State of New South Wales v Matthews AKA Hackett (preliminary) [2019] NSWSC 770

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: State of New South Wales v Matthews AKA Hackett (preliminary) [2019] NSWSC 770 Hearing dates: 21 June 2019 Date of orders: 21 June 2019 Decision date: 21 June 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Fagan J Decision: Interim supervision orders made Catchwords: HIGH RISK OFFENDER – application for interim supervision order Legislation Cited: Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: State of New South Wales (plaintiff) Darren Matthews aka Kain Hackett (defendant) Representation: Counsel: J E Davison (plaintiff) K Stares (defendant)

Solicitors: Crown Solicitors Office of NSW Legal Aid Commission of NSW File Number(s): 2019/159646 Publication restriction: No

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: The State of New South Wales filed its summons for orders under the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW) ("the High Risk Offenders Act") on 22 May 2019. The summons is before the Court today for a preliminary hearing. The State seeks an order under s 7(4) of the Act for the appointment of psychiatric experts to examine and report upon the defendant. It also seeks an interim supervision order on conditions.

Defendant's present status 1. At the date of commencement of the proceedings the defendant was on parole under a sentence of 12 months imprisonment commencing 22 July 2018 for an offence against s 17(1) of the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000 (NSW) ("The Offenders Registration Act"). That is an offence of failing to notify his change of address as required by s 11 of that Act. The defendant was subject to the reporting requirements of the Offenders Registration Act because since 2014 he has been a registerable person and his name has been recorded on the register maintained under the Act. 2. The defendant's current sentence will expire on 21 July 2019. He has been on parole in relation to the above mentioned sentence since 21 November 2018. By force of the definition in s 5(2)(f) of the High Risk Offenders Act, the offence of failure to report for which the defendant is currently serving his sentence is "an offence of a sexual nature." Accordingly, the defendant comes within the definition of a "supervised offender" within s 5I of the High Risk Offenders Act.