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[2021] VSC 430
General information, not legal advice.
Supreme Court of Victoria
2021-07-20
Coghlan JA
Original judgment source is linked above.
CRIMINAL LAW - Manslaughter - Sentence - Plea of guilty.
1 Cameron Oakley, on 16 April 2021 you pleaded guilty before me to the manslaughter of Lachlan Hutchins. In setting out the facts I have called heavily upon the Crown opening, which became Exhibit 1 on the plea.
2 Shortly after 12.19am on 6 August 2019, you stabbed Lachlan Hutchins to the abdomen, flank and neck area five times. After a brief scuffle outside the amenity rooms in Henty Street, Portland.
3 At about 11.52pm on the preceding day, 5 August, Lachlan Hutchins had arrived in the Woolworths carpark in Henty Street, as the back seat passenger in Colin Parker's Ford sedan. His girlfriend, Chelsea Campbell, was seated in the front passenger seat. Colin parked the car and together the three of them sat in the car waiting for Chelsea Campbell's father to arrive at the nearby bus stop on a V/Line bus from Melbourne.
4 At about 12.16 am, you parked your distinctive purple Ford sedan in the carpark on Henty Street next to the amenity rooms opposite the Woolworths carpark. You walked into the amenity room through a side door and entered the male toilets. Some ten second later, Lachlan Hutchins walked over Henty Street, passing your parked Ford and then waited outside the side door of the amenity rooms.
5 At about 12.19 am, you exited the amenity room with a knife concealed in your right hand. You walked directly towards Lachlan Hutchins, who was coming towards you, and the two of you began to fight. Lachlan Hutchins swung at you, and you then repeatedly swung at Lachlan Hutchins with a knife, resulting in the five stab wounds to the upper body and neck.
6 Lachlan Hutchins was able to extricate himself and run across Henty Street to his girlfriend and Colin Parker. They rushed him to the Portland Hospital where he was provided treatment but was pronounced dead at 1.38 am.
7 The relationship between you and Lachlan Hutchins is of some importance. Chelsea Campbell had known Lachlan Hutchins from when she was about 12 years of age. They began their romantic relationship in mid to late 2018. And together moved in with her father, Blair Campbell, around the same time. They were engaged to be married and had been for some three weeks prior to this incident. Lachlan Hutchins and you had known each other for years and did not get along. Although Chelsea Campbell had a brief relationship with you a year or two before this event, it is not apparent that the difficulties between the two of you were a result of that relationship. For one reason or another you simply did not get on.
8 There had been two recent incidents between you which have received some emphasis in these proceedings. Sometime in mid-2019, you drove your purple Ford to the Portland Woolworths shopping centre with Cameron Hawkins, a friend of yours, as the front seat passenger. His eight-year-old daughter was in the back seat. After you parked the car, Cameron Hawkins got out to buy cigarettes from the supermarket. However, when he saw Lachlan Hutchins with Trevor Hansen he got back into the car. He had had previous dealings with Hansen.
9 To avoid confrontation, he told you to drive to the IGA supermarket. You reversed from the car park and headed towards Lachlan Hutchins and Trevor Hansen. Lachlan Hutchins jumped towards your car and threw bottle of drink at it, although the exact details of that confrontation are not clear. You stopped the car and got out to approach him. The two of you fought for a short time, and Lachlan Hutchins landed at least one punch on you. You then retrieved a wrench or tool from your car, and Lachlan Hutchins ran into the Woolworths to escape. You followed him for a short time before returning to your car and leaving. Neither you nor Lachlan Hutchins reported this incident to the police.
10 On the night of 29 July 2019, you drove past Lachlan Hutchins and Chelsea Campbell as they were walking near their home. As you drove past you held up your hand in a gun shape and flicked your wrist at Lachlan Hutchins as if you were shooting at him. When he and Chelsea Campbell arrived home shortly after 8.00pm, Lachlan Hutchins FaceTimed or messaged you.
