Where a maintaining charge straddles 1 July 1997, the Part 9A serious violent offence regime applies to the offence as a whole without discounting for pre-commencement conduct. Where sodomy counts span a period during which the maximum penalty was reduced and the evidence does not establish which offences occurred during the higher-maximum period, sentences cannot exceed the lower maximum. An operative sentence of 17 years for maintaining a sexual relationship with a child is within range where the offending involves three victims over 16 years with extreme violence and abuse of trust, even accounting for a plea of guilty, cooperation, and the offender's own history of abuse.
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