R v Slacke

Judgment 1HIS HONOUR: Natasha Slack ("the offender") was today arraigned upon an indictment alleging first, an offence of being an accessory after the fact to causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and alternatively, hindering the apprehension of a person who had committed the offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. 2The offender pleaded not guilty to the first count but guilty to the second count. The Crown accepted that plea in full satisfaction of the indictment. 3The offence is contrary to s 315 of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) and there is prescribed for it a maximum penalty of imprisonment for seven years. It is an offence that may be dealt with summarily pursuant to the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) and, if dealt with in the Local Court, the maximum that can be imposed is imprisonment for two years.

Facts 4There is a statement of agreed facts and I draw the following from that document. 5The matter concerns events on 10 January 2012 that ultimately led to the tragic death of Mr Alan Henry. Sometime in the first half of 2011, the offender and the deceased met and struck up some sort of relationship. The offender lived in Port Stephens but visited the deceased on occasions and stayed at his home in Gloucester. In about the middle of that year, the offender's then boyfriend, Jason Grogan, began to accompany her on these visits. After an event in early July 2011, there was an argument involving Mr Henry and Mr Grogan that culminated in Mr Henry making it clear that Mr Grogan was not welcome at his home. 6On 10 January 2012, the offender and Jason Grogan drove to Gloucester. At about 4.30 pm they were at the Caltex Service Station in Gloucester where they were seen by a number of witnesses to be engaging in a very loud argument. Mr Grogan's behaviour was described as violent and aggressive and it was to the extent that bystanders were prompted to intervene to restrain him for the protection of the offender. Ultimately, a police officer was flagged down by a motorist and attended the scene. Mr Grogan disappeared while the officer spoke with the offender. 7The offender engaged in a telephone conversation with Mr Henry. She passed the phone to the police officer. This was at about 5.10pm. Mr Henry told the officer that the offender was welcome to stay at his home but he was emphatic that Mr Grogan was not welcome. 8Mr Grogan, in fact, went to the home of the deceased while the offender was speaking with the police officer. He entered the home and used unlawful violence towards the deceased that resulted in him sustaining a significant head injury. Grogan then stole the deceased's laptop computer and fled from the home. 9The offender attended Mr Henry's home a short time later. She found him lying on the kitchen floor and called triple-0. The call was logged at 5.31 pm. Grogan must have left the premises only minutes before. When the ambulance officers arrived they found Mr Henry prone on the kitchen floor. He was unconscious and had signs consistent with a significant head injury. There was a pool of blood on the floor around his head; he had trauma to his left ear; and a contusion and swelling to his right forehead. 10Mr Henry was taken to hospital where he was found to be still deeply unconscious. There was a significant laceration behind his left ear and grazes to his right forearm and shoulder. He had suffered a severe brain injury requiring specialist treatment. He was evacuated by air ambulance to Sydney and admitted to Westmead Hospital. 11Soon after the ambulance had left, a neighbour was drawn to an argument taking place on the back verandah of the deceased's home. It involved the offender and Grogan and included Grogan saying, "It's gone too far you can't back out now". The pair went inside the premises and were there until two police officers arrived at the front door at about 7.18 pm. The officers had been alerted to the incident that had earlier occurred at the home and were making enquiries. As they approached the house they heard a male and female within the premises and saw an outline of a female figure and a male figure. These persons were the offender and Mr Grogan. Mr Grogan moved quickly into the kitchen and out of view; but the officers would still hear whispering inside the house. 12They knocked on the door and the offender answered. When the officers asked to come in the offender told them that she was not going to let them. She became agitated and said, "You can't come in, get a warrant, he only had a fall". When they persisted the offender responded, "Yeah well I've had a bad day too. I've come all the way up here, had a fight with Jase, and then see someone with their head bashed in". 13The offender's choice of words was questioned and she replied, "I didn't mean to say that, I meant someone who's fallen and bashed their head". She continued to refuse to allow the police to enter the premises; again telling them to get a warrant. She closed the door. 14One of the officers went to the rear of the house. He noticed that the back door and screen door were both wide open. The offender rushed to the door and stopped the officer from entering saying, "You can't come in here, you don't have a warrant". When the officer told her that he needed to find out what had happened, she said, "He was fucking bashed, oh fuck I didn't mean to say that, he fell over and just hit his head". The officer asked the offender, "Where the male person who had been in the house a short time before was?" She replied, "There is no one fucking here, I was here by myself. You fucking cops are all the fucking same". Ultimately, the offender agreed to allow the two officers to enter. 15It is the actions of the offender in delaying the police entry and thereby permitting Mr Grogan time to flee the premises that is the gravamen of the charge to which she has pleaded guilty. 16The officers left and made various enquiries and returned to the house later in the evening. On this occasion they saw the offender walking out from the front of the house and down the street with Mr Grogan trailing behind her. The officers called out to Mr Grogan to stop because they needed to speak with him but he fled and could not be found. 17Later in the evening the police returned to the deceased's home and found the offender once again inside. She was told that the house had been declared a crime scene and she was ejected. Later that evening, she was at a hotel in Gloucester where she was observed to have a bruised eye. Sometime after that, ambulance officers were called as the offender was unconscious on the verandah of the hotel. She was found to be in a drunken stupor and she had bruising to her left eye which had not been present when the police had earlier spoken to her. She was taken to hospital. 18On 17 January 2012, police found the offender and Mr Grogan in Taree. They were both arrested for the assault upon the deceased. The offender agreed to be interviewed. In part she said that when she went to the deceased's home on the afternoon of 10 January she had consumed about two litres of wine. When she entered, she found deceased lying on the floor with "a little bit of blood on him". She told the police that she thought he must have slipped while taking the garbage out. 19Mr Henry spent a considerable period of time at Westmead Hospital where he was treated for a serious brain injury. His condition remained very poor and he was discharged to a nursing home in Erina on 27 March, but sadly passed away on 19 April 2012.