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Supreme Court 24 May 2001

Regina v Hawkins

[2001] NSWSC 420

Homicide
SENTENCE MANSLAUGHTER DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY EFFECTS OF PRESCRIBED DRUG EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES ACT OUT OF CHARACTER

Citation: Regina v Hawkins [2001] NSWSC 420
Court: Supreme Court of New South Wales
Date: 24 May 2001
Judge(s): O'Keefe J

Background

The prisoner, a 74-year-old man with no prior criminal history, was charged with the murder of his wife at Tumbarumba on 1 August 1999. He had been married to her for nearly five decades and was, by all accounts, a devoted and non-violent husband and father. The couple had endured significant grief in the preceding years, including the death of their younger daughter from cancer in 1995 and the prolonged stress of selling their rural property.

In the period leading up to the offence, the prisoner's longstanding depression had worsened. His general practitioner prescribed the antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline). On the night in question, he took a dose in excess of what was prescribed, took it at night rather than in the morning as directed, and experienced a severe adverse reaction. He killed his wife by strangulation during what the court accepted was a state of substantially diminished responsibility brought on by the drug's effects.

The prisoner immediately confessed to police and pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The Crown accepted that plea in full satisfaction of the indictment, and the matter proceeded to sentencing.

  • What is the appropriate sentence for manslaughter by diminished responsibility where the offending was precipitated by an adverse reaction to a prescribed drug?
  • What weight should be given to mitigating factors including the prisoner's age, character, immediate confession, and plea of guilty?
  • Whether special circumstances existed to justify departing from the standard non-parole to head-sentence ratio under s 44(2) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

Decision

O'Keefe J conducted a detailed review of the prisoner's background, mental health history, and the circumstances of the offence. His Honour accepted that the prisoner's responsibility was substantially, though not entirely, diminished at the time of the killing. The adverse effects of Zoloft, taken in excess of the prescribed dose and at the wrong time of day, were found to be the primary precipitating cause of the offence.

The court identified a range of strong mitigating factors: the offending was entirely out of character for a man with a blameless life spanning 74 years; the crime was committed under the influence of a prescribed medication rather than from any underlying propensity for violence; the prisoner had immediately confessed and cooperated fully with police; and he had entered an early plea of guilty. The court also noted that general deterrence carries reduced weight where the offending results from the extraordinary effects of a prescribed drug rather than a deliberate or habitual course of conduct.

Balanced against those factors, the court acknowledged that an unlawful homicide had been committed and that the prisoner retained a degree of moral responsibility, particularly given that he had previously experienced an adverse reaction to Zoloft, had taken more than the prescribed dose, and had taken it at night contrary to his doctor's instructions.

O'Keefe J imposed a sentence of three years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years, both backdated to the date of custody on 1 August 1999. His Honour departed from the statutory non-parole ratio on the basis of special circumstances, citing the prisoner's age, his lack of prior offending, the low likelihood of reoffending, and the fact that the drug that precipitated the offence was no longer part of his life.

Orders Made

  • The prisoner was sentenced to three years imprisonment, commencing 1 August 1999 and concluding 31 July 2002.
  • The non-parole period was set at two years, commencing 1 August 1999 and expiring 31 July 2001.
  • The court ordered the prisoner's release on parole at the expiry of the non-parole period pursuant to s 50(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

Key Takeaways

  • Where an unlawful homicide is precipitated by a severe adverse reaction to a prescribed medication, substantially diminished responsibility can significantly reduce the offender's moral culpability, even where the offender bore some responsibility for how the drug was taken.
  • A lifetime of entirely blameless conduct, combined with an immediate confession and early guilty plea, constitutes powerful mitigation in manslaughter sentencing.
  • The weight accorded to general deterrence in sentencing is reduced where the offence arose from extraordinary and drug-induced circumstances rather than from character or deliberate choice.
  • Special circumstances justifying departure from the standard non-parole ratio under s 44(2) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 can be established by a combination of advanced age, a first offence, a low risk of reoffending, and the removal of the precipitating cause of the offending.
  • Diminished responsibility in manslaughter does not eliminate culpability entirely; the sentencing court must still recognise that an unlawful killing occurred and impose a sentence that reflects that, however reduced the offender's blameworthiness may be.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 22, 23(1) and (2), 24(a), 44(2), 50(1)

Cases:
- R v Hill (1980-1981) 3 A Crim R 397
- R v Low (1991-1992) 57 A Crim R 8
- R v Dodd (1991-1992) 57 A Crim R 349
- R v Blacklidge (NSWCCA, 12 December 1995, unreported)
- Regina v Thomson; Regina v Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383