Where a sentencing judge's conduct during a plea hearing is challenged on appeal, the Court of Appeal may decline to determine whether the judge 'crossed the line' if it is independently satisfied, on all the material, that no different sentence should have been passed. The Court of Appeal is entitled to form its own view of sentence adequacy under s.568(4) of the Crimes Act 1958 rather than remitting to the trial court, where it has all the material and is at no disadvantage from not having seen or heard the witnesses. A finding of 'no substantial mitigating circumstances' may properly relate only to the circumstances of the offending, not to personal mitigating factors dealt with elsewhere in the sentencing remarks.
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