Fear sentencing transparency is 'flawed' as violent offender wins appeal

Two years into her relationship with Benjamin Morris, 19-year-old Lucy was running barefoot in the dark, hiding in bushes to escape him.

Warning: This article contains information some readers may find distressing.

Lucy, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, had her older sister pick her up and the pair fled in her car as Morris pursued them to her sister's house, where Lucy ran inside and hid under a bed.

Morris, who was 11 years older than Lucy, pulled up outside the house and told her sister that if Lucy did not agree to leave with him, he would murder them all with the gun he kept in the boot of his car.

The police were called that night, but it was just the beginning of a terrifying three-year campaign of extreme coercive control at the hands of serial offender Benjamin James Morris.

"When you experience this type of DV … it doesn't ever leave you," Lucy told the ABC.

"Stress, fear, poor self-belief and esteem, are with you forever."

Before being handed a significant jail sentence for his crimes, Morris terrorised his former girlfriend with a relentless barrage of death threats, harassment, stalking and intimidation, all while disregarding court orders not to contact her.

Even while behind bars, Morris continued threatening and harassing the victim to change her testimony, often through a third party.

His case pre-dated the new coercive control laws introduced by the NSW government in mid-2024, but he was charged with a raft of other domestic violence offences.

Morris ultimately pleaded guilty to 19 offences committed between June 2020 and August 2023, including eight counts of intimidation, seven counts of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order (ADVO), two counts of threats to kill and three counts of attempting to influence a witness.

But the full facts of the case paint a far more disturbing picture of the domestic violence Morris inflicted upon his victim.

Threats to kill and rape

One count of breaching the ADVO involved Morris contacting the victim via messages, phone calls and social media 1,889 times in a single month.

In July 2022, he sent her 249 messages in a 24-hour period, which accounted for another single count of breaching an ADVO.

Many of the messages contained violent and graphic threats to kill her, her friends and her family, including sending an image of a rifle and repeatedly claiming to be at or near her house waiting for her.

In one of those messages, Morris threatened to burn her and her family alive, referencing the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children by her ex-partner in Queensland in 2020.

"… if I hear you are seeing anyone even speaking to another I will kill them 100% without a doubt or second thought and probably you too."

"I told you if you call the cops again I'll f***ing kill you and for this tonight and calling the you pushed me … I'm going to kill your whole family … you reckon they'll hear me walk the driveway and burn the f***ing house down … oh quick call them get them to get in the car like that c**t in Queensland and his own misses [sic] and kid…"

"F***ing dog cop calling f***ing slut I'm going to f*** you up really good I won't kill you straight away ill let you know my pain first before I shoot you… you won't even hear me in this rain… and don't think I don't know the blind spot on the cameras…"

" … after I take you hostage this time for real this time I'm going to rape you."

"In your f***ing house waiting for you dog."

"[…] I'm going to drag you through your house by the hair in front of you mum whiles she watches me stomp your f***ing head until you stomp [sic] being a disrespectful dog and it looks like until you stop breathing."

"I'm not going to stop treating you like this until you treat me with some respect or you're dead either way or I'm dead makes no difference."

"I'll give you until the end of the night from now to call me and unblock my snap or that's it I'm getting you on the weekend if you run away I'll go to your brother's house then to your sister's house with 20 litres of fuel for each."

"I'll be there while you're sleeping and you won't even know when I come over the back fence in through the back door even if it's locked I'll smash the window and come in."

"I should come kill you with myself and then we both die together."

'Sends a strong message'

A District Court judge initially sentenced Morris to 16 years in jail, with 11 years non-parole, in what is believed to be one of the most severe sentences handed down for non-physically violent domestic violence offending.

NSW Police Superintendent Ben Morris, Acting Commander of the Domestic and Family Violence Command, said the case highlighted the importance of enforcing ADVOs and prosecuting offenders who breach them.

"This case highlights the fact that AVOs are an important tool we have and breaching it is a serious offence that you could be incarcerated for," Superintendent Morris said.

"I think this sends a strong message to the community about how seriously the police, the community and the courts are taking it."

But Morris, who has an extensive criminal history dating back to 2008, appealed the sentence to the Supreme Court, arguing it was "manifestly excessive".

The three Supreme Court judges were divided on the appeal, but ultimately decided to reduce the sentence to 12 years jail, with eight years non-parole.

The full bench of the Supreme Court found Morris's crimes were "very serious" and that he showed a "contumacious disregard for court orders imposed for the purpose of protecting his victim from him".

"A lengthy custodial sentence was and is called for, both to deter the Applicant from continuing to offend in this manner, and to mark the community's opprobrium of serious domestic violence offending," the judgement said.

But the court found the sentence of 11 years non-parole was "not merely stern" but "plainly unjust", reducing the jail term to 12 years with eight years non-parole.

Morris will now be eligible for parole in December, 2031.

Lucy said she was relieved when the original sentence was handed down, only to feel "anger and fear" when it was reduced on appeal.

"The retelling of the threats etc. when making statements, perceived judgements, the questioning of myself, to go through that for it to be thrown out or at least viewed as less serious," she said.

"People should be made to feel comfortable about reporting this type of DV … There needs to be education and support to encourage speaking up.

"While I don't fully understand the working of the justice system, I do know that the longer a sentence is the more serious the offences are considered to be."

'Real flaws' with sentencing transparency

Former NSW magistrate David Heilpern, now Dean of Law at Southern Cross University, said the initial sentence was "appropriate" and should not have been reduced.

"It is a high sentence, higher than one would normally expect to see, but that's what should be happening as community values are reflected," Mr Heilpern said.

"This case is at the very high end of the scale for this type of offending and so in my view, the original sentence was correct."

Mr Heilpern said the appeal decision highlighted "real flaws in the transparency of the sentencing process", as appeal judges were not required to be specific about why they found the sentence to be excessive.

"There is a significant difference between the sentence imposed and the sentence in the higher court," he said.

"The public should be able to understand how that conclusion was reached."

'Threat is always there'

Lucy said she still suffers from the impacts of Morris's abuse, including ongoing fear, memory loss and difficulty trusting people.

"Being scared for myself, family, friends and the wider community is constantly there,"

she said.

"I have found these thoughts and feelings have made it difficult for me to maintain employment, but I keep trying.

"It is just as bad as physical DV … It is different but the threat is always there whether he is or not."