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District Court 27 March 2025

R v SINGH

[2025] NSWDC 52

Sexual offencesAssault & violenceDomestic & family violencePublic order & justice offences
CRIMES ASSAULT OCCASIONING ACTUAL BODILY HARM COMMON ASSAULT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RELATED PERVERT THE COURSE OF JUSTICE PLEA OF GUILTY

Citation: R v Singh [2025] NSWDC 52
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 27 March 2025
Judge: Lerve DCJ

Background

The offender, a man born in 1999, appeared for sentence on three offences arising from a series of events in January 2023 involving his intimate partner of five weeks. The offending was domestic violence related and occurred across two days at a residential address in Ashmont, a suburb of Wagga Wagga, with a further offence committed shortly afterwards in Junee.

On 19 January 2023, the offender entered a bedroom where the victim was, assaulted her physically, and then raped her over a period of ten to fifteen minutes despite her repeated protests and attempts to push him away. The following day he committed further physical assaults, including using a knife to inflict abrasions on the victim and striking her with a broom handle. A week later, while on bail or otherwise at liberty, he contacted his mother and asked her to persuade the victim to withdraw her complaint or change her statement to police.

The two principal counts were on an indictment (aggravated sexual intercourse without consent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm). The perverting the course of justice charge was committed for sentence from the Local Court. Two further matters (common assault and use of an offensive weapon to commit an indictable offence) were placed on a Form 1 document to be taken into account on sentence.

  • What guilty plea discounts applied, given the different stages at which pleas were entered for the indictment counts versus the committal for sentence matter?
  • How should the Form 1 offences (common assault and use of an offensive weapon) affect the overall sentence?
  • What weight, if any, should be given to the offender's cognitive impairment as a mitigating factor, and was there a causal connection between that impairment and the offending?
  • Did special circumstances exist justifying a non-parole period that represents a greater proportion of the total sentence than the statutory default?
  • What aggregate sentence was appropriate across all three substantive offences?

Decision

Plea discounts: The offender received a 25% discount on the perverting the course of justice matter, having entered his guilty plea in the Local Court at an early stage. For the two indictment counts, he pleaded not guilty at arraignment in November 2023 and only pleaded guilty in October 2024, shortly before a trial date set for November 2024. His Honour applied a 10% discount for those matters, reflecting the late utilitarian value of the pleas.

Form 1 matters: Consistent with the guideline judgment on Form 1 matters, his Honour found that the Form 1 offences would have some impact on the ultimate sentence given their nature, particularly the use of a knife. The Form 1 matters were not treated as having a substantial independent effect but were not ignored.

Cognitive impairment: The court accepted that the offender had a cognitive impairment. However, his Honour found, on the available evidence, that the requisite causal connection between that impairment and the offending had not been established to a sufficient degree to significantly reduce the offender's moral culpability. The impairment was nonetheless relevant to the conditions under which any parole should be supervised.

Special circumstances and aggregate sentence: His Honour found special circumstances existed, reducing the non-parole period to approximately 65% of the total term (compared to the statutory default of 75%). The reasons included the offender's need for structured supervision and rehabilitation upon release, his youth, and the risk of reoffending identified in expert evidence. The court noted the offender had been in continuous custody since 23 January 2023 and was subject to an ICO (Intensive Correction Order) at the time of the offending. His Honour indicated that, had separate sentences been imposed, partial accumulation would have been required, but would have been modest. An aggregate sentence of 5 years 3 months was imposed, with a non-parole period of 3 years 5 months.

Orders Made

  • The offender was convicted on all matters to which he pleaded guilty.
  • An aggregate sentence of 5 years 3 months was imposed, with a non-parole period of 3 years 5 months.
  • The non-parole period runs from 16 April 2023 and expires on 15 September 2026.
  • The balance of term (1 year 10 months) commences 16 September 2026 and expires 15 July 2028.
  • The court recommended the offender's release to parole at the expiration of the non-parole period.
  • The court strongly recommended that any parole release be subject to intensive supervision in accordance with the recommendations of the expert (Dr Sidhu).
  • A copy of Dr Sidhu's updated report was directed to be forwarded to the Department of Corrective Services.

Key Takeaways

  • A late guilty plea on indictment, entered only days before a scheduled trial after an earlier not-guilty arraignment, attracted only a 10% utilitarian discount in this sentencing exercise, contrasted with the full 25% available for a plea entered at the committal stage.
  • Where an offender has a diagnosed cognitive impairment, a causal connection between that impairment and the specific offending must be established before it can substantially reduce moral culpability; the District Court declined to draw that connection on the facts here.
  • Form 1 offences involving a weapon and further physical violence were treated as having some, but not determinative, upward influence on the total sentence, consistent with the Attorney General's guideline judgment on Form 1 matters.
  • Special circumstances were found to justify departing from the statutory default non-parole period ratio, with the court pointing to the offender's rehabilitative needs, his youth, and identified reoffending risk as reasons for a longer supervision period on parole.
  • The sentencing court directed that its expert psychiatric evidence be transmitted to the Department of Corrective Services, signalling that such directions remain a practical tool when intensive post-release supervision is considered essential.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 61J(1), 59(1), 319, 61, 33B(1)(b)
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), s 37

Cases:
- The Attorney General's Application Under s 37 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act, 1999 No 1 of 2002 (2002) 56 NSWLR 146 (Guideline Judgment on Form 1 Matters)
- Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37
- Cherry v R [2017] NSWCCA 150
- DPP (Cth) v De La Rosa (2010) NSWLR 1
- Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39
- R v Eckermann [2013] NSWCCA 188
- R v Hamid [2006] NSWCCA 302
- R v Tuala [2015] NSWCCA 8
- Tepania v R [2018] NSWCCA 247