STATE OF TASMANIA v LONEWOLF MANSELL 22 AUGUST 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE GEASON J
Mr Mansell, There are three indictments before the court for sentence and a summary matter I am dealing with pursuant to s 385A of the Code, on a plea of guilty accepted through counsel.
I will deal first with the count of wounding. You were aged 18 at the time of this crime. The complainant, James Michael Grant was aged 50.
You and the complainant were not known to each other. On 30 March 2021 you were visiting your mother at her unit in Invermay. At around 3.45 pm while at that address you became involved in a verbal dispute with your girlfriend. The complainant was visiting at a nearby unit and attempted to intervene.
As a result you and the complainant had a verbal argument before the complainant left the area. Shortly after that, you walked to the back of the units where a red SUV was parked. You were standing at the vehicle when the complainant approached you and a further verbal argument ensued.
You then produced a firearm from the boot of the vehicle. The firearm was wrapped in a sheet and you pointed it at the complainant. The argument continued and you then removed the firearm from the sheet and pointed it at the complainant. The complainant then began to move away with his hands in the air. You followed the complainant pointing the firearm at his back.
After a few steps you swung the firearm striking the complainant to the back of the head causing him to fall to the ground. You then returned to the red SUV and you left the scene. The complainant was transported to the Launceston General Hospital by ambulance for treatment.
The complainant presented at the hospital suffering from moderate ongoing blood loss from his posterior occiput, he suffered a wound that was six centimetres in length and deep to the facia. He required six sutures and was prescribed antibiotics to prevent infection. The complainant stayed in hospital overnight for observation and was discharged the following day.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of a main road in peak-hour traffic. Police received a triple zero call from a witness who watched the incident unfold from her vehicle and was able to provide a detailed description of you and to notify the presence of the firearm. As a result of her call to police, police attended the scene and an investigation commenced regarding the identity of the offender.
On 5 April 2021 police attended an address in Rocherlea where a search warrant was executed in relation to an unrelated matter. During the search of that residence police located you and a firearm. On 7 April 2021, CCTV footage was obtained from Housing Tasmania which captured part of the incident I have just described. You were able to be identified from that footage. On 7 April 2021, you were arrested and conveyed to the Launceston police station where you participated in a video record of interview with police.
During the interview you stated that you were having an argument with your partner; you said the complainant came out with a pocket knife and you felt threatened so you stood up for yourself, a version that is not accepted by the State. You said you do not know him but you had heard he comes out with machetes, a claim also not accepted by the State. You said you went to the car and got a gun, pointed the gun at him and told him to fuck off
You told police the firearm that was retrieved from the car was a BB gun; it had a wooden buck and small barrel; the ability to fire small balls but was not loaded. When you were arrested at the Rocherlea address you had the same firearm with you. You said you do not own the firearm, but that your girlfriend told you it was in the car before the incident. You claimed your mother was present at the time of the incident and the complainant had started mouthing off at her, which is when you got really angry. You said you have a few people after you and you did not know if the complainant, was one of them but that just came at you with a knife and you got scared and ran away. Again a version not accepted by the State.
You said you were aware there was CCTV but you do not care. The CCTV footage would show you and the complainant engaging in hitting one another, again not accepted by the State. You said you regretted hitting the complainant; you agreed it was you in the photo taken from the CCTV footage; that you were holding a firearm in a threatening way, and it was self-defence, again not accepted by the State, and a claim that is abandoned by your plea of guilty.
You were charged following your electronic record of interview and detained. You have never held a firearms licence. On 24 June 2021 you entered a plea of not guilty and were committed to the Supreme Court of Tasmania to first appeared on 30 August 2021.
In the next matter the complainants are Greg Williams and Robyn Williams. On 4 April 2021 Mr and Mrs Williams were inside their residence at an address in Rocherlea. The backyard of that address faced the backyard of another address with both yards being separated by a timber fence.
Mrs Williams heard a sound that she described as like the crackling of glass. She walked to a window and saw you with straight hair, a thin frame, wearing dark clothing. She saw that you were holding a black air rifle. You fired the air rifle and the shot hit the back glass window. you fired the rifle again and it hit the brickwork at Mr and Mrs Williams’ property.
A further shot was fired which hit a metal cabinet on the back deck of that address. At approximately 4.55 pm on the same day Mrs Williams again observed you firing the same rifle in the direction of the back of her house. She took several photographs which she later provided to police.
Mr Williams walked outside and yelled, “That’s enough”. He retrieved several pellets from the back deck and contacted police. The pellets were small, round projectiles covered in pink foil. About 1pm on 5 April 2021, police attended the address where they spoke with the occupant.
Police were in possession of a search warrant and searched the premises. They located an air rifle behind a clothes dryer in the laundry. The occupier of the house denied any knowledge of the firearm. You were present at the address and arrested by police before being transported to the Launceston police station. Police commenced an investigation which involved the forensic testing of swabs obtained from the firearm seized at that address.
