STATE OF TASMANIA v FELICIA ANN JACKSON 5 FEBRUARY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Felicia Ann Jackson, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of wounding. You have also pleaded guilty to three summary offences that I am dealing with under s 385A of the Criminal Code. Those comprise one charge of assault and two charges of breaching bail conditions.
On 12 November 2018, you and a male friend arranged to spend a night together in a hotel in Launceston. You should not have done that because you were on bail on various charges, including two assault charges, and your bail conditions required you to be at home at an address in Shorewell every night between 8pm and 7am.
You went to Launceston with your friend. You began drinking, and you became violent. You hit him to the head with a beer bottle, and that is the subject of the assault charge. You smashed one bottle against another, and a little later attacked the man with a piece of broken glass and cut his hand. He needed to be taken to hospital and the wound was repaired with eight stitches.
The second charge of breach of bail relates to the following night when you were not at home because you were assisting the police in Launceston with their enquiries, and then they arrested you and kept you there, so I do not regard that as a serious charge.
You are a paranoid schizophrenic. You know that you are. You have had all sorts of troubles with homelessness and that mental illness. At the time in question you were not taking medication because you had financial difficulties. You have been through a turbulent time over the last couple of years, and you have spent 69 days in custody over the last 15 months that I will be taking into account. I will be imposing a prison sentence, that I will backdate by 69 days.
It counts in your favour that you pleaded guilty. I counts in your favour, a little bit, that the man in question has forgiven you. I think there is a continuing need for you to have a probation officer who might be able to assist you. I think that 69 days is a bit short as a prison sentence for what you did, so I am going to impose a sentence that sees you in prison for several more weeks, and I hope that someone can find you accommodation in that time.
I convict you and sentence you to five months’ imprisonment with effect from 29 November 2019. I make a community correction order to operate for 12 months after your release from prison, with conditions that (a) during the operational period of the order you must submit to the supervision of a probation officer as required by the probation officer; and (b) during the operational period of the order you must submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by a probation officer.