R v Lambert

• Jurisdiction: New Zealand
• Judge: Eaton J
• Judgment Date: 03 May 2022
• Neutral Citation: [2022] NZHC 924
• Docket Number: CRI-2021-012-821
• Court: High Court

Between

The Queen

and

Luke James Lambert

[2022] NZHC 924

Eaton J

CRI-2021-012-821

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND

DUNEDIN REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA

ŌTEPOTI ROHE

Criminal Sentence — sentence for multiple charges of attempted murder — principles and purposes of sentencing — approach to sentencing — totality/concurrent/cumulative principles — discounts for mental health — Sentencing Act 2002

Appearances:

R D Smith and M Brosnan for Crown

J A Westgate for Defendant

SENTENCING REMARKS OF Eaton J

1 Firstly, I acknowledge the presence today of the victims of this offending, their support network, family, friends, any representatives of Countdown, management or employees, and any of the first responders who were involved in dealing with this offending.

2 Mr Lambert you may be seated.

Introduction

3 Mr Lambert, I am now going to impose sentence on you following your pleas of guilty and convictions in December last year on the four charges of attempted murder.

Strike warning

4 Before I impose the sentence for your offending, I must give you what is called a strike warning. No doubt Mr Westgate has explained this to you. The warning is in these terms.

5 Given your convictions for attempted murder, you are now subject to the three strikes law. I must give you a warning of the consequences of another serious violence conviction. You will also be given a written notice which contains a list of these “serious violent offences”.

• (a) If you are convicted of any one or more serious violent offence other than murder committed after this warning and if a Judge imposes a sentence of imprisonment, then you will serve that sentence without parole or early release.

• (b) If you are convicted of murder committed after this warning, then you must be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole unless it would be manifestly unjust to do so. In that event the Judge must sentence you to a minimum term of imprisonment.

6 That is the strike warning.

7 I am now going to deal with the facts of your offending. The facts are only too well known to your victims, to their families and to their work colleagues. They will be well known to you. But sentencing is a judicial function. It is required to be undertaken in a public court and transparency in cases of this nature is fundamental and so it is necessary for me to set out, in this Court, the factual basis upon which I fix the sentence that I am going to impose.

8 I do just say to any of the victims or their families, if they prefer not to hear me detail the facts and the injuries that they suffered then they should not feel obliged to stay in the Court while I read that detail. If anybody would like to leave, please feel free to do so. But I am going to go through the facts in some detail.

9 Mr Lambert, at 12.38 pm on 10 May 2021 you entered the Dunedin Central Countdown supermarket. You checked your bank balance using the Westpac ATM in the foyer of the supermarket and you then moved around the store for about 30 minutes culminating in you purchasing a pie and a soft drink with your Eftpos card, before you attempted to purchase two cans of beer in a second transaction. That transaction was declined as you had insufficient funds.

10 You left the supermarket at 1.07 pm and you were later seen in the Octagon by an associate at about 2 pm. That associate described you as agitated and pacing around. You spoke to the associate and told him that the “[d]octor wouldn't give [you] any medication” and that “someone is going to get it”. When you were asked by the associate who was going to get it, you replied “don't worry”.

11 The police made enquiries and there is no evidence from your medical records to suggest that you had been denied access to any medication.

12 But at about 2.30 pm you returned to the Dunedin Central Countdown supermarket and you went to aisle six. There you uplifted a packet of four vegetable knives from a shelf. The blades of the knives were 70 mm in length.

13 You walked into aisle seven, which is the pharmacy section of the supermarket. You walked past one of your victims, Countdown manager Dallas Wilson, to a point halfway down the aisle where you then placed your backpack on the floor. You removed not one but two of the knives from the packaging.

14 Armed with both knives you walked over to Countdown supervisor Ms W, who was working in the aisle and had her back to you. You approached the victim from the left side, reaching out and turning her to face you. Then, using the knife in your right hand you slashed at her face, striking her from the left ear lobe and cutting her through to her chin.

