R v Drummond

3 You and Walters had become friends and were also friendly with the hotel cleaner but Mr Singer lived an isolated life. In the period leading up to Mr Singer's death, you and Walters had become increasingly frustrated with Mr Singer's behaviour. In June 2001 the hotel cleaner had found that Mr Singer had defecated on the sheets and carpet in his room. Some weeks later she found human faeces on the street outside the hotel door and also in the foyer, and on the floor of the bathroom and toilet adjacent to Mr Singer's room. A number of hotel residents complained to the hotel management but Mr Singer, when spoken to, denied involvement.

4 In late July the cleaner again found faeces on the floor near the toilet adjacent to Mr Singer's room together with footprints leading to the deceased's room.

5 The cleaner informed the hotel management and a sign was installed at the top of the first floor stairs, stating: 'The mess in the bathroom will not be tolerated, if it happens again people will be evicted.'

6 In early September you told your factory manager of the difficulties you were experiencing with Mr Singer's behaviour. You said that Mr Singer was driving you crazy as he was shitting everywhere. You asked him if he knew anyone who had alternative accommodation.

7 On Saturday 1st October 2011, late in the evening, Walters walked to the bathroom near Mr Singer's room and found a large faecal smear on the hallway carpet outside the bathroom door.

8 It was immediately suspected that Mr Singer was responsible.

9 Walters confronted Mr Singer and told him he must clean up the mess. Walters told him that the cleaner should not have to clean up the mess. He gave him an ultimatum to clean it up by the following day. Mr Singer denied any involvement and closed his door.

10 On the following morning, being Sunday 2nd October 2011, when the publican arrived at the hotel the residents informed him of the faeces on the carpet. The publican inspected the mess and delivered a message through Mr Singer's door, telling him to leave by the end of the week.

11 During the course of the morning you left the hotel, purchased some packaged alcohol locally and returned to the hotel to drink it. From 11:00 am onwards you consumed some 10 cans of beer (although I suspect this is a conservative estimate).

12 During the course of the afternoon you spoke with Walters who was also drinking and another resident named Russell about the mess on the carpet. Walters made a series of threats to Mr Singer through the door of his room, demanding that he clean up the faeces and leave the hotel.

13 At some point you also began to bang repeatedly on Mr Singer's door.

14 At about 7:30 pm Walters left you with Russell in Russell's room and intercepted Mr Singer as he left the bathroom. Walters confronted him over the faeces on the floor and, in his words, 'lost the plot'. He commenced to bash Mr Singer, first striking him to the body and head with his fist and then, when he was on the ground, kicking him.

15 Russell saw this assault and told you of it. You then left Russell's room and were heard to yell at Mr Singer. You were heard to laugh and abuse Mr Singer as he was struck for approximately 10 minutes. You were observed standing over Mr Singer while Walters struck him to the head.

16 Mr Singer then stated to Walters and yourself, 'Okay. Okay, I'll clean it'.

17 At approximately 8:30 pm Walters checked the bathroom and found the faecal stains had not been cleaned up. Walters again confronted Mr Singer. Walters again bashed Mr Singer and, after the passage of perhaps half an hour, you joined in. You entered Mr Singer's room and threw a pair of his shoes out the window. You were heard to 'thump' the deceased and heard to say, 'You shit on the floor you dirty piece of shit'. You are described as having been in the room with Walters punching Mr Singer for about half an hour.

18 The witness Russell describes the assault in part as follows:**

The guys [sic] head was pointing to the window. Brad was standing in the area of the guy's waist line. Brett went and was standing near the guy's thigh line. Brad was punching Edwin around the head area. At times Brett's body obstructed my view but I could see Brad's punches were not hitting his chest and were hitting the guys [sic] head. While Brad was punching him, Brett would say something quick and short like 'You're a dirty fucking animal' then Brad would give him a hard quick punch. Brad would start saying shit he had said earlier like 'I don't live with animals, this ain't the way I am' and then Brett was punching the guy in the head area, in the side of the guys [sic] head. I could see Brett from behind and his punches connecting to the side of the guys [sic] head.

**19 Ultimately, Mr Singer was bashed to death. Whilst the exact degree of your involvement in the assaults upon him cannot be determined beyond reasonable doubt, the fact that you had substantial involvement is corroborated by the DNA evidence, which found that blood matching the profiles of Mr Singer was on a towel found in your room, on part of the hooded top worn by you on the night in question, on a long-sleeved top worn by you, on tracksuit pants worn by you and on a left thong worn by you.

