Accumulation of seven years between sentences for two drug importation offences that formed part of a single course of offending over six months was held to be outside the range of discretion, producing a crushing sentence for a 20-year-old first-time serious drug offender. The totality principle requires particular care where multiple serious offences are part of a continuous course of conduct involving the same drugs imported by similar means over a short period. A discount of 5% for past assistance assessed as low to medium value, provided 18 months after arrest, was within the range of discretion.
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