The assessment of objective seriousness of a murder offence is quintessentially for the sentencing judge and is reviewable only on House v The King principles. Where a sentencing judge has had the advantage of a trial, the appellate court's reluctance to interfere with the assessment of objective seriousness is accentuated. A Crown appellant challenging factual findings underlying a sentence must place sufficient evidentiary material before the appellate court to support the challenge; short extracts of evidence are insufficient. Where expert evidence on future dangerousness is speculative and imprecise, a sentencing judge is not obliged to refer to the need for special deterrence.
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