Subjective factors relating to applicant
10 The applicant was born on 7 June 1962 in Inverell. He was forty at the time of the offence.
11 The applicant had seven brothers and sisters. He was taken away from his mother when he was six weeks old, but returned to her care when he was three years old when she had married a non-aboriginal. The applicant described his stepfather as an alcoholic, who was abusive to his mother and physically abusive to the applicant and the other children. The applicant's mother died eleven years ago. His natural father was still alive and living at Guyra. The applicant had occasional contact with him.
12 The applicant gave evidence that he suffered racial discrimination at school. He was one of only two aboriginal children and they were sent out to the playground to clean up and do the gardening. His education was neglected and when he left in year 7 at the age of thirteen, he could not read or write. He was sent to a sheltered workshop, a place for handicapped people, even though he was not handicapped himself. He was told this was for "work experience".
13 The applicant left the sheltered workshop after about six months, worked in a foundry in Melbourne and then pursued seasonal rural work and other manual labour.
14 The applicant has three children. Two arose from one relationship and those children are now aged almost fifteen and twenty. The youngest, a girl, lives with her mother whilst the son has mostly lived with the applicant. The third child is a girl from another relationship, who is now about twelve. The applicant was in regular contact with her mother, who lives in Glen Innes.
15 The applicant acknowledged in his evidence that he was an alcoholic and had been since the age of thirteen. He started drinking from his stepfather's flagons when he was about five or six years old. He also took various forms of drugs such as "speed, smack, pills, pipe". Cannabis use started at the age of ten, heroin at about seventeen, then cocaine and in more recent times amphetamines. The applicant had given up drinking in the beginning of the 1990's, but had resumed in 1997 when under pressure from personal problems.
16 The applicant said that he did things when he was intoxicated that he had no control over and of which he would have no subsequent memory. The present offence was an example. He had been drinking and smoking all day. He said that this scared him. He did not do such things when he was sober. In the course of his evidence he said:
"I'm out drinking and doing all these things you know like and at the end of the day through the grog, the drugs and the rest of the things, I've turned into my father you know, like my worst nightmare. Only thing is I don't abuse my child … I've turned into the person that I hated as a child you know". (Transcript, 1.11.02, p15.10)
17 The applicant said that he was interested in rehabilitation. He could not excuse his behaviour on account of alcohol or drugs. He wanted to find out why he behaved as he did when intoxicated. He had not found rehabilitation a realistic prospect in gaol because fellow inmates were obsessed with alcohol and drugs and what they were going to do in that regard when they were released. He had made an enquiry about a course at Bathurst Gaol but had missed the enrolment.
18 The applicant said that in the period leading up to the offence he had been "living rough" in an old sawmill in Glen Innes with a friend. It was the middle of winter and they were very cold and, both being alcoholics, they were drinking excessively. He was receiving social security payments, most of which went on alcohol and drugs and was obtaining food orders from St Vincent de Paul.
19 The applicant had no memory of the offence itself, but he accepted that he had assaulted Mr Edwards in the manner set out in the police brief. He acknowledged the wrongfulness of his actions and expressed his remorse for the unjustified harm he caused the victim. He said, in effect, that he was shocked at the realisation of what he had done.
20 The applicant said that his health was not good. He had hepatitis B, cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes. He denied having any mental problems. A report obtained on his behalf from Dr Hugh Jolly, a psychiatrist, dated 4 March 2003 concluded:
"Mr Fields has serious personality problems, and would attract a psychiatric finding of "personality disorder". Presently, I can find no evidence of psychiatric illness although mild organic deficits cannot be ruled out. When intoxicated he is irritable and unpredictable as explained. It is important that efforts be made to rehabilitate towards continuing abstinence, notwithstanding a poor prognosis."