Section 9AA of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) does not require a sentencing judge to expressly state the head sentence, and the Court of Appeal will not direct sentencing judges to do so as a matter of practice. The instinctive synthesis approach to sentencing is preserved by s 9AA. The culpability of an adult who sexually abuses a child does not increase merely by reason of the offender being middle-aged or elderly; age disparity is not an aggravating factor, though the victim's young age remains a proper aggravating factor.
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