JUDGMENT ON SENTENCE
1 KIRBY J: "SS" (the offender) lived with her partner, Matthew Tansley (the deceased), in a rented house in Lismore. In the same house there were four others, one being her daughter. On the evening of 6 February 2009, SS set fire to her room in an attempt to end her own life. Matthew Tansley raised the alarm and heroically entered the bedroom to rescue SS and to put out the fire. He received shocking burns to more than ninety percent of his body. He died two days later. SS escaped, as did the others. However, she was herself badly burned.
2 SS was charged with murder. On 2 July 2010, she was arraigned in Sydney. She pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty of manslaughter. The Crown accepted that plea in full satisfaction of the indictment.
3 It remains for me to pass sentence. Before I do so, I must find the facts relevant to the sentencing discretion. Where the facts are adverse, they must be found beyond reasonable doubt. Where they favour the offender, it is enough that they should be established on the balance of probabilities.
Background.
4 The crime of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act does not depend upon the state of mind of the offender. The Crown need only prove that, objectively, the unlawful act of the offender was dangerous. However, in determining the seriousness of the offence and the moral culpability of the offender, her state of mind is relevant.
5 SS was born in December 1968. At the time of the offence, she was 40 years old. She had a troubled history. Both parents had abused alcohol. Her mother had also abused drugs. Her parents separated when she was four years old. She remained with her mother, who mistreated her physically and emotionally. SS began drinking at the age of 13 years and shortly after began taking drugs. She completed Year 10 at school, but left home at the age of 16 years.
6 When SS was 17 years old, she was working in the Bowral area and met her husband, Matthew. She became pregnant with her first child at the age of 17. By the time she was 20 she had her second child and ceased work. She has not worked since, relying upon Government benefits. She has four children.
7 Within a short time of marrying, SS and her husband began using heroin on a recreational basis, as well as other drugs. She claims that she was never dependent upon heroin. Nonetheless, in 1992 she was admitted to hospital following a heroin overdose. Whilst in hospital, she was questioned about the arrangements in respect of her children. She became fearful that her children may be taken from her unless she undertook treatment in respect of heroin. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband entered the methadone programme.
8 SS acknowledged that she became addicted to methadone. Indeed, she found it far more disabling than heroin. She made many attempts to reduce the dose, but found that such reductions were short lived. She continued taking methadone until 2008.
9 On 15 June 2001, SS was admitted to the Lismore Base Hospital, Psychiatric Unit, where she remained until the next day. According to the hospital records, she was diagnosed with an adjustment disorder with poly substance abuse, as well as "cluster B traits". Cluster B traits are traits associated with a personality disorder (Exhibit 1). SS was placed on a disability pension for anxiety and depression (Exhibit 1, Case p 10).
10 At about this time SS's treating doctor prescribed Xanax, a drug which belongs to a class of anxiety relieving sedatives known as benzodiazepines (Exhibit 1, Dr Neilssen, p 2). Within a short time, SS began to abuse these prescription drugs. At the same time she drank alcohol to excess.
11 Unsurprisingly, her life was chaotic. Over the years of her marriage, she had been repeatedly assaulted by her husband. She had not reported these assaults to the police. She regarded them as a private matter which had nothing to do with the police. She also recognised that the arguments which led to the assaults were not always her husband's fault. She said this: (T 8)
"I am not the most easiest person to get on with."
12 The disputes she had with neighbours in the community housing which she rented at Lismore were a further aspect of the chaos in her life. She acknowledged that, looking back, she was "the neighbour from hell" (T 25, 42). She played loud music. She did so, knowing it would aggravate a particular neighbour. In the arguments that followed, she would not take a backward step. She gave as good as she got.
13 In April 2008, there was a further violent argument between SS and her husband. Someone called the police. The police then determined that they would seek, on her behalf, an Apprehended Violence Order ("AVO") against her husband. SS, when later speaking to a psychologist, acknowledged that, by this time, she and her husband were not happy. They had grown apart (Exhibit 1, Case p 7). They had been together for more than 22 years. The order having been made, her husband moved out and returned to Bowral, where his family lived.
14 SS later told Dr Neilssen that, after separating from her husband, alcohol became a significant problem (Exhibit 1, Dr Neilssen p 3). She developed a high tolerance to alcohol and would consume as much as a bottle of spirits each day. She avoided withdrawal symptoms by having yet more alcohol the following day.
15 On 10 August 2008, SS was taken by the police by the Lismore Base Hospital on a warrant under s 22 of the Mental Health Act 2007. That section gives the police power to take persons who are mentally unstable to hospital for assessment. SS remained in hospital overnight. She then resumed her chaotic life, abusing prescription drugs and alcohol.