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District Court 28 November 2025

R v Fretwell

[2025] NSWDC 557

Assault & violencePublic order & justice offences

Citation: R v Fretwell [2025] NSWDC 557
Court: District Court of New South Wales (Criminal)
Date: 28 November 2025
Judge(s): Haesler SC DCJ

Background

The offender, a 50-year-old man, was sentenced for three offences arising from events in November 2024. Until his mid-forties, he had led an unremarkable and productive life — maintaining steady employment, raising a family, and volunteering with the Rural Fire Service, SES, and Coast Guard. However, a succession of serious life stressors beginning around 2020 — the breakdown of a long-term marriage, Supreme Court litigation over asbestos contamination at his property, and most significantly, being the victim of a violent armed home invasion in February 2021 in which men armed with machetes stole his opal collection — contributed to a diagnosis of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Notably, the sentencing judge had himself sentenced the perpetrators of that home invasion in earlier proceedings.

Following the end of his marriage, the offender formed a new relationship with a woman (the first complainant). That relationship deteriorated, and by September 2024 an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order (ADVO) was in place. In October 2024, the complainant told him the relationship was over. Despite this, on 6 and 7 November 2024, the offender sent over 150 text messages and 50 voice messages to her while she was at work — messages that ranged from professions of love to accusations of infidelity, delivered while crying and yelling — in clear breach of the ADVO.

On the evening of 7 November 2024, the offender followed the complainant's vehicle for approximately four kilometres. When the vehicles stopped at a large roundabout, the complainant's twin brother got out of the passenger side and took several steps toward the offender's vehicle. The offender accelerated his Toyota Landcruiser, veering toward the victim and striking him, pinning him against the complainant's Ford Territory and dragging him across its side. The victim sustained catastrophic injuries. The offender drove away without stopping to assist, though he subsequently attended a nearby police station and called triple-0 to request an ambulance. He gave false versions of events to the operator and later to police.

  • What was the appropriate sentence for the offence of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm (s 35(2) Crimes Act 1900), given the standard non-parole period of 4 years and the maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment?
  • What was the appropriate sentence for failing to stop and assist after a vehicle impact causing grievous bodily harm (s 52A(b)(2) Crimes Act 1900), with a maximum penalty of 7 years imprisonment?
  • What was the appropriate sentence for contravening an ADVO (s 14(1) Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007), with a maximum penalty of 2 years imprisonment?
  • What additional weight should the stalking offence on a Form 1 attract?
  • How should aggravating factors (breach of conditional liberty, prior convictions, domestic violence context) and mitigating factors (guilty plea, mental health including Complex PTSD, the offender's own status as a crime victim, prior good character) be balanced?
  • How should the principle against a "crushing sentence" and the requirements of proportionality, totality, and accumulation/concurrency apply in formulating an aggregate sentence?
  • What discount was appropriate for the utilitarian value of the guilty plea?

Decision

The sentencing judge approached the matter using an instinctive synthesis, guided by the statutory maximum penalties and the standard non-parole period for the grievous bodily harm offence. His Honour assessed the objective seriousness of the principal offence — recklessly causing grievous bodily harm — as significantly above the mid-range. The collision involved a pedestrian struck by a large vehicle (described in hospital records as "Pedestrian v Truck"), resulting in catastrophic, life-altering injuries: a shattered pelvis, fractured legs, facial injuries, significant genital injuries potentially affecting fertility, a cardiac arrest during surgery, long-term nerve damage, and likely permanent wheelchair dependence. The victim's injuries were compounded by ongoing infection requiring potentially lifelong antibiotic treatment.

The court considered several aggravating factors: the offence occurred in the context of domestic violence and in breach of both an ADVO and the offender's conditional liberty (he was subject to bail or other conditions at the time). The offender had a record of previous convictions, though the judge noted these were relatively minor. The stalking offence taken into account on the Form 1 — the prolonged following of the complainant's vehicle — was not trivial and warranted an identifiable uplift in the sentence for the principal offence. The failure to stop was a discrete and serious offence, though the judge noted the offender did call emergency services shortly afterward.

In mitigation, the court gave significant weight to the guilty plea (a 25% discount), the offender's diagnosis of Complex PTSD arising from the violent home invasion, his prior good character and community contributions, and the genuine psychological deterioration he had undergone. The court took care to apply the principles from Bugmy v The Queen regarding background disadvantage and its ongoing effects. The judge also considered whether the aggregate sentence would be "crushing" — that is, disproportionate to the offender's overall criminality and circumstances — and took steps to ensure appropriate concurrency between the sentences for the multiple offences so that the guilty plea discount was not diminished through the accumulation process.

The court emphasised the importance of both general and specific deterrence, particularly given the domestic violence context and the catastrophic nature of the injuries. The need to denounce the offender's conduct and to protect the community were significant considerations. At the same time, the court recognised the offender's genuine mental health difficulties and his own victimisation as factors reducing moral culpability to some degree, without excusing the conduct.

Orders Made

  • The offender was sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment (the precise terms are not fully set out in the truncated judgment text available, but the court indicated sentences for each offence with partial concurrency and accumulation).
  • A 25% discount was applied for the utilitarian value of the guilty plea.
  • An automatic licence disqualification of at least 12 months (and up to 3 years) was imposed in connection with the failure to stop offence.
  • The stalking offence was taken into account on a Form 1 in sentencing for the principal offence.

Note: The full sentencing orders, including the precise aggregate sentence and non-parole period, are not available from the truncated text provided. Readers should consult the full judgment for the specific terms imposed.

Key Takeaways

  • The District Court assessed the principal offence of recklessly causing grievous bodily harm under s 35(2) as significantly above the mid-range of objective seriousness, given the catastrophic and life-altering injuries sustained by a pedestrian struck by a large vehicle, including a shattered pelvis, fractured legs, cardiac arrest during surgery, and likely permanent wheelchair dependence.

  • Consistent with Bugmy principles, genuine weight was given to the offender's Complex PTSD arising from a violent home invasion, but this mitigating factor did not displace the need for deterrence and denunciation, particularly given the domestic violence context of the offending.

  • In structuring the partially accumulated sentences across multiple offences, the Court expressly guarded against inadvertently diminishing the 25% discount afforded for the guilty plea, treating this as a necessary safeguard in multi-count sentencing.

  • A recognisable uplift to the indicated sentence for the principal offence was applied to account for the Form 1 stalking offence, which the Court considered was not trivial and warranted reflection of personal deterrence and retribution even in the absence of a separate sentence.

  • The "crushing sentence" principle operated as an active constraint, requiring consideration of whether the aggregate sentence would be disproportionate to the totality of the offending and the offender's personal circumstances, including his previously productive life and diagnosed mental health condition.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), ss 35(2), 52A(b)(2)
- Crimes (Domestic and Personal Violence) Act 2007 (NSW), ss 13(1), 14(1)
- Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW), s 166

Key Cases:
- Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37; (2013)