R v Carradine [2000] VSC 18

Supreme Court of Victoria|2000-01-27|Before: VINCENT, J.

Adrian Boris Carradine, the jury empanelled upon the trial at which you were presented on a count that at Maryborough in the State of Victoria on 14 July 1998 you murdered Simon Fletcher Docherty, returned a verdict of not guilty of that offence, but guilty of the alternative offence of manslaughter. What that means in the context of this matter is that they were not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you intended to kill or to cause really serious injury to your victim, but they were satisfied that your actions were both unlawful and objectively dangerous in the circumstances.

Against that background, you have admitted the commission of a number of criminal offences involving nine court appearances between 15 August 1988 and 26 June 1998. They relate, inter alia, to a variety of offences of theft, failing to answer bail, using and possessing drugs, deception, and assaulting and resisting a police officer in the lawful execution of their duty.

The background to and circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime for which I must now impose sentence upon you have been canvassed in the course of the trial and need only be set out in a relatively brief form at this stage. Much of the detail was provided by the witness Nichole Ryan, your former partner. However, it is apparent from the jury verdict that they did not accept a deal of her account. She, like you on that night, was under the heavy influence of prescription medication and she possessed animosity towards and a considerable fear of you. In that situation, I have approached her description with a similar measure of circumspection. Nevertheless, the situation is still sufficiently clear for sentencing purposes and is not dependent upon the evidence of Miss Ryan.

It appears that the deceased and you had a good relationship although at times it was strained due to your abuse of drugs and your treatment of Miss Ryan and her mother, Helen Carradine. On Tuesday 14 July 1998, Miss Ryan, your mother and the deceased were located at your mother's house in Taylor Street, Maryborough. They were there because of some issues that had earlier arisen. Indeed, as a consequence of your drug induced aggression, the deceased had at an earlier stage been called to the premises in which Miss Ryan and you were then residing. He attended as a peacemaker to calm a rather tense situation, but obviously fearing that she would be assaulted by you, took her to your mother's home. You were clearly very angry about this intervention and, as I have indicated, subsequently went to the Taylor Street house to demand that Miss Ryan return with you. Not surprisingly, she refused to do so. After an altercation in which you assaulted your mother, you left. It is apparent that at the time you were in a very agitated state and under the influence of drugs. A short time later, shots were heard out the front of the premises. You then approached the front door and were heard to be arguing with the deceased. Precisely what occurred next is not clear, but it appears that during a scuffle with Mr Docherty on the front lawn of the premises he was shot in the chest. He later died from the gunshot wound that he then received. You fled the scene but were later apprehended by the police.

During your recorded interview with the police you did not provide any explanation or description of the events of that night nor did the conversations conducted with Miss Ryan that were tape-recorded with her consent by investigating police members shed any light upon your behaviour or state of mind during that evening. You claimed that you could not remember very much at all of what occurred. Considering the amount of medication that you had taken during the day, this may well have been the situation.

The crime of manslaughter, which you committed, can arise in different ways under our law and there are formulations of it to express the range of situations in which it will be perceived as having been committed. You have occasioned the death of your victim through the performance of what is termed an "unlawful and dangerous act" and it is in the context of this formulation that sentence must now be imposed.

In your case, as I have earlier indicated, I accept that prior to the night in question you had a relatively close relationship with the deceased. I have been told and accept that you regarded him as something of a father figure, your own father having left you when you were quite young. Why then did you act as you did on this particular occasion? The answer, it seems to me, is to be found in the release of inhibition as a result of constant drug abuse in a person who possessed a potential for violent outbursts if his responses were triggered or his desires thwarted in some fashion. The support and assistance which the deceased had apparently provided to you over the years did not cause you to moderate your behaviour. Angry at a person who appears to have done nothing more than attempt to protect others against your violence, you went to the house in which he was located with those he was trying to keep safe, taking with you a loaded and cocked firearm. You were in an aggressive state of mind and you intended at least to impose your will upon those present. As a result of this clearly dangerous and highly unlawful action a man is dead. That is the simple and irrevocable reality with which this court must deal.

The courts must endeavour to deter those who may be so inclined from engaging in behaviour of this kind. Conduct such as yours, when coupled with the use of drugs can, as you are now aware, bring about death. In this context I am conscious of the pain and distress which you have caused and will continue to cause those who were close to the deceased and which is reflected in the victim impact statement presented to the court. The sentences which are imposed must reflect the significance of the kind of conduct in which you engaged and clearly express the commitment of this community to the inviolability of the life of each of those who dwell in it.

