When sentencing for an offence under s 66EA of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (persistent sexual abuse of a child), the court should adopt the representative offences approach: identify the underlying offences and their maxima, assess the frequency of offending in a general way, and consider the likely sentence as if sentencing for representative offences as part of a course of conduct. The court should not accumulate maxima by multiplying individual offences by statutory maxima, nor should it sentence for the aggregate criminality of all underlying offences against the 25-year maximum. A s 66EA conviction establishes one offence, not a miscellany of underlying substantive offences.
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