R v. Sandy [1997] QCA 26 (6 February 1997)

The applicant was convicted on that date of one count of assault occasioning bodily harm which was committed on 6 September 1996. The applicant was convicted on his own guilty plea and ordered to pay a fine of $500 together with $3000 compensation to be paid within 12 months in default imprisonment for six months.

The applicant is 30 years of age, born on 12 June 1966. He has an extensive criminal history comprising property offences, drug offences and offences against law and order but has no prior convictions for violence. He has a history of chronic schizophrenia and at the time of the offence was under the care of the Fortitude Valley Mental Health Clinic.

In a letter tendered before the Magistrate, the applicant's physician gave the opinion that the applicant has a low propensity for violence and was psychiatrically unwell at the time of the offence.

The offence occurred at the office of the Public Trustee of Queensland, who administers the applicant's finances, paying his rent and outgoings directly and giving a small cash allowance to the applicant. The money obtained by the Public Trustee is not a fund to which the applicant has access but is a small pension, something of the order of $60 per week, which the applicant receives, presumably, from the Commonwealth Government.

The victim of the assault is an officer of the Public Trustee. On the relevant day the applicant attended the Public Trustee's Office and made three separate requests for funds to finance a trip to Sydney. On each occasion he was informed that there were insufficient funds in his account and on the final occasion he lost his temper and punched the victim - the applicant alleges the force of the blow broke his hand and certainly it hurt the victim who received five stitches to an area under his right eye which became swollen and bruised.

The victim required two weeks' leave to recover from the assault for which he was compensated by his employer or the Workers' Compensation Board of Queensland. After striking the victim the applicant ran from the building but he returned the next day to apologise when he was approached by police who were already in the building for another purpose and readily admitted his guilt.

The reasons for the Magistrate's decisions were not recorded and it was agreed that the sentences imposed were inappropriate. It was also agreed that there was no really satisfactory solution to this particular matter and that in the circumstances the most appropriate course, with which I agree, is to grant the application, allow the appeal, set aside the sentences imposed below.

Order that a conviction be recorded, that the applicant be released on his entering into a recognisance without sureties in the amount of $100 on the condition that he keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of six months and that he pay the victim compensation in the amount of $200 by such instalments as are considered appropriate by the Public Trustee of Queensland in the course of administering the applicant's finances.

FRYBERG J: I agree. This case demonstrates the price the community must pay for the deliberate closure of caring institutions for people with disabilities such as the present applicant.

THE PRESIDENT: The orders will be as I have indicated.