Where a registered health practitioner commits sexual offences against patients, the practitioner's prior good character has significantly less mitigating weight because good character was a precondition to the registration that placed the offender in a position to offend. General and personal deterrence are significant sentencing considerations in such cases. A psychologist's opinion that mental illness contributed to offending may be rejected where the offender's own evidence at the sentencing hearing does not support a causal link.
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