Under the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), a sentencing court must separately and adequately consider whether a sentence of imprisonment should be suspended, evaluating all relevant circumstances including the offender's personal circumstances, and cannot treat the seriousness of the offence alone as determinative of the suspension question. A suspended sentence is a substantial punishment, not merely an exercise in leniency. A court will be slow to find apprehended bias where the apprehension was directly brought about by the conduct of the party's own legal advisers.
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