15 As the victim walked back you pushed and tripped her deliberately to the floor. You leant over her and began stabbing her around the head area, causing further lacerations to the chin and left ear. While the victim attempted to defend herself, you continued to stab at her, causing multiple wounds and injuries to her forearms and hands. As you attacked Ms W you told her that you were going to kill her.

16 The second victim, Mr Wilson, was working further up the same aisle, heard the commotion and immediately ran to help his work colleague and friend. He pulled you away from Ms W. He then restrained you by holding you from behind, around the upper body. At that point, the fourth victim, shopper Jorge Fuenzalida, and another Countdown staff member then attempted to assist in restraining you.

17 You swung the knife, striking Mr Wilson multiple times. You stabbed him in the upper abdomen and in three areas in the right side of his torso. That included a deep wound to the pelvis where the knife only stopped when it struck bone.

18 But you were strong. You were able to break free, and as you did, you struck Mr Fuenzalida and he fell to the floor.

19 His wife, Vanessa Miller-Andrews, rushed forward to help her husband. You grabbed her. You stabbed her twice in the back and caused her to fall to the floor. You then approached Mr Fuenzalida who was on the floor on his back and defenceless and you stabbed him in the chest and upper stomach area. You then turned your attention back to Ms Miller-Andrews, who was sitting, injured, in the aisle. You grabbed her and stabbed her in the back two more times. The knife pierced her intercostal artery. Another wound caused blood to enter the lining of the lung and another wound punctured an axillary muscle.

20 Notwithstanding his injuries, Mr Fuenzalida intervened to save his partner from the attack by grabbing her and your response was to stab him again. As he rolled over on the floor you stabbed him in the neck.

21 An off-duty police officer then approached you from behind and you turned and threatened that female officer with a knife and you continued in your endeavour to attack Mr Fuenzalida who was lying badly injured in the aisle. Members of the public, Countdown staff and another police officer then restrained you at the scene and first aid was administered immediately to the victims until an ambulance arrived.

22 It is clear to me that the first aid that was administered in the aisles of the supermarket was critical in preventing the loss of life from the serious injuries that you had inflicted on all four victims.

23 The physical injuries that were received by the victims can be summarised as follows:

• (a) The first victim, Ms W, suffered three separate deep wounds to her facial area requiring plastic surgery, including a 16 cm long laceration from left earlobe to chin, a 4 cm long laceration to the chin and a 1.5 cm laceration to the left ear. She suffered multiple wounds to both arms and hands including a 1.5 cm puncture wound on the underside of her left forearm, a 3 cm long wound on the pinkie-finger edge of the palm of the left hand, a 2.5 cm long superficial cut to the webspace of the left thumb, a 2.5 cm cut on the tip of the left thumb and a 2.5 cm superficial cut to the upper arm near the shoulder. On the right side, she suffered a 7 cm long cut into the subcutaneous fat in the underside of the right forearm, a 1.5 cm cut to the tip of the right thumb, a 6 cm superficial scratch to the top of her hand and a 3 cm long cut to the pinkie edge of the right hand. She also suffered extensive bruising associated with the multiple stab wounds, and a large bruise on the outside of the left thigh and light bruising on her chest.

• (b) The second victim, Countdown worker, Dallas Wilson suffered four separate wounds, each at least 7 cm in depth which was the full length of the blade. It included a deep wound in his left upper abdomen which went through the abdominal wall and into the colon and required a laparotomy in surgery to repair the colon. He suffered a deep wound between the ribs that touched the lung but did not puncture it, but required a chest drain. There was a deep wound just above the kidney that stopped just before the liver which required internal and external surgical repair during the laparotomy. Lastly, there was a deep wound to the pelvis which, as I say, stopped when the knife struck the pelvis bone. Mr Wilson also suffered extensive bruising associated with the stab wounds over the right flank and he suffered internal bleeding in the pelvic muscles and back muscles. The surgeon noted that each of the wounds was close to, and could so easily have included, a major blood vessel which would have been fatal.

• (c) The third victim, Ms Miller-Andrews, suffered four stab wounds to the back. This included...