Sentencing under s 9(4) of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) requires an integrated instinctive synthesis approach, not a two-stage process of first determining exceptional circumstances and then fixing the sentence. Low-level offending, combined with factors such as lack of prior history, early guilty pleas, genuine remorse, and advanced age, may establish exceptional circumstances dispensing with the requirement for actual custody. For very low-level indecent treatment of a child under 16 with strong mitigating factors, a sentence of 6 months imprisonment suspended forthwith is appropriate.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 7 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 7 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.