Anita Bloom,[1] you have pleaded guilty to: one charge of threat to kill; one charge of aggravated burglary; and two charges of causing injury intentionally. Those crimes carry maximum penalties of ten years, 25 years, and ten years respectively.
You are now 55 years of age. You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity and must get the benefit of that. You must also get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.
Insofar as remorse is concerned a letter was tendered yesterday on your behalf which expresses remorse, and as I have indicated to your counsel, there seems to be an element of justification in all this which I will refer to again shortly.
You have no relevant prior convictions and that is of real significance in this sentencing process.
A summary of the offending is that you and a Mr Wheeler[2] had been married since, as I worked it out, April 1990. You had separated or he had left you in March 2017 and he was in a relationship with a Georgia Peel.[3] It seems clear from the materials that he had been in a relationship prior to his becoming involved with you some 27 years earlier. In any event, the two of you have one child together, Layla,[4] who was born in 1991 and resided in Broken Hill at a house owned by your mother. She was 25 years of age at the time of the offending.
The two of you owned a house together. I do not propose to go into the detail of all that other than when you separated it was subject to a mortgage of $86,000. There was an agreement that Mr Wheeler would continue to pay the mortgage. In around September 2017 some sort of dispute arose about all that and numerous text messages were sent between the two of you. At one stage in August 2017 you had made a comment to the child of Ms Peel that, "Your mother has taken my husband". She told you not to contact her again. In any event, your actual physical separation was some six months or so old, although clearly there was an element of animosity still occurring, at least in a social media sense.
The events leading up to it were that at approximately 4.10 pm on 18 October Mr Wheeler returned home from work and found that the internet banking payment had not been debited. He contacted the bank and reversed the situation, suspecting, rightly or wrongly, that you were responsible. You were staying with your daughter in Broken Hill at around that time. Your daughter described you as not being the same since the separation. You had on occasions, talking to her, made threats to kill both Wheeler and Peel but your daughter had not taken those threats seriously and you otherwise got along all right.
By the evening of 18 October 2017 your behaviour had become more unusual and unpredictable. At approximately 7 o'clock or so on that evening you attended the house of Ms Peels' father in Broken Hill. You yelled from the front of the house. He came outside to see who it was and you were at the step. He said that you were struggling to stand and maintain your balance. You apparently carried on about Wheeler and Peel and how he had left you with an $80,000 debt. You asked him where they were staying. He said he did not know but that it was not with him.
He rang his daughter to tell her what had happened. She in turn rang your daughter and told her what had happened. Your daughter went to pick you up and took you to the local hospital for a voluntary mental health assessment. It was seen from your physical condition that you were not travelling well at all at that point in time. Whilst at the hospital you have several abusive phone messages or voice messages for Wheeler and Peel. At approximately
[2]
11 o'clock that night you were discharged from the hospital and I have not seen the hospital records. I do not know what their findings were, if any, and your daughter drove you back to the address in Broken Hill.
[3]
At about 1 am you became aggressive after she says she disturbed you while you were going through her personal property. You threw items at her including an aerosol can and a lamp and it struck her head, causing it to bleed. She was taken to hospital. New South Wales police were notified. When she was discharged from hospital later that morning Wheeler and Peel picked her up and took her back to the Rufus River Road address where they were residing. Before your daughter got into the car she went to the passenger side and whispered to Peel that you had said, "Going to kill you first, then Dad", and then yourself.
On 19 October you were charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and you were bailed with an apprehended domestic violence order in Broken Hill. At approximately 5.30 pm on that night - I have no idea what time that all took place - at approximately 5.30 pm on the 19th Wheeler, Peel and your daughter arrived back at Rufus River Road with the belongings and parked in the driveway. They were worried that you might turn up, bearing in mind the numerous voice messages they have received from you during that day. At approximately 6 o'clock you telephoned their next door neighbour. You asked him if Matt Peel[5] were home and whether your daughter was with them. He said you sounded extremely angry and upset. He told you he was staying out of it and you replied, "I have a bullet for each of them and one for you too". What it all had to do with him I have got no idea. In any event, that is the charge of threat to kill, and it had other consequences as will become clear.
