Where the gravity of the offence is extreme — here, a sustained violent kidnapping and robbery of a defenceless elderly victim — the difference in age and antecedents between co-offenders may be overwhelmed, justifying the same sentence for a younger offender with a better record as for an older co-offender with worse antecedents. The parity principle does not require a lesser sentence for a co-offender with better antecedents where the offence is of such seriousness that prior good character has little or no mitigating effect.
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