The case confirms that where psychiatric evidence finds no causal link between an offender's mental illness and the killing, and the offender has a history of non-compliance with treatment, the sentencing judge may properly assess mental illness as a mitigating factor of minimal weight. A sentence of 10 years (7-year NPP) for manslaughter by excessive self-defence involving a single fatal knife wound with heavy force, where the offender armed himself pre-emptively, lies within the range of sound sentencing discretion.
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