A sentencing judge must allow some discount for a guilty plea even where the Crown case is strong and the offending is serious, particularly where the plea spares the victim the ordeal of giving evidence. The power to pronounce a person an habitual criminal under the Habitual Criminals Act 1957 (NSW) is not to be exercised lightly and requires adequate and up-to-date material, but s 9 does not impose an absolute pre-condition that a report from the Adult Probation Service (or its successor) be obtained. The maximum sentence of 14 years under the Act is not appropriate where the circumstances, while serious, do not warrant the statutory maximum in a range of 5 to 14 years.
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