A convicted murderer’s minimum jail time may have been reduced had his post-traumatic stress disorder been taken into account at sentencing, the Court of Appeal heard yesterday.
Justice Nation sentenced Samson to life imprisonment with a minimum period of 17 years’ imprisonment on June 3 last year.
Appearing for Samson at the Court of Appeal hearing yesterday, lawyer Nicolette Levy QC asked for the minimum period of imprisonment to be reduced to 13 and a-half years.
At the time of Samson’s sentencing Ms Levy told Justices Gilbert, Mander and Fitzgerald that Samson’s counsel, Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, was restrained by his instructions not to put the psychiatrist’s report outlining the diagnosis before Justice Nation as it contained partial admissions to the crime.
"He accepts he is guilty of the crime and I think the psychiatrist saw this as one step towards the progress he needs to take," Ms Levy said yesterday.
The report stated Samson had a mental health disorder and suffered traumatic brain injuries in childhood, which led to the diagnosis.
"Mr Samson is obviously not the victim in this case, but his history demonstrates he has been a victim as a child, throughout his childhood and adolescence."
The complex PTSD led to a propensity for violence in domestic relationships and addiction to drugs and alcohol, she said.
"The combination of those factors were the principal drivers of the offence," she said.
That Samson would have to wait 17 years before he was entitled to return to the community, regardless of the progress he might make, was manifestly unjust, she said.
In reply, Crown lawyer Mark Lillico said Justice Nation had alluded to the complex PTSD diagnosis in a limited way at sentencing.
"The judge has taken great care of the sentencing exercise. Obviously, it was a very important sentencing decision."
There was nothing to show whether the complex PTSD had been a factor in the offending as Samson had offered no statement to police and his account in the psychiatrist’s report had him lying beside Ms Wilson then waking up later with a sore head to find her lying on the floor unrecognisable.
Mr Lillico said it was Samson’s choice not to have the report presented to the sentencing judge.
Rather than being an impulsive PTSD reaction, Samson’s killing of Ms Wilson was premeditated, which had been revealed in the remarks he made beforehand when he told a taxi driver he would soon see him in the news, Mr Lillico said.
The judges reserved their decision.
