DPP v Shepherd [2026] ACTSC 50

You were committed for sentence to this Court on these charges. In addition, two summary charges have been transferred to this Court for sentence. These are: (a) A charge of damaging property in a family violence context (CAN 919/2025) which occurred between 30 October 2024 and 3 November 2024. (b) A charge of threatening to cause property damage (CAN 921/2025) which occurred on 13 January 2025.

The offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and unlawfully choking another person carry a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment. The offence of making a threat to kill carries a maximum penalty of 13 years’ imprisonment. The offence of using a carriage service to make a threat to kill carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. The offence of contravening a family violence order carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. The offence of property damage carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment, a fine of 60 penalty units or both. The offence of threatening to cause property damage carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, a fine of 200 penalty units or both.

An agreed statement of facts was tendered at your sentence hearing. It is a lengthy document and I will not now recite it. The victim, who I will refer to by the initials BA, met you on a social media platform in 2024. Around mid-July 2024, the two of you met for the first time. About a month after this, you started dating. You and the victim became intimate partners as defined by the Family Violence Act 2016. For a period during that relationship, you and BA lived with her mother. This ended due to your violence towards members of her household. The offending that took place between 30 October 2024 and 3 November 2024 occurred after you were required to leave the victim’s mother’s home. Regarding that offending, I adopt the description of these offences provided by the prosecution in their written submissions and which was not challenged by you.

This offending involved a protracted series of assaults on the victim while she was in a vulnerable position, being in the driver’s seat of a vehicle (for the purpose of transporting you to your employment). The offending conduct transpired after the victim attempted to reprimand you for your earlier conduct towards her brother, which occurred in her family home. It appears the conduct transpired in response to the victim challenging you. Initially, you were screaming at the victim while the vehicle was moving, and ultimately the victim pulled over.

Thereafter, you head-butted the victim causing a golf ball sized “egg” on her forehead. Of course, that is a vulnerable part of the body, but, an injury in that area is also a persistent visual reminder of the assault and difficult to conceal.

Still in the vehicle, you placed the victim in a headlock and twice threatened to slit her throat. The specific duration of this first incident of choking is not known, although appears to be more than 30 seconds, and your grip was described as “tight”. You then removed a pair of scissors from the glovebox and pressed it against the victim’s throat pushing so hard that you left a mark and you told her “I am gonna fucking kill you.” Your physical conduct was thus accompanied by a threat to kill. Given your possession of the weapon and the vulnerable position of the victim, you were in a position to carry out that threat immediately. I accept the prosecution submission that your conduct was intended to assert both physical and psychological dominance over the victim.

Subsequently, there was a second choking incident when you squeezed your hands around the victim’s throat while she was calling for help and waving in an attempt to attract attention. This second choking occurred in the context of a protracted episode of abusive conduct employed to threaten, intimidate and control the victim.

Subsequently, you proceeded to break the air-conditioning unit and smash the window of the victim’s vehicle. After this incident, you apologised to the victim and said you would not do it again. The victim covered her facial injury with make-up and told her friends she hit her head on the boot of the car.

The offending which occurred on 13 January 2025 occurred in the context of a discussion between you and the victim in your shared home regarding you obtaining employment rather than relying on her income. The victim was concerned about the stability of her employment. Your reaction to this conversation was extreme. You raised your voice at the victim, and told her that you were going to “light the place on fire”. At this time, you had a lit lighter in your hand and you held its flame against the couch on which the two of you were sitting. The victim took the lighter off you.

That same afternoon, you engaged in a tirade of abuse towards the victim, directing her to clean up a mess which you had caused by throwing a cup of cordial at the wall. You threatened that unless she cleaned up the mess, you would bash her. You threatened to bash her with an item described as a 4-foot ledger. This is a heavy metal tool that looks like a metal pole and is four feet long. You picked that item up and began walking towards the victim. The victim started screaming and saying words to the effect that she would do what you asked. You then swung that object in the vicinity of the victim. Unsurprisingly, the victim was concerned that you would either kill her or do her serious injury.

I now turn to the offending on 15 January 2025. On that date you sent a text message to the victim asking her to check your bank account to see if you had been paid. You said the victim had your banking password to login to your bank account, however she could not gain access to your account. She told you to call the bank to access your account. This made you agitated and you made offensive and demeaning comments directed towards the victim. You then went on to threaten to burn the victim’s mother’s house down in the next hour. You then went on to say “Pete tells me every day that you fucken women are all putrid cunt and he’s right”, and, “Enough shit you’re a fucking softcock cunt deadest I should just bash the fuck out of ya every day you stupid little slagg”.

You also sent multiple other messages, telling the victim to get out of your joint house and threatening her if she did not do so. You made threats to kill her and to beat her. The victim later received a phone call from her boss, who told her that you had called him and made threats that you were going to come and smash the workshop up. The victim was on her way to drop a key off to you so that you could get into the apartment. She drove near you and threw a key in your direction out of the car window, because she was too fearful of you to allow you near her vehicle. She then left. You also sent a text to the victim stating that her little sisters would get raped and burnt to death.

