Regina v John Gordon Porteous

The Applicant's Background 17 The Applicant was born on 17 October 1958 and was aged 45 years at the time of this offence. Upon leaving school, he had been employed by Telstra in a technical position for some 26 years. He was retrenched in 2000. He did not cope well with retrenchment. The Applicant gave evidence in the sentencing proceedings in the District Court as did his sister, Ms Sandra Jones. The Applicant commenced using amphetamines and cannabis at the age of 43, shortly after his retrenchment. Charteris DCJ formed the view that the Applicant "continues to lack the skills to get himself out of the rut that he found himself in by his loss of employment". 18 During his evidence in the District Court, the Applicant expressed regret and shame for the offence. Charteris DCJ accepted that the Applicant was being honest with the Court when giving that evidence. 19 A report dated 5 May 2004 from a psychologist, Mr Peter Ashkar, was tendered in the Applicant's case in the District Court. Mr Ashkar referred to the Applicant's use of amphetamines and cannabis following his retrenchment. Symptoms of depression were noticed following the Applicant's retrenchment and he was prescribed medication to help with sleep problems. Mr Ashkar considered that the offending behaviour was precipitated by psychosocial stress flowing from his retrenchment, the Applicant's long-term unemployment and his financial difficulty. That stress led to a disturbance of mood, anxiety and depression, which led to the Applicant engaging in substance abuse which in turn gave rise to anger. It was the view of Mr Ashkar that substance abuse was a maladaptive attempt by the Applicant at emotional regulation. It was Mr Ashkar's view that the Applicant did not have an entrenched pattern of offending behaviour. He recommended that an anger-management programme be provided to the Applicant together with a substance abuse prevention programme. The sentencing judge generally accepted the opinion of Mr Ashkar and made recommendations to the prison authorities in accordance with Mr Ashkar's views. 20 The Applicant has a prior criminal history. In 1978, he was convicted of driving with the prescribed concentration of alcohol. In 1994, he was convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of a high-range prescribed concentration of alcohol offence. In the same year, he was fined for possession of a firearm whilst unlicensed. In 1998, he was fined for common assault and malicious damage to property. The Applicant gave evidence before the sentencing judge that this offence related to him being drunk at a hotel and his damaging a door of the hotel. In the same year, he came to attention for assault and was placed on a bond for two years. The Applicant gave evidence that this offence, together with two offences in 1999 involving contravention of apprehended domestic violence orders, related to an unhappy domestic situation with his then girlfriend. On 23 September 2002, the Applicant was placed on a two-year good behaviour bond and was fined for larceny, possession of ammunition without holding a licence and possession of a prohibited drug. The sentencing judge concluded (remarks on sentence, page 7): "It is a trivial record in the scheme of things and not consistent with someone embarking upon this offence".