STATE OF TASMANIA v SHARON LORRAINE HAYES 4 MARCH 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Ms Hayes has pleaded guilty to two counts of assault. Both relate to incidents on 6 May 2018 when she made threatening gestures towards her former partner by driving her car at him, placing him in fear of being involved in a collision.
Ms Hayes lived with the man in question at his home in Somerset from about November 2017 until early May 2018. On 4 May there was an argument between them. As a result, Ms Hayes was served with a police family violence order that, amongst other things, required her not to threaten, harass, abuse or assault her partner, directly or indirectly, and not to damage any of his property. Two days later, that man was driving along the Bass Highway at Ocean Vista on a Sunday afternoon when Ms Hayes by chance was driving in the opposite direction with two passengers in her car. She deliberately swerved onto his side of the road and drove straight towards his vehicle, travelling at about 70 Km/h. He avoided a collision by swerving hard to his left into a bike lane.
Threatening by any gesture to apply force to the body of another person amounts to an assault if, in the words of the Criminal Code, “the person making the … threat has, or causes the other [person] to believe on reasonable grounds that he [or she] has, present ability to effect his [or her] purpose”. That was the situation at the time of the first incident. Ms Hayes caused her former partner to believe that she could cause a collision in which force would be indirectly applied to his body. Threatening by a gesture to injure another person, or even to shake or jolt that person, amounts to an assault.
After her former partner had avoided a collision by swerving into the bike lane, Ms Hayes stopped, turned her vehicle, drove back after him, overtook him, and stopped her vehicle in front of his in the middle of the road. He made a U turn, drove off in the opposite direction, and phoned the police. At the suggestion of the police, he made another U turn, and headed back towards Burnie to go to the police station there. Once again, he encountered Ms Hayes driving in the opposite direction.
She crossed onto the wrong side of the road and drove towards his vehicle in his lane at about 70 Km/h. This time, he avoided a collision by swerving to his right, onto his wrong side of the road. Ms Hayes did not return to her correct side of the road, but drove to her right, into the oncoming bike lane, and stopped. Ms Hayes was arrested later that day and spent one night in custody before being bailed.
I was not provided with a victim impact statement. The incident was no doubt a frightening one for the man in question.
Ms Hayes is now 54 years old. Her only prior convictions are for minor traffic offences. She was prosecuted in the Magistrates Court for a number of offences committed in relation to the breakdown of the relationship with her partner. Those offences were committed between 3 May and 21 July 2018 inclusive. She pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a police family violence order, one count of destroying property, one count of injuring property, and five counts of breaching an interim family violence order. In January 2019 a magistrate recorded convictions and adjourned the matter on her giving an undertaking under s 7(f) of the Sentencing Act 1997.
In a number of respects Ms Hayes has had a difficult life, but she has stayed out of serious trouble except in relation to the breakdown of the relationship with her former partner. What she did on the day in question was out of character. She may well have had legitimate grievances about her partner’s conduct, but that does not excuse what she did. She used her car as a weapon. On two occasions she created dangerous situations. It is fortunate that no collision occurred, and that no one was hurt.
Having regard to all the circumstances, particularly the fact that Ms Hayes has no significant prior convictions, I think that the most appropriate penalty would be an order requiring her to perform some community service.
I have been provided with a report from a probation officer which says that she is deemed suitable to participate in court ordered community service, but only if she provides full medical clearance. I have also been provided today with a copy of a certificate from a medical practitioner who says that Ms Hayes is medically fit to perform duties as required for any court ordered community service. I expect that that would be considered a sufficient medical clearance, and I will therefore make a community correction order.
Sharon Lorraine Hayes, I convict you and make a community correction order with a condition that you must, within 12 months, satisfactorily perform and complete 70 hours’ community service as directed by a probation officer or a supervisor. I direct that these crimes be recorded on your criminal record as family violence offences.