Judgment
1 McCLELLAN CJ at CL: I agree with Howie J.
2 SULLY J: I agree with Howie J.
3 HOWIE J: This is an appeal by the Crown pursuant to s 5D of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 in respect of sentences imposed by Sides DCJ (the Judge). The respondent was before the court having pleaded guilty to three offences arising from two separate incidents. The offences occurred in 1999 but the respondent absconded on bail and did not return to Australia until early 2006. The respondent pleaded guilty in May and June of that year and was sentenced on 24 July 2006. The Crown did not appeal until 29 September 2006 and an earlier letter advising that the Crown was considering an appeal was not delivered to the respondent in prison because of an administrative problem in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
4 The first two offences to which the respondent pleaded guilty in the District Court occurred in February 1999. They involved a kidnapping contrary to s 90A of the Crimes Act (now repealed) and an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The kidnapping offence carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 20 years unless the court was satisfied that the victim was released without substantial injury, in which case the maximum penalty was imprisonment for 14 years. The assault offence carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 5 years. The third offence, to which the respondent pleaded guilty in the Local Court and was committed for sentence to the District Court, was an offence contrary to s 35 of the Crimes Act being maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm. That offence carried a maximum penalty of imprisonment for 7 years.
5 In respect of the s 35 offence the Judge sentenced the respondent to imprisonment for 16 months with a non-parole period of 8 months to date from 3 February 2006. For the kidnapping offence the Judge sentenced the respondent to imprisonment for 2 years 6 months with a non-parole period of 12 months to date from 3 August 2006. For the assault offence the Judge imposed a fixed term of 6 months to be served from 3 August 2006. The overall sentence imposed was, therefore, one of imprisonment for 3 years with a non-parole period of 18 months to expire on 2 August 2007, the date upon which the respondent is to be released to parole.
The facts
6 The Judge determined the facts of the offences occurring in February 1999 after a hearing in which the complainant, the respondent and his wife gave evidence. Although the respondent pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and the assault offences, he disputed much of the complainant's allegations. The Judge decided the facts contrary to the evidence given by the respondent and his wife. The complainant was aged 14 years at the time of the offences and had run away from home. She met the co-offender, a juvenile named Khadour, and a man named Leon. Eventually she began working as a prostitute. Leon took her to premises in Greenacre where the respondent's wife lived, the respondent residing with his parents a short distance away. The respondent permitted the complainant to live in a spare room of the Greenacre house on a few occasions.
7 On 13 February 1999 the complainant was plying her trade when police arrested her. She provided her residential address as that of the premises in Greenacre and the police took her to that address which they searched. She was granted bail to live with her grandmother, but left those premises. By chance she met the respondent and was taken to the Greenacre house. She was threatened with a flick knife and told to go to the rear yard where she was chained to a brick pier under the veranda and secured by a padlock. The respondent produced a rifle, loaded it and gave it to Khadour telling him to shoot her if she moved. When the respondent left to answer a mobile phone, Khadour obtained a baseball bat and struck the complainant to a shin and one of her elbows.
8 After a short time the respondent returned, undid the chain and dragged the victim a short distance onto some grass where he kicked and stomped on her head. She was then taken into a toilet in the house and punched to the face a few times causing her to bleed. She was then placed in a bedroom and directed to write down what she had told the police. Eventually the complaint made her escape from the house and went to a neighbour's premises from where the police were summoned. As a result of the assaults the complainant suffered bruising to her right cheek, a black eye, tenderness over the nasal bridge, slight tenderness to the scalp, tenderness to her neck and bruising over her right tibia.
9 The respondent gave evidence at the sentencing hearing that he never padlocked the chain, never had a rifle and never assaulted the complainant after releasing her from the chain. The Judge disbelieved the evidence. He concluded that the complainant was detained for about 16 hours and that during this period she was in great fear of her safety. The Judge found that she did not suffer substantial injuries.
10 The infliction of grievous bodily harm offence occurred on 10 September 1999 while the respondent was on bail for the February offences. In brief an incident arose between the respondent, who was the driver of a motor vehicle, and the victim, who was a passenger in another vehicle. The respondent's vehicle stopped diagonally across two lanes impeding the other vehicle. The driver of that vehicle, the victim's wife, sounded her horn but the offender failed to move his vehicle. The victim, a man of sixty-six, got out and approached the front passenger's door of the respondent's vehicle. He asked the respondent's wife to move the vehicle. When there was no response, he opened the door. The respondent had, however, alighted from the vehicle and advanced behind the victim. He struck him twice to the head with a hammer causing the victim to fall to the ground. The respondent continued to strike the victim. The respondent's wife drove the vehicle around the corner where he entered it and they drove away. The victim suffered two lacerations to the scalp and a laceration to the forehead all of which required suturing.
11 Again the respondent disputed the facts of this offence and he and his wife gave evidence before the Judge. The victim could not be found but the Judge relied upon the statements of him and his wife. The respondent gave an account to the effect that he acted in self-defence after the victim attacked him by grabbing his throat. He gave evidence that, despite his plea of guilty, he felt he was justified in what he did. The Judge did not believe the account given by the respondent and his wife.
The respondent's subjective case
12 The respondent was aged 21 at the time of the offences. The Judge in his sentencing remarks mistakenly stated that he was 18 at the date of the kidnapping offence. He was granted bail in respect of the s 35 offence and left the country with his wife in October 1999. He claimed that police were unfairly harassing him. He went to Lebanon and then in December 2000 travelled to New Zealand where he remained until returning to Australia in February 2006. He worked there as a law enforcement officer for a local council, then in the security industry and finally as a corrections officer. He intended to return to New Zealand and had taken 12 months leave from his work there. He had been married for about nine years and had two children aged three and six.
13 The respondent had a criminal record commencing in 1996 when he was fined for cultivation of a prohibited plant. He was placed on a community service order for receiving offences in October 1996 but breached the order and was sentenced to a term of periodic detention. At the time of the kidnap offence he was on bail for offences of resisting a police officer and using offensive language. He failed to appear at the hearing of those matters and they were dealt with ultimately in August 2006 after he had been sentenced for the present offences.
14 A pre-sentence report indicated that the respondent enjoyed a close and supportive relationship with his family. He had abused alcohol, cannabis and rohypnol during the period 1996 to 1999. He did not receive any professional help but went overseas for a "fresh start". He maintained that he had not used any illegal drugs since 1999. He described his offending as "stupid" and said that at the time he was using drugs and mixing with a negative peer group. It was considered that the respondent had no issues that needed to be addressed by the Probation and Parole Service.
The Crown's submissions
15 The Crown complains that the sentence for the kidnapping offence is manifestly inadequate particularly as the respondent was on bail when he committed that offence. It was argued in written submissions that the sentences would have been within range had the respondent pleaded guilty in the Local Court but the Crown withdrew that submission during oral argument. The Crown submitted that the Judge erred by determining that the sentence for the assault offence be served concurrently with the sentence for the kidnapping.
16 The Crown argued that the Judge erred in making the sentence for the inflict grievous bodily harm offence partially concurrent with the kidnapping offence in light of the fact that it was a completely separate offence of violence committed while the respondent was on bail for the earlier offences.
17 The Crown submitted that the Judge inappropriately dealt with the fact that the respondent had returned to Australia and handed himself into police. The Judge said: