A sentence of seven years' imprisonment (approximately one-third of the 20-year maximum) for an upper-range example of intentionally causing serious injury — involving a single blow with a golf club to the head of a 70-year-old victim causing a depressed skull fracture — is within the range open to a sentencing judge where the offender has prior convictions for violence and guarded rehabilitation prospects. It is not necessary for injuries to be catastrophic, the assault prolonged, or the offence committed in company for the offence to fall in the upper range of seriousness.
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