11 The two of you, with the help of Chelsea Campbell, then exchanged a number of text and voice messaged via Facebook Messenger and public posts. The messages, all abusive, threatening and goading, culminated in agreement of sorts to meet up to fight at the end of Pile Court, where Lachlan Hutchins lived. At 1.26am on 30 July 2019, you telephoned Lachlan Hutchins but he didn't answer. You did attend Pile Court in the early hours of 30 July 2019 with your friends, Cameron Hawkins, Zac Morrison, Jack Walker, and Paul Hodgkinson.
12 Initially your friends hid behind a nearby shed. Lachlan Hutchins went to the end of Pile Court with Chelsea Campbell, and Reece Mannitpoto. Lachlan Hutchins carried a vacuum cleaner pole with him. The two of you met but kept your distance. You continued goading each other to fight.
13 Chelsea Campbell walked up to you and tried to defuse the situation and work out what the problem was between you. When she asked you to put down the large kitchen knife which you had in your right hand, you did so. Zac Morrison and Jack Walker and perhaps others have said that Lachlan Hutchins also had a knife on this night. Eventually the situation defused and both parties went their separate ways. At 2.18pm that day, you sent a message to phone service number 0476 212 761 stating; 'I told him I'm gonna stab him. LOL, not one word. Hand on blade, 'nd all.' This message is alleged to have been sent to your friend Cameron Hawkins.
14 I come now to the events earlier on Monday 5 August 2019. They are largely unremarkable. Lachlan Hutchins spent the day with Chelsea Campbell. At about 6.00pm they both visited their friend Colin Parker and played pool. Chelsea Campbell asked Colin Parker if he would be willing to drive her and Lachlan Hutchins to the V/Line bus stop to pick up her father who was expected from Melbourne at midnight. He agreed.
15 The couple then walked home, showered and got dressed before walking back to Colin Parker's house at around 11.45 pm. The three of them travelled in Colin Parker's green Ford Falcon to the Woolworths carpark, where the car was parked on the east side of the carpark facing Henty Street, directly opposite the amenity rooms. From about 9.30pm, you had been with Lawanna Firebrace, with whom you had been communicating via Facebook in the previous weeks. You drove her to the Portland Gannet Colony, where you parked and stayed until about 11.55 pm. You then drove Lawanna Firebrace back to her house before heading towards Henty Street.
16 At 12.06am, now on Tuesday 6 August 2019, the V-Line Bus had yet to arrive, and Colin Parker, Chelsea Campbell and Lachlan Hutchins remained waiting. That is when you travelled east on Henty Street and turned into the ALDI car park next to the Amenity Rooms and parked your purple Ford facing the Amenity Rooms.
17 You left your car carrying a knife in your left hand and entered the 'foyer' area of the Amenity Rooms. As you were entering, you put the knife in your pants pocket. This and the following events were recorded on CCTV. You entered the male toilets at 12.17am.
18 Within a few seconds of you having entered, Lachlan Hutchins announced "Stuff this. I'm going to the toilet" before getting out of the car and walking across Henty Street towards the rest rooms.
19 CCTV footage from the west-side of the Amenity Rooms captured the following:
20 Lachlan Hutchins ran across Henty Street yelling that he'd been stabbed. He got into the back seat of Colin Parker's car and Chelsea Campbell got into the back seat with him. She was trying to stem the blood loss as Colin Parker drove to the Portland hospital. Medical staff and paramedics provided treatment to Lachlan Hutchins. Police were called. Despite treatment and resuscitation attempts, Lachlan Hutchins was pronounced dead at 1.38am.
21 The post-mortem examination was conducted on 6 August 2019 by forensic pathologist Dr Greg Young. The following injuries were observed:
(a) stab injury to the right anterior chest, approximately 10 centimetres in depth, penetrating through the right lung into the heart in an upwards motion.
