The reason why an accused withheld a guilty plea is rarely if ever relevant to determining the utilitarian discount; where a plea is entered the day before trial, no more than 10 per cent discount is appropriate regardless of the reason for delay. Where an offence under s 33 involves injuries at the lower end of the spectrum and the offender's culpability is reduced by mental disorder, the offence may fall significantly below mid-range of objective seriousness. An offender's criminal record, however aggravating, cannot increase the sentence above what is proportional to the objective seriousness of the offence.
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