{
 "id": "019",
 "offence": "Manslaughter, New South Wales",
 "jurisdiction": "Australia, New South Wales",
 "years": "2003 / 2004",
 "story": [
  "Both cases concern manslaughter and were heard by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Neither had a record. (para. 52; para. 30)",
  "Paul David Marlow, 27 at the time of the offence, inflicted fatal wounds on Christopher William Powell with a kitchen knife and then called 000. The jury found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The court imposed 9 years in custody, commencing 1 January 2002. (paras. 1, 2, 49, 71)",
  "Beryl Ann Mercy, almost 40, stabbed her de facto partner Berrin Dean Charles in the back with a kitchen knife. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The court imposed a non-parole period of 2 years 3 months, with a total term of 5 years 11 months. (paras. 2, 3, 35)",
  "The court mentioned Mercy's children: it will be difficult, if not impossible, for them to visit her in prison, and only occasionally. This was taken into account in reducing the sentence. (para. 33)"
 ],
 "male": {
  "case": "R v Marlow",
  "citation": "R v Marlow [2003] NSWSC 1130",
  "court": "Supreme Court of New South Wales",
  "date": "2003-12-05",
  "charge": "Murder; convicted of manslaughter",
  "outcome": "Jury: not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter; sentenced to custody",
  "sentence": "9 years",
  "facts": "Stabbed Christopher William Powell with a kitchen knife; an extremely brutal killing, the victim was defenceless; the court took into account provocation, no prior record, a discount of about 20% for the early guilty plea. (paras. 1, 2, 47, 52, 56, 71)",
  "source": "https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/549fb4e83004262463b8f07d"
 },
 "female": {
  "case": "REGINA v MERCY",
  "citation": "REGINA v MERCY [2004] NSWSC 472",
  "court": "Supreme Court of New South Wales",
  "date": "2004-04-19",
  "charge": "Manslaughter",
  "outcome": "Pleaded guilty; sentenced to custody",
  "sentence": "5 years 11 months, with a non-parole period of 2 years 3 months",
  "facts": "Stabbed her de facto partner in the back with a kitchen knife, and he died; the court found she meant only to frighten him; pleaded guilty at the first opportunity (25% discount), no record. (paras. 2, 30, 31, 35)",
  "source": "https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/549faed43004262463b742a9"
 },
 "law": [
  "Criminal Code s. 718.2(b)",
  "Charter s. 15",
  "Charter s. 28"
 ],
 "after": "",
 "added": "2026-10-17",
 "evidence": {
  "male": {
   "offender_name": {
    "value": "Paul David Marlow",
    "quote": "Paul David Marlow, the prisoner, stood trial charged with having murdered Christopher William Powell",
    "para": "1"
   },
   "offence": {
    "value": "Manslaughter (jury verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter)",
    "quote": "the jury returned a verdict of not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter",
    "para": "1"
   },
   "plea": {
    "value": "Not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter",
    "quote": "When indicted, the prisoner pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.",
    "para": "1"
   },
   "sentence": {
    "value": "Nine years imprisonment, non-parole period of six years nine months (commencing 1 January 2002, expiring 30 September 2008)",
    "quote": "I sentence the prisoner to a term of imprisonment of nine years, commencing on 1 January 2002 and expiring on 31 December 2010.",
    "para": "71"
   },
   "sentence_months": {
    "value": "108",
    "quote": "I sentence the prisoner to a term of imprisonment of nine years, commencing on 1 January 2002 and expiring on 31 December 2010.",
    "para": "71"
   },
   "crown_position": {
    "value": "In the alternative, if a sexual assault on the night of the killing was not excluded, the appropriate sentence would be 'somewhere like' the sentence imposed in Johnson",
    "quote": "the appropriate sentence would be \"somewhere like\" the sentence imposed in Johnson.",
    "para": "63"
   },
   "victim": {
    "value": "Christopher William Powell",
    "quote": "charged with having murdered Christopher William Powell, who met his death on 1 January 2002",
    "para": "1"
   },
   "relationship": {
    "value": "Friend of the prisoner's mother and stepfather; the prisoner alleged the deceased had sexually assaulted him earlier",
    "quote": "The deceased and the prisoner's mother and the prisoner's stepfather were friends.",
    "para": "12"
   },
   "criminal_record": {
    "value": "No prior convictions",
    "quote": "The prisoner has no prior convictions.",
    "para": "52"
   },
   "offender_age": {
    "value": "27 at the time of the offence (29 at sentence)",
