COURT DETERMINES DANIEL SHARPE’S SENTENCE FOR STABBING ANDREW DRAKE AFTER AN ALTERCATION BETWEEN ANDREW AND HIS FATHER OCCURED

R v Sharpe (No 7) [2021] NSWSC 379 (23 April 2021)

This is a sentencing proceeding involving the crime of Manslaughter, on the basis of excessive self-defense (after the offender intervened in an altercation between his father and the deceased), where the offender repeatedly stabbed the deceased after the latter seriously injured Daniel’s father.

Facts:

Daniel James Sharpe (the offender) pleaded not guilty to an indictment alleging that on or about 13 April 2019, at Surfside in the State of New South Wales, he murdered Andrew Peter Drake.  On 23 February 2021, the jury found the offender not guilty of Mr Drake’s murder, but guilty of his manslaughter. The maximum penalty for the offense of manslaughter is imprisonment for 25 years.

The Crown submitted that the offending constituted “a very serious example of a manslaughter offense with an objective gravity falling above the mid-range.” The Crown further submitted that the offending was aggravated by the offender’s use of a weapon and the fact that the offender was on conditional liberty at the time.

Counsel for the offender submitted that the offending was mitigated by the fact that the offender’s actions were spontaneous, and not part of a planned or organized criminal activity.  Counsel further submitted that it was significant that although the offender had used the knife, it was the deceased who introduced it into the altercation. In all of these circumstances, it was submitted that the offending fell below the mid-range of objective seriousness.

Issue: How long should the offender be imprisoned?

Held:

The circumstances perceived by the offender were initially brought about by the fact that he had come upon what was an obviously serious physical altercation between Mr Drake and his father.  Significantly, attempts were made to separate them by the offender and Mr Drake's sister, all of which were unsuccessful. It was only when the knife was produced by Mr Drake, and a significant injury was sustained to the offender's father, that the offender intervened and stabbed Mr Drake in the abdomen.  Clearly, the offender held a belief that in all of these circumstances, stabbing Mr Drake was necessary in order that he defends himself and his father.

Whilst the court accepts that the incident happened quickly and that the offender may have found himself in a confused state, the subsequent infliction of multiple stab wounds to Mr Drake was obviously excessive.

Even if the offender's initial response to what confronted him was spontaneous, it is impossible to categorize the subsequent infliction of multiple stab wounds in that way. The court accepts however, that it was not the offender who was responsible for introducing the knife into the altercation. The court is satisfied that he acted with an intent to inflict really serious bodily injury.

Adopting that approach, the offending falls slightly below the mid-range of objective seriousness.

Conclusion: The offender is sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 7 years and 6 months.

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