STATE OF TASMANIA v ISAAC JESS HALL 31 AUGUST 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BRETT J
Mr Hall, you have pleaded guilty to one count of assault.
The crime was committed on 25 October 2018. The complainant is a man known to you. You claim that you were bullied by this man when you were 12 years of age and there has been ill feeling between you since then. He came to your house on the day in question, uninvited and apparently looking for someone. You claim that he was aggressive. I have not been given any other significant detail as to what happened at the house and, accordingly, whether or not he was aggressive, he was clearly not there for a pleasant social interaction, and there was an altercation between you. He left soon after this altercation, and you and another man obviously went after him. You had armed yourself with a hockey stick. You met him as he was coming back down the street towards your house. I do not know what happened then because I have not been told but at the very least, you attacked him with the hockey stick and he ran away. You chased him down the street swinging the stick at him. You hit him to the back of his head and shoulders and back several times with the stick. Eventually, you broke off the chase.
The complainant presented to the emergency department of the hospital later that day. He had a number of injuries to his head and back including a depressed skull fracture in two places with intracranial bleeding. He required surgery including the placement of acromioplasty and remained in ICU and then in the rehabilitation ward until his discharge on 28 November. He has ongoing psychiatric issues, and these are attributed by medical advice to a combination of pre-existing mental health issues and the head injuries suffered by him on the day in question. However, the prosecution is not able to establish that these injuries resulted from your assault. For the injuries to be taken into account in aggravation, it would be necessary for the prosecution to establish this causal link beyond reasonable doubt and it is conceded by the prosecutor that it is not possible to do so. The prosecution acknowledges that there could well have been intervening events between your attack and the presentation of the complainant at the hospital. Accordingly, I will not proceed on the basis that your criminal responsibility is aggravated by the actual causation of the serious injuries.
Notwithstanding this however, there are some serious accepts to this assault. It was perpetrated in public and you were armed with a weapon. A number of members of the public witnessed what you did and I have no doubt that this would have been distressing for them. Further, although the offence is not aggravated by the actual causation of injury, you were hitting this man to his head with a wooden stick. Clearly, there was considerable potential for injury. On the other hand, the circumstances in which this assault took place provide you with some mitigation. It is accepted that initially you did not invite the man to your house, and you were responding to whatever took place after he had arrived. I accept that it is probable that he, at the very least, contributed to the conflict which arose between you on this day. However, by chasing the complainant and continuing to hit him, you have gone well beyond what could be regarded as a reasonable response to whatever threat you detected on the day in question. Further, this conflict was not something you had planned or premeditated, and you reacted spontaneously in the circumstances.
You are now 22 years of age and were 19 at the time. You have had a difficult life, including being subjected to serious abuse as a young child. I accept that you have ongoing mental health problems, although I have not been presented with any formal material in that regard. You have a lengthy history of offending as a youth, but you do not a significant history of violent offending, although there is one prior matter relating to common assault. You also have a history of substance abuse. I agree with the assessment contained in the presentence report that you require a high level of supervision.
The serious aspects of the crime and the need to emphasise general deterrence require the imposition of a sentence of imprisonment. However, taking into account your age, your plea of guilty, the mitigating factors to which I have referred, and your lack of any significant history of violent offending, I will offer you an opportunity to actually avoid actually serving the sentence I intend to impose. A suspended sentence will also facilitate ongoing supervision.
Accordingly, the orders I make are as follows:
- You are convicted of the crime to which you have pleaded guilty;
- You are sentenced to a term of 7 months’ imprisonment, the whole of which will be suspended for a period of 12 months’ on the following conditions:
- that you are not to commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during that period.
- that you will be subject to the supervision of a probation officer. You must comply with this condition for a period of 12 months. That period will commence from today. The Court notes that the conditions referred to in s 24(5B) of the Sentencing Act 1997 apply to this condition. These include that you must report to a probation officer within 3 clear days of today In addition to the core conditions the order shall also include the following special conditions:
(a) you must, during the operational period of the order,
- attend educational and other programs as directed by the court or a probation officer;
- 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;