R v Dunstall (No 4) [2018] NSWSC 1923

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Dunstall (No 4) [2018] NSWSC 1923 Hearing dates: 1 November 2018 & 6 December 2018 Decision date: 13 December 2018 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Button J Decision: (1) Convicted of murder. (2) Head sentence of 32 years with non-parole period of 24 years, each to date from 12 May 2015. Catchwords: SENTENCE – offender found guilty of murder after trial by jury – two offences of dishonesty on Form 1– discussion of objective features and subjective features – criminal record for deception and solicit to murder – no remorse as offender maintains innocence – consideration of life sentence – determinate sentence imposed Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) Cases Cited: Attorney General's Application under s 37 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 No 1 of 2002 (2002) 56 NSWLR 146 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina Glen Roland Dunstall Representation: Counsel: D Scully (Crown) J Stratton SC (Accused)

Solicitors: Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Voros Lawyers (Accused) File Number(s): 2015/141328 Publication restriction: Nil

REMARKS ON SENTENCE

Introduction 1. On 10 September 2018, Glen Roland Dunstall (the offender) was arraigned before a jury panel and me in the Supreme Court sitting at Wollongong. The indictment contained a single count, averring that, on 9 June 2014 at Budderoo, the offender murdered John Gasovski (to whom I shall usually refer in these remarks as "the deceased"). A jury of 12 was empanelled, and the trial proceeded. 2. On 16 October 2018, the jury (by that stage having been reduced to 11) retired to consider its verdict. The following day, a verdict of guilty of murder was returned. 3. Thereafter, I received documentary and oral evidence in proceedings on sentence conducted on 1 November and 6 December 2018 (the matter was delayed a little by a logistical problem with regard to a psychiatric report). 4. It now falls to me, after having had the benefit of an extended period of reflection, to sentence the offender today. 5. The maximum penalty for the offence of murder is imprisonment for life without possibility of parole. Parliament has also provided, in the circumstances of this case, a standard non-parole period of 20 years. I regard each of those periods as important guideposts in my exercise of the sentencing discretion. 6. With regard to my findings of fact, I am of course bound by the verdict of the jury, and its establishment of the elements of the offence. Aggravating features posited by the Crown, above and beyond those elements, must be proven beyond reasonable doubt; mitigating features relied upon by the offender need only be proven on the balance of probabilities. Some matters, inevitably, will remain a mystery.