In worst category sexual offending cases, the weight to be given to an offender's advanced years and ill-health in the sentencing calculus diminishes as the objective gravity of the offending conduct increases. A sentencing judge is not required to give 'great weight' to age and health where the offending is of the most serious kind. The Verdins propositions regarding mental impairment require evidence of a causal link between the impairment and the offending before moral culpability or deterrence can be moderated.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 19 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 19 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.