Where an offender's own childhood sexual abuse is established and has contributed to the offending, it may be taken into account as reducing moral culpability, but the weight depends on the facts and is subject to wide sentencing discretion. A sentence may be characterised as 'very lenient' yet still not warrant appellate intervention on a Crown appeal where the sentencing judge properly weighed relevant subjective factors including the ordeal of a retrial and time served under a quashed sentence.
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