R v Donald William Reeves [2017] NSWSC 813

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Donald William Reeves [2017] NSWSC 813 Hearing dates: 13 - 14 June 2017 Date of orders: 22 June 2017 Decision date: 22 June 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Campbell J Decision: (1) For count 2 on the indictment, the offender is sentenced to a fixed term of imprisonment of 2 years duration commencing on 17 July 2015 and expiring on 16 July 2017;

(2) For count 1 on the indictment, the manslaughter of Mr Jones, the offender is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 7 years and 6 months, having a non-parole period of 5 years and 4 months commencing on 17 July 2016 and expiring on 16 November 2021 with an additional term of 2 years and 2 months commencing on 17 November 2012 and expiring on 16 January 2024. The offender will first be eligible for release on parole after the expiration of the non-parole period for count 1 on 16 November 2021. Catchwords: SENTENCE – manslaughter – wilful disposal of a body – cold case – discovery of skeleton in the Royal National Park – where offender initially charged with murder but Crown accepted plea to manslaughter – manslaughter by excessive self-defence – consideration of at what point the offender's self-defence became excessive – consideration of sentencing principles for common law offences – held that sentencing discretion at large for common law offences Legislation Cited: Coroners Act 2009 (NSW) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) Cases Cited: Blackstock v R [2013] NSWCCA 172 Jansen v R [2013] NSWCCA 301 Jaturawong v R [2011] NSWCCA 168 Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39, (2011) 244 CLR 120 R v Blacklidge (unreported, 12 December 1995, NSWCCA) R v Borkowski (2009) 195 A Crim R 1 R v Bryan Steven Johnson [2003] NSWCCA 129 R v Davis (1942) 42 SR (NSW) 263 R v. Dawes [2004] NSWCCA 363 R v Hamilton; R v Sandilands [2007] NSWSC 452 R v Hoerler (2004) 147 A Crim R 520 R v Hokin, Burton and Peisley (1922) 22 SR (NSW) 280 R v Isaacs (1997) 41 NSWLR 374 R v Misiepo [2016] NSWSC 565 R v Oinonen [1999] NSWCCA 310 R v Olbrich (1999) 199 CLR 270 Smith v R [2011] NSWCCA 110 Smith v R [2015] NSWCCA 193 The Queen v Kilic [2016] HCA 48 Category: Sentence Parties: The Queen Donald William Reeves (Offender) Representation: Counsel: H. Baker (Crown) P.D. Young SC (Defence)