These swabs included a swab of the stock, fire stock, a barrel of the firearm, a DNA profile was detected which included four contributors including you.
Ballistics evidence revealed that the firearm seized from that address was in working order and capable of discharging a projectile by means of compressed air. The firearm was not fitted with a safety catch.
You participated in an interview with police on 5 April 2021 and stated under caution that the firearm did not belong to you, although you had discharged it before. You said you were at the bush shooting the previous day; you did not discharge the firearm causing some glass to break; and that, “Everyone shot it yesterday, it was not just me”.
You denied shooting the firearm in the direction of anyone’s house, you said you discharged the firearm in the direction of a can which was placed on the chair in front of a tree.
Your now 20 years old. You grew up in Launceston, one of six children. You had a difficult childhood. Your parents were together for approximately 25 years, however from a young age you were exposed to a father who heavily abused alcohol and drugs.
There were incidences of family violence and you witnessed the physical and verbal abuse of your mother. You spent time in and out of foster care and had numerous interactions with Child and Family Services, all of which was very disruptive.
Your father died suddenly when you were 16 and this is said to have had a very profound impact upon you. Up until then you had been living a life relatively free from alcohol and drugs, but you began using alcohol and then very quickly illicit substances, methamphetamine and cannabis, apparently to deal with the loss of your father. Your methamphetamine use spiralled as such that you had a habit that was costing you hundreds of dollars a week and you were offending to finance your substance abuse.
You began missing school, and you were eventually suspended because of behavioural issues and you ended your schooling at this point.
Because of your lack of education you have had difficulty gaining any meaningful employment since finishing school and you struggle with reading and writing, limiting employment options that are available to you.
You have a number of prior convictions, though I accept submissions that these occurred in a relatively concentrated period. Many of them coincide with your financing your drug habit which I am told has being brought under control, save that you continue to use cannabis.
There are nevertheless relevant prior matters. You have a history of violence and there are three convictions for common assault,
There is also a conviction for possessing an unregistered firearm without a licence
In relation to the wounding matter, it is aggravating that this offending occurred in a public place in broad daylight. You were not known to the complainant and he required hospitalisation overnight due to his injuries. You used a firearm you were not licensed to possess to inflict the wound.
In relation to the matter of being armed in public, the triple zero call was made by a member of the public who was sitting in peak-hour traffic and who saw the firearm used by you whilst you were involved in the altercation with the complainant. She was concerned enough by what she saw to immediately call police.
In relation to the recklessly discharging of a firearm count, according to an expert from ballistics, the firearm was capable of causing a serious wound to a human and was not fitted with a safety catch as I have noted. Your conduct again occurred in a public place and posed a risk to the people at the neighbouring property.
In relation to your please of guilty, I am prepared to accept and the State accepts this to that there is a utilitarian benefit which accrues and I will discount your sentence accordingly.
I also accept that this offending occurred on two separate dates, but that on the occasion of the second in time offending you had not been apprehended for the first. Something which might have interrupted this course of conduct.
The primary sentencing considerations which are relevant involve personal and general deterrence. The sentence the Court imposes must operate to cause you to reflect upon your behaviour and discouraging further offending by you. It must also serve to deter others.
The Court also has an obligation to vindicate the victims of your offending.
I take account of the fact that you are still a relative young man and your rehabilitation is also an important sentencing consideration. I intend to impose a period of supervision in accordance with the recommendation contained in the presentence report in order to encourage your engagement with services designed to assist you in making personal progress on the basis that if you can achieve that there is a very good prospect that you will not reoffend
I will frame the head sentence with the same consideration in mind.
In order to address the need to have regard to totality, I will impose sentences which are not in combination so crushing as to defeat your efforts at self improvement.
On the count of wounding I impose a penalty 12 months’ imprisonment.
On the count of recklessly discharging a firearm a sentence you to six months’ imprisonment cumulative to the sentence that I have just imposed.
On the count of being unlawfully armed in public I sentence you to three months imprisonment concurrent with the sentences that I have just imposed.
On the summary matter I record a conviction.
The title effective sentence is 18 months’ imprisonment.
In order to encourage your rehabilitation and recognising that a suspended sentence operates as a personal and general deterrent I will suspend the operation of that sentence on condition that your good behaviour for a period of three years and comply with the supervision order I am about to make.
I direct that you are to be subject to a period of supervision for a period of 12 months subject to the conditions contained within the presentence report I have received which includes support in relation to education and employment related matters, in relation to substance abuse issues and related risks, and anger management. I further directed you must attend and participate in and complete the Equips addiction programme as directed by your probation officer.
I make that supervision order subject to review after a period of three months. That review process is intended to determine your cooperation with the probation service in relation to that order given that I have also made compliance with that order a condition of the suspension of the sentences that I have imposed, I remind you that a failure to comply with the reasonable directions of your probation officer and in respect of the specific matters to which I have referred may result in the activation of that sentence.
I direct that you attend at the Probation and Parole Service today in order that arrangements can be made to give effect to the supervision order that I have just imposed.