STATE OF TASMANIA v STEELE LESLIE WARD 5 AUGUST 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE MARTIN AJ
Mr Ward, you have pleaded guilty to unlawfully assaulting the victim on 10 June 2021 by releasing a fire extinguisher into his face, striking him to the head with the fire extinguisher and kicking him to the body. Your plea of guilty was entered in the magistrates court and you are entitled to credit for entering an early plea of guilty.
At the time of the offending, you had been in Tasmania for just over four months. You were homeless and living on the streets with no means of support.
Late in the morning of 10 June 2021 you entered the foyer of premises in Cimitere Street, Launceston which house a number of businesses, including The Green Bean Café. The proprietors of The Green Bean Café regularly provide a cooked meal, dessert and coffee to homeless persons. You assaulted a person who goes out of their way to help homeless people like you.
Late in the morning the victim became aware that you were lying on a couch in the foyer of the café. You appeared to be asleep. When the victim spoke to you, it appeared to him that you woke up, but after he asked you if you were okay and said you could not sleep on the couch, you yelled at the victim that you were not asleep and were okay.
The victim returned to the café, but about twenty minutes later was advised that you were still on the couch and were removing your shoes. The victim again approached and asked if you were okay. He offered you something to eat or drink, but you responded angrily that you were not asleep and demanded that he leave you alone. Notwithstanding your aggressive response, the victim told you that he was going inside to get you something to eat and a coffee.
Not surprisingly, the victim was concerned by your aggression and looked for his iPad to search for a non-emergency police number. He then noticed that you had entered the café, holding a fire extinguisher. You let out one gust of powder and returned the extinguisher to your side.
When the victim approached you and tried to talk to you again, you held the fire extinguisher at eye level and sprayed the contents into the victims face, instantly blinding him. You then struck the victim to the side of the head with the extinguisher, causing the victim to fall to the floor. While he was on the floor, you kicked the victim to his ribs a couple of times.
Shortly after the assault you left the building. The victim was taken by ambulance to hospital for treatment, suffering chest pain and a headache. An x-ray disclosed an intra-cranial fracture of the left zygomatic arch (around the eye socket and cheekbone). The victim also suffered multiple rib fractures and bruising around his chest.
Having identified you from CCTV footage, the police located you the next day at Royal Park and you were taken to the police station where you were interviewed. Your responses to questions illuminate your attitude, that is, they demonstrate your attitude. In effect, you blamed the victim for, as you described him, being a “wanker” and getting in front of you when you had the fire extinguisher. You also suggested that he treated you badly. Quite frankly, Mr Ward, you spouted a lot of nonsense in the course of that interview. Nonsense in which you attempted to blame the victim who was entirely blameless. All he had done was try to help you. There were a number of other matters in the interview that are unnecessary to relate. As I said it was nonsense. You even suggested that the victim did not like homeless people and was discriminating. You spoke about the victim walking into the extinguisher, getting sprayed in the face and the you said “Well, so I hit him with the fire extinguisher. Seeing he got that close which is pretty stupid”. You laughed before saying ” to be honest, I mean, who, what was he thinking?”
As to what happened after you had struck the victim with the fire extinguisher, you told police that you gave the victim a “kick up the arse” and the victim ran away. You went on to say “I still didn’t get my coffee”.
Typical of your attitude was your comment to police that it was “pretty silly” for the victim to stand in front of you and “pretty stupid” since he could have just gone away. As is plain from what I have said earlier, I reject your claims about the conduct of the victim. He was blameless. He is a person who goes out of his way to assist homeless people, like you were, and he did nothing and said nothing on the day in question to aggravate you.
As to your intention when you hit the victim with the fire extinguisher you said that you intended to “knock him out”. Asked how hard you struck the victim, you responded “not hard enough, he got up.” You told police that the victim dropped to the ground, then got up again, so you sprayed him again, and then I kicked him, and sprayed him more.
