R v Tabalbag [2016] NSWSC 1570

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Tabalbag [2016] NSWSC 1570 Hearing dates: 26 October 2016 – 2 November 20164 November 2016 Date of orders: 10 November 2016 Decision date: 10 November 2016 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Mathews AJ Decision: Imprisonment consisting of a non-parole of 4 years and 6 months, commencing on 11 November 2013 and expiring on 10 May 2018, with an additional term of 18 months, commencing on 11 May 2018 and expiring on 10 November 2019. Catchwords: Criminal law – sentence – manslaughter – guilty plea Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) Category: Sentence Parties: Regina Roy Tabalbag Representation: Counsel: B Hughes SC (Crown) Ms B Rigg SC (Offender)

Solicitors: Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Crown) Legal Aid NSW (Offender) File Number(s): 2013/340538 Publication restriction: No

Judgment

Introduction 1. On 26 October 2016 Roy Tabalbag was indicted on a charge that on 11 November 2013 he murdered Amin Sthapit. Mr Tabalbag pleaded not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The Crown declined to accept that plea. Accordingly, a jury was empanelled and a trial proceeded. The sole defence relied upon was the partial defence of provocation. On 2 November the jury, by a majority of 11 to 1, entered a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Mr Tabalbag now comes to be sentenced for that offence.

Circumstances of the Offence 1. At the time of the offence Mr Tabalbag was living with his long term partner, Geecy Rebucas, in a small studio apartment at 2B Mona Road, Darling Point. She was working as a chef at the Golden Sheaf Hotel in Double Bay, as well as doing a cooking course at the TAFE at Ryde. He was working with Aussie Whitegoods, which at that time was stationed at Riverwood. They both came from the Philippines, where they had known each other since high school. When they were still at school they had had a short liaison, of about 6 months. Then, in 2007, they met up again and commenced an intimate relationship. They were living in Manila at the time. Ms Rebucas had a long term ambition to become a chef, and for that purpose she wanted to come to Australia in order to study commercial cookery. Mr Tabalbag agreed with that course, and the two of them came to Australia in 2012. At first they lived with Ms Rebucas's relatives in the western suburbs of Sydney, and then moved to the Darling Point apartment, which was close to Ms Rebucas's workplace. Mr Tabalbag had no relatives in Australia, but he forged a close relationship with Ms Rebucas's Australian relatives. 2. Unknown to Mr Tabalbag, in June or July of 2013 Ms Rebucas commenced an intimate relationship with Mr Sthapit, who was the head chef at the Golden Sheaf Hotel. In the month or so before the offence Mr Tabalbag sensed that there was something wrong. He asked Ms Rebucas on a number of occasions if she was all right, and if anything was wrong. He said in evidence that he was concerned for her health, as she had previously had lung surgery. She reassured him on each occasion that there was nothing wrong. 3. An additional event occurred on the Friday evening immediately before the killing which might have ignited Mr Tabalbag's suspicions. It is unnecessary for present purposes to go through the details here, but it involved an intense argument between Mr Sthapit and his fiancé outside the Golden Sheaf, which Mr Tabalbag observed when he came to collect Ms Rebucas after work. 4. Mr Tabalbag and Ms Rebucas each had an iPhone operating on the same account, with a "Where's my iPhone?" App. Mr Tabalbag had used it a couple of times a day in the week preceding 11 November in order to check Ms Rebucas's whereabouts. On each occasion the response he obtained from the app was consistent with where she said she was. 5. On the morning of Monday 11 November, Mr Tabalbag got up early, and left for work a little before 7 o'clock, as was his habit. Ms Rebucas was still asleep. Later in the morning there was an exchange of sms messages between them, largely concerning relatively trivial matters. On all accounts, this was a regular routine they had. During the morning Mr Tabalbag checked the location of Ms Rebucas's iPhone. Given their previous messages, there was no doubt that she had it with her. Yet the app showed that the phone was still at the Darling Point apartment at a time when Ms Rebucas should have been at her cooking school. This raised Mr Tabalbag's suspicions, so he gave his employer an excuse as to why he had to go home, and he drove back to the apartment building, parking his car nearby. 6. When Mr Tabalbag reached the apartment itself he heard some noises inside. He opened the door and saw Ms Rebucas and Mr Sthapit, both naked, in bed having sexual intercourse. When they realised that Mr Tabalbag was there, Mr Sthapit ran into the bathroom and closed the door. Mr Tabalbag grabbed a chef's knife, which was lying on top of a cupboard near the door. He broke open the bathroom door, and stabbed Mr Sthapit many times, to various parts of his body. The attacks continued after Mr Sthapit ran into the bedroom. As a result Mr Sthapit died shortly afterwards. 7. As to Mr Tabalbag, he went back to his car and drove to St Mary's, to the home of Ms Rebucas's cousin with whom he had formed a close friendship. He told the cousin that he had stabbed somebody and that he should hand himself into the police. Accordingly, the two of them went to St Mary's Police Station, where Mr Tabalbag told police what had happened. In due course it was realised that Mr Sthapit had died of his wounds. Mr Tabalbag was taken to Penrith Police Station where he was arrested and charged with murder. He has been in custody ever since.