(b) Stab injury to the left anterior chest approximately 10 centimetres in depth; upward motion.
(c) Stab injury to the left lateral chest, approximately four centimetres in depth; horizontal plane.
(d) Stab injury to the left flank, apparently nine centimetres in depth; upwards motion.
(e) Stab injury to the left side of the neck, approximately four centimetres in depth; upwards motion.
(f) Abrasions to the face, chest, hands, left knee, and right chin. Bruises to the left side of the scalp, face and right hand.
22 The cause of death was determined to be sharp force injuries to the chest, abdomen and neck. You then drove directly to your home at 5 Hill Court, Portland. You parked outside the residential shed before entering the residence. About eight minutes later the car was moved and parked towards the rear of the property behind a truck and out of sight of the roadway.
23 You then used a grinder within an industrial shed on the property to destroy the knife you used to stab Lachlan Hutchins. The knife was cut into small pieces with the grinder, before you threw the pieces into the scrapyard next door. You later showed the police the grinder and the place where you had disposed of the knife, the pieces of which were recovered. You took off the clothing that you were wearing and had a shower. The clothing was later discovered by police stuffed in the back seat passenger footwell of a car parked at Unit 2, 10 Mitchell Court, Portland.
24 You then sent relevant SMS messages from your phone to associates:
25 You continued to use your phone up until 8.34 am that morning. You then handed your phone to your friend Cameron Hawkins some time that morning after 8.34am when Cameron Hawkins attended at your partner's house in Mitchell Court. You turned the phone off and told him that you didn't want anyone messaging you.
26 You made yourself known to police, and were interviewed later on 6 August 2019. Among other things, you told the police:
28 It was the prosecution case that there was no planned confrontation between the parties, but upon you becoming aware of Lachlan Hutchins waiting for you outside the amenity rooms, you secreted a knife you were carrying in your right hand. Upon walking outside and being struck by Lachlan Hutchins, you used excessive self-defence in stabbing him multiple times.
29 On the plea I received victim impact statements from:
(i) Tania Hutchins, Lachlan Hutchins' mother;
(ii) Izarlia Hutchins, his six-year-old daughter;
(iii) Bradley Hutchins, his father;
(iv) Shardey Harrison, who is Izarlia's mother; and
(v) Tim Hutchins, Lachlan Hutchins' brother.
30 At the time of his death Lachlan Hutchins was 24, having been born on 1 July 1995. He was a young man. As the victim impact statements show, the unnecessary death of young people is particularly painful, and that has been so for members of Lachlan's family. Although Shardey Harrison was no longer in a relationship with Lachlan Hutchins, they were still close, particularly through their daughter. For Lachlan's parents, the death of a child is contrary to the natural order, and especially painful. Lachlan's brother Tim has had problems in dealing and coping with his brother's death. I have taken the victim impact material into account in fixing the appropriate sentence, but no sentence I impose will be of much consolation to Lachlan Hutchins' friends and family.
31 This is a serious example of the crime of manslaughter. It involves the stabbing of an unarmed man. There were five stab wounds. Two to a depth of 10 centimetres. One to a depth of eight centimetres, and two to a depth of four centimetres.
32 I have watched the compilation CCTV a number of times and I am satisfied that it was apparent at an early state of the altercation that Lachlan Hutchins was unarmed. You had chosen to be armed. If you had the knife from work, you did not need to take it into the toilet with you. It was in your hand when you got out of the car, but I accept at that stage you had no reason to think that you would meet Lachlan Hutchins or anyone else. You have claimed that you feared for your life. That fear is said to be based on your previous dealings with Lachlan Hutchins that I have set out above.
