The one-third mark of the sentence of imprisonment remains the appropriate starting point for parole eligibility to recognise a guilty plea, but a sentencing judge may depart from that starting point where the offender's recidivist offending and lack of rehabilitation prospects justify it, provided the reasons for departure are apparent from the sentencing remarks or, in the clearest of cases, from exchanges between bench and counsel. A parole eligibility date at approximately 45% of the head sentence was upheld for a recidivist offender who committed a concentrated spree of offending within six months of release from a previous full sentence.
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