Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: R v PINCOVAI [2012] NSWSC 1015 Hearing dates: 24 July 2012 Decision date: 24 July 2012 Before: Latham J Decision: Convicted of the offence of conceal serious offence. Ordered to be placed under a bond to be of good behaviour for twelve months, pursuant to s 9 of the Crimes (Sentencing Proceedings) Act to date from today, 24 July 2012, and to expire on 23 July 2013 Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - conceal serious indictable offence (MURDER) Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Proceedings) Act 1999 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina - (Crown) Sabina Pincovai - (Offender) Representation: Counsel: L Carr - (Crown) I Lloyd QC - (Offender) Solicitors: S Kavanagh - Solicitor of Public Prosecutions - (Crown) Ramsland Laidler - (Offender) File Number(s): 2011/91284 Judgment 1The offender, Sabina Pincovai, pleaded guilty on the morning of her trial for accessory after the fact to murder, to the alternative conceal serious offence in full discharge of the indictment presented by the Crown. The availability of that charge as an alternative to the more serious offence of accessorial liability arose for the first time today. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment and is amenable to summary disposition. The agreed facts giving rise to the offence may be summarised as follows: the offender and Martin Booth were in a de facto relationship for approximately seven years, during which time the offender was violently assaulted by Mr Booth on a regular basis. 2The offender received amphetamines to which she was addicted from Mr Booth, who purchased the drug from one Ms Nolan. The offender acted as the gobetween. A dispute over payment between Mr Booth and Ms Nolan in mid March 2011 escalated to the point where Mr Booth seriously assaulted Ms Nolan's partner in their home. Ms Nolan's brothers, James and Patrick, resolved to visit Mr Booth, who had been informed that the men intended to assault him. When the Nolan brothers attended at the premises where Mr Booth and the offender lived at about 9pm on 19 March 2011, Mr Booth answered the door carrying a loaded shotgun. 3As James Nolan moved towards Mr Booth he discharged the gun, killing James Nolan instantly. The offender was in the lounge room. Immediately on seeing the deceased she screamed "What have you done?" and became hysterical. She left the house with Mr Booth and drove to a friend's home and then to a hotel in Gateshead. On 21 March Ms Booth and the offender went to Mr Booth's mother's home, then to a solicitor, where they were arrested. On 23 March the offender indicated she wished to speak to the police but then withdrew that request. She remained in custody for twelve weeks and one day before a grant of bail on strict reporting conditions. 4The objective criminality consists of the offender's failure to report the offence to police between the shooting and her arrest, a period of about two days. That criminality is to some extent explained by her fear of Mr Booth and the exploitative nature of their relationship. The offender's addiction to amphetamines no doubt has compromised her capacity to make rational decisions, particularly when under stress. The offender's criminal history does her no credit. She has never received a custodial sentence despite a number of fraud related offences between 2003 and 2004. She has received the benefit of a number of bonds for those offences. 5The offender is presently twentyeight years of age. She lives with her father and her son, who is now aged twelve, at Nelson Bay. I am informed that she had the child at the tender age of sixteen, having left school two years previously. Her parents, either her mother or her father, have cared for the child for some considerable time. The offender is one of five children. Her father is unemployed but is, however, the fulltime carer of her son, with whom it appears she has forged a stronger relationship more recently. The offender has sought work in Sydney and undertakes that work whenever required. 6During the course of her bail she was reporting three days a week to police at Nelson Bay. That reporting condition may well have curtailed her employment opportunities to some extent. She informed me in the course of giving evidence that she was scared to report the offence to police and scared to speak to them following her arrest. Her time in custody at Mulawa has been salutary. She understands perhaps for the first time the rigours of imprisonment and wishes to avoid them at all cost. Having regard to the short lived duration of her offending, its relatively low objective criminality, her personal circumstances and her efforts more recently to provide for her son and remain drug free, I am persuaded that the time the offender has spent in custody for this offence represents adequate punishment. 7I am not altogether persuaded that the offender's prospects of rehabilitation are promising. The ease with which she may slip into her former life and resume drug taking is unfortunately a common scenario before the courts, but equally the remedy lies solely with her. She has undertaken drug counselling in the past, perhaps at a time when her responsibilities as a mother were not so real to her. It would appear that she has now chosen to be involved more fully in her son's life. 8Taking all of these matters into account, I propose to sentence the offender as follows. Sabina Pincovai, you are convicted of the offence of conceal serious offence. I order that you be placed under a bond to be of good behaviour for twelve months, pursuant to s 9 of the Crimes (Sentencing Proceedings) Act to date from today, 24 July 2012, and to expire on 23 July 2013. 9Ms Pincovai, that means that you must stay out of trouble for twelve months and hopefully for any time thereafter. I have refrained from imposing any particular conditions on you because of my impression that if you are to turn your life around it rests in your hands and in nobody else's. Hopefully if you do need counselling to overcome your drug addiction, you are able to seek that counselling yourself with the assistance of your father and any other health professional that you might engage. If you do commit an offence within that twelve months it is highly likely no court will extend any further leniency to you and you will serve a custodial sentence. 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