STATE OF TASMANIA v TAYCIAN HOPE FROST 11 NOVEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CUTHBERTSON J
Taycian Frost, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding. On 27 February 2026, you stabbed the complainant, who was your neighbour, during a dispute outside your unit. You were 20 years old when you committed this crime. You and the complainant lived in the same unit complex. It was night time. The complainant had taken her dog outside her unit to relieve itself. You made contact with the complainant’s dog with your foot to nudge it away. I was told that this occurred because the dog ran towards you, followed by the complainant, and that you believed it was going to attack you. The State did not take issue with this version of events. The complainant, however, accused you of kicking her dog. In response you called her a “mouthy slut” and said words to the effect of “You wanna have a go do ya” and threatened to stab her. The complainant kicked you in the stomach and you both physically fought each other for a period of time. You then pushed the complainant up against a railing at the property. You were holding a pair of sewing scissors. You stabbed the scissors into the complainant’s neck and headbutted her. I was told that you saw the complainant reaching into her pocket and were reacting to what you believed, in your heightened state, was an imminent knife attack. The complainant fell to her knees on the ground and you inflicted a second wound to the back of the complainant’s neck.
You ran back towards your own unit and rang 000 to report the incident. Police and paramedics attended and the complainant was taken to the hospital to receive treatment. Police arrested you at your unit. They saw a pair of scissors lying on the floor. You told the police that you had stabbed the complainant and they were the scissors you used. You made full admissions during the subsequent record of interview. In that interview, you stated many times that the complainant was asking to be attacked and that you had warned the complainant that you would stab her. You also told police that you carry scissors everywhere you go as you have been assaulted in the past and you use them to keep safe. You said that you did not want to hurt the complainant and that you had deliberately stabbed her in a place where you did not think internal damage would be caused. You later stated that you regret stabbing the complainant and realised that she could die because all it takes is a vein or an artery.
The complainant received two stab wounds. The first wound was a left internal jugular penetrating injury with suspected venous haemorrhage. The second was a penetrating wound at the back of the neck at the skull base. As a result of the stab wounds, the complainant suffered air or gas trapped under the skin within the neck extending to the skull base. She also received injuries from the headbutt, but I note that no separate charge has been laid in respect of that conduct and you are not to be sentenced for it. This aspect of the incident is, however, relevant to the overall circumstances in which the wounding occurred. The complainant was in hospital for three days and underwent surgery for exploration, suturing and stapling of the wounds to her neck and suturing of the nasal bridge laceration.
I have received a victim impact statement from the complainant in relation to this matter. She outlines that she sustained a wound to her neck that required 13 staples. The wound has essentially healed but she has been left with a scar that is about six centimetres long. She still experiences throbbing in the wound site now and then. Her pre-existing PTSD symptoms have worsened since the incident. Her ability to socialise has been affected by your offending. She has suffered nightmares and sleep problems. She is seeing a psychologist very regularly. She has noticed that her dog is more anxious and wary since this incident. The scar on her neck reminds her of what happened. She is experiencing ongoing distress. All of this is unsurprising. It must have been terrifying to be stabbed in such a vulnerable part of the body.
You have a record of offending commencing when you were 17 years old. You have a number of prior convictions. On 31 January 2025, you were sentenced in the Hobart Magistrates Court on charges of disturbing the public peace by fighting, four counts of common assault, dishonesty offences, a breach of police family violence order, bail breaches and a charge of throwing a glass bottle endangering another person. The sentences imposed included one of six months’ imprisonment which was wholly suspended for two years on condition that you not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during the period the order is in force. That sentence related to the offences of violence, including the breach of the police family violence order. By committing this wounding, you have breached the condition of suspension of that sentence by committing another offence punishable by imprisonment while the order was in force. The State has applied to review the suspended sentence. The sentence was not imposed in this Court, but everyone agrees that I should deal with the application. I must activate the sentence of imprisonment that is held in suspense and order that you serve it unless I am of the opinion that such an order would be unjust. You accept that your conduct breaches the terms of the suspended sentence but argue that it would be unjust to require you to serve it.
I now turn to the facts of the matters the subject of the suspended sentence.
Complaint 11607/2023 included one of the common assault charges. You pleaded guilty on that complaint to assaulting a 72 year old woman on 2 November 2023 by punching her to the forehead and pushing her to the chest. You were at the bus mall toilets at 10.30am with some friends. Your group became involved in a verbal and physical altercation with others. As the disturbance ended, the complainant approached and asked if everyone was okay. She then said that you all just needed to calm down a bit. You approached the complainant, asked her, “What did you say?”, and when she did not respond, you punched her to the head and pushed her to the chest. This caused her to fall backwards and strike the pavement.
