STATE OF TASMANIA v JOEL PETER YOUNG 24 MAY 2021
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE ESTCOURT J
The defendant, Joel Peter Young, aged 18 at the time of the offence has pleaded guilty to 4 counts of assault.
The complainant is Matthew Vaughan Lynch also aged 18 at the time of the offending. The complainant did not know the defendant.
At approximately 1.00am on Sunday 27 October 2019, the complainant and three other friends walked to the Ivory Lounge Bar on Collins Street. As the complainant approached the entrance of the bar, the defendant suggested that the complainant had been dancing with the defendant’s girlfriend the previous week. The defendant approached the complainant and pushed him to the chest with both hands which caused the complainant to step back (count 1 on indictment 294/2020). The complainant did not react and the defendant left the area.
A short time later, the complainant was standing in the bar area inside of the Ivory Lounge Bar when the defendant walked past him and pushed his left shoulder into the complainant’s left shoulder. The complainant made his way to the dance floor of the bar and the defendant approached him again. The defendant punched the complainant to his mouth (count 2 on indictment 294/2020). A security guard employed at the Ivory Lounge Bar then escorted the defendant outside of the venue.
Approximately half an hour later, the complainant, accompanied by two other males went outside to a nearby alleyway to smoke a cigarette. Once outside the defendant, in the company of others, approached the complainant again. The defendant punched the complainant to his mouth (count 3 on indictment 294/2020). The groups were then separated by security guards.
At approximately 4.00am, the complainant and two of his friends proceeded to walk down Murray Street. The complainant passed the defendant who was seated on the steps of the construction site near Daci and Daci Bakery. The defendant shouted out at the complainant and the complainant responded “you’ve got the wrong guy” and kept walking. The complainant reached Despard Street and the defendant ran after him and stopped him from walking any further. He punched the complainant twice to his face which caused him to stumble back and fall to the ground (count 4 on indictment 294/2020) as pleaded to.
The complainant was taken by ambulance to the Royal Hobart Hospital. He was diagnosed as suffering:
- Left sub-condylar fracture
- Right mandibular body fracture
- Traumatic injury to the upper right and left central incisors
- Facial bruising and a laceration to his gum.
He underwent surgery whereby two titanium plates were inserted under general anaesthetic.
The Crown assert that the following are aggravating circumstances of the defendant’s conduct:
- It was an unprovoked attack in a public place. The complainant had told the defendant that he did not want to fight the defendant earlier in the night.
- The defendant was informally spoken to by police earlier in the night. Count 5 occurred within two hours of being spoken to by police.
I have read a Victim Impact Statement from the complainant. He spent four weeks off work, in bed, unable to eat properly and unable to move his jaw wide enough to speak. He usually sleep on my side but was not able to do that for a couple of months, which meant he barely slept. His jaw did not heal in alignment and it cramps and clicks. He has been told that he will need further surgery. He no longer enjoys going out and socialising in the same way he used to. He finds himself worrying that this might happen to him again.
The defendant has no relevant prior convictions and he has offended, I am correct in saying, only once in the some 20 months since these events.
He was attending Rose Bay High School during grade 10 when his mental health, on his counsel’s instructions, began to deteriorate following the separation of his parents after a relationship which was characterised by his mother inflicting violence on his father and emotional abuse on the defendant .
He was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in high school and saw his school counsellor throughout his high school years. Following successfully completing grade 10, he attended Rosny College where he studied vocational education and training courses in construction and automotive, and through the construction course, he was offered an apprenticeship with Tasmanian Plaster Contractors where he has worked until the present time. He is due to complete his four-year apprenticeship later this year.
The offending occurred in 2019, the year that the defendant turned 18 and met his first girlfriend. His girlfriend at the time had a different social circle than him, and she and her friends routinely drank and partied in the city, which was a culture that the defendant was not used to. His two prior matters, returning to licenced premises and failing to comply with a direction of a police officer, also occurred in 2019 and were as a result of him participating in that lifestyle.
He now recognises that around this time, his mental health was particularly poor and drinking and partying was a way of coping with the anger and trauma he felt towards his childhood. He has since sought a mental health care plan from his general practitioner and he engaged with a psychologist throughout 2020. He is now working with his general practitioner on a medication regime to treat his depression and he’s currently prescribed Fluoxetine.
The defendant is apologetic and embarrassed by his conduct and he has found going through the Court process a sobering experience. With a single exception he has not consumed alcohol to excess. since this incident occurred. He has separated from the girlfriend mentioned in the facts stated by the Crown, and he no longer spends time with that particular group of friends.
These assaults are serious and aggravated by the features identified by Crown Counsel. In particular, the last of them had the potential to be yet another one punch fatality stemming from drunk and out of control behaviour on the streets in the early hours of the morning. Two lives could have been ruined forever.
However, given his young age at the time of this offending, his lack of relevant prior convictions and his plea of guilty, together with his remorse and the taking control of his life it is not my intention to impose an immediate custodial sentence.
The defendant is convicted and I impose a single sentence of 9 months’ imprisonment, which period of imprisonment is wholly suspended for a period of 2 years on condition that the defendant commit no offence punishable by imprisonment during that period. In addition I make a community correction order for a period of 2 years with the condition that during the operative period of that order the defendant perform 98 hours of community service