He immediately hung up and sent you a message telling you never to contact him again. He called Mr Wheeler to tell him what you had said. Mr Wheeler became concerned and moved his car from the driveway to a nearby shed and removed tools that were kept outside, to minimise any risk. He and Peel kept looking out the windows to see if you were coming until Peel suggested they eat some dinner as it was getting dark.
At around about the same time you began driving to Mr Wheeler's place from Broken Hill. That is what you told police later on at least. It seems to me that is a drive well in excess of four hours. So I quite understand how the times all work out here, but in any event, you told police that you had a metal pole, probably part of a motorcycle, and most likely had a knife. You indeed did have each. You arrived at Wheeler's place at approximately 8.30 pm and started banging on the kitchen window with the metal pole.
Mr Wheeler, Ms Peel and your daughter were clearing the kitchen table when they heard the loud banging coming from the kitchen window. It sounded to them like gunshots which, bearing in mind the threat to kill that had been made earlier, is hardly surprising. You smashed the window, tore the flywire with the knife and entered the premises. They were on the floor, taking cover because they thought they were gunshots they had been hearing. Ms Peel saw part of the metal pole and believed it was the barrel of a firearm and screamed out, "She's got a gun". That is the charge of aggravated burglary.
You ran directly towards Peel, who was lying on her side in a foetal position. You held the metal pole at her chest. She thought the weapon was a firearm and became hysterical and screaming and feared for her life. With your other hand you drove a knife into her upper rib cage, penetrating the lung. You continued trying to stab her and she rolled to her side and use her arms and hands to defend herself. That caused injuries to her hand, finger and a large laceration to her right wrist. She yelled, "Stop, stop". You said, "I will never stop". That is Charge 3 of causing injury intentionally to Ms Peel.
Mr Wheeler intervened and placed himself between you and Peel. You repeatedly swung the knife at him, striking him to the jaw, stomach, chest and finger. That is Charge 4 of causing injury intentionally. He grabbed your arms and wrestled the knife away while pleading for you to stop. Peel was bleeding heavily and struggling to breathe. In fact she had a collapsed lung but managed to get to her feet. Wheeler was still wrestling with you and yelled for someone to go and get the neighbour. Blood was rushing from the side of his head, which he thought was coming from his neck. He screamed at you, "You fucking killed me", as he thought he was dying. You replied, "Don't die on me, you cunt".
The neighbour heard screaming and ran towards the house and he saw
[4]
Ms Peel and your daughter standing outside. When he arrived Mr Wheeler screamed, "Please help me. I'm dying". He grabbed you and tackled you away from Mr Wheeler. He tried to walk you away from the house but you refused and went limp so he dragged you out of the house to his workshop, about 100 metres away. He cable tied you to a pole so you could not escape while he waited for police to arrive.
[5]
Mr Wheeler got up, picked up the knife and dropped it in the front yard. The neighbour returned to his house and told your daughter to call 000 before him administering first aid to both Wheeler and Peel. Ms Peel was still struggling to breathe and was in a lot of pain. You were still screaming abuse at Wheeler, yelling, "Is your precious fucking Georgia dying, is she?". The summary says police from New South Wales attended shortly after. It seems from the material that it was probably more like about an hour but there is no - that is completely understandable bearing this all occurring in a very small town, which I am told is a fairly remote area.
In any event, the ambulance took Wheeler and Peel to the Mildura Base Hospital and they were discharged on the 21st. A doctor, a consultant forensic physician, described the injuries. Ms Peel had a .5 centimetre puncture wound to the right side of the ribs and lower entry was noted on the right side, and that was a pneumothorax, in other words a punctured lung. That did not need surgical treatment and subsided by itself. A full thickness distal ulnar, side forearm cut with fat and superficial vein on view. That was closed with ten stitches, with a bruise over her right shoulder and a cut on the left, middle finger.
Mr Wheeler had a wound to the right shoulder. It was a cut needing stitches. He had a bruise to the right shoulder, wound to the front of his throat, which was probably an incision, incision to the right chest wall, would to the left elbow, wound to the left side of the jaw line, which was L-shaped over the right jaw line, a wound to the epigastric area and a curved linear incised wound over the chest wall centrally. He also had bruising to the upper chest. As I said, both victims were discharged on 21st October 2017, having had their wounds closed with sutures.