What you need to understand Mr Ward is that you had no excuse whatsoever for your behaviour and you have caused significant damage to the victim. You fractured his cheekbone; you fractured his ribs. These are not minor injuries and I have a victim impact statement from the victim which I have been told he has requested should not be read in open Court, in which the victim has explained to me the severe effects that your conduct has had on him. It is not only the physical injuries. It is the mental trauma. In case you do not understand what I mean by trauma, it means distress, great distress that has been caused to him and is ongoing. The effects of your behaviour have affected the victims life and those effects are likely to continue for some time. There has also been a financial impact.
So Mr Ward you committed a serious offence, but I need to have regard also to matters personal to you. Significantly you have reached the age of 25 years without previously getting into trouble with the criminal law. So for some unexplained reason you went right off the rails and attacked this victim for no reason whatsoever.
You grew up in Adelaide and reached year 12. After time in South Australia you moved to Western Australia and Queensland. At some point in your travels you married, but you are estranged from your wife and I am told that you came to Tasmania earlier this year in the hope of locating her.
Specifically, you suffer from dyspraxia, which is a neurological condition causing difficulties with co-ordination, movement and processing memories. That condition helps explain to some extent your behaviour and your responses to police when questioned. There is an irrationality about your responses to police, and quite frankly about your behaviour which it appears is likely to find an explanation in your damaged mental state.
I accept that at the time of your offending you were cold and desperate and in pain from blisters caused by wearing boots without socks. You were homeless. Your car had been seized and all your belongings were in the car. Significantly, also, you now appreciate that your reaction was wrong and you have written a letter of apology to the victim.
Without assistance, when you are released from custody you will be homeless and without funds. Although you now have a better understanding of options available to you and you regret your conduct, if you are released without assistance you will be at significant risk of reoffending and potentially reoffending in a similar way. In those circumstances I sought a screening assessment. Plainly you would not be suitable for community service, but a community corrections order with probation as a condition with supervision seems to me to be the best way to endeavour to protect the public from you in the future and to put you on, hopefully, a path to rehabilitation and some degree of mental stability.
The type of offending that you committed is far too common in the community and it warrants a sentence of imprisonment. People who are tempted to behave like you, even first offenders, must understand that this type of offending disturbs the community greatly and the community expects the Court to impose sentences that will, hopefully, deter others and assist in protecting the public. However, it must be remembered that you are a first offender for these purposes and that there was an explanation for your conduct in your damaged mental state. You have now spent 8 weeks in custody and hopefully that will be a sufficient deterrent for you in the future.
Balancing the offending against your personal circumstances and your mental state, it seems to me that a sentence of imprisonment is warranted. Had it not been for your plea of guilty I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 9 months. Allowing for your plea I impose a sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment to commence on 11 June 2021, which is the day you were taken into custody. That sentence is suspended after you have served 9 weeks, which means, in effect, that you have another week in custody.
I make a community corrections order and there are basic conditions attached to the community corrections order. The operational period of the order is 12 months.
You should understand that for 12 months after your release you must not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment. There are other conditions that require you to report to a probation officer and obey the directions of a probation officer, that includes not leaving Tasmania without permission of the probation officer. All of these things will be explained to you but you must understand that when you are released you are under the supervision of a probation officer and you must obey their directions. It is to help you after you are released to get back on your feet properly.
It is a condition of the order that you be under supervision for the operational period of the order, that you obey the reasonable directions of a probation officer and engage with the probation officer and complete the community corrections order. Further to be specific, you must during the operational period of the order submit to the supervision of the probation officer as required by that officer. You must undergo such assessment and treatment for drug dependency or any other medical condition as directed by the probation officer, and that includes assessment and treatment for your psychiatric condition. That is, medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment or treatment as directed by the probation officer. Further you must reside at such address as directed by the probation officer.
In case it is not clear, you are to comply with any regime ordered by a medical practitioner or the probation officer including the taking of medications. So once you are out, the probation people are there to assist you and if it has not happened before, you are to report immediately to the probation service upon your release, but I am sure it will have happened before then. Just understand, if you can, that you need to treat the probation officer as someone trying to help you and understand that if you assault someone again you are likely to go to gaol for longer the next time, so try to stay out of trouble.