The prospect of deportation remains not a mitigating factor in sentencing in Western Australia, and the Court declined to follow the Victorian and Queensland approach. An accused who offers to plead guilty to a lesser charge rather than the charge as laid does not thereby preserve the 'first reasonable opportunity' for the purposes of s 9AA of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), even where the accused's position was always that the more serious charge was appropriate. A 10-year licence disqualification was manifestly excessive where the offender's medical condition was already well understood and could be assessed during the custodial period.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 16 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 16 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.