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Supreme Court 7 March 2008

R v Compton

[2008] NSWSC 204

Homicide

Citation: R v Compton [2008] NSWSC 204
Court: Supreme Court of New South Wales
Date: 7 March 2008
Judge(s): Studdert AJ

Background

The offender was in a de facto relationship with the mother of a 17-month-old child. On the evening of 12 January 2005, the mother left the offender in charge of the child and two other young children while she went to a local shop for approximately 40 minutes. During that period, the offender inflicted the fatal injuries on the infant.

The offender had been attempting throughout that afternoon to obtain amphetamines on credit and was becoming increasingly angry and aggressive as he came down from drugs he and the mother had used the previous day. A post-mortem examination established that the child died from blunt head trauma. Dr Lee found multiple injuries including a large subdural haemorrhage, extensive internal abdominal bruising, and injuries to the trunk, occurring at separate times and assessed as non-accidental.

The offender was originally charged with murder. When arraigned on 29 January 2008, he pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter by reason of unlawful and dangerous conduct causing death. The Crown accepted that plea in satisfaction of the indictment, and the matter came before Studdert AJ for sentencing.

  • What was the appropriate total sentence and non-parole period for the manslaughter of a 17-month-old child in the care of the offender?
  • What weight should be given to the offender's guilty plea, having regard to the absence of a full and truthful account of events?
  • How should the objective seriousness of the offending be assessed, including findings about injuries the offender did not admit to?
  • What role does general deterrence play in sentencing for the manslaughter of young children by those responsible for their care?

Decision

Studdert AJ found beyond reasonable doubt that the offender caused not only the fatal head injuries but also the recent abdominal injuries identified by Dr Lee. The court rejected the offender's partial account to police, in which he admitted only to punching the child twice in the stomach and denied touching her head. The court noted that the offender had never given a truthful account of how the injuries were inflicted.

The objective seriousness of the offending was assessed as significant. The deceased was a very young child, wholly dependent on the offender for her care and safety. The offender's deteriorating emotional state, connected to drug use, formed part of the factual background, though this did not diminish the gravity of the conduct.

The court afforded the offender some utilitarian discount for his guilty plea but noted its limitations, given his persistent failure to tell the truth about what he had done. The court also had regard to subjective features, including psychological and psychiatric reports tendered on the offender's behalf.

Studdert AJ surveyed comparable manslaughter sentences involving young child victims, ranging from the lower end in cases such as R v Mundene to the upper end in R v Hoerler, before fixing a sentence that reflected both the offender's individual circumstances and the particular need for deterrence in cases where a carer kills a child in their charge.

Orders Made

  • The offender was sentenced to imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years and nine months, commencing 20 June 2006 and expiring 19 March 2013.
  • The balance of term was set at two years and three months, expiring 19 June 2015.
  • The first date eligible for release to parole is 19 March 2013.
  • A suppression order was continued, prohibiting publication of the deceased child's name in connection with the proceedings.

Key Takeaways

  • The Supreme Court treated the manslaughter of a young child by a person responsible for her care as an offence of significant objective gravity, warranting a sentence that gave substantial weight to general deterrence.
  • Where an offender pleads guilty but has never provided a truthful account of how death was caused, the utilitarian value of the plea is acknowledged but its weight is limited accordingly.
  • Sentencing courts may make findings beyond the admissions of an offender: Studdert AJ was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offender caused all the injuries identified by the forensic pathologist, not merely those he admitted to police.
  • A range of comparable cases for the manslaughter of young children was surveyed, with sentences spanning from a non-parole period of three years (shaking of a seven-month-old) to a non-parole period of ten years and nine months (widespread and severe injuries). No two cases were treated as directly equivalent.
  • Drug use and resulting agitation formed part of the factual context but did not reduce the court's assessment of the offender's criminality or diminish the importance of deterrence.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Children's (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), s 11
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act (NSW)

Cases:
- Bollen (1998) 99 ACR 510
- Hoerler 147 ACR 520
- Howard [2000] NSWSC 876
- Previtera (1997) 94 ACR 76
- R v Bilton [2000] NSWSC 1113
- R v Blacklidge, NSWCCA, 12 December 1995 (unreported)
- R v Dalton [2005] NSWCCA 156
- R v Howard [2001] NSWCCA 309
- R v Johnson [2004] NSWCCA 76
- R v Leach [2007] NSWSC 355
- R v Marshall [2003] NSWSC 448
- R v Mundene [2007] NSWSC 355
- R v Recalde [2000] NSWSC 1247
- R v Webb [2002] NSWSC 618
- R v Wickham [2004] NSWCCA 193
- R v Wilson (2005) 62 NSWLR 346
- R v Woodland [2001] NSWSC 416
- Vaughan (1991) 56 ACR 355
- Ditfort, NSWCCA, 17 March 1992 (unreported)
- Veen v The Queen (No 2) (1987-1988) 164 CLR 465