DPP v Emma-Lee SIMPSON [2010] NSWLC 7

DPP v Emma-Lee SIMPSON [2010] NSWLC 7

The offender's street racing, excessive speed of approximately 100 kilometres per hour in a 70 kilometre per hour zone and near a 55 kilometre per hour advisory curve, serious permanent brain injury to the passenger, risk to others, and related Form 1 matter placed the offence towards the upper end of the middle range and established high moral culpability. Applying the Whyte guideline, denunciation, general and particular deterrence, and the gravity of the harm required full-time imprisonment. Although the appropriate sentence after discount would have exceeded the Local Court's jurisdictional limit, the Court imposed the maximum available Local Court sentence, with special circumstances...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
06 April 2010
Procedural Posture
Criminal Sentencing / Sentence After Guilty Plea in the Local Court; Charge Under Section 53 of the Crimes Act 1900 Dealt With on a Form 1
Outcome
The offender was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, with a non-parole period and licence disqualification.
Legal Topics
['dangerous Driving Occasioning Grievous Bodily Harm' 'race a Motor Vehicle Causing Bodily Harm' 'guideline Judgment Sentencing' 'guilty Plea Discount' 'form 1 Offences' 'non Parole Period' 'licence Disqualification']
['criminal Law' 'sentencing' 'traffic Offences'] ['dangerous Driving Occasioning Grievous Bodily Harm' 'race a Motor Vehicle Causing Bodily Harm' 'guideline Judgment Sentencing' 'guilty Plea Discount' 'form 1 Offences' 'non Parole Period' 'licence Disqualification']

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Procedural Posture

Criminal Sentencing / Sentence After Guilty Plea in the Local Court; Charge Under Section 53 of the Crimes Act 1900 Dealt With on a Form 1

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ["Whether the offender's dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm involved high moral culpability under the guideline judgment in R –v- Whyte 55 NSWLR 252." 'Whether a sentence other than full-time imprisonment, including periodic detention or a suspended sentence, was appropriate.' 'How the Local Court jurisdictional limit affected sentence where the objective seriousness warranted a sentence beyond that limit.' 'Whether special circumstances justified varying the statutory relationship between the head sentence and non-parole period.']

Ratio Decidendi

The offender's street racing, excessive speed of approximately 100 kilometres per hour in a 70 kilometre per hour zone and near a 55 kilometre per hour advisory curve, serious permanent brain injury to the passenger, risk to others, and related Form 1 matter placed the offence towards the upper end of the middle range and established high moral culpability. Applying the Whyte guideline, denunciation, general and particular deterrence, and the gravity of the harm required full-time imprisonment. Although the appropriate sentence after discount would have exceeded the Local Court's jurisdictional limit, the Court imposed the maximum available Local Court sentence, with special circumstances...

Court Disposition

The offender was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment, with a non-parole period and licence disqualification.

Orders

  • ['The offender is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 18 months.' 'A non-parole period of 9 months is specified, after which the offender may be released on parole for the remaining period of 9 months subject to the supervision and direction of the Probation and Parole Service.' 'It is a...