STATE OF TASMANIA v NICOLE MARGARET BRUCE 27 FEBRUARY 2025
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
Ms Bruce, you have pleaded guilty to a crime of wounding. Additionally, I am dealing with your pleas of guilty to two summary offences, namely assault a police officer and use abusive language to a police officer.
The crime was committed on 12 February 2021. At that time, you were in a relationship with the complainant. The relationship had been ongoing for approximately six months. It was a very volatile relationship. Both you and the complainant were heavy drug users. In the hours leading up to the incident, both of you had been using methylamphetamine. There was an argument about obtaining more methylamphetamine. The complainant left the house. Whilst he was away, both of you exchanged threatening messages. One of the messages the complainant sent you threatened sexual violence upon his return and indicated you could “expect a smack in the mouth”. By the time the complainant returned home, you had thrown a number of his belonging around the house. An intense argument followed which quickly became physical. You allege the complainant punched you, choked you, kicked you and stomped on you. Whilst there is some dispute as to the extent of the violence the complainant inflicted upon you, the State accept he did assault you in the leadup to this incident. You retaliated by stabbing him in the upper side of the outer left thigh with a black-handled kitchen knife. This caused a significant wound.
There was then a further struggle between you and the complainant. At one point the complainant pinned you into the corner of the bedroom and produced a machete that he had concealed under the mattress. He threatened you before departing the premises. He left his phone and wallet behind. Once he was outside, he yelled for them to be handed out to him. You reacted by smashing a window and throwing shards of glass at the complainant. When you smashed the window, you caused a laceration to your own hand.
A passing neighbour called police. When police arrived you were standing outside, covered in blood. You were very distressed and emotional. You also became angry and upset. You told the police that you had stabbed the complainant, but only after he had been violent to you. An ambulance attended. The complainant was taken to hospital. His wound was sutured. You were treated by ambulance officers at the scene and placed under arrest. At one point, a neighbour tried to give you a cigarette. Police would not allow that to occur. You became angry and abusive, swore at police and then spat at them. The police officers were not struck by your saliva, but it was nevertheless an appalling act. It is this behaviour that grounds the summary offences.
At hospital, your injuries were noted as including a superficial possible stab wound to the right upper back, a jagged open wound on your right knuckle, which I presume came from the broken window, minor swelling of the right forehead, and minor swelling of the left eyebrow.
You were interviewed by police. You told police about the argument and the exchange of abusive text messages. You told police the complainant punched you to the side of the head, and you fell to the ground. You said the complainant then stomped on your face, so you stabbed him in the leg with a knife in order to stop him. You also explained to police that this was not the first time in which the complainant had been violent to you.
As to your behaviour towards police, you expressed remorse and told police that you were “disgusted” with yourself.
You have pleaded guilty to the crime of wounding on the basis that whilst you believed you had a need to defend yourself against the complainant’s behaviour, your response in using the knife in the manner in which you did, was excessive. The State accept your plea of guilty on this basis. The State also accept that had you not entered a plea of guilty, it would have been difficult to prove that your conduct was unlawful at trial. The State further acknowledge that you have been a victim of family violence at the hands of the complainant, in the past.
Your plea of guilty in those circumstances carries significant mitigatory value. By pleading guilty you have given up a realistic prospect of an acquittal.
You are 47 years of age. You have had a difficult life. You have struggled with a significant drug addiction for much of your life and that is reflected in your record of prior convictions. You have prior convictions for dishonesty offences, driving offences, offences against good order, property offences and matters of violence. In July 2014, you were sentenced by the Supreme Court for the crime of wounding and common assault. You were sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, six months of which was suspended. More recently, you have been convicted of breaching family violence orders and matters of common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm in New South Wales.
You are the mother of four children. They have all had various interactions with Child Safety Services. The elder child is now living independently. Two of your children live with their father. One remains in foster care. The relationship you shared with the father of your children was a long-term violent relationship, during which you experienced considerable emotional and physical abuse. Similarly, your relationship with the complainant has been marred by family violence and heavy drug use.
I am told that you recognise the very adverse impact your drug addiction has had upon your life. You are determined, I am told, to address your drug addiction into the future. During your recent remand in custody, you have abstained from the use of illicit substances, and it is your intention to maintain that abstinence, going forward.
It is somewhat naive, I think, given the length of time over which you have struggled with drug addiction, to consider you will be able to maintain such abstinence without support. As part of my sentencing order, I intend to make a Community Correction order to provide you with support in that regard.
Violence inflicted in the context of a relationship is always serious. The wound you inflicted was serious. It was a deep stab wound to the thigh area. A wound in this area of the body always runs the risk of severing important arteries, which can ultimately lead to death if timely medical attention is not received. Fortunately, it seems here, the wound healed without complication. I am not told otherwise. I have not received a Victim Impact Statement from the complainant, although I am sure he would have found the situation confronting. A somewhat unusual feature of this crime is that it arose in circumstances where you were being assaulted quite badly by the complainant, and the wound was inflicted as an act of excessive self-defence. As I have already noted, in my assessment, your plea of guilty has considerable value because you waived the possibility of an acquittal.
Taking all matters into account, I make the following orders. You are convicted of all matters. I impose one sentence. Firstly, I make a Community Correction Order for an operational period of 12 months from the date of your release of custody. The statutory core conditions of a Community Correction Order are imposed. Those conditions will be set out in a document that will be provided to you. In summary, they will include the following conditions that will apply for the entire operational period:
- You must not commit an offence punishable by imprisonment;
- You must report to a probation officer, as required by the probation officer;
- You must comply with the reasonable and lawful directions of a probation officer, or supervisor;
- You must no leave or remain outside of Tasmania without the permission of a probation officer; and
- You must give notice to a probation officer of any change of address or employment, before or within two working days after the change.
I also impose the following special conditions:
- You must, during the operational period of the order, submit to the supervision of a probation officer, as required by the probation officer;
- You must comply with directions regarding referrals to, and compliance with, alcohol and drugs service, and mental health services;
- You must undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol or drug dependency if directed to do so by a probation officer; and
- You must, for the duration of the operational period of the order, submit to medical, psychological or psychiatric assessment, or treatment, if directed to do so be a probation officer.
I order that you must report to Community Corrections within three working days of your release from custody.
Further, I order that you are sentenced to imprisonment for a period of five months, commencing 18 December 2024.