Crown v Accused

1. Stephen Fleming, you are to be sentenced today for the manslaughter of Annette Brennan on 1 July 2024. The maximum penalty for manslaughter is 25 years' imprisonment.
2. You were originally charged with murder.
3. In April 2025, witnesses were cross-examined by your counsel at s 198B[1] hearings spread over several days.
4. Your trial was listed to commence on 10 November 2025. Your defence was identity. In other words, you denied having killed Ms Brennan.
5. On 14 August 2025, the prosecution filed over a new indictment, substituting a charge of manslaughter for murder. You were immediately arraigned on the new indictment and pleaded guilty, thereby admitting that you had in fact unlawfully killed Ms Brennan.

1. I turn to the known circumstances of your offending.
2. In late April 2024, Ms Brennan moved into a 3 bedroom home at 5 Hilgay Street, Coolaroo. She had leased the premises from a friend with plans to sublet the two spare bedrooms. She advertised for tenants online.
3. You sublet one of the rooms, moving in on 6 June 2024. As at 1 July 2024, you were the only other person residing at the premises.
4. During your subtenancy, tensions arose between you and Ms Brennan. Ms Brennan conveyed a number of concerns about you to various friends and acquaintances, including the following:
   • That you had not paid your bond and were behind with your rent;
   • That you were not going to work, even though you said you had a job;
   • That you were possibly smoking in the house;
   • That you had taken things from the fridge;
   • That you re-arranged things in the house without asking;
   • That you had put a lock on your bedroom door;
   • That you had yelled at her;
   • That she didn't like you and wanted you out of the house;
   • That you had stolen her phone.[2]
5. For your part, you were communicating with the owner's husband behind Ms Brennan's back, endeavouring to take over the head lease of 5 Hilgay St. In one communication to the owner's husband, you wrote:

I want to sign a lease with you if you agree Annette doesn't do any cleaning [or] do any repairs, and isn't even looking for a job. What is the rent per week as I'm willing to pay full amount that she is paying you...

1. On 1 July 2024, between 12.11am and 12.53am, Ms Brennan paid a number of bills online. Sometime later on 1 July 2024 you killed her. The available evidence does not enable me to say exactly when or how or why you killed her.
2. At this point, it should be emphasised that in withdrawing the charge of murder and accepting your plea of guilty to manslaughter, the prosecution no longer alleges that you killed Ms Brennan with murderous intent - that is, with an intention to kill or to cause really serious injury. Rather it is alleged, and by your plea of guilty you accept, that you killed Ms Brennan by an unlawful and dangerous act. The word "dangerous" in this context has a technical, legal meaning, namely, that a reasonable person in your position, performing the act or acts which caused Ms Brennan's death, would have realised that they were exposing Ms Brennan to an appreciable risk of serious injury.
3. Returning to the chronology of known events, at approximately 12.12pm on 1 July 2024, a woman who was going to move into the spare bedroom at 5 Hilgay St attended for a pre-arranged meeting with Ms Brennan. But no one answered the door and Ms Brennan did not respond to her text messages. The woman left, returning around 4pm but with the same result.
4. Between about 9.30pm and 10pm on 1 July 2024, a resident at 22 Hilgay St put out his bins, including his green waste bin, which were to be emptied the following day.
5. At some time after this, you swapped the waste bin from No 5 with the waste bin outside No 22 Hilgay St, having placed Ms Brennan's clothed body in the No 5 waste bin.
6. At approximately 8.36am on 2 July 2024, the contents of the waste bin outside No 22 were collected by a garbage truck which took them to a waste facility where they were added to a large mound of organic waste.
7. It was not until 3 July 2024, that Ms Brennan's body was detected amongst the mound of waste and the appropriate authorities were alerted. The pathologist who conducted the autopsy was not able to determine the cause of death because she could not determine whether the injuries to the body had been caused before or after Ms Brennan's death. Those injuries included the following:

extensive fragmentation of the head and neck with disruption of the scalp to such an extent that the cranial contents were lost; right parietal skull fracture; fractures to bones in the neck (hyoid); fractured clavicles, fractured ribs, fracture dislocations of the vertebra; extensive fragmentation of the pelvis, degloving injuries to the lower legs, fractures and amputation of the distal right fibia/tibia.[3]

1. In relation to these injuries, the prosecution summary states the following:

The prosecution cannot prove that any of these injuries were inflicted by the offender ante mortem. The extent of the injuries is relevant only in considering the significance to sentence of the manner in which the offender disposed of Ms Brennan's body.

1. You were arrested on 9 July 2024. In your recorded police interview, you told many lies, including that you had nothing to do with Ms Brennan's death, initially claiming you had moved out of the premises on 20 June 2024.

