Where the nature of an attack and injuries are sufficiently severe, a sentencing judge may infer emotional and economic harm beyond reasonable doubt as a matter of inference, even without independent evidence beyond the Victim Impact Statement. The Victim Impact Statement need not be the sole evidence of harm where the agreed facts themselves substantiate findings of substantial harm. For fresh evidence on sentence appeals, the test from R v Fordham requires that it be shown the sentencing in the absence of the evidence resulted in a miscarriage of justice, which is a stricter criterion than the first pre-requisite in R v Goodwin.
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