The Queensland Court of Appeal held that concurrent sentences of seven years imprisonment with parole eligibility after three years for two counts of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child (with circumstances of aggravation) were within the range of sound sentencing discretion, notwithstanding significant mitigating factors including early guilty pleas, extensive cooperation with police, and admissions that constituted the entire case against the applicant in respect of one victim. The Court accepted that cooperation and guilty pleas warranted an appreciable discount but found the sentencing judge had adequately reflected these through a combination of moderation in the head sentence and earlier parole recommendation.
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