R v Ballantyne [2014] NSWSC 1381

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Ballantyne [2014] NSWSC 1381 Hearing dates: 29 August 2014 Decision date: 09 October 2014 Before: R A Hulme J Decision: Imprisonment for 19 years with a non-parole period of 14 years 3 months Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - murder - early plea of guilty - no genuine remorse - middle range of objective seriousness - reasonable prospects of rehabilitation Category: Sentence Parties: Regina George Robert Ballantyne Representation: Counsel: Mr L Carr (Crown) Mr P Rosser QC (Offender) Solicitors: Solicitor for Public Prosecutions Sally Rostron File Number(s): 2013/72945

Judgment 1R A HULME J: George Robert Ballantyne has pleaded guilty to the murder on 10 March 2013 at Aberglasslyn of Ms Clare Weston. 2Clare Weston was 23 years old. She was an active, happy, outgoing and sporty person. She had two children: a daughter aged 6 and a son aged 4. She had 6 sisters and 4 brothers. Victim impact statements provided by Christine, Robert, Katrina, Tamica and Christopher eloquently describe the loving family from which she was taken and the extreme grief that has been caused by this terrible crime. Again, I extend my sincere condolences to all who knew and loved Ms Weston.

Facts 3There is no dispute about the facts of the crime. 4The offender and Ms Weston had been in a relationship for about three months. They met when she was down from Queensland visiting her family in Rutherford. A couple of weeks before Christmas 2012 she moved with her two children into the offender's family home at Greta. They became engaged in February. However it was noticed that they argued on a daily basis and on a couple of occasions he was seen to raise his hand towards her, although without striking her. 5The offender has a problem with anger. In January 2008 he was convicted of a number of offences including assault occasioning actual bodily harm that emanated from an incident involving a woman with whom he was then in a relationship. It involved him threatening her with a knife and forcing a pillow down over her face causing her to struggle to breathe. 6The living arrangement at the offender's family home was temporary. In late February his father told him that he had two weeks to find alternative accommodation. On 8 March they moved to live at Ms Weston's mother's home at Rutherford. The relationship was shaky by this stage. Ms Weston told her stepsister that she was considering leaving him because he was moody and abusive towards her and the children. An incident occurred while they were camping at the foot of the Barrington Tops on Saturday 9 March which resulted in the offender becoming angry with her. He packed up the camp site and they returned to her mother's home. 7The statement of facts recounts a series of conversations and text messages with various people during the evening of 9 March in which both the offender and Ms Weston spoke about the relationship ending. She mentioned that she was concerned about the possibility that she was pregnant. She also said that he was not happy about the fact that she had two children. However, he told a former boyfriend of Ms Weston that he loved the children. He was advised to talk with her and try and resolve their differences. 8There was a series of text messages exchanged between the offender and Ms Weston between about 11.00pm and 2.00am. Ultimately it was arranged that he would come to her mother's home. He arrived at about 2.20am. She sat in his car and they talked for about an hour. He then drove her to Aberglasslyn, about 20 km away and stopped beside the Hunter River. They continued talking about their relationship and her children. She indicated she wanted to go home. There was a "scuffle" outside the car. He later told a friend, Matthew Blackler, that she was trying to get out of the car and he held her with both arms. 9The offender put Ms Weston over his shoulder and carried her about 200m down to the river. There was another "scuffle". He later told Mr Blackler that he killed her by choking her. 10The body of Ms Weston was found the following morning by a couple who were out walking their dogs. It was almost naked, face down in a pool of water in a shallow indentation between two sandbanks by the side of the river. DNA material consistent with being the offender's was found beneath her fingernails. It was established that he had engaged in intercourse. 11The offender confessed to Mr Blackler late in the afternoon of 10 March to having killed Ms Weston. He said, "I just lost it" and "I fucken snapped and killed her". Mr Blackler encouraged him to turn himself in and agreed to give him a lift to the police station. During the journey, the offender said: "We went for a drive, we were at the river. I was trying to work stuff out and she got angry." "I grabbed hold of her around her body because she was trying to get out." (And he demonstrated holding her with both arms.) "She started biting me, and then I lost it. ... I choked her." "I am not a bad guy. I just made a fuckin terrible mistake." 12Mr Blackler said that the offender was crying. When detectives came to speak with him at the police station they found him with his head in his hands, crying. He told them the identity of the body that had been found earlier that day by the river and described her as his "ex". He was asked whether he had killed her and he replied, "out of rage, yes". 13The offender agreed to return to the scene and answer police questions there. However, in relation to a number of significant matters he exercised his right to silence. For example, he declined to respond to questions about having intercourse with her and the state in which he had left her body. 14An autopsy performed by Professor Timothy Lyons revealed that Ms Weston had sustained a number of bruises and abrasions. She had a bruise and laceration to the back of the head with an underlying skull fracture suggestive of blunt force trauma. Injuries in and around her mouth indicated she was choked in some fashion.