Where the acts constituting charges of grievous bodily harm, assault occasioning bodily harm and deprivation of liberty are the same acts relied upon to constitute a charge of torture under s 320A of the Criminal Code (Qld), no separate punishment — not even a concurrent sentence — should be imposed for those subsidiary offences, consistent with Pearce v The Queen and s 16 of the Criminal Code. The offence of cruelty under s 364, being based on omissions rather than acts, is not the same act or omission as torture and may be separately punished. An 11-year sentence was appropriate for very serious torture of a 3-year-old child involving multiple life-threatening injuries over 16 days, with a serious violent offence declaration.
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