I have attached details for this assessment below
http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2 Supreme Court of New South WalesSupreme Court of New South Wales R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014)R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) Last Updated: 23 April 2014 Australasian Legal Information Institute Supreme Court New South Wales Case Title: R v Mulvihill Medium Neutral Citation: [2014] NSWSC 443 Hearing Date(s): 28/03/2014; 3-4/04/2014 Decision Date: 16 April 2014 Before: Fullerton J Decision: Sentenced to imprisonment for 29 years, comprised of a non-parole period of 22 years commencing on 16 February 2013 and expiring on Page 1 of 27R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) 4/03/2019http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/443.html 15 February 2035, with a balance of term of 7 years expiring on 15 February 2042. First eligible for release to parole on 15 February 2035. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - murder - jury verdict - stabbing with intention to kill - fact finding after trial - no premeditation but not impulsive or spontaneous - above mid range of objective seriousness - no remorse - guarded prospects of rehabilitation - no special circumstances Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Cases Cited: Barbaro v R; Zirilli v R [2014] HCA 2 Beldon v R [2012] NSWCCA 194 Bugmy v R [1990] HCA 18; 169 CLR 525 Hili v R [2010] HCA 45; 242 CLR 520 James v R [2014] HCA 6 MAH v R [2006] NSWCCA 226 McLaren v R [2012] NSWCCA 284 Pemble v R [1971] HCA 20; 124 CLR 107 R v Gittany (No 5) [2014] NSWSC 49 R v Isaacs (1997) 41 NSWLR 374; 90 A Crim R 587 R v JCW [2000] NSWCCA 209; 112 A Crim R 466 Page 2 of 27R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) 4/03/2019http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/443.html R v Muldrock [2011] HCA 39; 244 CLR 120 R v Olbrich [1999] HCA 54; 199 CLR 270 Category: Sentence Parties: The Crown Paul Darren Mulvihill (Offender) Representation - Counsel: Counsel: M Cinque (Crown) K Traill (Offender) - Solicitors: Solicitors: Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Bosscher Lawyers (Offender) File Number(s): 2012/222491 Page 3 of 27R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) 4/03/2019http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/443.html REMARKS ON SENTENCE 1. HER HONOUR: On 10 March 2014 the offender was convicted after trial of the murder of Rachelle Yeo at her home in North Curl Curl on the evening of 16 July 2012. She was aged 31. 2. Murder carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It also attracts a standard non-parole period of 20 years. The maximum penalty of life imprisonment is reserved for a murder where the culpability of the offender is so extreme that the community's legitimate interest in a combination of all, or any, of the indicia in s 61(1) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), each of which in different ways focuses on the protection of the community, compel the conclusion that the only sentence that can be imposed is imprisonment for life. The Crown submitted that the murder of Ms Yeo, whilst an offence of very considerable gravity, was not an offence that could properly attract a life sentence. I accept that submission. 3. The standard non-parole period is the period during which a person has no entitlement to be released to parole. Where it applies (as it does in this case) it represents a hypothetical offence in the middle of the range of objective seriousness. That assessment is confined to an assessment of the objective features of the offending under consideration. The maximum sentence and the standard non-parole period both operate as legislative guideposts that inform the sentencing discretion (see R v Muldrock [2011] HCA 39; 244 CLR 120). 4. The Crown submitted that the murder of Ms Yeo was well above the mid range of objective seriousness, falling just short of an offence in the worst category. Whether that submission is accepted depends, in part, upon my findings on an interrelated series of factual issues not resolved by the jury's verdict, and which remained the subject of contest on sentence. Principal among them was whether the offender was to be sentenced for a premeditated murder, a finding the Crown conceded was not necessarily comprehended by the jury's verdict. The events of 16 July 2012 5. Ms Yeo lived in a unit on the first floor of a unit block comprising a total of seventeen units with six units on each of three levels (with the exception of the ground floor which had only five units). Her unit was accessible from an internal staircase via a pathway on the western side of the building which extended from garages at the rear to a bank of letterboxes situated at the front of the building. There was a dual locking mechanism on the front door of her unit consisting of a deadlock, operated by a key, located above a Page 4 of 27R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) 4/03/2019http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/443.html barrel lock, also requiring a key. A security peephole was also installed in the front door. The units on the first floor each had an external balcony located approximately 3.6 metres above a driveway which extended the full length of the property on the eastern side. 6. Ms Yeo left her place of work at Macquarie Park at 6.34pm on 16 July 2012 at the end of her working day. Her manager, Renee Ward, gave evidence that Ms Yeo was in high spirits, planning to spend the night at home preparing a fancy dress outfit for an event at an upcoming conference. 