STATE OF TASMANIA v LUKE SAMUEL RANKIN 14 JUNE 2024
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Luke Samuel Rankin, you have pleaded guilty to a charge of assault. On 22 January last year you were in a house in Shorewell. You were with a younger man named Payton James Johnson, who apparently was quite close to you in terms of friendship. You told the police that he was like a little brother to you. You had too much to drink. You became angry with him, and you punched him once to the head when he was trying to back away from you and telling you not to hit him.
You did not hurt him badly. It seems to me that you are only in the Supreme Court because of other charges that were dropped, which I do not know anything about. You were arrested by the police and interviewed in relation to this offence and spent a night in custody.
You have had a drinking problem. You have got a number of convictions for assaults, destroying property and other acts of violence towards people and property. You apparently understand that you have had a drinking problem. You have a new partner. She is helping you to abstain from alcohol. You have a child on the way with her. You have every reason to stay out of trouble, and you are apparently on friendly terms with the man you punched. He did not want this prosecution to go ahead, although that is only a small point. You pleaded guilty even though he did not want this prosecution to go ahead. That is a much more important point. You are sorry for what you did. You know you have to stay out of trouble. If you are not careful you will be spending a lot of time in goal.
I am going to give you a very short suspended sentence. I convict you and sentence you to seven days’ imprisonment, wholly suspended on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 18 months.