STATE OF TASMANIA v MGA 10 APRIL 2024
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
MGA, you have pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Code assault and one count of indecent assault. The complainant is your wife. The relevant acts occurred on 20 October 2023. As at that date, there was a Police Family Violence Order operating, protecting the complainant. That had been issued in April 2023. On 20 October 2023, you were at the matrimonial home, consuming alcohol. When the complainant arrived home, you were asleep in the lounge room. You woke and wanted to talk to her. She noted you were intoxicated and slurring your words. She did not engage with you. You became angry and out of the blue said, “You need to listen to me. When you finish your tea, I’m going to lay you down and come from behind you and you’ll love it”. Your wife took little notice of you, told you that you were drunk and went to her bedroom. You untied the top of your pants and pulled them down and told the complainant you were going to “do it” with her in the bedroom. She walked over to the kitchen bench. You followed her, pushed her into the kitchen bench and then stood over her. You said to her, “We will do it here. You might even like it”. You told her that you were going to pull her pants down. This intentional application of force amounts to the crime of assault. She told you to stop and that your behaviour was unacceptable. She told you she would call the police. You continued to hold her down across the kitchen bench. Eventually she used a fork that she had in her hand to stab you three or four times to the head. You did not react to this. You then dragged her over to the couch, pushed her backwards against the couch and said “I’m going to pull your pants down and fuck you here”. She asked you to stop. You held her hands above her head with one hand, pulled her tracksuit pants down with the other hand, leaving her underwear in place, and said to her, “I’m going to suck your pussy”. These behaviours amount to the crime of indecent assault. She tried to knee you in the groin. Eventually you stopped and she walked away. She phoned triple zero. You left the house and were later found by police at a neighbour’s home, very intoxicated.
As a consequence of your crimes, and issues which arose whilst you were on bail, you have spent 125 days in custody. I have not been provided with any impact statement. I have been told the complainant continues to support you, largely I suspect, because of her understanding of the history that I am about to outline.
You are 54 years of age. You have no relevant prior convictions. Save for these crimes, you are a person of good character with a strong professional work history. Between 1989 and 2003 you worked as a police officer. You resigned from that position in 2003 because you developed post-traumatic stress disorder. The genesis of that condition seems to be your attendance at the Port Arthur massacre in 1996. Since then you have struggled with a number of characteristics of post-traumatic stress disorder, including hyper vigilance, anxiety, graphic flashbacks and depression. You have frequently resorted to alcohol in an endeavour to cope with your disorder. In addition to this obviously traumatic event, you also experienced a number of other difficult incidents during your policing career. I am told that in total you dealt with 118 dead bodies whilst you were a police officer.
You have over many years engaged with a variety of services to help you manage your condition. You have undertaken counselling, worked with psychologists and psychiatrists, taken medications and utilised a number of coping strategies in order to manage your post-traumatic stress disorder. For many years, you were largely successful in managing the condition, and you were able to live a productive life.
After you left the police service you completed a Bachelor of Education and went to work as a teacher. You worked in this profession for 19 years. Following these crimes, your teacher registration was suspended, and it is likely it will be cancelled following your conviction for these matters.
During the 19 years you worked as a teacher, your mental health, as well as your alcohol abuse, was well managed. In December 2021, however, the complainant who was also a teacher, was working at the Hillcrest Primary School when a tragic event, resulting in the loss of several students’ lives occurred. When you discovered what had occurred, you went to the school to support your wife. You witnessed the aftermath of that incident. In the days that followed, your post-traumatic stress disorder was reignited. The complainant was, understandably, experiencing her own difficulties following the incident. She had always been your primary support and the person to whom you would talk whenever your post-traumatic stress disorder resurfaced. Because, however, of what she was experiencing, she was unable to cope with any additional stressors and largely withdrew from being your primary support.
In the months that followed, you experienced much instability. Your mental health deteriorated. Your alcohol abuse escalated. You were engaged with a number of services endeavouring to bring things under control and for periods, were successful in doing so, but it was a tumultuous 12 month period for you. Then in September 2023, your father passed away. You were very close to your father. On the day of his passing, you attended the family home. There was a difficulty with the funeral home whom had attended to collect your father’s body, being able to remove his body using their usual stretcher because of a narrow passage way. You helped in moving his body. You were required to lift it and manoeuvre it. Whilst you were doing so, air was expelled from your deceased father’s lungs and you breathed the discharge in. It was a confronting experience for you. Later that evening, you experienced graphic flashbacks and smelt and tasted the discharge. That was the catalyst for a period of heavy alcohol consumption and your mental health rapidly declined. I am told you became very distressed and at times suicidal. It was against this background that the incident on 20 October occurred. You had been consuming alcohol heavily. When your wife arrived home, you tried to talk to her about how you were feeling, in particular your suicidal thoughts. You felt that she was not being responsive to your needs and your behaviour was an exceptionally misguided endeavour to gain her attention.
I am told that you are devastated by your behaviour towards your wife. You describe her as the “love of your life” and she has always been a primary source of support to you. You are embarrassed, ashamed and remorseful for your conduct. You have pleaded guilty at an early opportunity. That counts in your favour. It reflects an acceptance of responsibility and importantly has saved the complainant from the trauma of having to give evidence. You are determined to bring your post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse under control. You are awaiting admission to a specialist psychiatric facility and have plans to re-engage with counselling and mental health professionals upon your release. You have demonstrated in the past that you are well able to do this, and in my view, your prospects for rehabilitation are sound.
These were obviously serious crimes. They involved a breach of trust and, of course, any violence within a relationship is always concerning and is to be condemned. But I am satisfied your behaviour was out of character, arising against a background of confronting circumstances. An individualised sentencing approach is justified.
I make the following orders. You are convicted on each count. I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months, commencing 6 December 2023. I suspend the balance of the term for a period of 18 months from today. It is a condition of that order that whilst it is in force, you do not commit any offence punishable by imprisonment.
Pursuant to s 13A of the Family Violence Act I record these offences as family violence offences. Having considered the application of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act I do not consider that you will pose any real risk of future offending such as to warrant registration and I decline to make an order pursuant to that Act.