R v Jones [2001] VSC 38 (20 February 2001)

Last Updated: 15 March 2001

SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA
CRIMINAL DIVISION	Not Restricted

No.1408 of 2000

THE QUEEN
v
MICHAEL PETER JONES

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JUDGE:	Teague J
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	12, 13, 15 February 2001
DATE OF SENTENCE:	20 February 2001
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	R v Michael Jones
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2001] VSC 38

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Catchwords:- Manslaughter - Killing of de facto wife - Persons affected by drugs - Sentence of seven years and six months - Parole eligibility after four years and six months.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Prosecution	N. Parkinson	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	D. Brustman	Victorian Legal Aid

HIS HONOUR:

1. I have made a ruling in relation to the record of interview in this matter and I publish my reasons. I have also signed the order under s.464ZF.
2. Michael Jones, you have pleaded guilty to manslaughter, to the killing of Rosemary Gale on 4 April 1999, Easter Monday.
3. At that time Rosemary Gale had been your de facto wife for about nine years. The two of you had two sons. On all accounts available to me, the relationships between you and Rosemary Gale and between the two of you and your two sons were loving relationships. However, both you and she had been blighted by addictions to drugs for all of the time you were together. Heroin, was your drug of choice.
4. Both of you struggled to get off the heroin and in April 1999 were on a Methadone program. You were also being prescribed benzodiazepines.
5. As at Easter 1999 Rosemary Gale was working at a licensed brothel. There she had become friendly with Rachael Morton, who was raising two young daughters. Rachael Morton also had a problem with drugs. Her drugs of preference were amphetamines.
6. The bond between Rosemary Gale and Rachael Morton was such that a plan was made for Easter. That plan involved the two of them getting together with you and the four children at the home of Rachael Morton. It also involved sex and drugs there. The two women and you were to engage in three-way sexual activity and it was to be made more interesting by drugs. There was to be, and there was, three-way sexual activity and there were illegal drugs. Rachael organised the drugs. She went for her preference and for the ecstasy variation. That made for you a very dangerous cocktail.
7. By Easter Sunday you had had at least some Methadone, benzodiazepines, amphetamines and cannabis. Not surprisingly, by the Sunday you felt unwell. You blamed your state on the amphetamines which you were not used to taking. Your response when you felt sick was to crave heroin. You pressed Rachael Morton to get you some heroin and she agreed to help.
8. Before, during and after the car trip to get heroin you and Rosemary Gale and Rachael Morton argued. After you had bought the heroin and had returned to Rachael's home, the four children were taken off your hands by the mother of Rachael Morton. As she left with the children she was concerned at your aggressiveness.
9. You, Rosemary Gale and Rachael Morton were left together in a heavy argumentative mood. You prepared the heroin. You tried to inject yourself but failed. That made you more aggressive. Your aggression and anger were directed at Rosemary Gale. You decided to spite her by cutting her long and attractive hair. She resisted, you hit her around the head and elsewhere. You pulled a pillow slip over her head. You got Rachael Morton to get you some pantyhose. You put the pantyhose around the neck of Rosemary Gale. You then killed her by strangling her with the pantyhose. You caused her death by unlawful and dangerous acts.
10. You were acting as you did with a disturbed state of mind. The cocktail of drugs that you had consumed was to prove lethal for Rosemary Gale. It was your choice to take that cocktail of drugs, it was your choice to permit yourself to lose touch with reality. That reality you lost touch with included the sanctity of life. On a more personal level, it included the goodness of Rosemary Gale and the blessing that she was and can no longer be to you and your children.
11. The community expects that anyone who makes that kind of choice must be punished and that the punishment must be appropriately severe.
12. You were born in September 1974; in April 1999 you were 24, you are now 26. You were raised by parents who have been substantially loving and substantially supportive. I add the qualifying words because your mother has been afflicted by schizophrenia and for many years your father was over fond of alcohol.
13. I have taken account of your raising, the schooling, your running away from home, your lapse into drugs, your convictions and your years with Rosemary Gale, details of which are set out in the report of Bernard Healey. I direct that a copy of that report be sent to the Parole Board with a copy of what I am saying to you as a prelude to sentencing you.
14. I do not ignore your prior convictions but I accept that they are mainly confirmation of your having had a serious drug problem for the last decade.
15. I accept that you are genuinely remorseful of having killed Rosemary Gale.
16. I take the view that you have reasonable prospects of rehabilitation. I share the concerns of Mr Healey as to your vulnerability to a relapse into the taking of illegal drugs and as to the need to be vigilant.
17. I am impressed by what I infer to be the thinking and attitude that lies behind two things. The first is the continuing connection you have maintained with your two sons, with Rosemary Gale's mother, who cares for them, and with your father. The second is the certificates obtained by you for courses in the fields of computers, cleaning, forklift driving and hospitality between September 1999 and December 2000.
18. I am also impressed by the presence at an appropriate distance of your uncle, who may be an important aid to your remaining vigilant.
19. Your crime has been such a serious one that you must spend quite a long time in prison. The signs are good that you may be able to turn that time to advantage now to yourself and later to your sons. That assessment will be reflected in the period I set for parole eligibility.
20. I sentence you to seven years and six months imprisonment. .I fix a period of four years and six months before you will be eligible for parole.
21. I declare that you have spent 688 days in prison up to today. I direct that that declaration be noted in the records of the Court.
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