National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book

• R v Edwards (No 3) [2019] NSWSC 1815 (18 December 2019) – New South Wales Supreme Court

  ‘Controlling, obsessive behaviour’ – ‘Criminal history’ – ‘Lack of evidence’ – ‘Murder’ – ‘Sentencing -separation -following, harrassing, monitoring’

  Charges: Murder x 1

  Proceedings: Sentencing

  Facts: The accused was found to have killed his estranged wife in an unknown manner after she ended their relationship and rekindled a relationship with a man she had an affair with early in the marriage. The accused frequently monitored his estranged wife’s life.

  Issues: Appropriate sentence

  Decision and reasoning: The accused was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment with a fixed non-parole period of 18 years. At [67] Hulme J said: "Punishment, denunciation, and deterrence are particularly important aspects of the assessment of sentence in a case such as this. I endorse the following observations recently made by Wilson J: [in R v Keith Owen Goodbun [2018] NSWSC 1025 at [202]-[204]]

  "[D]omestic violence is a profoundly serious problem in this community, extending, not infrequently, to the murder of a spouse or partner …

  Too often, these are crimes committed by men against women who have chosen to live a separate life – a decision the male partner is not prepared to accept …

  … The courts must ensure that those who commit offences like those now before this Court pay a heavy price for their crimes, to punish them, to denounce the crime, and to deter others. The victims of domestic violence must be protected insofar as the courts are able to afford them protection."