Nevertheless, these are not the only considerations which must be taken into account in the determination of an appropriate sentence and each offence and each offender must be viewed in the light cast by all of the circumstances relevant to the matter and perpetrator involved.

Like many who appear before these courts, you have had an unfortunate background. You are now aged twenty-nine years. Your natural father, who was an alcoholic and an abusive individual, initially left the family when you were aged about four or five years. It appears that over the next twenty years he would come and go from time to time. You have two sisters and a younger brother. Shortly after your father first left the family, your mother developed a relationship with a man named Laurie Ralphs. He lived with the family, but after some years he began to display symptoms of manic depression and paranoid schizophrenia. He spent short periods of time at Larundel. Whilst this relationship between your mother and Ralphs developed, it also appears that you were, in common with your brother, the victim of sexual abuse. You have had a back ground of considerable instability and it is not difficult to perceive how this may have dramatically impacted upon the direction of your life as a consequence.

Your mother maintained this relationship with Ralphs for over a decade and during this period he would often behave in an irrational manner. The family had very little money and there was nowhere for you to go. You all lived in fear of Ralphs, who, although he did not physically assault members of the family, had threatened to kill each of you and had on occasions, I accept, fired off shots in the middle of the night. Being the eldest child, you regarded it as your responsibility to protect your mother, and presumably your younger siblings.

It is not then particularly surprising to find that by about the age of fifteen years you were an angry and alienated young person. You began to use pills, namely Rohypnol, and started to abuse cannabis and heroin. It was also at about this time that you began to commit criminal offences and to appear before the courts. In April 1989 you went into Odyssey House, a drug rehabilitation centre, where you remained for approximately five months. Of considerable significance in the present context is the fact that after leaving that centre you did not offend for five years. During that period you were employed and you remained drug-free for a substantial portion of that five years. Your mother had left Ralphs while you were in Odyssey House and so you had no further contact with or conflict with him. Your conduct during this period of five years indicates that you are capable of leading a law-abiding lifestyle and provides support for the view that you may have realistic prospects for rehabilitation. That is the approach that I have adopted.

At the end of 1993 your father returned. He had, according to your understanding, which I accept, suffered a nervous breakdown and he indicated that he was going to stay for a while. However, again, as he had in the past, after a short period he disappeared and you have not seen him since. When he left on this occasion you became depressed and you recommenced your use of cannabis and heroin. I think that it is highly likely that your father's absence over the years was very hurtful to you and his return in 1993 gave rise to high expectations. When they failed to materialise, they were replaced by a deep sense of disappointment.

It was at about this time that you formed a relationship with Miss Ryan. She was working as a prostitute and was an abuser of pills and heroin. It is evident that this relationship was destructive for both of you and it seems that you both became even more heavily involved in the use of these materials. On 26 July 1997, your daughter, River, was born. Miss Ryan and your daughter are now in the witness protection scheme and will be, I understand, for some time due to the fear which she now possesses of you.

Not long after you met Miss Ryan, having resumed the use of drugs, you lost your job and started to re-offend. What is clear is that by this stage, Mr Carradine, you have developed into an angry, drug-abusing and self- destructive adult. As I have mentioned, it is evident that Miss Ryan is terrified of you. That observation was not difficult to make in the course of the trial.

I have read your handwritten account of your life history that was tendered on your behalf in the course of the plea and observed that, whilst it evidences a degree of self pity, at no point does it contain the slightest suggestion of the presence of any sense of remorse or even appreciation of the true significance of your conduct. Whatever responses you may have experienced seem to have been very much subordinated to your concerns about your own situation.

Nevertheless, as I have indicated, there is a possibility that with appropriate assistance you may be able to rehabilitate yourself and resume living the stable life that you were previously able to maintain for a substantial period at the end of 1989.

I have taken those prospects of rehabilitation into account in your favour. In doing so I have noted that whilst in prison you have undertaken drug programs and your assertion that it is your desire to remain drug-free on release.

I have considered the range of penalties handed down by the courts over recent years for the crime of manslaughter, bearing in mind that they can provide only a general guide. You have taken the life of a man unlawfully. That is a matter of profound significance to the law and its seriousness, which I am by no means convinced is appreciated by you, must be reflected in the sentence imposed as a consequence.

Ultimately, I have arrived at the view that the appropriate sentence in your case is one of imprisonment for a period of nine years and I fix a non-parole period of seven years. I declare that the period of 373 days which you have undergone as pre-sentence detention is to be reckoned as having been served under the sentence hereby imposed, and I direct that this declaration and its details be entered in the records of the courts.

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