TODDLER TRIAL
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Matthew Allen Dennis will be behind bars until at least 2028 after being found guilty of murdering a 23-month-old toddler in a Brisbane Street unit in March 2008.
Dennis was found guilty in October after a trial which lasted more than two weeks in Orange Supreme Court.
The 11-member jury panel was satisfied that Dennis caused the serious head injuries which led to the toddler’s death on March 21, 2008.
Among those injuries were a fracture from one side of the child’s skull to the other, bruising on the brain, and swelling on the brain.
Crown Prosecutor Wayne Creasey painted a picture of a frustrated Mr Dennis slamming the child’s head against a hard wall on at least three occasions.
After the child’s death, Strike Force Yarrol was established and Dennis was charged with murder on April 17, 2008.
On December 4, 2009, Acting Justice Graham Barr sentenced Dennis to a term of 26 years and eight months in jail with a non-parole period of 20 years, meaning the earliest he can be released from prison is April 16, 2028.
In sentencing Dennis, Acting Justice Barr told the court he believed the assault that led to the child’s death was “out of character” and “unplanned”.
Afterwards, the child’s father told the Daily Liberal he believed that “justice has been done for our little boy”.
“I would have liked to see him get life but it’s not up to me,” he said.
“At the end of the day I am happy that he will be serving a lengthy sentence for what he did. Justice has been done for our little boy.”
CAR-JACKER SENTENCED
In March, a knife-wielding car-jacker terrorised a 17-year-old driver with a knife in the streets of Dubbo.
In October, 33-year-old Brian John Hammond was sentenced to six years jail with four years and six months non-parole after pleading guilty to the aggravated offence.
The court heard that on March 4 Hammond, who was on conditional liberty at the time, was intoxicated when he approached and threatened the driver of a Mazda car near Myer in Macquarie Street.
In the ensuing hour-and-a-half, Hammond demanded the teenager drive him across Dubbo before taking the wheel himself.
He was eventually arrested in Hunter Street.
The court heard that Mr Hammond told the driver that “if you don’t do what I tell you, I’ll kill you”.
As well as the hijacking sentence, Hammond was sentenced to a fixed term of nine months for failing to submit to a breath analysis and was suspended from driving for five years.
DRIVE-BY ACQUITTAL
Darrell John Wright walked free from Dubbo District Court in late November after being acquitted of charges relating to drive-by shootings at the Rebels motorcycle club and at the club president’s residence in 2004.
Wright had been accused of performing the shootings after a friend of his, Raymond Grant, had been involved in a scuffle at the club earlier in the evening.
A shortened SKS rifle was used in the shootings, with bullet casings found at each venue.
But a 12-member jury took just an hour to find Wright not guilty after evidence provided by Grant and other witnesses proved to be unreliable and contradictory.
Wright had earlier pleaded guilty to possessing an illegal firearm however Acting Judge Neil McLauchlan determined that the time he had already served in prison, 16 months and two days, was a suitable term.
DOMINOS HOLD-UP
Kirt Field paid a heavy price for stealing two vehicles and robbing $283 from a Dominos pizza store when he was sentenced to a lengthy jail term in October.
The 23-year-old had been on conditional liberty when he stole a Mitsubishi Magna and drove it to Narromine where he then stole a Subaru Forester.
He then went to Dominos pizza store in Dubbo and took $283 after holding up the manager with a knife.
Police pursued him and he was clocked doing 160km/h through Geurie.
He was apprehended in Orange on November 7, 2008, where he was further charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and dangerous driving.
Police had to use a taser to bring him under control.
Field was sentenced to a one-year fixed term of imprisonment for two counts of stealing a motor vehicle, backdated to November 7, 2008, when he was first taken into custody.
He received a further fixed term of one year in prison for the two assault police charges and resisting arrest, beginning May 7 this year.
For driving in a manner dangerous, Field received a nine-month fixed term, beginning November 7 this year.
And for the armed robbery, he was sentenced to six years in prison with a non-parole period of four years beginning May 7 next year.
GRECO GUILTY
One of the largest drug cases in Dubbo’s history ended in September when Tony Greco was sentenced to a five-and-a-half year jail term.
Greco, 54, pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis after police found about 15,000 plants and an elaborate irrigation system near Dubbo in February 2003.
It was estimated the crop was worth about $30 million at the time and covered five acres of land on Days Road, about 20km south of Dubbo.
Greco remained on the run until April 2008 however he was caught after a random traffic stop in Sydney.
He pleaded guilty to the charges in March of this
year and the matter was sent to the district court to be dealt with.
When the sentence was eventually handed down in September, Greco was give a five-and-a-half year jail term with a non-parole period of three years and three months.
He will be eligible for release in December 2012.