The general range for a single act of vaginal penetration without consent where the victim is over 16 remains of the order of about 6 years, which is at the lower end and typically reflects mitigating factors. The totality principle does not ordinarily require full credit for existing sentences; the principle that a sentence should be commensurate with the seriousness of the offence means it will not often be appropriate to reduce the new sentence by the full amount of existing sentences. When multiple sexual offences are committed on the same occasion, the commission of additional offences may significantly increase the appropriate sentence beyond the range for a single offence.
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