When sentencing for historical child sexual offences from the 1970s and 1980s, a sentencing pattern of more lenient sentences can be established through five factors: contemporary statistics, case summaries, the general increase in sentences, changes in maximum penalties, and judicial memory. While individual sentences may not be excessive, a wholly cumulative sentencing structure may produce a manifestly excessive total sentence if it does not reflect the more lax approach to cumulation and concurrence that prevailed at the time, including the practice of non-parole periods being approximately 50 per cent of head sentences. The aggravating factor in s 21A(2)(ea) cannot be established where the offender ordinarily resided in the home, and s 21A(2)(m) is directed to offences that themselves encompass a series of criminal acts, not to individual offences that form part of a broader series.
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