› Moral culpability — coercive control and sustained abuse by deceased
Criminal Law
› Sentencing
› Standard sentence offence — murder — assessment of objective seriousness
Quick Take
1Sustained family violence perpetrated by the deceased against the accused, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse and coercive control, was held to significantly reduce the accused's moral culpability for murder, even where self-defence was not raised and there was no legal justification for the killing.
2The Bugmy principle was applied to find that the accused's childhood exposure to family violence contributed to her entrapment in the abusive relationship and reduced her moral culpability, notwithstanding the absence of a direct causal link between developmental disadvantage and the offending.
3The discretion of mercy, as endorsed in DPP v Snow [2020] VSCA 67, was held to be a compelling factor warranting a significantly lower sentence where the offending occurred in the context of intolerable and inescapable family violence, with the court finding general deterrence, specific deterrence and denunciation played diminished roles.
Case Details
Citation[2023] VSC 286
CourtVSC
JurisdictionVictoria
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