AI-generated summaries. Not legal advice. Always verify against the official judgment on NSW Caselaw.
← All decisions
District Court 8 November 2019

R v Bolin

[2019] NSWDC 744

Assault & violenceDomestic & family violencePublic order & justice offences
CRIME SENTENCE INTIMIDATION

Citation: R v Bolin [2019] NSWDC 744
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 8 November 2019
Judge: Colefax SC DCJ

Background

The offender, a 25-year-old man, was sentenced in relation to three offences arising from events on the night of 30 September and the morning of 1 October 2018. At the time, an apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO) was in force protecting his former domestic partner. Despite the ADVO, the offender entered her home through the back door late at night.

Once inside, the offender subjected the victim to a sustained and deeply disturbing course of intimidation. He spat at her repeatedly, threatened to forcibly cut her hair (causing her to cut it herself), told her he wished she were dead, and said that if he could not have her, no one else would. So frightened was the victim that she cut her own arm with a knife in an attempt to make him stop, and the following morning stabbed herself in the back of the head three times for the same reason. The offender had previously been sentenced separately for assaulting the same victim on 14 June 2018, and these three offences were committed while he was on bail for that earlier matter.

The sentence proceedings were conducted on the basis of agreed facts. The court also received background material concerning the offender's childhood exposure to family violence, a history of drug use beginning at age 12, diagnosed ADHD and related childhood disorders, and a recently diagnosed bipolar disorder for which he had received no treatment prior to entering custody.

  • The appropriate sentences for each of three offences: aggravated entry of a dwelling with intent to commit intimidation (s 112(2), Crimes Act 1900 (NSW)); intimidation in a domestic violence context (s 13(1), Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW)); and contravening an ADVO (s 14(1), Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW))
  • The weight to be given to the offender's dysfunctional background, untreated mental illness, and drug dependency as mitigating factors going to moral culpability
  • Whether special circumstances existed to justify varying the standard ratio between the non-parole period and the head sentence, on account of rehabilitation prospects

Decision

Colefax SC DCJ assessed the objective seriousness of the three offences individually. The aggravated entry offence fell equidistant between the bottom and middle of the range; the intimidation offence sat above the midrange; and the ADVO contravention fell equidistant between the bottom and middle of the range. Each offence carried three additional aggravating features: commission while on bail, occurrence in the victim's home, and a prior history of similar offending engaging the principle from Veen (No 2) (by which prior criminal history operates as an aggravating factor in sentencing).

Mitigating factors were found to be substantial. The offender's childhood immersion in family violence, his diagnoses of ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder, conduct disorder, and bipolar disorder, and his prolonged pattern of self-medication through illegal drugs were together found to give rise to reduced moral culpability. The court noted that the bipolar disorder had been undiagnosed and untreated throughout the relevant period. His Honour also expressed concern that the offender's early and sustained cannabis use could be associated with a future risk of schizophrenia.

The offender received a 25 percent discount on each indicative sentence for entering a plea of guilty at the first available opportunity. General deterrence was accorded reduced weight because of the offender's mental illness, though specific deterrence and rehabilitation were treated as fully engaged sentencing considerations. His Honour accepted that the offender's behaviour in custody demonstrated genuine progress and expressed genuine acceptance of his expressed intention to change.

An aggregate sentence of four years and six months was imposed, commencing 2 April 2019 so as to partially accumulate on the sentence already being served for the June 2018 assault. Special circumstances were found to exist on the basis that a longer period on parole would better serve rehabilitation, producing a non-parole period of two years and three months rather than the standard statutory proportion.

Orders Made

  • Aggregate sentence of 4 years and 6 months' imprisonment, commencing 2 April 2019
  • Non-parole period of 2 years and 3 months, expiring 1 July 2021
  • Balance of term of 2 years and 3 months, commencing 2 July 2021 and expiring 1 October 2023
  • Special circumstances found, varying the standard non-parole period to head sentence ratio

Key Takeaways

  • The District Court applied the Veen (No 2) principle, treating the offender's prior history of domestic violence offending as an independent aggravating factor in sentencing, additional to the circumstances of the offences themselves.
  • Reduced moral culpability arising from a severely dysfunctional upbringing and untreated mental illness can operate as a mitigating consideration, even where the offending is serious and involved sustained intimidation of a domestic partner.
  • A diagnosis of bipolar disorder that pre-dated the offending but remained untreated contributed to the court's finding of reduced moral culpability, because the offender had been effectively self-medicating with illicit substances rather than receiving proper psychiatric care.
  • Special circumstances justifying a longer parole period need not depend on any single factor in isolation; here, the court grounded the finding squarely in the offender's demonstrated rehabilitation prospects and the community's interest in his recovery.
  • Commission of domestic violence offences while on bail for an earlier offence against the same victim is treated as a significant aggravating consideration, compounding the seriousness of each charge.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 112(2) (aggravated entry of a dwelling with intent to commit a serious indictable offence)
- Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), s 13(1) (intimidation) and s 14(1) (contravening an apprehended domestic violence order)

Cases
- Veen v The Queen (No 2) (1988) 164 CLR 465 (prior criminal history as an aggravating factor in sentencing)