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14
Court of Criminal Appeal 15 December 2006

Adanguidi v Regina

[2006] NSWCCA 404

Also reported as (2006) 167 A Crim R 295
Homicide
CRIMINAL LAW SENTENCING MURDER THREE LIFE SENTENCES CULPABILITY STANDARD OF PROOF

Citation: Adanguidi v Regina [2006] NSWCCA 404
Court: New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal
Date: 15 December 2006
Judge(s): Spigelman CJ, Sully J, Hislop J

Background

The appellant was convicted by a Supreme Court jury of murdering three members of the same family in February 2003. The victims were a woman and her two children, whom the appellant killed during a planned robbery of their home unit in Rockdale. The offences were premeditated: the appellant had lured the victims' husband and father away from the home, bound and gagged him, and then travelled to the family home in the early hours of the morning equipped with a loaded pistol, cord, tape, rubber gloves, and tools.

At sentencing in June 2005, Barr J imposed three concurrent life sentences, each commencing from the date of the offences. The appellant sought leave to appeal against those sentences, raising five grounds including errors in culpability findings, inadequate regard to mental illness, and the availability of fresh expert evidence.

  • Whether the sentencing judge erred in finding the level of culpability so extreme as to justify three life sentences
  • Whether several factual findings about the appellant's mental state at the time of the murders were reasonably open on the evidence
  • Whether the sentencing judge gave adequate consideration to the statutory mitigating factor that the appellant was not "fully aware of the consequences of his actions" due to mental disability or disorder (s 21A(3)(j) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999)
  • Whether the sentences were manifestly excessive
  • Whether fresh psychiatric and prison medical evidence should be admitted and, if so, whether it warranted a different sentence

Decision

The Court (Hislop J, with Spigelman CJ and Sully J agreeing) dismissed the appeal on all grounds. On the culpability question, the Court found that the sentencing judge's assessment was well open on the facts. The offences involved extensive premeditation, the deliberate targeting of a family for financial gain, and the killing of two children as well as an adult.

On the mental illness grounds, the Court found that the sentencing judge's factual findings about the appellant's condition at the time of the murders were reasonably open. The evidence, including psychiatric opinion, did not establish a causal or relevant connection between any mental illness and the commission of the offences. The judge's finding that the appellant was not relevantly affected by illness at the time of the murders was supported by the evidence before him.

Regarding the fresh evidence, the Court examined three categories of material: a further report from Dr Neilssen (a psychiatrist who had previously given evidence), a report from Dr Agoncan, and the appellant's gaol medical file. Hislop J rejected each category. Dr Neilssen's additional report did not add significantly to his earlier evidence and did not bear on the appellant's capacity at the time of the murders. Dr Agoncan's report similarly did not affect the conclusions about the appellant's condition at the relevant time. The gaol medical file postdated sentencing and was inadmissible on established principles. Even had all the material been admitted, the Court concluded it would not have led to a different sentence.

The Court reiterated its function as a court of error: it will interfere with a sentence only where error is demonstrated and where a less severe sentence is warranted in law. No such error was established here.

Orders Made

  • Leave to appeal granted
  • Appeal dismissed

Key Takeaways

  • Three concurrent life sentences for the premeditated murder of three family members were upheld where the sentencing judge found culpability so extreme that retribution, punishment, community protection, and deterrence could only be satisfied by life imprisonment.
  • Factual findings about a defendant's mental state at the time of an offence must be reasonably open on the evidence; the Court of Criminal Appeal found those findings were properly open here, given the absence of a demonstrated causal link between the appellant's illness and the killings.
  • Fresh evidence on a sentence appeal is admissible only if it would lead to the imposition of a different sentence; the Court confirmed this threshold from R v Eliasen and found the proposed materials did not meet it.
  • Post-sentence gaol medical records are inadmissible on a sentence appeal, consistent with the principle in R v Munday.
  • In dismissing the appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeal reinforced that its role is corrective: it intervenes in sentencing only upon demonstrated error and only where a less severe sentence is positively warranted in law.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 19A, 23A
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 21, 21A, 61
- Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 6(3)

Cases:
- Aslett v Regina [2006] NSWCCA 360
- Cheung v R (2001) 209 CLR 1
- Ibbs v The Queen (1987) 163 CLR 447
- Markarian v R (2005) 215 ALR 213
- R v Eliasen (1991) 53 A Crim R 391
- R v Engert (1995) 84 A Crim R 67
- R v Harris [2000] 50 NSWLR 409
- R v Isaacs (1997) 41 NSWLR 374
- R v McNaughton [2006] NSWCCA 242
- R v Merritt (2004) 59 NSWLR 557
- R v Munday (1981) 2 NSWLR 177
- R v Olbrich (1999) 199 CLR 270
- R v Simpson (2001) 53 NSWLR 704
- R v SLD [2003] 58 NSWLR 589
- Veen v The Queen [No 2] (1987) 164 CLR 465