STATE OF TASMANIA v RAYMOND PETER MAUDER 19 FEBRUARY 2025
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Raymond Mauder, you plead guilty to two counts of attempting to commit arson. I also agreed to sentence you on your plea of guilty to the related summary charges of injure property, destroy property, driving with alcohol in your blood in excess of the prescribed limit and reckless driving. The crimes were committed on 8 November 2023. You had recently separated from your long term partner Maxine Brown after she discovered that you had been communicating on-line with a woman who lived overseas. You continued however to live in the home which Ms Brown owned in Deloraine. On that day you engaged in a prolonged and heated argument. She left the house because she felt unsafe following which you consumed the whole of a 700 ml bottle of liquor. You set about trashing the house and contents. You destroyed a television and the refrigerator, and either damaged or destroyed computer equipment, electrical fittings, picture frames, doors, cupboards, shelves and a mirror. You emptied the fridge and pantry and smashed the contents onto the floor. You sprayed tomato sauce on the carpet throughout the house. The estimated cost or repair or replacement exceeded $15,000. You then lit the wood fire in the living room, rolled up a throw rug and put one end of it in the flames and trailed the other end towards the couches. In the bedroom you lit two candle jars and put clothing near them. You then went to the shed, sprayed oil on the floor from one of your motor cycles and turned the electric bar heater onto its maximum setting and put books on and in front of the heater. While in the shed you closed all the doors and windows and started two other motor cycles which you left running while you stayed inside.
When Ms Brown returned at about 6.45 pm she saw what you had done. You were still there but drove off on a motor cycle without a helmet or protective clothing. You were an experienced motor cycle rider but you were then seen to be riding recklessly. You sped along Meander Valley Road through an 80 kph speed limit zone considerably faster than 100 kph and veered into oncoming traffic forcing two cars to take evasive action. Near the intersection of Highland Lakes Road and Meander Valley Road you drove your motor cycle directly into a guard rail at speed. You were ejected from the motor cycle and landed six metres below the road down an embankment. Later analysis disclosed a blood alcohol level of 0.118.
You were interviewed by the police about three months later on 5 February 2024. You claimed little memory of what had occurred but said that you thought you had lost control of the motor cycle because of the effect of the alcohol you had consumed. You said had reacted to the way you believed that Ms Brown had been treating you and that you had some form of psychological breakdown. It seems clear from your actions in the shed and by driving the motor cycle into the guard rail that these were attempts to take your own life.
As a result of the collision with the guard rail you suffered grave injuries which will affect you for the rest of your life. There were fractures of your spine, a complex pelvic fracture and serious fractures to the femur, tibia and fibula in your left leg. There were internal injuries, a degloving injury near your left knee and a brain haemorrhage. You required multiple surgeries and spent time in intensive care. You were in hospital for many months and required readmission for a bone graft and a new plate and nail when the fractured femur did not heal. It is now 15 months since you were injured and you remain confined to a wheelchair and considerable disabled.
You are now aged 58. You have no prior convictions in Tasmania but you have convictions in Brisbane including for driving with a high alcohol reading in 1986, stealing in 1987 and possessing a drug in 1996. Because of the age of those prior convictions they are of little relevance.
It follows from your pleas of guilty to two counts of attempted arson that you intended to set fire to the house and shed. Arson is regarded as the most serious property crime because of the high risk it poses to both property and persons. Nevertheless it is relevant that despite your acts and intention none of the steps you took resulted in a fire which damaged the structure of the house or shed. I accept that you seemingly committed these offences in a state of personal desperation or despair exacerbated by the alcohol you consumed. On the other hand, it is an aggravating factor that you did these vindictive acts in the context of the breakdown of a relationship to punish Ms Brown and, in that sense, they are family violence offences. I am told that the relationship has resumed and you have returned to the house. She, in effect, has assumed the role as your carer. That suggests some element of forgiveness. You have started to pay her back for the damage you did.
Your plea of guilty to reckless driving carries an admission that you realised that the manner in which you rode the motor cycle put others in danger.
No sentence I impose will punish you more than the physical damage you did to yourself. You are plainly unfit for community service. I see no need for supervision. Because you are back living with Ms Brown I cannot make a home detention order. The Sentencing Act prohibits the making of a home detention order which detains a family violence offender in premises at which a victim of the offence is to reside. You will be disqualified from driving and fined for the driving offences but you do not have the capacity to pay a fine sufficient to adequately reflect the seriousness of your property crimes. In my view the only appropriate sentence is a term of imprisonment but, in the circumstances, I will wholly suspend it.
Raymond Mauder, on complaint 31478/24, the driving offences, you are convicted on both counts. I impose one sentence. You are fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for two years from today. Any driver licence you have is cancelled. You have 28 days to pay that sum but you may apply to enter into a repayment plan. You are convicted on both counts on the indictment and counts 3 and 4 on complaint 31476/24. I make a compensation order in favour of Maxine Brown but adjourn the further terms of that order to a date to be fixed. In accordance with the Family Violence Act, s 13A, I direct that counts 3 and 4 on complaint 31476/24 be recorded on your criminal record as family violence offences. On both counts on the indictment and on those two counts on the complaint I impose one sentence, a term of imprisonment of 15 months wholly suspended for three years from today. It is a condition of that order that while it is in force you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment. If you breach that condition you will be required to serve the term unless that is unjust.