Post-offence conduct closely connected with the offence (such as driving the principal offender from the scene) may be treated as a circumstance of aggravation on sentence, applying DPP v England. An appellate court does not have a residual discretion to reduce a sentence solely for reasons of mercy in the absence of specific error or manifest excess; R v Carmody is not authority for such a proposition. The death of a family member while an offender is in custody does not, without more (such as evidence of psychiatric deterioration), constitute fresh evidence warranting reopening of the sentencing discretion.
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