R v Homann
[2018] NSWSC 757
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Supreme Court of NSW
Decision date
2018-03-13
Before
McCallum J
Catchwords
- [2010] NSWCCA 194 Jonson v R [2016] NSWCCA 286 Markarian v The Queen (2005) 228 CLR 357
- [2005] HCA 25 Muldrock v The Queen (2011) 244 CLR 120
- [2011] HCA 39 Potts v R (2012) 227 A Crim R 217
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Catchwords
Judgment (14 paragraphs)
Judgment
- HER HONOUR: Joshua Homann has been found guilty by a jury of the murder of Kirralee Paepaerei. He now stands to be sentenced for that offence.
- The maximum penalty for murder is imprisonment for life. [1] The Crown did not contend that the present offence calls for the imposition of that penalty. [2] The standard non-parole period specified for the offence is 20 years. [3] That is intended (as a guide) to denote the non-parole period for an offence in the middle of the range of objective seriousness. [4]
- Ms Paepaerei and the offender were living in a de facto relationship at the time of the offence and she was pregnant with their child. She died in their home after being stabbed 49 times with a kitchen knife. The offender does not dispute that he stabbed Ms Paepaerei. The central issue at trial was his mental state at that time. The offender raised the defence of mental illness and the partial defence of substantial impairment by abnormality of mind. [5] Two psychiatrists gave evidence on those issues. They agreed that the offender displayed symptoms of psychosis but disagreed as to the cause and extent of those symptoms. The offender had used methylamphetamine (commonly known as "ice") extensively over a period of some years. Dr Martin, the psychiatrist called by the Crown, considered that the offender's psychosis was induced by the use of that drug. Dr Allnutt, the psychiatrist called by the offender, considered that the offender was suffering from chronic psychotic illness.