A sentence of approximately three and a half years' imprisonment for offending that includes prolonged reckless conduct endangering life (driving a stolen vehicle at speed with a victim on the bonnet for 20-30 minutes), committed by an offender with an extensive criminal history including similar prior offending, is manifestly inadequate even allowing for a deprived background and Bugmy considerations. Sentencing judges must not use the mechanism of declining to declare pre-sentence detention as a contrivance to circumvent the statutory requirement to fix a non-parole period when the effective period of imprisonment exceeds the statutory maximum for combining imprisonment with a CCO. An aggregate sentence is inappropriate where there are relatively few charges that are distinct in character and one involves much more serious offending than the others.
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