Complaint 136/2024 is a further charge of common assault. You pleaded guilty on that complaint to assaulting a female on 8 November 2023 by punching her to the head and headbutting her twice to the face. This also occurred in the vicinity of the Glenorchy bus mall. The complainant boarded a bus and sat by herself towards the front. Shortly after, you boarded the bus with two other males. You were yelling loudly at one of these males, calling him a fucking prick and a cunt. This attracted the attention of the other passengers. The complainant stood up and approached you at the front of the bus and told you to get off the bus and stop carrying on. She put her hands on your upper body to attempt to manoeuvre you off the bus. You pushed back against the complainant and grabbed her by the upper body. There was a short altercation during which you punched the complainant approximately four times to the head, pinned her against the seating, then headbutted her twice. This was shortly after saying “Oh, did that hurt? Maybe keep your hands to your fucking self”. When you were spoken to about this offence, you stated that when you started, you were acting in self-defence, then went out of your way to hurt the complainant to get her off you.
Complaint 338/24 relates to two charges of common assault and one of breach of police family violence order. On 13 December 2024, you were on the bus with your then partner. You had previously been served with a police family violence order which included a condition that you not directly or indirectly threaten, abuse or assault him. You both began arguing with each other on the bus. During the course of that argument, you took issue with another passenger, a female school student who you did not know, and accused her of looking in your direction. You all got off at the same bus stop. As the school student walked past you, you called her a “dirty little slut”. She ignored you and went into the nearby supermarket. After she left the supermarket, you shoved her to the ground with considerable force and without warning, causing her to land onto her back in a bin. You continued to abuse the complainant before being moved on by security. You returned to the bus stop and started yelling at your partner about the other complainant looking at him earlier. You then pushed your partner, causing him to stagger back in the corner of the bus shelter. This assault was also a breach of the police family violence order. You later told police that you were in a bad mood from fighting with your boyfriend.
The final complaint, 334/24 relates to an incident that took place at Eastlands on 14 December 2023. At the time, you were the subject of a ban notice. Despite that ban notice, you attended the shopping centre with your boyfriend and went to the supermarket. As you left the supermarket, you became involved in an altercation with your boyfriend’s mother. You were carrying a drink in a glass bottle. As you walked away from the supermarket, you turned and threw the bottle towards your boyfriend’s mother with force. It narrowly missed her and smashed on the ground. You were located nearby by police in an agitated state.
You are now 21 years old. This is your first experience of imprisonment. As to the wounding, you say that you did not intend to stab the complainant to the neck but that you were aiming for her arm. After the initial blow with the knife, the complainant was still struggling and you headbutted her to get away. The complainant returned to her unit, retrieved a samurai sword, and banged on your door with it while you called police. None of this is disputed by the State. Clearly, both you and the complainant were agitated and aggressive at various stages during the course of the altercation.
The information that I have been provided about you suggests you are a vulnerable and troubled young woman. Your parents separated when you were young. You experienced a lot of family violence growing up. There was violence in the relationship between your parents, and then your mother experienced further violence in her subsequent relationships. Your parents both have mental health issues and your father has a history of drug use. You have exhibited hyperactive and impulsive behaviours from a young age which are consistent with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Your behaviour became more disruptive as you entered your teens, although you managed to complete year 10 at school. Since your late teens, your social circumstances have been complicated by homelessness and the use of illicit substances, including methylamphetamine and cannabis. You have had contact with mental health services over the last four years. This has included three admissions to the hospital. Two were in the context of low mood, one of which also involved an overdose of prescribed medication. A third was a longer admission for just over one month where you received a diagnosis of first episode psychosis. This was in the context of heavy use of alcohol and illicit substances. You were also homeless at that time. You have a long history of anxiety. When you were arrested and during the early weeks of your remand in custody, your presentation indicated a significant period of mood elevation suggestive of bipolar affective disorder. You are currently receiving treatment for that illness in the form of lithium therapy.
You had been living in the unit complex in Glenorchy where the wounding occurred for almost two years prior to this offence. This was a challenging environment for you, and you report that threats of violence were commonplace in the area. You had various altercations with a number of your neighbours, including the complainant. Your difficulties with the complainant were exacerbated by your involvement with the complainant’s ex-boyfriend a few weeks before the wounding. Graffiti was sprayed on your door with derogatory themes and a window smashed at your unit. Against that background, you were becoming increasingly fearful and admitted that when you left your unit or walked around the community you would often have a pair of scissors for your protection. You were not sleeping well. You made contact with drug and alcohol services, indicating you had some awareness that your drug use was escalating. Concerns about your mental state had been communicated to Mental Health Services. An assessment was undertaken on 20 January 2026. You were noted to be anxious, hypervigilant and paranoid at times, however no intervention occurred. You had been drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis and using methylamphetamines in the days leading up to the incident.
On your remand, you were commenced on anti-psychotic medication which appeared to improve your mental state after some time. New evidence emerged that you had been the victim of significant sexual violence in the previous year. You have also reported being assaulted and wounded in 2024. It is now understood that you are experiencing complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Your mental state has gradually continued to improve while on lithium. You have also undertaken dialectical behaviour therapy at the prison. I have been provided a letter from the clinician at the prison which advises that you have demonstrated motivation and commitment to the program, attended sessions on time and contributed with honesty. You have participated in the group program and individual sessions. Your engagement appears to be very positive and you have expressed a desire to develop skills to manage intense emotions, unhelpful thinking patterns and to manage your mental health.
