The De Simoni principle — that a sentencing judge cannot take into account uncharged circumstances of aggravation that would have warranted a conviction for a more serious offence — applies to the decision whether to record a conviction under ss 183 and 184 of the Youth Justice Act 1992 (Qld), because that decision is part of the sentence. The prima facie position under those provisions is that a conviction should not be recorded against a child, and this position was not displaced where the offence involved grievous bodily harm at the lower end of the scale, the offender was a first offender who pleaded guilty early, and the uncharged aggravating factors were excluded from consideration.
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