R v Becker [2019] NSWSC 1205

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Becker [2019] NSWSC 1205 Hearing dates: 30 August 2019 Decision date: 11 September 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law - Criminal Before: Button J Decision: (1) Convicted of manslaughter. (2) I impose a non-parole period of 7 years 3 months, to commence on 27 June 2017. (3) That will be followed by a parole period of 2 years 6 months, to commence on 27 September 2024 and expire on 26 March 2027. (4) To express my sentence another way, I have imposed a head sentence of imprisonment for 9 years 9 months with a non-parole period of 7 years 3 months, with a full backdate. (5) Were it not for the discount for the plea of guilty, I would have imposed a head sentence of imprisonment for 13 years. (6) The first date upon which the offender will be eligible for possible release to parole is 26 September 2024. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – sentence – manslaughter – plea of guilty – offender relied upon partial defence of excessive self-defence – discussion of objective and subjective features – deceased and offender both armed – offender shot first – intention to inflict grievous bodily harm – lack of remorse – dependence on ice – absence of criminality before dependence developed Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 421 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina Phillip Raymond Becker Representation: Counsel: B Campbell (Crown) P Young SC (Accused)

Solicitors: Solicitors for Public Prosecution (Crown) Universal Law (Accused) File Number(s): 2017/191129