Ex-SAS sniper Shane Trevor Gibbs spared jail time after suffocating and choking wife

A former SAS sniper who was found guilty of suffocating and choking his wife has been spared any time in jail after the Attorney-General unsuccessfully appealed the original sentence. Here’s why he was spared time behind bars.

A former SAS sniper who was found guilty of suffocating and choking his wife was spared any time in jail because of his post traumatic stress and battle injuries.

Shane Trevor Gibbs was sentenced to three years in jail for each count, but given immediate release on parole in June, after a Southport District Court trial.

Gibbs, who was acquitted of assault occasioning bodily harm, was also ordered to pay $5000 compensation.

The Attorney-General appealed the sentence, saying it was manifestly inadequate, as Gibbs had been in breach of a domestic violence order and was found guilty of the two domestic violence offences after a trial.

The appeal was dismissed on August 17, with the decision published today.

In 2018, Gibbs had pleaded guilty in Western Australia’s District Court to threatening to kill the same woman and was fined $4000.

In the latest trial, the court heard Gibbs assaulted his then wife after checking her phone in the middle of the night and accusing her of being unfaithful

During an argument the woman asked Gibbs to leave and threatened to call police, but as she started to dial, she said he came at her “hard and fast”.

Shane Gibbs, a former SAS soldier was given immediate release on parole in June, after a Southport District Court trial. Picture Glenn Hampson.

He suffocated her by putting his hand over her mouth and nose, to the point where she could not breathe, and he only let go after she grabbed his testicles.

As she tried to get up, saying “no”, “stop”or “help”, she felt a massive force and hit the ground, with Gibbs on her back, the court heard.

She described feeling “10 out of 10 pressure” on her throat and her tongue came up in her mouth.

The woman remembered seeing their son’s feet and pyjama pants before she blacked out and a triple zero call she made confirmed the son, then five, and Gibbs were nearby.

Gibbs and the woman had been in an on-off relationship for 13 years and had been married for seven years when he choked and suffocated her.

He spent 20 years in Special Air Service Regiment and 22 years as a sniper and was injured in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2007 and shot in battle in 2008.

He had life-threatening injuries and suffered long-term damage to multiple organs but returned to active service in Afghanistan in 2011.

He was diagnosed with PTSD in 2014 and medically discharged from the Army with full military disability pension in 2015.

The sentencing judge found that there was evidence that Gibbs’s PTSD was current at the time he choked and suffocated his wife and it played a part in the offending.

After considering psychiatric and medical reports, the judge also found that actual imprisonment would weigh more heavily on him because of his PTSD and physical injuries.

Counsel for the Attorney-General submitted that the offences were committed only four months after Gibbs had been sentenced for threatening to kill the same woman.

But the appeal court found the judge had considered, weighed and balanced all the factors relevant for sentencing for violent offences.

The three judges agreed the sentence of imprisonment with immediate release on parole was “remarkable”, but said it resulted from sound exercise of sentencing discretion.

It was Gibbs’s PTSD, due to “serious injuries sustained during his outstanding service in the SAS”, and his lengthy rehabilitation and treatment which would be impeded by prison, which remained relevant.

His sentence did not detract from the focus on punishment, denunciation and deterrence that was at the forefront of sentencing for such offences, the appeal court judges said.