Where an offender has been acquitted of causing death or grievous bodily harm but convicted of a lesser assault offence arising from the same incident, victim impact statements from the deceased's family members that relate solely to the effects of the death are not admissible under ss 13, 24 and 25 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), because the family members are not 'victims' in relation to the offence of conviction and the statements do not describe effects of the commission of that offence. An indication of willingness to plead guilty that is never carried into effect has some mitigatory value under s 8(2) of the Act but substantially less than an actual plea of guilty. A sentence of 3 years' imprisonment for a single-punch assault occasioning only minor facial injuries, where the offender is a first offender with favourable antecedents, is manifestly excessive even where the assault was unprovoked and indiscriminate.
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