A Supreme Court Justice has expressed her sympathies and on behalf of the court to the family and partner of Charlie Farmer while sentencing the person behind his death.
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On June 6 the man was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 15 years for his role in the murder of 25-year-old Charlie Farmer in 2014.
The man cannot be named as he was 16-years-old at the time of the incident which happened on September 21, 2014 at Horton Street, Port Macquarie.
His sentence begins on September 21, 2014 and will expire on September 20, 2029 with a non-parole period of nine years.
The man will be eligible for parole on September 21, 2023.
The judgement said at about 1.35am on September 21, 2014 a fight involving four males erupted in Horton Street in the central business district of Port Macquarie. Within minutes of the fight commencing Charlie Farmer had suffered two ‘penetrating and immediately incapacitating’ stab wounds to his chest and abdomen. Attempts to resuscitate him at the scene were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at 3.12am.
Justice Fullerton said Mr Farmer’s family conveyed statements read in open court of the intense, pervasive and understandable sadness and grief they have experienced and continue to experience at what can only be described as the senseless and untimely death of a loved family member.
Justice Fullerton said it is well recognised that the chronological age of a young offender is not the sole determining factor in the weight to be attributed to general deterrence in assessing an appropriate sentence and the structure of that sentence.
She said the fact that the offender was without parental, or even quasi-parental guidance from age nine for some years deprived him of a familial or institutional structure within which to gain the experience that adults can provide and the moral guidance that structured learning can give.
In handing down the sentence Justice Fullerton took into consideration the offender’s age and his emotional immaturity at the time of the offending operate to moderate the impact of general deterrence.
The offender is to be released to supervised parole when the non-parole period expires. The relevant agency for the purposes of supervision is Probation and Parole Service.
The court directed that the offender serve his sentence as a juvenile offender until he turns 21-years-old.
Farmer was stabbed outside the Commonwealth Bank on Horton Street.
