A sentencing judge's findings about the motivation for sexual offending — including that the offending was motivated by jealousy and possessiveness rather than sexual gratification — are findings of a type commonly made without expert psychological or psychiatric assistance, and do not require such evidence. Where defence counsel makes an apparently rational forensic decision not to seek a pre-sentence report, that decision will not ordinarily ground a miscarriage of justice on appeal.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 6 later cases that cite this judgment.