Where a Victim Impact Statement asserts harm well beyond that which might ordinarily be expected from the circumstances of the offence, and the VIS is the only evidence of that harm, a sentencing judge must exercise considerable caution and cannot give full weight to the VIS without additional evidentiary support. The absence of sexual motivation in a child sexual offence, combined with mental disability, genuine remorse, and assistance to authorities, can render a sentence at the lower end of the range appropriate even for offences carrying life imprisonment.
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