Section 12(2) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) prohibits the imposition of a suspended sentence where the offender is subject to another sentence of imprisonment, regardless of the order in which sentences are imposed in a single sentencing process and regardless of relative sentence lengths. Pre-sentence custody credit is limited to periods exclusively referable to the offences being sentenced; time served on an unrelated sentence does not qualify. Where multiple indictments relate to separate episodes of criminal activity with different victims and modi operandi, sentences should be partly accumulated using a 'stepping stage' process rather than made wholly concurrent or wholly cumulative. The question whether s 12(2) prohibits a suspended sentence imposed before any custodial sentence was expressly left open.
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