33 It is true that Lachlan Hutchins got the better of you in the fight at Woolworths, but even on that occasion you armed yourself and chased him away. In the Pile Court incident, it is not possible to determine even on the balance of probabilities what happened, but no actual physical confrontation developed. Whether Lachlan Hutchins threatened to kill you or not on that occasion is not clear. Your response later that day was to have sent an SMS message to Cameron Hawkins saying, 'I told him I'm going to stab him. LOL, not one word, hand on blade, 'nd all.' That does not suggest that you were afraid, and it suggests that you were armed with your knife, but I do not find that you were.
34 I am satisfied that you were leery of Lachlan Hutchins and believed he would fight you. I do not accept that you feared for your life. That view of the matter is somewhat reinforced by the contents of the messages you sent after the stabbing. In relation to the incident at Pile Court, I have read statements of two of the witnesses, who appear to me to be saying that Lachlan Hutchins had a knife in his clothing, not that he used the knife directly to threaten you on that occasion.
35 Although I said on the plea that it is not clear to me that Lachlan Hutchins was shouting out to you when you were in the toilet, it is clear that he saw your car, he was waiting for you, and by his actions it was likely he was going to fight you. You did know that he was outside, and that is why you took the knife out of your pocket. It is likely that after what happened at Woolworths you were going to even up the odds. As you left the amenity rooms, you moved towards Lachlan Hutchins. The fight occurred close to where he had been standing.
36 Lachlan Hutchins threw the first few punches which were largely ineffective in the circumstances, but you quickly stuck him back predominantly with your right hand which held the knife. After the first four punches, Lachlan Hutchins did not throw any further punches. Although it was submitted on your behalf that you are entitled to act in self-defence, and in general terms that is so, but you are not entitled to do so whilst armed with a knife. For the purposes of the law, excessive self-defence is no self-defence, but it is relevant to your moral culpability.
37 The events occurred so quickly that it is reasonable for the prosecution to accept that you did not intend to cause death or really serious injury, but your actions constituted the crime of unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter. You have an extensive criminal record, commencing in the Children's Court when you were 16. You have convictions or findings of guilt for unlawful assault, for reckless conduct endangering serious injury, making a threat to kill, assault with a weapon, recklessly cause injury, contravene family violence intervention orders, and threat to inflict serious injury. It demonstrates in the past you have resorted to violence. Your last prior conviction was in October 2017, when you were placed on a community corrections order which you appear to have successfully completed. Your more recent convictions relate almost entirely to family violence. In 2018 you continued to have family violence issues involving your son Axel, but those matters did not lead to any charges.
38 On the plea, I received reports dated 6 October 2020 and 30 April 2021 from Ian McKinnon, consultant psychiatrist, and a letter from Dr Delene Brookstein, acting senior clinical and forensic psychologist from Forensicare. Much of the personal information I'm about to set out is taken from the first two reports.
39 You were born on 7 August 1993. You are now 27 and were 25 when your crime occurred. You grew up in Portland. You are the only child of your biological parents who separated when you were one. You have an older half-brother and an older half-sister. When you were about seven, your mother commenced a relationship with your stepfather. Your relationship with both him and your mother had been difficult but it has improved in recent years. You regard your upbringing as difficult, and that appears to be so, including suffering at the hands of an abusive partner with whom your mother had been when you were about five. I make it clear, not your stepfather. The man's 16-year-old son physically and sexually abused you. You have only recently made those matters known.
40 Your mother and stepfather are still together, and you have their support. Your stepfather runs a logging business, and you were living there at the time of your arrest. You have not had a great deal to do with your father over the years, but your relationship with him has improved in more recent times.
41 Your schooling was difficult, and probably affected by the sexual abuse that you have now revealed. You did not do well at secondary school and left when you were 16. You were not particularly into sport. You left home at 16 and travelled around Victoria working on farms. You spent a year in Warrnambool working for a few months in a tannery, and when you were 18 you spent some time in Shepparton working in the factory that provided fruit boxes to the local growers.