20 In your record of interview you admitted first confronting Mr Singer in the early part of the evening, grabbing Mr Singer by the hair, shaking him while you abused him and throwing his shoes out the window. You also admitted joining Walters with Mr Singer later on the night at which stage you say Mr Singer was unconscious.

21 The post-mortem examination of Mr Singer's body revealed the cause of death to be complications of blunt chest trauma. Dr Lynch also noted:

(a) that there was evidence of significant injury comprising multiple cutaneous bruises, abrasions and lacerations involving the face, chest, back (anteriorly and posteriorly on both the right and left) and both upper and lower limbs;

(b) extensive chest injuries that included 27 rib fractures;

(c) significant alcohol intoxication (at the level of 0.35 grams per 100 millilitres); and

(d) significant natural disease comprising pulmonary emphysema, cirrhosis of the liver, chronic pancreatitis and testicular atrophy.

22 At the trial of Walters, Dr Lynch noted there were seven signs of blunt force trauma to Mr Singer's face and two injuries seen to the rear of Mr Singer's head.

23 The Crown case against you is put on the basis that you committed the offence of manslaughter by engaging in an unlawful and dangerous act, namely assaults upon Mr Singer in concert with Walters and, at the very least, aided and abetted him in killing Mr Singer although you personally did not act with murderous intent.

24 There are a number of aggravating features involved in your offending:

(a) your victim was physically frail, intoxicated and plainly at the mercy of you and Walters;

(b) the assaults upon him continued over an extended period of time;

(c) even though the precise degree of your involvement in the assaults cannot be determined, it is apparent that you yourself inflicted blows upon Mr Singer and that you were not content with your initial involvement in his bashing but returned in the course of the evening to assist Walters in attacking Mr Singer;

(d) the violence which was inflicted upon Mr Singer was totally disproportionate to any ordinary response which might be expected to the affront he had given to you and Walters;

(e) you assisted and encouraged Walters and together with him inflicted an extended cruel and brutal fatal bashing of cumulative savagery; and

(f) you bashed Mr Singer in his home and effectively on the eve of his departure.

(a) that the greater part in the bashing was played by Walters;

(b) that you had been drinking over the weekend which culminated in the bashing and in particular had been drinking through the day on which the bashing occurred;

(c) that you were both frustrated and genuinely offended by Mr Singer's ongoing behaviour and his failure to accept responsibility for it; and

(d) that the probability is that the fractured ribs and chest injuries were substantially caused by Walters kicking the deceased while wearing boots.

26 At the date of his death Edwin Singer was 55. The Court has received victim impact statements from his sister and his step-daughter. They express in plain language something of the suffering you have caused. Mr Singer's sister writes of her brother:**

He would have felt so alone and terrified and I wasn't there for him.

Eddy was my only sibling and now all my family are gone. It is so utterly final and I miss him so much.

**27 Mr Singer's step-daughter describes how she is now confronted with the overwhelming need to care for his teenage daughter and the serious daily difficulties she faces in meeting this challenge. That daughter is the girl about whom you and Walters mocked Mr Singer as you bashed him. Not surprisingly, the loss of her father has had serious emotional and psychological consequences for her.

28 As is so often the case where mindless violence is inflicted on another person, the unforeseen consequences of your acts will be life changing and permanently damaging for other members of the community.

29 I turn then to your personal circumstances. You are aged 46 years old. You were born in Geelong and were the middle of seven children. Your father was a truck driver and heavy drinker. He was abusive both to your mother and to yourself.

30 Your mother also drank and by the time you were aged five or six all of the children in the family had been placed in Allambie.

31 Thereafter you spent substantial periods of time in boys homes and became a ward of the state when 10 or 11. You were ultimately placed in St Augustine's Boys Home in mid-adolescence. At that time, you felt keenly that your family had abandoned you.

32 After completing Year 10 you obtained a factory job in which you worked for three years until you were placed in Youth Training Centre at around 18. After your release from Youth Training Centre you worked in a series of factory jobs and on a farm property cutting wood.

33 As a child you were sexually abused (by indecent touching) by two paternal uncles and partly it seems in reaction to this you commenced using alcohol to a serious extent when you were 14.

34 You have continued to be a heavy drinker into your adult years and Mr Healey, a clinical psychologist, assesses your drinking as bordering on frank alcoholism. You have a series of prior convictions for dishonesty offences, assault and driving offences. The three assault convictions are now of some considerable time ago but nevertheless they reveal a tendency towards violence which I must take into account in sentencing you. The fact that you have previously been imprisoned is also relevant in itself. I also note that at the time of your offending you were subject to a suspended sentence for a driving offence. The consequences of that breach will fall to be determined elsewhere.

35 Despite your criminal record I accept, as your counsel submits, that you have as a mature adult been out of trouble for substantial periods of time and that the more recent offending was alcohol related and limited to driving offences.

36 Mr Healey expresses the opinion that your IQ is relatively low and that personality testing is indicative of vulnerability to substance abuse. He also says that there were no major test signs of major psychological or emotional disturbance. He says that you realise you must address your excessive use of alcohol and that you acknowledge and understand that Mr Singer did not deserve to die no matter what he had done as a fellow resident of the hotel.

37 On your plea your counsel emphasised the following matters:

(b) your lesser role in the fatal assault upon Mr Singer;

(d) your unfortunate personal history, borderline alcoholism and future prospects.

38 You must receive substantial credit for your plea of guilty. Although it was not made at the earliest possible juncture, the Crown until last week was pressing the charge of murder against you. Further, this is a case where the circumstantial evidence against you was not without its weaknesses. There was some possibility that if you put the Crown to its proof the witness Russell might not be accepted as a witness of truth and reliability and in turn the case against you might fail.

39 In addition of course your plea has saved the State of Victoria very considerable expense and effort.

40 My sentence must frankly demonstrate the value of your plea of guilty in all these circumstances.

41 Further, I accept that your role in Mr Singer's death was a lesser one than that of Walters, although I am satisfied that you actively participated in an extended savage assault upon Mr Singer and both assisted and encouraged Walters to do what he did.

42 Insofar as remorse is concerned, I accept that you acknowledge that Mr Singer did not deserve to die, but you do not appear to fully appreciate the wrongdoing inherent in taking the law into your own hands and brutally bashing Mr Singer.

43 I turn then to your alcohol abuse. I accept that where alcohol addiction can be seen to have its roots in childhood abuse and deprivation it may be regarded as reducing an offender's moral culpability to some extent.[1]

44 On the other hand, drunken assault in company raises very serious issues of general deterrence and also raises the need for specific deterrence of similar behaviour on your part in the future and issues of protection of the community.

45 Implicit in your counsel's submissions was the proposition that where there is some real prospect of an offender turning away from alcohol abuse that may also provide a basis for rehabilitation. In your case you are facing a period of enforced sobriety in which to face up to the past consequences of your drinking. You also have the support of your family and in particular two of your sisters, if you are able to turn away from heavy drinking. On the other hand there is in my judgment very little prospect of a positive life ahead of you if you do not stop drinking.

46 Ultimately I must impose a sentence upon you which reflects the gravity of your offending. The offence of manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment. The criminal killing of another person strikes at the sanctity of life which is the core value of our society.

47 I must also impose a sentence which reflects the need for general deterrence in the following particular respects:

(a) the Court must make clear that it is not open in this society for individuals to take the law into their own hands and severely beat another person under the guise of appropriate punishment;

(b) the Court must also unequivocally condemn attacks by drunken men who gang up on vulnerable victims; and

(c) the Court must make clear that drunken violence in any form is senseless and must be deterred because of the tragic consequences it brings to our community.

48 Brett Ross Drummond I have had regard to the matters your counsel has urged on your behalf and the circumstances of your offending as a whole.

49 I sentence you to nine years' imprisonment for the manslaughter of Edwin Singer. I fix a non-parole period of six years. I declare pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 that but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to 12 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of nine years.

50 I declare pursuant to s 18(4) of the Sentencing Act 1991 that the period of 525 days be reckoned as already served under the sentence and I direct that this declaration be noted in the records of the Court.

51 Subject to the amendments which were addressed earlier this morning, I have also made the retention order and the disposal order sought by the Crown.**

[1] R v Redenbach (1991) 52 A Crim R 95; Morrison v The Queen [2012] VSCA 222, [20].