A threat to inflict treatment 'worse' than injury simpliciter can constitute a threat of serious injury where anything appreciably worse than the injury actually inflicted would amount to serious injury. The weight to be given to a victim's forgiveness in sentencing varies with the circumstances, and in domestic violence cases courts should be cautious about giving undue weight to a battered partner's plea for leniency. The fact that a victim has forgiven the offender is not authority for the proposition that the offender should necessarily receive a lesser sentence.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 7 later cases that cite this judgment.