Agius v R [2014] NSWCCA 173

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Agius v R [2014] NSWCCA 173 Hearing dates: 18 July 2014 Decision date: 27 August 2014 Before: Gleeson JA at [1]; Fullerton J at [44]; McCallum J at [45] Decision: (1) Application for leave to appeal refused. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - Appeal - Appeal against sentence - Whether trial judge made an erroneous conclusion Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) 59(1), 86(1)(b) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) s 32 Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) s 6(3) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Mark Anthony Agius (Applicant) Regina (Crown) Representation: Counsel: D Barrow (Applicant) S Dowling SC (Crown) Solicitors: Legal Aid NSW (Applicant) S Kavanagh - Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) File Number(s): 2012/52418 Publication restriction: No Decision under appeal Jurisdiction: 9101 Date of Decision: 2012-09-14 00:00:00 Before: Colefax DCJ File Number(s): 2012/52418

Judgment 1GLEESON JA: Mark Anthony Agius (the applicant) seeks leave to appeal against the sentence imposed by his Honour Judge Colefax in the District Court on 14 September 2012. 2The applicant had pleaded guilty to three offences, each committed against the same complainant. First, one offence of detaining for advantage contrary to s 86(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), for which the maximum penalty prescribed is imprisonment for 14 years; and secondly, two offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm contrary to s 59(1) of the Crimes Act, for which the maximum penalty prescribed is 5 years imprisonment. 3The applicant had also asked that four further matters on a Form 1 be taken into account by the primary judge pursuant to s 32 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), namely, the offences of contravening an apprehended violence order (between 8 December 2011 and 14 February 2012), common assault committed against the complainant (between 1 April 2011 and 30 April 2011), possession of a prohibited drug (on 16 February 2012), and assault occasioning actual bodily harm committed against the complainant (between 13 December 2011 and 15 January 2012). 4On 14 September 2012 the applicant was sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 6 years imprisonment with an aggregate non-parole period of 4 years 6 months. 5The applicant filed a notice of application for leave to appeal on 26 February 2014. An extension of time to do so had previously been granted.