STATE OF TASMANIA v LOCHLAN JOHN JAHNIG 27 FEBRUARY 2020
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE ESTCOURT J
The defendant, Lochlan John Jahnig, has pleaded guilty to one count of assault by punching a fellow prisoner to the face.
On 27 November 2018 at approximately 11:10am, the defendant, the complainant and four other prisoners went into a cell together and closed the door. While they were in the cell the defendant assaulted the complainant by punching him once to the jaw. This caused two fractures to the complainant’s lower jaw, which the Crown accepts was not intended by Mr Jahnig, and bleeding from the mouth.
The complainant was seen by a doctor at the prison and ultimately taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital. He had two mandibular fractures which were internally fixed at the Hospital the following day. He spent some time as an inpatient and had some follow-up appointments.
The defendant was moved from medium to maximum security. As punishment he was kept in solitary confinement for seven days.
He was charged on complaint with assault and first appeared in the Magistrates Court on 8 May 2019. He entered a plea of not guilty and was committed to this Court on his second appearance. His case was listed for trial in late February 2020, but he pleaded guilty shortly beforehand. As has been noted many times, there is nonetheless utilitarian benefit in a late plea of guilty.
The defendant has prior convictions for violence including for assault for which he received a prison sentence.
I take into account all of the matters raised in mitigation by the defendant’s counsel, Mr Dolbey. In particular I note that the defendant is 23 years old. He has been in custody since January 2018. It is the first time that he has served a prison sentence, and he has been in prison now for over two years, with extensive lockdown time and extensive time in maximum security, and with very little contact with his family who live on the north west coast. There has been no suggestion of any further misconduct in prison since this offence was committed, an indication perhaps that Mr Jahnig’s conduct has changed. He is still a young man. He is entitled to an opportunity to demonstrate that his long period of recent incarceration has changed him. Rehabilitation is still a strong feature in sentencing a young man of this age, and he is not to be crushed. He says that he does not want to go back to prison, and looks forward to obtaining employment.
Obviously this is an assault that calls for a significant prison sentence because it was a deliberate attack, it resulted in serious injury, and it involved a serious breach of prison discipline. I note however that the defendant has already been punished by the prison authorities to an extent, in respect of the prison breach of discipline.
In all of the circumstances, the defendant is convicted and sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, which sentence I wholly suspend on the basis that he commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of three years. I note in passing that, in my view, a suspended sentence is a far more effective general and personal deterrent than a concurrent sentence, even if there were exceptional circumstances warranting the imposition of a concurrent sentence.