - loss of self-control Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown) KJS (offender) Representation: M M Hobart SC (Crown) R Button SC (offender) S Kavanagh - Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) S E O'Connor - Legal Aid Commission (offender) File Number(s): 2009/69980 Publication restriction: Yes

REMARKS ON SENTENCE 1The offender was found guilty at trial of the murder of his wife. The offence occurred against the background of allegations that he had sexually assaulted his daughter, and it is to protect his daughter's anonymity that his name is not to be published. 2In the morning of Tuesday, 14 April 2009, he killed his wife in the bedroom of their home at Fairfield West by beating her about the head with a plumber's tool known as a leadbeater. That was not in issue at the trial. It was his case that he was acting under provocation, as the law understands that term, so that he was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. Indeed, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter when he was arraigned at the beginning of the trial, but the Crown did not accept that plea in discharge of the indictment. Provocation was the only live issue left to the jury.