    "quote": "so that when he committed this crime he was twenty-seven and he is presently twenty-nine years of age",
    "para": "49"
   },
   "key_facts": {
    "value": "The prisoner stabbed the deceased in his kitchen with an 18 cm knife in a sustained attack; the deceased died. The jury rejected murder, and the court sentenced on the basis of provocation, having found that a sexual assault on the prisoner's sixteenth birthday and a possible sexual assault on the night of the killing were not excluded.",
    "quote": "Having inflicted what were inevitably fatal injuries using a kitchen knife, the prisoner called 000.",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "aggravating": {
    "value": "Extremely violent killing; victim was defenceless when attacked; objective gravity assessed as high",
    "quote": "This was an extremely violent killing and the victim was defenceless when the prisoner attacked him.",
    "para": "47"
   },
   "mitigating": {
    "value": "Provocation by cumulative sexual assaults; short time between provocation and loss of self-control; early plea of guilty to manslaughter (discount approaching twenty percent); no prior record; reasonable prospects of rehabilitation",
    "quote": "I propose to allow a discount approaching twenty percent.",
    "para": "56"
   }
  },
  "female": {
   "offender_name": {
    "value": "Beryl Anne Mercy",
    "quote": "The offender, Beryl Anne Mercy, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Berrin Dean Charles",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "offence": {
    "value": "manslaughter",
    "quote": "has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Berrin Dean Charles on 12 February 2003",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "plea": {
    "value": "guilty",
    "quote": "has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Berrin Dean Charles",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "sentence": {
    "value": "Minimum term of two years and three months imprisonment, commencing 19 April 2004 and ending 18 July 2006 (parole eligibility), with a balance of two years and eight months expiring 18 March 2009; total of 5 years and 11 months",
    "quote": "you are sentenced to a minimum term of two years and three months imprisonment",
    "para": "35"
   },
   "sentence_months": {
    "value": "71",
    "quote": "you are sentenced to a minimum term of two years and three months imprisonment",
    "para": "35"
   },
   "crown_position": {
    "value": "Conceded the offender pleaded guilty at the first practicable opportunity",
    "quote": "The Crown Prosecutor has conceded that she pleaded guilty at the first practicable opportunity.",
    "para": "31"
   },
   "victim": {
    "value": "Berrin Dean Charles",
    "quote": "the manslaughter of Berrin Dean Charles",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "relationship": {
    "value": "De facto partner of the offender",
    "quote": "with whom she was then living in a de facto relationship",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "criminal_record": {
    "value": "No criminal record",
    "quote": "She has no criminal record.",
    "para": "30"
   },
   "offender_age": {
    "value": "Will be forty years old in six months' time",
    "quote": "She will be forty years old in six months time.",
    "para": "3"
   },
   "key_facts": {
    "value": "Offender stabbed her de facto partner in the back with a kitchen knife during a drunken argument after he had threatened and abused her; he died of blood loss from a lacerated spleen. Court found she intended only to frighten him and did not intend serious injury.",
    "quote": "The deceased died from a wound inflicted by the offender with a kitchen knife to the left back of his chest.",
    "para": "2"
   },
   "aggravating": {
    "value": "Objective seriousness considerable; a knife was used to cause a lethal injury; she returned to the bedroom with the knife while other people, including her daughter, were in the house",
    "quote": "to use a knife to cause a lethal injury even in those circumstances, is a grave offence",
    "para": "22"
   },
   "mitigating": {
    "value": "Guilty plea at first practicable opportunity (25% discount); genuine contrition; history of abuse and heavy drinking; serious medical condition; first lengthy imprisonment; 57 days on remand; onerous bail conditions",
    "quote": "I have no doubt that the offender is genuinely contrite for having killed the deceased.",
    "para": "31"
   },
   "gender_mentioned_by_court": {
    "value": "Court refers to the offender's children and the difficulty they will have visiting her in prison, treated as a factor in reducing the sentence",
    "quote": "it will be difficult if not impossible for her children to visit her and then only rarely",
    "para": "33"
   }
  }
 }
}