STATE OF TASMANIA v BRADY PETER PENNEYSTON 14 DECEMBER 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr Penneyston has pleaded guilty to a charge of assault. This crime was committed at about 3.20am on Saturday 11 June 2022.
On the evening of Friday 10 June Mr Penneyston, his brother and a number of friends began drinking together at one of their homes, and then went to Salamanca Place where they had more drinks. Mr Penneyston had an enormous amount to drink and became very intoxicated. At about 3.20am on the Saturday morning he and his companions were walking up Murray Street near the junction with Despard Street. Three other men were walking down Murray Street on the opposite side of the roadway. Members of the two groups began yelling at one another, and then fighting one another. Mr Penneyston’s brother attacked a man, knocked him unconscious, and was punching him as he lay on the ground. To his credit, Mr Penneyston intervened and pushed his brother away. However he then walked up to a member of the other group, spoke to him, and then punched him to the face without warning, causing him to stumble backwards and fall over. He punched that man two more times when he was on the ground, and then kicked him once to the head before walking away. One of Mr Penneyston’s companions filmed the fighting on his mobile phone while yelling words of encouragement. The police arrived, whereupon Mr Penneyston and his brother fled.
Ten days later, on 21 June, Mr Penneyston was arrested and taken to a police station where he voluntarily participated in an electronically recorded interview. He cooperated with the police and made admissions, but it is clear that he did not have a full recollection of the events in question. He was shown the video recording, saw what he had done, and was disgusted by his conduct.
I have been provided with a victim impact statement. The victim lost two teeth as a result of the assault. One of them pierced his lip, resulting in permanent scarring. One of his tooth sockets was very painful. He suffered from severe concussion and headaches. His memory has been affected. He is a tradesman. Before the assault he had no trouble remembering measurements, but he now has to write everything down. He forgets having been introduced to people, and is embarrassed when they tell him he has met them before. He has ongoing problems with back pain. He has trouble now with irritability, and tension. He has not had the courage to attend any licensed venues since the assault. The attack came at a bad time for him. He was about to move interstate with his two young children. When he was moving and settling into a new area, he was troubled by months of pain and the need to attend dental and medical appointments.
Mr Penneyston was 25 years old at the time of this assault and is now 26. He has some relevant prior convictions. A magistrate imposed a conviction in 2017 for an assault that constituted a family violence offence. In 2019 he was sentenced to 18 months’ home detention on charges of assault and causing grievous bodily harm. Some 8 weeks later the home detention order was cancelled and he was given a substituted sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment, with 12 months thereof suspended. Those sentences related to an attack by Mr Penneyston on his former partner’s father. He assaulted him by grabbing him, wrestling him to the ground, and punching him about 10 times near his left eye. Subsequently he picked up a large rock and struck him with it to the right side of his face, breaking his jaw in three places. The home detention order was cancelled as a result of him losing his accommodation and not being able to find alternative accommodation, not because of any breach of the conditions of the order.
Mr Penneyston is a single man. He has a five year old daughter. When he appeared before me about six weeks ago I was told that there was an arrangement for him to have his daughter on Wednesday evenings and alternate weekends. I have now been told that the daughter has come to live with him because the child’s mother has a drug problem and the child had not been attending school. At this moment the child is with his sister. It appears that no arrangement has been made as to what will happen to the child if Mr Penneyston is sent to prison even though he has been considered an unsuitable candidate for a home detention order. It is relevant that if I do send him to prison he will be concerned about the welfare of his daughter.
Mr Penneyston is in full-time employment with a company that renovates houses. He is a trusted hard-working employee. He plays indoor soccer and has never been sent off for fighting. On the night in question, before committing an assault himself, there had been not one but two occasions when his brother had been assaulting someone mercilessly and he had intervened to end the violence. He is sorry for the harm that he caused to the victim of this assault. He acknowledges that he should not have placed himself in the situation where he committed this crime by drinking alcohol to excess. He wants to maintain the relationship with his daughter, stay out of trouble, maintain employment, keep away from people who get into trouble, and not drink too much.
This was a bad case of alcohol-fuelled street violence. Because of the harm done to the victim and Mr Penneyston’s prior convictions, the only appropriate penalties would be a prison sentence or home detention. Home detention is of course a form of imprisonment. As I have said, a probation officer has reported that Mr Penneyston is not a suitable candidate for a home detention order. The officer said that because Mr Penneyston does not have suitable accommodation. Even though no satisfactory arrangements have been made for the child and the child may suffer as a result of being deprived of her father I think that this is so serious a case that I must send Mr Penneyston to prison. I will suspend part of his sentence because of the signs of rehabilitation and for the purpose of encouraging him to stay out of trouble after his release from prison.
Brady Peter Penneyston, I convict you and sentence you to 12 months’ imprisonment. I suspend 6 months of this sentence on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for three years after your release from prison.