Where the Crown Prosecutor concedes that a non-custodial option is open for dangerous driving causing death, it will generally be unjust for the Attorney-General to appeal on the basis that imprisonment was the only appropriate sentence. The relevance of post-accident failure to stop is limited to an inference of callousness or lack of remorse and cannot be used to increase punishment without infringing double punishment principles. If the Crown wishes to rely on an aggravating circumstance such as awareness of a medical condition making driving dangerous, the onus lies on the Crown to prove it to a high level of satisfaction.
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