7. On leaving work Ms Yeo drove directly to Freshwater where she attended a yoga class. En route to her yoga class she spoke by telephone to her father at 6.52pm and then again at 7.10pm. She also spoke to Michelle O'Flaherty, a close friend, at 6.38pm. Ms O'Flaherty gave evidence that in the course of that phone call she asked Ms Yeo whether the offender had been in contact with her. Ms Yeo said that she had not heard from him and continued: "[It's] waiting for what he will do next that scares me." 8. After her yoga class, and at a time when it would appear she was on her way home, Ms Yeo placed a telephone call to her boyfriend at 9.04pm. He did not take the call. He returned her call at 9.34pm. It was unanswered. 9. Police arrived at Ms Yeo's unit at 9.25pm in response to 000 calls placed at 9.18pm and 9.19pm by her neighbours after they heard her repeated and increasingly strident screams for help, extending over a period of approximately ten minutes. Ms Faletoese (a resident of the unit above Ms Yeo's unit) was first alerted to a loud scream from a woman some time after 9pm. At about the same time, another neighbour, Ms Burrows, heard a woman scream, "Oh My God, Oh My God". Ms Faletoese and her partner, Mr Gualtieri, went down the stairs to investigate, passing Ms Yeo's unit en route. They heard nothing at that time. When they were outside they heard the woman scream again. They immediately tracked the screams as coming from Ms Yeo's unit. They went directly to the door to her unit where Ms Faletoese banged and shouted, demanding for the door to be opened. They heard Ms Yeo repeatedly scream for help and for the police to be called in what they described as a state of deep and escalating distress. 10. By this time Ms Faletoese and Mr Gualtieri were joined by other residents, including Ms Burrows, on the landing outside Ms Yeo's door where they heard sounds of a struggle that appeared to escalate in seriousness. Some residents described voices raised in argument. In response to Ms Faletoese continuing to shout and bang on the door for it to be opened, Ms Yeo was heard to say that she could not get to the door to open it. One resident heard her say, "He won't let me". The only thing the offender was heard to say (and in what was described as a calm and controlled voice) was, "Everything is okay, you don't need to call the police". It was after that that everything went quiet, which Page 5 of 27R v Mulvihill [2014] NSWSC 443 (16 April 2014) 4/03/2019http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2014/443.html prompted Ms Burrows to urge the operator to have the police attend urgently. The last sounds from inside the unit were described by another resident as a "gurgling noise" or a "rasping for air". He said these sounds lasted for a few minutes and that they sounded as if they were coming from immediately behind the door of the unit. . A er forcing entry to the unit, police found Ms Yeo unconscious, face down behind the front door in a pool of blood. She was pronounced deceased by ambulance officers shortly a er . pm following unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate her. . Penetrating stab wounds to the right side of her chest and the le side of her neck were noted by ambulance officers. Both wounds were associated with a considerable loss of blood. Extensive lacerations and abrasions were noted on her face, hands and feet. . There was a considerable amount of pooled, expirated and transferred blood in the immediate vicinity of where Ms Yeo was found, in the hallway leading to the front door, and in the kitchen and living room. Her clothing was heavily blood stained. She had bare feet. Her shoes were in the hall near her handbag, both in a state of disarray. A bag containing her work clothes was in pooled blood in the kitchen. Her mobile phone was also in pooled blood on the kitchen floor. The forensic evidence . The results of autopsy identified the cause of death as either one or a combination of the two penetrating stab wounds. The wound to the chest penetrated multiple layers of Ms Yeo's clothing before penetrating her lung and heart. The wound to her exposed neck severed the jugular vein. The stab wound to the right chest penetrated to a depth of centimetres. A superficial stab wound was located proximate to her right underarm. A constellation of blunt force injuries and sharp force injuries was identified by Dr Van Vuuren (who performed the autopsy) with the greater concentration being on Ms Yeo's head and neck. Professor Hilton (the pathologist called by the offender at