You were interviewed by police on the 20th and told police a number of things. You said that you were feeling really upset and you said that you did not remember a great deal about it. You told the police that you, "Knocked on the door and they didn't answer because they were all playing the happy family type of thing, from what I could see or hear". You said it was a blur and otherwise essentially acknowledged that you could not remember what had happened in inside but acknowledged that you had the knife. You said you did not know you had stabbed him until he was bleeding. You were fit to be interviewed and they are the answers that you gave to police.
The situation is that the offending is serious. Indeed, the aggravated burglary in particular is a very serious example of it, in my view. The normal course of events calls for the application of general and specific deterrence or denunciation and appropriate punishment.
Victim impact statements were read out and tendered, which clearly show whatever the background of all of this was, the sheer terror that you caused all of the victims, including your daughter, and we have none from the neighbour, suffer ongoing trauma from it, anxiety and a sense of disbelief that such a violent act could have occurred. As is normal in these situations, the is ongoing psychological as well as physical disabilities. The situation with your daughter is a sad one indeed and she just wants nothing to do with you after all this has occurred.
I am not going to buy into the family history leading up to all this. There has been a fair amount of material placed before me in terms of domestic violence. As I pointed out to your counsel, there is little objective evidence to support that but in these circumstances I am certainly not saying that it did not occur.
The fact of the matter is, though, that the circumstances were that you were clearly very angry and the things that you have said, the fact that you have made threats essentially to kill both your husband and Ms Peel previously, indicates that, in my view, you went there to hurt them. I am not arguing with concepts about domestic violence. I do not know whether the people who have counselled you in regard to that have access to the hand-up brief or not but it seems fairly clear that the physical separation had been at this point in time of some six or seven months' duration and the offending has occurred in a situation of anger and I suspect very much punishment.
Mr Cunningham, who saw you only a week or so ago said that, "She experienced a psychological crisis in the absence of the connections to others", that is to your daughter and husband. "She abused Valium to attempt to cope with the symptoms of anger at being abandoned erupted following her conflict with Matt. In my opinion, Ms Bloom's abuse of Valium would have significantly aggravated her emotional response in the ability to inhibit her behaviour." That puts it into context but it does not actually assist you in this situation as it is self-inflicted intoxication. That is what it can be called.
He went on to say, "She presents with limited remorse for her behaviour. She continues to perceive herself as a victim in the offending. In my opinion this is a reflection of Ms Bloom's personality dysfunction. She continues to express distress related to the end of her relationship. She continues to feel angry and abandoned by Doug". He goes on to say you have required mental health intervention and monitoring.
Whilst all domestic violence plays a part in all this, it seems to me that it is an act of anger and punishment which has brought it all about or is certainly the most operative aspect of it coming about. In those circumstances, in my view, there is little to be said to actually mitigate it. I have already indicated I think it must have been an absolutely terrifying experience for those involved and it is just fortunate that you are not in a very different jurisdiction facing a very much more serious charge or charges.
The circumstances are that a very significant gaol term is the only option available in circumstances such as this and I then turn to matters personal to you.
Tendered on your behalf were a report from Dr Ball, Dr Cunningham and with CASA and others and again I have mentioned the domestic violence and I do not propose to go into those, personal references and many courses you have done in gaol. It is to your credit that in dealing with CASA, and I am not going to into the reasons for that, it is known to everyone in the courtroom, it is nobody else's business, you are starting to try and deal with matters that may have been difficult for you from a very young age continuing on. In gaol you have done, as I said, many courses and are endeavouring to better yourself.
Insofar as that remorse is concerned I just note that in your letter dated 4 March you said, "I acknowledge I'm responsible for my actions no matter what the circumstances or conditions".
After your arrest a letter was found at your house at Wentworth. How it got there I cannot work out. It was dated 19 October 2017. It is clear from that letter that at that point in time you were not showing, at least whenever it was written, an intention to at least seriously harm the others and it reads more like a suicide note to me. In a note at the bottom of that, that, "I also asked D Wheeler not to marry me if he ever had any intentions of going back to Georgia Peel, not to marry me and as soon as he got the chance he did". It was a time line of something approaching 30 years in all that. There was probably not much anyone can do about that at the present time.
