R v Patel (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 1381

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Patel (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 1381 Hearing dates: 10 September 2015 Decision date: 21 September 2015 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Wilson J Decision: Imprisonment for 24 years to date from 14 August 2013 with a non-parole period of 18 years Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – sentence – murder – intention to kill – stabbing in deceased's home – offender's account of events implausible - evidence of depression and anxiety in offender - no criminal record – high prospects of rehabilitation – offender of impeccable character prior to offence – offender suffering from serious ophthalmic condition - remorse Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Cases Cited: Aytugrul v R [2015] NSWCCA 139 McLaren v R [2012] NSWCCA 284 Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39; 244 CLR 120 Ngati v R [2014] NSWCCA 125 R v Qutami [2001] NSWCCA 353; (2001) 127 A Crim R 369 R v Dodd (1991) 57 A Crim R 349 Tran, Hoai Vinh v R [2011] NSWCCA 116 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina Manisha Patel Representation: Counsel: Mr H. Baker (Crown) Mr S. Corrish (Accused)

Solicitors: Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) Ms P. Purcell (Accused) File Number(s): 2013/247888 Publication restriction: None

Judgment 1. During the course of her trial for the murder of Purvi Joshi the offender, Manisha Patel, told the jury of the circumstances in which she said she attended the Kyeemagh apartment where Ms Joshi lived, and of what happened after she arrived there in the early hours of 30 July 2013. On 1 July 2015 the jury returned a verdict of guilty to murder. Implicit in that verdict is the jury's rejection of the offender's account of the events. 2. It now falls to this Court to determine the facts of the crime, consistent with the verdict of the jury, and to pass sentence upon Ms Patel for the crime of murder. Murder is an offence contrary to s 18(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 and it carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. A standard non-parole period of 20 years imprisonment is specified by the table in Division 1A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999. 3. The maximum penalty and the standard non-parole period operate as legislative guideposts that inform the exercise of the sentencing discretion: Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39; 244 CLR 120. The other features to which the Court must have regard are the objective gravity of the crime, the personal circumstances of the offender, and the relevant principles of sentencing. 4. All crimes of murder are very serious, but where on the continuum of gravity an offence may fall is dictated by the facts of the particular crime and an offender's moral culpability for it. The Court has determined the facts of the offender's crime to be these.