Where a sentencing judge indicates during a plea hearing that they accept an offender has demonstrated some degree of remorse, a departure from that position in the reasons for sentence without notice to the defence constitutes a breach of procedural fairness, because the indication may truncate the forensic choices available to defence counsel regarding the calling of further evidence. Remorse is not an all-or-nothing concept but is measured in degrees, and the weight attributed to it depends on the level of genuine remorse demonstrated. For dangerous driving causing serious injury, speed may be treated as a contextual feature without being an aggravating factor where it was not part of the agreed basis of dangerousness.
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