Brennan v WA

[2010] WASCA 19

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Solicitor stealing from client
4. › Multiple offences over extended period
5. › Breach of trust
6. › General deterrence as dominant consideration
7. › Whether sentence manifestly excessive
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Cumulation and concurrency
4. › One transaction principle
5. › Whether multiple thefts over six years constitute one transaction
6. › Whether attempted fraud distinct from stealing offences
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Totality principle
4. › Whether aggregate sentence disproportionate to overall criminality
5. › Whether sentence crushing

Quick Take

A total sentence of 7 years 6 months imprisonment for a solicitor who stole almost $900,000 from a vulnerable elderly client over six years was upheld. Seventy stealing offences committed over a six-year period are not so intimately related as to engage the one transaction principle, particularly where the final offence is different in legal genre (fraud rather than theft). General deterrence is the dominant sentencing consideration for solicitors who steal from clients, and personal circumstances including prior good character are largely swamped by the seriousness of such offending.