At about 5:30 PM on 15 January 2025, the victim attended Tuggeranong Police Station with her mother and a friend and reported these incidents to police. At about 10:45 PM that day, police arrested you and seized your mobile phone. You have been in custody on remand since that time. This fact, however, has not deterred you from further offending directed towards the victim.

On 20 January 2025, a Special Interim Family Violence Order was issued in favour of the victim and naming you as the respondent. Amongst other things, you are prohibited from contacting the victim or causing someone else to contact her. While you were being held in custody, you arranged for two other persons who were being held in custody with you to contact the victim when they were released from custody. Both of those persons contacted the victim, clearly with the intention of putting pressure on the victim not to proceed with the charges against you.

While you have been on remand you have also communicated with your mother and with friends. These conversations were recorded. In some of those conversations you clearly blamed the victim for your conduct towards her and also made comments indicating that you were aware that others were attempting to have the victim retract her allegations. In one conversation with your mother you made clear threats that the victim was going to “cop it” when you are released from prison.

I received a Victim Impact Statement dated 11 February 2025. The victim speaks of the fear that your conduct caused during the period of your relationship. The effect on her mental health has been severe and long lasting. After leaving the relationship, she experienced constant panic attacks, severe anxiety, insomnia, and emotional distress. She found it difficult to sleep. She lost 20 kg due to stress, loss of appetite and emotional trauma. She experiences frequent flashbacks, and driving her car has become extremely difficult due to panic attacks and intrusive memories. She also experienced suicidal thoughts for an extended period after leaving the relationship. She is still trying to move on from what happened. She now has difficulty trusting others.

There can be no doubt that these are serious criminal offences. Your criminal conduct towards the victim appears to be based upon a belief that you are entitled to dominate women, and in particular domestic partners, by physical violence and intimidation.

You did not give evidence at your sentence hearing, but I was provided with some information about your background in a pre-sentence report and an assessment for an Intensive Correction Order. There is a considerable overlap between the material provided in each of these reports. The reports state that you were born and raised in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. You are now 20 years old. The present offences occurred when you were 18 years old. You reported that you are an Aboriginal man with cultural ties to the Wiradjuri Nation. You are the eldest of three siblings to your parents’ union.

Your parents separated when you were about six years old. You moved to Young, New South Wales, to reside with your mother on a full-time basis. You maintained regular contact with your father during this time and would spend time with him on weekends. As a teenager, you returned to Queanbeyan to reside with your father full-time.

You told the authors of the reports that you have not had contact with your father for about six years. You described your father as “strict” and you stated that you would often argue because you would not listen to your father. You said that you have maintained a predominantly positive relationship with your mother and that you can live at your mother’s residence after you are released from custody. You also reported having a good relationship with one of your younger sisters. You described your childhood in positive terms and denied witnessing any substance abuse, violence or neglect within the family home.

You told the author of the reports that you have been involved in two significant romantic relationships. The first commenced when you were 16 and continued for about two years. You described this relationship in positive terms, and claimed that it broke down as your partner lived inter-state and you were struggling to maintain a long-distance relationship.

The second relationship was with the victim of the present offences. You reported that this commenced when you are 18 years old. You claimed that you and the victim argued verbally every day, but you were physical with her on two occasions, including the current offences. You reported being unable to control your anger and you become angry for a variety of reasons, including stress from work, financial stress and smoking a lot of cannabis.

You are currently single with no dependents. A Family Violence Order remains in force against you until 16 June 2028. You claimed that if released into the community, you would comply with the conditions of your Family Violence Order.

You reportedly left conventional schooling during Year 9 as the school asked you to leave due to behavioural issues. You disclosed being suspended from school on over 10 occasions due to fighting with other students, smoking at school and missing classes. You obtained a Year 10 equivalent through TAFE, along with some work-related certifications in relation to the building and construction sectors. You reportedly engaged positively in completing your Certificate 2 in construction whilst in the AMC.

You reported that you have predominantly held employment as a scaffolder for the last four years and described this career in positive terms. You hope to return to the construction industry when released.

You denied any history of problematic alcohol use. The author of the present reports noted, however, that this appears to contradict information provided in a pre-sentence report dated 15 September 2025. That report stated that you reported having first consumed alcohol at the age of 12 or 13 and continued to drink socially with friends on a fortnightly basis to the point of intoxication. The earlier report goes on to say that by the middle of 2024 you were reportedly consuming approximately 24 beers a day which continued until you were taken into custody.

You told the author of the present reports that you first used cannabis at the age of 12 or 13 which increased to daily use by the age of 14 and continued until your current custodial episode. The author of the report states that you recognised that you experience anger when affected by cannabis. It is noted that the information which you have provided to the author of the present report contradicts information provided in your most recent Court Duty Report, dated 19 January 2026, in which you denied smoking cannabis lately. On the present-day occasion, however, you have conceded that cannabis use was a contributing factor to your offending behaviour.

