[2023] VSCA 226
General information, not legal advice.
Court of Appeal (Vic)
2023-09-19
Mr J, Emerton P, Niall JA, Taylor JA
Original judgment source is linked above.
(a) In fixing the head sentences and orders for cumulation between charges and between indictments insufficient weight was given to the principle of totality.
(b) Insufficient weight was afforded to the valuable pleas of guilty and the material steps towards rehabilitation in custody.
(c) The order for cumulation between indictment K12399880A and K12399880B is manifestly excessive.
(d) The individual charges imposed on charge 1, charge 2, charge 3 and charge 6 are manifestly excessive.[1]
(e) The orders for cumulation imposed on charge 2, charge 3 and charge 6 are manifestly excessive.[2]
(f) The individual sentences imposed on charges 1-9 are manifestly excessive.[3]
(g) The orders for cumulation imposed on charge 1, charge 4 and charge 8 are manifestly excessive.[4]
You are either going to come to understand why you cannot belt women the hard way, or you are never going to understand it at all, and it is a fair description to say that you are, on the material before me and your prior criminal history and the comments made by the magistrate, a serial woman basher.
You do not get sentenced for your lifestyle. You do not get sentenced in any way for preventative detention or anything like that, but you have to come to understand that this sort of behaviour is something that the community abhors and it is only in recent times that people are becoming aware of the full extent of it. You are a classic example of a perpetrator.[35]
Historically perpetrators of family violence were rarely prosecuted. Even when offenders were convicted of such offences, they often received lenient sentences. Fortunately the criminal law now gives greater recognition to the devastating effects of family violence. It has also been recognised that women who are killed by their husband, boyfriend or de facto partner have frequently been assaulted by them many times previously. This makes both specific and general deterrence very important factors in sentencing men who assault their partner.
The effects of family violence are now well documented. They are not confined to physical injury. Victims often feel responsible for the violence and ashamed that they were not able to prevent the perpetrator from offending. As occurred in this case, it is common for victims to deny or conceal that their partners have assaulted them until the violence becomes unbearable. ... Victims who have been dominated, controlled and beaten by their partners over a significant period experience serious and long-lasting psychological trauma. As in the present case, the physical effects of the violence and its erosion of the victim's confidence can also affect their ability to participate in paid work and have other serious financial effects.
...
General deterrence is of fundamental importance in cases of domestic violence. The victims of such violence are often so enveloped by fear that they are incapable of either escaping the violence or reporting it to the authorities. The key to protection lies in deterring the violent conduct by sending an unequivocal message to would-be perpetrators of domestic violence that if they offend, they will be sentenced to a lengthy period of imprisonment so that they are no longer in a position to inflict harm.[39]
Offending of this nature is too often perpetrated by men whose response to difficulties in a relationship is one of possessive, violent rage. It goes without saying that such a response, to what is a common human situation, is utterly unacceptable. The sentences must convey the unmistakeable message that male partners have no right to subject their female partners to threats or violence. The sentences must be of such an order as to strongly denounce violence within a domestic relationship.[42]
Violence of this kind is alarmingly widespread, and extremely harmful. The statistics about the incidence of women being killed or seriously injured by vengeful former partners are truly shocking. Although the cases under consideration do not fall into that worst category, they are symptomatic of what can fairly be described as an epidemic of domestic violence.
General deterrence is, accordingly, a sentencing principle of great importance in cases such as these. Those who might, in a mood of anger or frustration or bitterness, contemplate this kind of violent entry into the home of a former spouse or partner must realise that, if they do so, they will almost certainly spend a long time in prison.[43]
[6] It was not alleged that the assault subject of charge 1 was causative of the miscarriage.
[7] The prosecution put the charge of rape on the basis that at the time of the penetration the applicant held a belief that Ms Warner was consenting, but that such a belief was not reasonable.
[9] The applicant's criminal history is considered further below.
[10] DPP v Zac Skeates (A Pseudonym) [2022] VCC 692, [7] ('Reasons').
[25] Reasons, [72]-[73]. The applicant's criminal history in Western Australia does not include family violence offending.
[37] [2014] VSCA 97 (Neave JA and Kyrou AJA) ('Pasinis').
[38] DPP v Smith [2019] VSCA 266, [35] (Kyrou, Kaye and T Forrest JJA) ('Smith').
[39] Pasinis [2014] VSCA 97, [53], [54] and [57] (Neave JA and Kyrou AJA).
[40] Uzun v The Queen [2015] VSCA 292, [48] (Maxwell P, Beale AJA agreeing at [51]) ('Uzun').
[41] Kalala v The Queen [2017] VSCA 223; (2017) 269 A Crim R 1, 18 [61] (Maxwell P and Redlich JA, Osborn JA agreeing at 25 [95]); [2017] VSCA 223.
[42] Marrah v The Queen [2014] VSCA 119, [25] (Redlich and Tate JJA) ('Marrah').
[43] DPP v Meyers [2014] VSCA 314; (2014) 44 VR 486, 497-498 [45]-[46] (Maxwell P, Redlich and Osborn JJA); [2014] VSCA 314 ('Meyers').
[44] Laa v The Queen [2020] VSCA 136, [52] (Maxwell P, Kaye and Niall JJA) ('Laa').
[45] See generally, Uzun [2015] VSCA 292, [33] (Priest JA, Maxwell P agreeing at [48], Beale AJA agreeing at [51]) and Smith [2019] VSCA 266, [35] (Kyrou, Kaye and T Forrest JJA). See also Nolan v The Queen [2017] VSCA 240, [31] (Beach, Ferguson and Coghlan JJA) ('Nolan').
[46] Marrah [2014] VSCA 119, [25] (Redlich and Tate JJA). See also Filiz v The Queen [2014] VSCA 212, [21] (Maxwell P and Redlich JA) ('Filiz').
[47] Nolan [2017] VSCA 240, [31] (Beach, Ferguson and Coghlan JJA) and Laa [2020] VSCA 136, [52] (Maxwell P, Kaye and Niall JJA).
[48] Pasinis [2014] VSCA 97, [54] (Neave JA and Kyrou AJA).
[50] Filiz [2014] VSCA 212, [23] (Maxwell P and Redlich JA).
[51] Marrah [2014] VSCA 119, [16] (Redlich and Tate JJA).
[53] Mill v The Queen (1988) 166 CLR 59; [1988] HCA 70.
Skeates (a pseudonym)
The King [2023] VSCA 226
DPP v Skeates (A Pseudonym) [2022] VCC 692 (Judge Smallwood)
Pasinis v The Queen [2014] VSCA 97, Marrah v The Queen [2014] VSCA 119, DPP v Meyers [2014] VSCA 314; (2014) 44 VR 486 discussed; Filiz v The Queen [2014] VSCA 212, Uzun v The Queen [2015] VSCA 292, Kalala v The Queen [2017] VSCA 223; (2017) 269 A Crim R 1, Nolan v The Queen [2017] VSCA 240, DPP v Smith [2019] VSCA 266, Laa v The Queen [2020] VSCA 136 referred to.
(1988) 166 CLR 59
(2014) 44 VR 486