Where co-offenders are charged with significantly different offences (here, s 98 vs s 35(3) Crimes Act 1900) with substantially different maximum penalties, different objective roles, and different subjective circumstances, the parity principle will not give rise to a justifiable sense of grievance even where there is a large differential in sentences. The failure to raise parity at first instance, while not determinative, may serve as an indicator that the differences between offenders are too great for the principle to have meaningful application.
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