42 You later returned to Portland, probably in 2015. You got a job with Southwest Chip Haulage, and later worked with your stepfather, which you kept up until the time of your arrest. You have had a number of partners and are the father of three children. You have no contact with your elder daughter Hayley who is 10. You were having some contact with your younger daughter Carly, who is nine. In the years leading up to the arrest you have been in a relationship with Shalika and have a four-year-old son, Axel.
43 In that relationship there are ongoing family violence disputes, and you are not able to have access to your son at the time of your arrest. Since in custody, contact with your children has been difficult. You have a new partner, Lisa, who you met shortly prior to your arrest. That relationship continues and she has been great support to you. You have a close relationship with your nephew and you maternal grandmother, but she has now moved into a home which makes contact more difficult.
44 Your physical health has generally been reasonable, although you did suffer from a punctured lung. You had some formal counselling with Shaleeka a few years ago for relationship counselling.
45 Since in custody, you have attended 29 voluntary sessions with Forensicare, and have been discharged after being treated for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. The treatment was designed to enable you to develop coping mechanisms. You are not on antidepressant medication. You have been a persistent used of cannabis, but not other drugs. On remand you have been in the mental health unit. You attempted suicide in the cells at Portland which lead to you being placed in that unit.
46 You are a unit billet and carers billet. You are proud of the work which you have done; particularly looking after other prisoners. You are about to take on a mentoring role. You have completed a number of courses, particularly courses which enable you to be involved in COVID-related deep cleaning. You believe that you when you first went into custody, a $10,000 price had been put on your head, so you have kept yourself to yourself.
47 Mr McKinnon confirmed the diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, based to a large degree on a combination of a number of the difficulties and disadvantages you had when growing up. He had given an opinion that your condition made a significant contribution to your offending. Mr Gullaci, who appeared on your behalf, disavowed reliance on that part of the opinion which would potentially give rise to invoking the principles set out in Verdins.[1] Those matters are however, relevant and I have taken them into account.
48 I have also taken into account all the matters put on your behalf on the plea. A number of character references were tendered on your behalf, from:
49 They all speak well of you and your family. You have significant support in your community. Ms Jackson set out the engagement of you and your mother with her at the Brophy family and Youth Services when you were 14 of 15. I received a prisoner education summary report which set out details of the courses in which you have engaged. It was tendered principally to show your completion of the various deep-cleaning courses to which I have referred.
50 I accept that you have done extremely well whilst you have been on remand. You have taken steps towards your rehabilitation, and I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as quite good, notwithstanding your prior criminal history. Even after serving this sentence, you will have many years ahead of you in which to make something of your life. I am satisfied that you are remorseful, shown in part by your plea. I accept that what you said to Dr McKinnon and what you said in your letter read to the court is genuine.
51 I have considered what you said after the stabbing. I regard there being at least some bravado in those things. It is often said it is easy to say that you say that you're sorry but the question is whether you mean it. I am more ready to accept your remorse is genuine because of the work which you have engaged in while on remand. I accept that although the courts regard your remorse as important, it is not of much consolation to the family and friends of Lachlan Hutchins. For a large amount of time on remand you have been subject to the severe restrictions that come about because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I have taken those matters into account.
52 I was directed by both the prosecution and the defence to a number of cases in which people have been sentenced for the crime of manslaughter. I have considered those cases, but the range of sentence for manslaughter and the circumstances in which the crime might be committed are very wide indeed.
53 I am obliged to have regard to just punishment, denunciation, retribution, protection of the community and general and specific deterrence.
54 The maximum sentence for manslaughter is 20 years' imprisonment.
55 Cameron Oakley, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for nine years and six months. And I order that you serve six years and six months before being eligible for parole.
56 I declare that you have served 654 days by way of pre-sentence detention.
57 I indicate that had it not been for your plea of guilty, I would have sentenced you to be in prison for 12 years, with a non-parole period of nine years.
58 I direct that the above declaration and indication be entered in the records of the court.
[1] R v Verdins (2007) VR 269
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