Scone Court Report: June 2020

Filed in Recent News by June 19, 2020

THIS month Magistrate Donnelly voiced his annoyance at L-Plate and P-plate drivers not displaying their plates in an effort to drive faster than the legal speed limit, describing being on learner and provisional licences as like being on parole.

During the pandemic, many hearings have been adjourned to help manage the workload of the court. There were no hearings held at Scone Court this week and many matters were adjourned to Muswellbrook Court on June 26. This month there Scone Court will also sit on June 29 and 30, as hearings recommence.

Matters which appeared in Scone Court this week included:

ADAMS, Gary James, a 78 year old from Scone made an appeal to the Court regarding a decision by Transport for New South Wales for three charges of drive while licence cancelled. The first alleged offence occurred at between 10:55am and 11am on June 15 at St Aubins street, Scone. The second alleged offence occurred between 8am and 8:30am on May 31 at Gundy Road, Scone and the third alleged offence occurred between 3:30pm and 3:45pm on June 16 at Segenhoe Road, Glenbawn. No plea was entered and the matter was adjourned until July 22.

BURNETT, Chelsee Eva, a 26 year old from Blandford pled not guilty to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The alleged offence occurred at 4:30pm on November 22 at Blandford. The matter was adjourned until July 22.

CARTER, Alex David, a 34 year old from Scone pled not guilty to the charge of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical harm. The alleged offence occurred between 9:30pm and 10:15pm on May 30 at Scone. The matter was adjourned until July 22.

CASLICK, Michael John, a 22 year old from Scone pled guilty to destroy or damage property less than or equal to $2,000 and pled not guilty to armed with intention to commit indictable offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Bail had been refused by Magistrate Franklin on June 15 at Newcastle court due to “very serious violence” which the Magistrate explained could not be mitigated and danger was still present. In Scone court, Magistrate Donnelly said that it was a case where it’s still a serious offence, with the possibility of full-time imprisonment, therefore the application for bail was refused. The matter was adjourned until July 27 in Muswellbrook.

COLE, Sharon Lea, a 58 year old from Aberdeen, appeared in court and pled guilty to charges of use of offensive language in/near a public place/school, tether animal with unreasonably short tether and being in charge of an animal fail to exercise care. All offences occurred between 8pm and 9:23pm on November 23 at Gundebri Street, Aberdeen. The offence tether animal with unreasonably short tether involved a white Siberian husky named Santa. The offence for obscenities occurred when police entered Ms Cole’s address and she was swearing at police “fuck off get out of my house” and warned “get out of my house unless you have a warrant”. Police then left the premises. A short time later police received a second request to attend the premises. Ms Cole was told that police had returned following another complaint that she was hitting and kicking her white dog. Police described Ms Cole as slurring her words and they asked Ms Cole if they could take the dog, to which she replied, “absolutely take it now thank you very much Sarge”. Police found the white Siberian husky tightly tethered around the neck with a black and pink material lead, tied tightly up against a wooden pole of the carport. Police facts stated, “the unreasonably tight tether around the dog’s neck meant that the dog was prevented from moving its neck to drink any water or lay on the ground”. The accused also had a male German shepherd roaming freely, not confined to a tether. Police took the dog Santa, to Muswellbrook police station. No physical injuries were sighted on the dog, which was then transferred to Muswellbrook animal shelter and later returned to the accused. Police again attended on November 29, following an RCSPA complaint of animal cruelty. Police said Ms Cole was heard yelling “you’ve made your fucking bed now lay in it” and the dog was heard yelping loudly a few times. The accused then surrendered the dog to the police. When appearing in court Ms Cole said, “when the truck took it that night the ranger rings it in the morning to say what’s your dog doing here Sharon?…How did the police know I didn’t exercise care for the dog, it must have been the neighbour watching me…I had enough of the police being out and the rangers being out…They were rescue dogs; they were companions for ten years, but as I said I have a bad neighbour who has traumatised me for four years…I’ve had enough”. Ms Cole was charged $300 for the use of offensive language and given a 12 month Community Corrections Order (CCO). 

