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Supreme Court 23 May 2000

REGINA v WANG

[2000] NSWSC 447

Homicide
SENTENCE MANSLAUGHTER DEPRESSION ATTEMPTED SUICIDE ROLE OF DENUNICATION IN SENTENCING

Citation: Regina v Wang [2000] NSWSC 447
Court: Supreme Court of New South Wales (Common Law Division)
Date: 23 May 2000
Judge(s): Adams J

Background

The offender, a woman living with her husband and infant daughter in domestic premises attached to a factory in Padstow, pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter. The victims were her husband and her daughter, who was just under two years old. The pleas were accepted in full discharge of an indictment that had originally charged two counts of murder.

Police attended the premises after a third party raised concern. They discovered the husband had died from strangulation in a locked bedroom, with his ankles bound and injuries to his head. Several hours later, police found the offender unconscious in a storage area above the kitchen, next to her dead daughter. The offender had overdosed on medication and cut her wrist in an apparent suicide attempt. On regaining consciousness, she expressed her desire to die and to be with her daughter.

The offender told police she had intended to kill only herself and her daughter, not her husband. She explained she had restrained him to prevent him interfering with her plan, and that his death resulted from a struggle during which she had attempted to gag him. She described killing her daughter out of love and fear that the child, who had a disability, would be sent away and left without care.

  • Whether the offender's manslaughter of her daughter was properly characterised as arising under s 23A of the Crimes Act 1900 (substantial impairment of mental capacity), given that the killing was intentional.
  • Whether the manslaughter of the husband was properly characterised as unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter, or as arising under s 23A.
  • What weight should be given to general and personal deterrence in sentencing where the offender suffered from severe depression and attempted suicide.
  • What role denunciation played in sentencing, and how it interacted with the substantial mitigation arising from the offender's mental state.
  • Whether special circumstances existed justifying adjustment of the statutory non-parole period formula.

Decision

Adams J found that the offender suffered from significant depression at the time of both killings, and that this abnormality of mind substantially impaired her capacity to judge whether her actions were right or wrong and to control herself. This finding provided the foundation for the s 23A characterisation of both offences. In relation to the daughter, the killing was intentional, but the impairment was so substantial as to reduce liability from murder to manslaughter and to warrant significant mitigation of sentence.

In relation to the husband, the court accepted the offender's account that she did not intend to cause his death or grievous bodily harm, and that she did not advert to the likelihood that he might die. The proper basis for sentence was therefore unlawful and dangerous act manslaughter. The court was satisfied that the offender's depression also substantially impaired her capacity to appreciate the risk of serious injury or death during the struggle, and that this further mitigated the seriousness of that offence.

On deterrence, the court found that both general and personal deterrence had a reduced role in sentencing. The offender's severe depression and her attempt to take her own life meant that the usual purposes of deterrence carried considerably less weight than they would in ordinary circumstances.

Notwithstanding the mitigation, the court concluded that the offender's culpability could not be entirely neutralised. The infliction of fatal violence, even in the context of impaired understanding, required denunciation by the criminal law. The court imposed concurrent sentences and found special circumstances warranting adjustment of the non-parole period, having regard to the circumstances of the crimes and the offender's history.

Orders Made

  • For the manslaughter of the daughter: imprisonment for two years commencing 24 September 1998 and ending 23 September 2000.
  • For the manslaughter of the husband: imprisonment for six years with a non-parole period of four years, commencing 24 September 1998 and ending 23 September 2004, with the non-parole period ending 23 September 2002.
  • Both sentences to be served concurrently.

Key Takeaways

  • Section 23A of the Crimes Act 1900 can reduce liability from murder to manslaughter where the offender's mental capacity is substantially impaired by an abnormality of mind, including depression, even where the killing is intentional.
  • Where an offender's severe mental illness substantially impaired their capacity to judge the wrongfulness of their actions, the sentencing court treated both general and personal deterrence as carrying reduced weight.
  • Denunciation retains a role in sentencing even where mental impairment is established: the Supreme Court held that the infliction of fatal violence, even with diminished understanding, still required condemnation through the criminal law.
  • An attempted suicide by the offender immediately following the offences was treated as relevant to the assessment of her mental state at the time and to the weight given to deterrence at sentencing.
  • Special circumstances justifying departure from the standard non-parole period formula can arise from the particular circumstances of the offences and the offender's psychiatric history.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 23A (substantial impairment by abnormality of mind)

Cases cited: No specific cases were cited in the portions of the judgment provided.