I also received a report from Dr Michael Jordan, a forensic psychiatrist, addressing whether the Verdins principles apply in your case. He acknowledges that you been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder since committing this offence, noting that it has taken many months of treatment for your mood to become settled in custody. However, in his view, your misuse of various substances in the days leading up to the offending and your disputes with the complainant were the main contributors to your conduct. While it is likely your previous exposure to violence was a factor in you being armed with the scissors, these issues did not suggest your moral culpability was reduced. Dr Jordan expressed the view that you need help with the management of your various mental health disorders and that you would benefit from expert drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Supervision by your local mental health team and access to drug and alcohol rehabilitation were recommended as forming part of any sentencing outcome. He did not, however, consider that general deterrence should be moderated or eliminated as a sentencing consideration as a result of your mental health issues. He did consider that a number of your mental health conditions impact on your ability to absorb the effects of personal deterrence in a useful fashion. As a consequence, he recommended some moderation of specific deterrence given the complexity of your mental health presentation which was a factor at the time of the offending and still operative now to a lesser extent. He did not consider that the custodial environment would weigh more heavily upon you than an offender in normal health. He did, however, express the view that it will be important to ensure that the progress you have made in custody is continued in the community and that this should be facilitated with appropriate supports.
In respect of the application to review the suspended sentences, your counsel submitted that activation would be unjust because of the circumstances that lead to you committing the wounding. Unlike your earlier offences, you were not the initial aggressor and your reaction resulted from the increased vigilance, anxiety and fear you were experiencing since you were the victim of a significant offence of violence only months before this offence. While I accept that your fragile mental health and experience of trauma have likely had some impact on your offending on this occasion, it appears that your use of substances and interpersonal difficulties with the complainant were the principal drivers of your conduct on this occasion. This was also Dr Jordan’s opinion. There are a number of concerning similarities between the offences of violence you committed in 2023 and the conduct you engaged in on this occasion. All of the offences involve you reacting violently and disproportionately to perceived threats or challenges to your behaviour. I acknowledge that the suspended sentence was originally imposed to encourage your rehabilitation and that you have made some progress towards that goal while in custody. While I do not consider it is unjust to order that you serve the suspended sentence, the orders I will make take into account that sentence and are designed to help you maintain the progress you have made.
You have been in custody since 27 February 2026. You pleaded guilty at an early stage to this charge. I accept that any delay was a consequence of the investigations required to understand the impact of your mental state on your conduct. You are a young person, and your rehabilitation is something that I have given careful consideration to in the course of sentencing. Wounding is a serious offence. In this case, you caused two wounds to a very vulnerable part of the complainant’s body. It is very scary to think what would have happened if you had hit an artery or a vein. General deterrence is an important consideration when sentencing a person for an offence like this. The community is rightly very concerned about people carrying weapons, even for their own protection. Things can go horribly wrong when such weapons are used in a fight, particularly when the person with the weapon is agitated and not thinking clearly. It is important to send a message that such offences are serious. It is also important to send the message to you that you should not do this sort of thing. I accept that being in prison has had an impact on you and that you are motivated not to return. A sentence of imprisonment is required but I will order that part of the sentence be suspended. It will be coupled with a community correction order with conditions that you submit to the supervision of a probation officer and engage in treatment for alcohol and drug abuse and mental health issues.
Taycian Frost, I am satisfied that you have been found guilty of an offence punishable by imprisonment committed during the period the order suspending the six month period of imprisonment imposed in the Magistrates Court on 31 January 2025 was in force. I activate the six month sentence of imprisonment held in suspense and order that you serve it. I order that the activated sentence be backdated to 27 February 2026. You are convicted on the charge of wounding on complaint 1973/26. You are sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment commencing on 26 May 2026. Six months of that sentence is suspended on condition that you do not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of two years. In addition, I make a community correction order for a period of 18 months on your release from custody. In addition to the core conditions of a community correction order, which will be set out in writing for you, I impose a number special conditions. They are that during the operational period of the order, you must:
- submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer;
- undergo assessment and treatment for drug dependency as directed by a probation officer;
- submit to testing for drug use as directed by a probation officer;
- submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer;
- engage with mental health services and comply with prescribed treatment and the lawful directions of mental health clinicians under the Statewide Mental Health Service.
You must report to the office of Community Corrections in Hobart before 4pm on the day of your release from custody. During the remainder of your sentence, it is my expectation that the Planning and Reintegration team at the prison and Correctional Health Services who have been treating you while in custody communicate and liaise with Community Corrections and Community Mental Health Services to plan for your release and to ensure there are supports in place for you upon your release from custody.