R v Johnson [2014] NSWDC 91

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Johnson [2014] NSWDC 91 Hearing dates: 18 June 2014; 27 June 2014 Decision date: 27 June 2014 Before: Neilson J Decision: Appeal allowed. Local Court sentences set aside. Aggregate sentence of imprisonment for 3 years 3 months imposed comprising a non-parole period of 1 year 11 months and a balance of 1 year 4 months. Catchwords: Offender pleaded guilty to four principal offences, two contrary to Crimes Act 1900 s 178BA and two contrary to s 178BB - Offender also asked the Court to take into account two further offences under s 178BB on Forms 1 - Total monetary benefit to offender in the order of $0.5 million - No moneys repaid - Limited remorse - Prior good character - Personal circumstances included a severe mental illness arising after the offending conduct (between 2008 and 2009) - Alleged delay in prosecution - Local Court imposed a sentence of 18 months Home Detention with a non-parole period of 11 months in respect of each offence, wholly concurrent - Crown appeal against leniency - Offences objectively grave - significance of offender's mental illness Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Cases Cited: Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v De La Rosa [2010] NSWCCA 194; (2010) 79 NSWLR 1 Marks v R [2009] NSWCCA 24 Mitchell v R [2006] NSWCCA 72 R v Chan [2000] NSWCCA 345 R v Doan [2000] 317; [2000] 50 NSWLR 115 R v Farlow [2001] NSWCCA 348 R v Hawker [2001] NSWCCA 148 R v Smith (1987) 27 A Crim R 315 R v Tripodina [2001] NSWCCA 136 R v Vachalec [1981] 1 NSWLR 351 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Crown (Appellant) David Johnson (Respondent) Representation: Mr Foord (Respondent) Mr Wright (solicitor) (Appellant) Solicitor for Director of Public Prosecutions (Appellant) Garland Hawthorn & Brahe (Respondent) File Number(s): 2012/369171 Publication restriction: No Decision under appeal Date of Decision: 2014-02-20 00:00:00 Before: Magistrate O'Brien