Citation: R v King [2025] NSWSC 1572
Court: Supreme Court of New South Wales
Date: 18 December 2025
Judge: Rigg J
Background
The offender, a 35-year-old man, was sentenced for the murder of his de facto partner of approximately 14 years, committed on the morning of 16 August 2023 at the family home in St Marys, NSW. The couple had four children together, the youngest of whom was only 10 weeks old at the time of the offence. The murder occurred in a domestic violence context, in the home and in the presence of the children.
In the days immediately before the offence, the offender had been exhibiting signs of significant mental deterioration, including hearing voices. A community nurse who visited the home on 14 August 2023 found him agitated and the household in a "heightened state," prompting her to leave early and call emergency services. Police attended but took no further action. On the evening of 15 August, the deceased had quietly begun making arrangements to leave with the children the following day.
The offender pleaded guilty to murder in the Local Court. The agreed facts before the court described a history of domestic volatility and substance use, as well as the offender's deteriorating mental health in the period leading up to the offence. The sentencing proceedings examined the interplay between that mental health deterioration, including drug-induced psychosis, and his moral culpability for the killing.
Legal Issues
- What sentence was appropriate for murder committed in a domestic violence context, where the offender had a demonstrated intent to kill?
- To what extent did the offender's mental impairment, including drug-induced psychosis, reduce his moral culpability?
- What weight should be given to remorse, the guilty plea, and the offender's subjective circumstances?
- Whether special circumstances existed to vary the standard ratio between the total sentence and the non-parole period, having regard to the offender's mental health treatment needs.
Decision
Rigg J identified several features that aggravated the offending: the murder occurred in the home, in the presence of children, and was committed with an intent to kill. The domestic violence context attracted particular weight, consistent with the High Court's observations in Munda v Western Australia (2013) 249 CLR 600 that courts must not understate the seriousness of fatal domestic violence.
The court accepted that the offender's mental state at the time of the offence, characterised by drug-induced psychosis and other mental health impairments, reduced his moral culpability to a meaningful degree. His mental health history included PTSD, and in the weeks before the murder he had stopped taking his antidepressant medication. However, this reduction in culpability did not displace the gravity of the offence. The court also found that the offender expressed genuine remorse and accepted the agreed facts as a basis for that finding.
Rigg J applied a 25% discount to the sentence because of the early guilty plea, as required under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW). Without the plea, her Honour indicated a sentence of 22 years' imprisonment would have been imposed. The court further found special circumstances warranting a variation to the usual non-parole to parole ratio, given the offender's significant mental health treatment needs and the importance of managing the risk of relapse into drug use to support his eventual reintegration into the community. The variation required was modest, given the length of the overall sentence.
Her Honour also noted, having been a member of the bench in the recent Court of Criminal Appeal decision in R v Thompson [2025] NSWCCA 133, that she had reviewed a significant body of comparable sentencing decisions in endeavouring to promote consistency. She observed that the degree of mental impairment present in this matter was not commonly seen to the same extent in those cases.
Orders Made
- The offender is sentenced to 16 years and 6 months imprisonment for the murder of Drew Douglas, commencing 16 August 2023 and concluding 15 February 2040.
- A non-parole period of 11 years and 6 months is imposed, commencing 16 August 2023, with first eligibility for parole on 15 February 2035.
- Pursuant to s 25C of the Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW), the court noted that Act has potential application to the offender and directed his legal representative to advise him accordingly.
Key Takeaways
- Murder committed in a domestic violence context, in the home and in the presence of children, continues to attract significant denunciatory weight at sentencing, consistent with Munda v Western Australia.
- Drug-induced psychosis and related mental health impairments can reduce an offender's moral culpability, but the Supreme Court made clear this reduction operates within, not against, the inherent gravity of a murder with intent to kill.
- A 25% guilty plea discount applied in accordance with the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), reducing a pre-discount term of 22 years to 16 years and 6 months.
- Special circumstances were established on the basis of significant mental health treatment needs and the risk of drug relapse, warranting a modest variation to the standard non-parole period ratio.
- Where an offender's physical and mental health impairments will make imprisonment more burdensome, and where parole supervision will be important to safe reintegration, those factors are relevant to the structure of the sentence even if they do not substantially reduce its length.
Legislation and Cases Referenced
Legislation:
- Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 18(1)(a) (murder)
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)
- Crimes (High Risk Offenders) Act 2006 (NSW), s 25C
Cases:
- Munda v Western Australia (2013) 249 CLR 600; [2013] HCA 38
- R v Fang (No 4) [2017] NSWSC 323
- R v Thompson [2025] NSWCCA 133