1. Four victim impact statements were tendered by the prosecution.
2. Ms Brennan's sister comments that "I feel a lot of anger about the way she was treated as though she was rubbish, being put in a bin." She refers also to her sadness at her sister's untimely death, and her loneliness without her.
3. Friend Sally Jamieson states that Ms Brennan's death has left a big hole in her life. She concludes: "Annette enriched my life and those of many others. I hope that Stephen Fleming comes to understand this and the impact her death has had on those who loved her".
4. Friend Robert Strickland speaks of how he misses Ms Brennan who was "outgoing and involved with people" and "very generous".
5. Nanette Austin, a friend of Ms Brennan's since school days, also expresses outrage over your actions: "No one should die like that and be stuffed in a wheelie bin as trash".

1. Let me summarise the aggravating circumstances of your offending.
2. Your victim was a vulnerable female, aged 67.
3. You killed her in her own home.
4. You disposed of her body in a green waste bin.
5. It is likely that Ms Brennan's body was seriously damaged when the contents of that waste bin were collected and processed.
6. Your offence was committed whilst on a community corrections order (CCO).

1. All manslaughters are serious offences because they involve the taking of a human life, but there is spectrum of seriousness for manslaughter, as with every other offence. Having regard to the aggravating circumstances which I have just summarised, I assess your offending as an upper mid-range example of the offence of manslaughter.

1. You were born on 16 August 1978, making you 46 at the time of your offending and 47 now.
2. You, and your brother and sister, were raised by your natural parents.
3. Your father was a naval officer.[4] Your family moved fairly regularly, living in New South Wales, then Queensland, then Victoria.
4. In 1989, your brother committed suicide. You found him unresponsive in a vehicle in the driveway of your home. You had 6 months off school, receiving counselling.
5. You left school mid-way through Year 11 at MacLeod Technical School. You then worked at KFC for 5 years. Over the years you have held many jobs including working in hospitality and as a factory hand, labourer, apprentice chef and laser cutter.
6. In 2009, you began a long term intimate relationship that produced 3 children, born in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
7. In 2019, you and your de facto partner separated. She did not permit you to see the children after the separation.
8. In 2022, your mother died from cancer.
9. You now have no contact with your father or your sister or your children.

1. In relation to your drug history, you began using cannabis when you were about 18 years old and progressed to MDMA, amphetamines and ketamine in your early twenties. In 2023 and 2024, you also used LSD. According to what you told psychologist Gina Cidoni, whose reports I will refer to in some detail shortly, your longest period of abstinence from illicit drugs occurred when you were undergoing your first prison sentence of 6 months, imposed in April 2020.

1. Turning to your criminal record in more detail, it began in 1996 with the theft of a motor vehicle for which you were fined and had your license suspended. Many of your subsequent convictions involved motor vehicles in one way or another. In June 2007, you were convicted of dangerous driving and failing to stop your vehicle after an accident and placed on a community based order (CBO) for 12 months with conditions which included assessment and treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. You breached that CBO and in June 2018, the CBO was varied to an 18 month order. In January 2009, for driving whilst disqualified, you received a sentence of 1 month imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. In August 2017, for driving dangerously, you were fined, your licence was cancelled and you were disqualified from driving for 6 months. In January 2020, for possessing methylamphetamine, cannabis and a controlled weapon and for driving whilst suspended and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, you were fined.
2. In April 2020 you received your first sentence of immediate imprisonment - 6 months - for trafficking and possessing methylamphetamine and cannabis, theft, criminal damage and entering a private place without excuse.
3. In August 2021, you were sentenced by Judge Leighfield of the County Court[5] to a combined sentence of 66 days' imprisonment and a 2 year CCO for several charges, including 2 counts of recklessly exposing emergency workers to risk by driving, one count of reckless conduct endangering serious injury, driving whilst suspended and committing an indictable offence whilst on bail. You had driven your vehicle at a police car containing two police officers after they had pulled you over for driving whilst suspended. The police officers had to take evasive action. About 20 minutes later, you also drove through a red light placing another motorist in danger.
4. On 27 June 2023, you were fined for offences including possessing housebreaking implements, criminal damage, unlawful entry, possessing a controlled weapon and possessing methylamphetamine.
5. On 13 December 2023, for breaching the CCO imposed by Judge Leighfield in 2021, that CCO was cancelled and you were placed on a further CCO for 1 year. You were on that CCO when you committed manslaughter.
6. Whilst you have no prior convictions for assaults, you have a number of prior convictions regarding endangering others, which is relevant, given that you are to be sentenced today for unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter.