Insofar as your personal history is concerned succinct submissions from your counsel outlined that you are now I thought 55, but 56. You were raised by your mother and father and one older brother and two older sisters. Your father was a miner and was a heavy drinker and that caused difficulties in the family. You had as a child abuse from a neighbour which continued for some period of time. That has never been addressed until most very recent times and it is to your credit that you are endeavouring to do so.
You worked in several jobs in Broken Hill before finding a long term employment with Australia Post in 1985 and you worked for nearly 20 years. As I understand it, that employment ceased after a car accident and you have not worked now for a couple of years. You had met Mr Wheeler in about 1987, marrying in 1990. As I indicated, there is the one child.
You then, during the course of those instructions, describe your husband as abusive and a heavy drinker. I am again not going to buy into all that. Those matters may well be true, they may be exaggerated, I do not know. There is an allegation that in 2000 or 2001, which is supported by your mother, that you went into hospital with a collapsed lung. There is no, again, medical reports to support that and I think I have dealt with the concept of family violence in this situation. I think this is - I will not go into all that again.
There clearly have been acrimony between you after the separation and I have said what I have said about what occurred on that particular night. Whether you were heavily affected by Valium or not I will never know but you were certainly able to negotiate something in the order of a four and a half hour drive before all this occurred and you told police that you had left your mother's in Broken Hill already armed.
The aggravated burglary is an example of it which is occurring at night on a person's home. You were armed. The way you entered was terrifying. You were relentless in your attack once you got in and the weapons were in fact used on two people and had it not been for the intervention of the neighbour this may have been an even worse scenario.
I have taken into account all the references that were tendered on your behalf and as I indicated to your counsel, I sentence on the basis that this offending is out of character. There had clearly been some violence towards your daughter the night before but this all seems to have occurred over a period of months and it had been the result of a build-up.
The prospects of your rehabilitation are really up to you. I am still concerned about the justification aspect of all this, that you are endeavouring to attend at rehabilitation. The risk of you reoffending in this way should be low. I am sure you would not do it in respect of any other people but this was situational. It is just to be hoped in the future that situation is not brought about again, but there is not much I can do about that.
As I said, I have taken into account all the material, the psychiatric reports tendered on your behalf, one of which had been prepared for a bail application, and they all go towards mitigation. However, in the end it has to be a significant gaol sentence which reflects the seriousness of what you did, not what could have happened but what actually happened.
Accordingly, on Charge 1, the threat to kill, six months, Charge 2 of aggravated burglary, four years, Charge 3 of intentional injury, three years, Charge 4 of intentional injury, three years. I direct that one year of the sentence imposed on Charge 3, one year of the sentence imposed on Charge 4, and three years of the sentence imposed on Charge 1 be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the sentence imposed on Charge 2. In a situation such as this your counsel argue that a long period of supervision would be appropriate, and because of your lack of prior convictions and your age, I propose to give you a significantly earlier opportunity for parole than would otherwise have been the case. The sentence I have imposed is a total effective sentence of six years and three months. I direct that you serve a minimum term of three years and six months before becoming eligible for parole and I direct that 502 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.
Just to make it very clear to you and to your supporters, I am not buying into any of that either, but, but for your plea of guilty had you conducted this as a trial and endeavoured to justify your behaviour in that way, and been convicted by a jury, I would have sentenced you to be imprisoned for a period of nine and a half years with a minimum term of six.
There are no other orders I have to make?
MR O'DOHERTY: Yes, just check the maths again, y h.
HIS HONOUR: Yes.
MR O'DOHERTY: Six years, three months, minimum term three, six. Sorry, that is, yes, that is three months cumulative, not - yes. My associate tells me I have said that wrongly. It is three months on Charge 1, one year on Charge 3 and one year on Charge 4, cumulative upon each other.
MR O'DOHERTY: Yes.
HIS HONOUR: And cumulative upon two, which gives you six years and three months.
MR O'DOHERTY: Yes.
HIS HONOUR: Right, there are no other orders I have to make? I have made there forfeiture, yes.
MR O'DOHERTY: Was it, what, the 6AAA?
HIS HONOUR: Yes, nine and a half with a six.
MR O'DOHERTY: All right.
HIS HONOUR: All right, if you can remove her now, thank you.