The requirement that accomplices be sentenced before giving evidence remains a rule of practice, not law, and the changed statutory landscape (ss 23 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, s 5DA(1) Criminal Appeal Act 1912) means the emphasis is now on the adequacy of judicial directions rather than strict compliance with the practice. The Crown has a considerable area of discretion as to how much detail about the benefit to an accomplice witness should be led in evidence-in-chief. Where co-offenders' circumstances are markedly disparate, the parity principle does not require maintenance of proportionality between their sentences.
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