A young first offender convicted as a party to a common purpose involving serious violence, but whose participation was limited to encouragement by presence without active involvement in the assaults, may have sentences of imprisonment suspended where the offender's youth, lack of prior record, peer group pressure from dominant co-offenders, and strong rehabilitation prospects are established. The seriousness of the offences does not necessarily outweigh such mitigating factors where the offender's personal culpability is markedly less than that of the principal offenders.
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