You also admitted to experimenting with other illicit substances throughout your teenage years, including LSD, ketamine, MDMA, cocaine, heroin and buprenorphine. You stated that you would use those substances at parties with random people you met. You stated that you first consumed methamphetamine at the age of 16 and quickly escalated to daily use, at significant financial cost. You said that you ceased using that substance during a period of juvenile detention in New South Wales but admitted to using methamphetamine approximately 10 months ago in AMC.

You commenced the SOLARIS Program on 11 November 2025, but you were discharged on or around 12 December 2025 due to a positive drug test result. You have undergone three urinalysis tests whilst in custody. On 16 January 2025, you tested positive for cannabis. On 21 October 2025, you tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine and buprenorphine. On 2 December 2025, you tested positive for methamphetamine. You were required to undergo a further test on 27 January 2026, but you declined to do so as you advised that the test would return a positive result.

During your present period of remand, you have not received any positive case notes, but you have received eight negative behaviour case notes. Three of these relate to the positive urinalyses to which I have referred. On one occasion, on 24 February 2025, you engaged in the verbal abuse of staff, threatening to stab them and to cause serious harm to their family.

In the assessment of the author of the reports, you are a 20-year-old man with a significant criminal history, particularly in relation to family violence offending, assault and contravening protection orders. Corrective Services holds serious concerns regarding your history of family violence and the clear correlation between your offending behaviour and ongoing substance use. The facts of the present offences are concerning as they indicate that you used violence to instil fear, exert control, and manipulate your ex-partner. Your offending pattern reflects attitudes of coercion, control and intimidation within intimate relationships. Your breaches of protective orders demonstrate limited regard for legal boundaries and difficulty adhering to external controls.

The author of the report states that it appears that you have unaddressed anger and emotional regulation issues. While your young age suggests some potential for behavioural change with intensive support, the success of any community-based order would be contingent on your willingness to engage consistently and comply with strict supervision requirements.

I note that you were found unsuitable for an Intensive Correction Order.

You entered the plea of guilty to the charge of contravening a family violence order at an early date. Your pleas of guilty on the remaining charges came after initial pleas of not guilty and the preparation of a full brief. Your pleas of guilty came after negotiations. I accept that your pleas of guilty have had utilitarian value and have saved the community the cost of a defended trial. I am not convinced that your pleas of guilty signify any remorse on your behalf. Your conduct in custody of using third parties to try to convince the victim to retract her allegations, together with your attitude to the victim and your threats to her as demonstrated in the recorded telephone conversations from the AMC, suggest little if any remorse on your behalf. In fact, they reflect a strong belief in the rightness of your conduct and that it is the victim who has placed you in the position that you are in.

I will reduce the sentence on the contravening a family violence order charge by 20% because of your plea of guilty. On the other charges, I will reduce the otherwise appropriate sentences by about 15%.

Your prospects for rehabilitation are poor, despite your young age. You have entrenched attitudes towards women, and in particular domestic partners, that reflect a belief in your entitlement to assault and intimidate them to ensure that your demands are met. As the author of the pre-sentence report and the Intensive Correction Order assessment note, there appears to be a correlation between your violent conduct and your use of illicit drugs. You have not shown any inclination to commit to ceasing the use of illicit drugs, even while in prison. You had the opportunity to undertake the SOLARIS Program, but you only lasted 1 month in that program before being excluded for use of illicit drugs.

You are not a candidate for an Intensive Correction Order. I have no confidence in you committing to a process of change, particularly regarding drug use and your attitude towards domestic partners.

I acknowledge that you are still a young adult, as you were at the time of offending. In sentencing young adults, it is often the case that the community is best served by adopting an approach designed to encourage the rehabilitation of the offender. The weight to be given to rehabilitation in any particular case, however, must depend upon the offender’s prospects for rehabilitation. If, as here, they are particularly poor, there is no requirement that rehabilitation be given predominance as a sentencing consideration.

In my opinion, punishment, deterrence and protection of the public are the dominant sentencing considerations for sentencing you for the present offending. Bearing in mind your criminal history of family violence offending and your disregard of community-based orders, personal deterrence is an important sentencing consideration. You must understand that offending of this nature will be dealt with harshly. In addition, I am satisfied that you present as a real danger to the community should you be released at this time.

All of this may, of course, change during any further period that you spend in custody. For that reason, and bearing in mind your relative youth, I will impose sentences of imprisonment, but I will allow for an early release on parole if that is considered appropriate by the Sentence Administration Board. I would, however, recommend to the Board that it monitor your progress in custody, particularly regarding compliance with the requirements of the AMC, any evidence of further drug use, and participation in programs dealing with your criminogenic issues before it considers any release on parole.