FAHEY, Laura Edna, a 53 year old from Merriwa has appeared in court and pled guilty to the charge of drive with low range prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA). The low range PCA occurred between 7:30pm and 8pm on June 21, 2019, at Cullingral Road, Merriwa, 4 km from her home address. Ms Fahey had been drove off the unsealed dirt road through a barbed wired fence. Police met Ms Fahey at the location and observed a large cut to her forehead that she said was a result of falling off the front veranda of her home. Ms Fahey said she was the only person in the vehicle at the time and was driving the vehicle to get away from her partner who was allegedly chasing her in another vehicle. Police requested an ambulance which arrived at 9pm. Ms Fahey was taken to Maitland hospital where a blood sample was taken. The accused had a prescribed concentration of alcohol reading of 0.65. Police said Ms Fahey was escaping from a threatening situation which Magistrate Donnelly said had to be weighed against the offence. “I’ll give you the example, we all know as lawyers, I think the High Court used an example where people have to speed to get to a hospital as it’s a medical emergency. The point is the law recongnises there can be extenuating circumstances. If that’s the case it has to be the balance of probability”. Magistrate Donnelly noted Ms Fahey had pled guilty at the first opportunity and was given a Community Release Order (CRO) for 18 months without conviction.

FOX, Aaron Steven, a 41 year old from Aberdeen has charges of common assault, stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm, destroy or damage property, common assault, and two counts of intentionally choke etc person without consent. The alleged offences occurred in Aberdeen between 8:30pm on April 21 and 1:28am on April 22. The damage to property was a mobile phone and car key. The matter was adjourned until June 30.

FULLJAMES, Thomas John, a 30 year old from Scone, had a charge of common assault. The alleged offence occurred at 10pm on April 2 at Scone. The matter was adjourned until July 22.

GRADY, Brodie John, a 19 year old from Merriwa appeared in court and appealed to the local court regarding a licence decision by Transport for New South Wales. Mr Grady will complete the Traffic Offenders Programme (TOP) and the matter was adjourned until July 22.

HARRIS, Lachlan, a 19 year old from Muswellbrook had charges of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm and destroy or damage property. The matter was adjourned until June 26.

JONES, Matilda May, an 18 year old from Scone appeared in court to appeal a licencing suspension by Transport for New South Wales. Ms Jones had completed the Traffic Offenders Programme (TOP) and the appeal was granted.

KRISHNAPILLAI, Ragunathan, a 50 year old from Scone appeared in court to appeal a licence suspension. The suspension occurred on December 22, 2019. The accused did not display L-plates, did not give particulars after a crash and did not comply with a previous suspension of learners licence which occurred on July 4, 2019 and had previously been charged with no displaying L-plates on another occassion. Magistrate Donnelly was exasperated by several L-plate drivers before him in court this month, who had not displayed their L-plates and we willfully not adhering to driving laws. Magistrate Donnelly said, “learner drivers almost never come before court for appeals like this and there’s a good reason for that, the prospects in a case like this, hurdles can be insurmountable. He’s in a worse position than most other drivers. I must be frank with you… I can’t see the point, he still has to go through the process of having his license, he still has to take the test to the Traffic Offenders Programme (TOP) won’t make a difference. He hasn’t got a licence, he can’t drive during the suspension period”. Magistrate Donnelly dismissed the appeal.

LEWIS, Nathan Andrew, a 34 year old from East Branxton pled not guilty to charges of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and pled not guilty to the charge not keep firearm safely-not prohibited firearm/pistol. The matters was adjourned until June 26 at Muswellbrook.

LIMA, Marcos Marinho, a 23 year old from Scone appealed charges of not display P-plates and exceed speed limit by more than 10km and use of mobile phone. Magistrate Donnelly again expressed his annoyance at drivers not displaying L or P-plates and said while he understood Mr Lima had a need for a licence he regarded a p-plater not displaying p-plates “significant conduct”. The offences occurred on December 31, 2019. The appeal was allowed and the suspension reduced to from three two months.

LONGBOTTOM, Katrina Anne, a 47 year old from Scone appeared in court and pled guilty to common assault, on the basis of alcohol. Ms Longbottom appeared in court without legal aid and was told by Magistrate Donnelly, “you don’t have legal aid, what has to happen is you have to come to court in Muswellbrook on the 26th of June and speak to the prosecutor or court lawyer and the court has to be assured that this is a case that’s going to trial”. The matter was adjourned until June 26 at Muswellbrook.

