R v Cook [2014] NSWDC 18

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Cook [2014] NSWDC 18 Hearing dates: 25 - 26 March 2014. Decision date: 26 March 2014 Before: Berman SC DCJ Decision: The accused is found guilty of Count 1 on the indictment Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - Judgment and verdict - Inflict grievous bodily with intent to commit grievous bodily harm - Intoxicated at time of attack - Only issue concerned accused's intention Category: Principal judgment Parties: The Crown Cameron cook Representation: Mr C Watson - Accused Director of Public Prosecutions Kiki Kyriacou Lawyers - Accused File Number(s): 2013/16172

Judgment

The Events of 16 January 2013 1On 16 January 2013 Mr Raymond O'Neill, then 65 years of age, planned to go fishing. He drove to old Ferry Road at Illawong where he parked his car and commenced to unload his fishing equipment. As he arrived he saw a Harley Davidson motor cycle with two people standing next to it. One of them, the accused Cameron Cook, approached him and asked whether he had any jumper leads. Mr O'Neill told Mr Cook that he didn't. Mr O'Neill took his equipment to the spot where he planned to fish and returned to his car. Again Mr Cook asked him for assistance saying something like "can you help me?" Mr O'Neill again told Mr Cook that he couldn't help him because he didn't have any jumper leads. 2What I have described so far would be the sort of interaction between human beings which occurs regularly as part of every day life. But what immediately followed Mr O'Neill's response to the accused's second request for assistance was very much out of the ordinary. 3Without warning the accused punched Mr O'Neill to his head. Mr O'Neill fell to the ground where the accused began kicking him to his body and his head. At one stage Mr O'Neill was able to grab the accused's leg. The accused then bent over and began punching Mr O'Neill in the head. Mr O'Neill tried to roll away and had almost got to his feet when he went down again, he presumed because he had been hit. The accused began kicking him again. Whilst all this was happening Mr O'Neill was, not surprisingly, trying to get away. Because he couldn't get up he was forced to crawl 20 or 30 metres, all the time being kicked or punched by the accused. 4At one stage whilst he was trying to crawl away from the accused the accused said that he was going to shoot him and kill him. Mr O'Neill thought that if he carried out this threat, it was obviously all over for him. 5At another stage the accused briefly paused, long enough to say something to Mr O'Neill which he recounted in the following way: "if the police caught him he was going to say that I attacked him first and there was two of them and police probably wouldn't believe him but the judge, they're stupid, or silly, and he'll believe me." 6Eventually the accused stopped kicking and hitting Mr O'Neill and he, significantly injured, went to seek assistance. He couldn't find anyone but when he walked back to where his car was parked he saw the police had arrived and had the accused under control. 7Mr O'Neill was left with injuries which, it is conceded, amounted to grievous bodily harm: fractures to an eye socket and swelling to his throat which affected his breathing and which required later draining. 8As a result of what the accused did he now faces trial on a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Mr O'Neill with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to him. He pleaded not guilty to that charge but pleaded guilty to an alternative, recklessly causing grievous bodily harm, which the Crown did not accept in satisfaction of the indictment.