MAN KILLS HIS NEIGHBOR AFTER RESPONDING TO AN ALTERCATION INVOLVING HIS WIFE
R v Taylor [2021] VSC 219 (29 April 2021)
This is a sentencing case against the accused who pleaded guilty of manslaughter who stabbed his neighbor after reponding to an altercation and a threat involving his wife.
Facts:
Troy Anthony Taylor pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Michael Wilson, his next-door neighbor.
On the afternoon of 5 May 2019, he was at home at 60 Salmon Street, Hastings, and Michael Wilson was at his home at 58 Salmon Street, Hastings.
Unbeknownst to the accused, his wife, Tracey Taylor, was in the vicinity of 60 Salmon Street, Hastings. At that time, she should not have been at the premises because she was the subject of an order prohibiting her from being there.
At about 7:30 pm a verbal argument started between Kim Scott (partner of the deceased) and Tracey Taylor. At some stage, Tracey Taylor came into the front yard of No. 58 and approached the fence and gate into the backyard of No. 58. By that time both Michael Wilson and Kim Scott were involved in the argument and Michael Wilson was encouraging Kim Scott to go out and deal with Tracey Taylor.
As it transpired, Kim Scott went back through the house and came out the front door, to the front porch. Michael Wilson came out of the backyard to the place where Tracey Taylor was, or had been. The accused said he came to No. 58 twice and on the first occasion you observed that Michael Wilson had a hold of Tracey Taylor, and he was apparently armed with a knife. The accused then returned to his house, where he armed himself with one half of a pair of hedge trimmers and returned to No. 58. The accused alleged that had come to the premises because he had heard Michael Wilson threaten to kill Tracey Taylor.
He came into the yard and struck Michael Wilson in the upper back, using a bladed weapon with a long handle, which caused his death.
Issue: What should the sentence of the accused be?
Held:
It appeared, on the available evidence, that Michael Wilson’s aggressive behavior was unusual and that most of the aggressive activity between neighbors had been between Tracey Taylor and Kim Scott. There was evidence that Michael Wilson was found to have a relatively high reading for the presence of steroids in his bloodstream, which might go some way to explaining his aggressive behavior. The court accepts that the conduct of the accused was a response to the circumstances he found himself in and was not pre-meditated.
His mental health is relevant; both his depression and the possibility that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. As part of that analysis, the court has taken into account the very difficult relationship he has had with Tracey which appears to be the principal cause of your major depressive illness and in many ways the cause of these events.
Conclusion: Court sentences Troy Talor eight years and six months of imprisonment.