MADDEN, Kyra, a 23 year old from Tingha was charged with possess prohibited drug. The alleged offence occurred between 2:05am and 2:08 am on March 7 at Scone. Ms Madden was allegedly in possession of 8mg of buprenorphine and is currently in custody. Bail has been refused and the matter was adjourned until July 16 at Inverell.

MORLEY, Hannah, a 19 year old from Rouchel has attended court today to appeal a license suspension by the Transport New South Wales authority. Ms Morely was suspended from driving for 20 months on May 15 after not displaying a P-plate on her vehicle and failing to secure a hanging load. Magistrate Donnelly expressed his annoyance at people not displaying P-plates so that they could drive faster. Ms Morley will complete the Traffic Offenders Program, which Magistrate Donnelly said he hoped would help the driver and build the character test.  The matter was adjourned until July 22.

NAGARASA, Pakkiyarasa, a 38 year old from Scone appeared in court on a charge of drive with middle range prescribed concentration of alcohol. The offence occurred between 12:20am and 12:35am on March 21 at Hill Street, Scone when Mr Nagarasa was stopped for a random breath test. Mr Nagarasa told police he had drunk one beer at a friend’s home throughout the night. Police said Mr Nagarasa had four other people in his vehicle at the time and said he was driving from one friend’s home to stay at another friend’s home in Hill Street. Mr Nagarasa had a prescribed concentration of alcohol reading of 0.105. Mr Nagarasa’s solicitor said it would be difficult for him to complete the Traffic Offenders Program due to a language barrier, however Magistrate Donnelly said that to drive a vehicle he would have to have basic English language skills to read road signs and directed he complete the program. Magistrate Donnelly also noted, the driving offence had breached court orders relating to two assault offences, so revoked those orders and reinstate them with the same terms and conditions. However, he noted Mr Nagarasa had some compliance to road traffic law and fined him $1,200, disqualified him from driving for four months with a mandatory interlock order for 12 months and was issued a Community Correction Order (CCO) with supervision for 12 months.

PATERSON, Drew Mervyn,a 28 year old from Raymond Terrace had charges of drive motor vehicle during disqualification period and a motor vehicle excess speed more than 20km. The alleged offences occurred at 12:22pm on March 21 at Cassilis Golden Highway. The matter was adjourned until July 22. 

PHILLIPS, Scott Anthony, a 43 year old from Muswellbrook had a charge of drive with low range prescribed concentration of alcohol. The offence occurred between 7:45pm and 8:30pm on April 4 at Kelly Street, Scone. Mr Phillips told police he had drunk four cans of Tooheys New with the first one being at approximately at 12pm and that last one being at 2:30pm and said he had eaten some beef stew during that time for dinner. Mr Phillips returned a blood alcohol reading of .072. Magistrate Donnelly convicted Mr Phillips and charged $800 for driving with a low range prescribed concentration of alcohol and was disqualified from driving for six months.

SCHRADER-PRIEST, Paul Damian, a 24 year old from Murror has charges of intentionally choke etc person without consent, assaulting occasioning actual bodily harm and destroy or damage property. The matters were adjourned until July 26 at Muswellbrook.

TAYLOR, Jake Christopher, a 24 year old from Aberdeen had a charge of common assault. The offence occurred between 2:45pm and 3:15pm on April 12 at Scone. The matter was adjourned until July 22 at Muswellbrook.

WEBSTER, Kylie Ann, a 41 year old from Scone was convicted of drive vehicle, illicit drug. The offence occurred between 3:05am and 3:10 am on March 4, at Liverpool Street, Scone when Ms Webster had a random breath test. Police said Ms Webste tested negative to alcohol, but positive to methylamphetamine. Ms Webster was given a $400 fine and disqualified from driving for three months.

WITNEY, Owen James, a 41 year old from Gulgong has charges of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm and armed with intention to commit indictable offence. The alleged offences occurred in Merriwa and the matters were adjourned until June 26 at Muswellbrook.

Read: Previous Court Reports.

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