1. With regard to your mental health, your counsel tendered a number of psychological reports about you.
2. There was a report from Charles Huson dated 17 August 2017 who had seen you 3 times in 2017 for stress. Mr Huson made the following diagnoses:
   • Generalised Anxiety Disorder;
   • Major Depression;
   • Probable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
3. There were 3 reports from Gina Cidoni dated 20 April 2021, 13 July 2021 and 18 September 2025.
4. The main things I take from Ms Cidoni's 2021 reports, which were prepared in relation to your County Court hearing in 2021 before Judge Leighfield, are the following:
   • Your general cognitive ability falls in the low average range (full scale IQ of 82);
   • In 2021, you had a number of mental disorders, namely, Borderline Personality Disorder (contributing to "unexpected impulsive angry outbursts"[6]) , Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Cannabis Use Disorder.
5. Ms Cidoni's 2025 report states that, after formal testing, she diagnosed you with:
   • Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, chronic;
   • Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent episode, without psychotic features;
   • Generalised Anxiety Disorder;
   • Borderline Personality Traits;
   • Ketamine Use Disorder, severe, in remission in a controlled environment;
   • MDMA Use Disorder, in remission in a controlled environment;
   • Hallucinogen (LSD) Use Disorder, in remission in a controlled environment.
6. At [94]-[95] of her 2025 report, Ms Cidoni writes:

Mr Fleming's longstanding drug dependence is central to understanding his mental functioning at the relevant times. His substance use disorders, particularly ketamine and MDMA dependence with intermittent hallucinogen and stimulant use, were severe and entrenched before his arrest. They reflect maladaptive coping mechanisms that developed in response to trauma, depression, and anxiety. The reliance on drugs as a primary means of emotional regulation was itself disabling, impairing his ability to think clearly, manage stress, and sustain pro-social functioning. His mental health conditions - including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, and borderline personality disorder - appear secondary, both as vulnerabilities that contributed to his initiation of drug use and as conditions that were worsened by the effects of prolonged substance misuse. His personality dysfunction, together with recurrent depression and severe anxiety, further impairs his ability to regulate affect, tolerate distress, and maintain stable relationships, leaving him reliant on external substances or supports to achieve even basic stability.

His combined psychiatric and substance use conditions render imprisonment substantially more burdensome than for an individual without such impairments.

1. According to your counsel, you have been held in protection units whilst on remand. Although you have been able to work whilst in protective custody, I was told that you are subject to more limitations than are placed on mainstream prisoners. But no evidence was led as to the nature and extent of those limitations and so, having regard to what the Court of Appeal said in R v Males, [7] I can only give this consideration modest weight. I was also told that once sentenced, you expect to be able to take up education opportunities within the prison system. Two certificates were tendered in relation to courses you have completed whilst on remand, namely, courses dealing with alcohol and drug abuse.

1. I do not accept your counsel's submission that your prospects of rehabilitation are reasonable or good. Given your chronic mental disorders, long history of illicit drug use, criminal antecedents and the gravity of the offence for which I must sentence you today, I am guarded about your prospects of rehabilitation.

1. At this point, I will summarise the circumstances that I consider should mitigate your sentence.
2. Your plea of guilty was of significant utilitarian benefit. It avoided the need for a trial, sparing witnesses from having to give evidence and brings a degree of finality to this matter.
3. By reason of your mental impairment, prison will be harder for you than for prisoners not so impaired.[8]
4. Your criminal history is a limited one. You have no priors for assault and the longest prison sentence you have previously undergone is a sentence of 6 months' imprisonment.
5. You are a protection prisoner.

1. I was referred to a number of other alleged comparable cases where the offender had been sentenced for manslaughter.[9] Head sentences ranged from 8 to 13 years' imprisonment and the non-parole periods ranged from 5 to 10 years' imprisonment. These cases were of some assistance in determining an appropriate sentence for you but each case has to be decided according to its own unique features.

1. Manslaughter is obviously a serious offence because it involves the taking of a human life. Having particular regard to the sentencing purposes of just punishment, denunciation, deterrence and protection of the community, you must receive a substantial sentence of imprisonment. Please stand.

1. On the charge of manslaughter, I sentence you to 10 years' imprisonment.
2. You are to serve a minimum term of 7 years' imprisonment before being eligible for parole.
3. I declare that you have served 492 days by way of presentence detention.
4. But for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to 12 years' imprisonment with a minimum term of 9 years.

[1] S 198B, Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic).

[2] Whether or not you had stolen her phone is not the issue. I mention the allegation as evidence of the strains in your relationship with Ms Brennan.

[4] You allege that your father was a violent and emotionally abusive man.

[5] [2021] VCC 1264.

[6] Report of Gina Cidoni, 20 April 2021, [64].

[7] R v Males [2007] VSCA 302 at [51]: "It should now be clearly understood by defence counsel that, if they wish to rely on the factor of protection as a mitigating factor on sentence, in the absence of a Crown concession the mere assertion that a client is in protection will hereafter be treated as insufficient. Counsel will need to make clear to the sentencing court how the particular protection regime is said to make the offender's experience of imprisonment harsher than it would be if those conditions had not been imposed".

[8] See R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; (2007) 16 VR 269, 276, [32].

[9] DPP v Giffith [2023] VSC 218 (10y/7y); DPP v Ivankovic [2025] VSC 50 (8y/5y); R v Jeffrey [2023] VSC 538 (10y/7y); DPP v Ristevski [2019] VSCA 287 (13y/10y); DPP v Tiumalu [2024] VSCA 192 (9y 6m/7y); DPP v Wain [2024] VSC 533 (10y/8y).