The fact that an offence was committed while the offender was on conditional liberty (parole) is relevant as a subjective consideration in sentencing but must not be taken into account as part of the assessment of the objective seriousness of the offence. The Crown's formulation that 'no lesser sentence is warranted in law' is apt to mislead where the sentence does not lie at the bottom of the available range; the appellate court must exercise its own sentencing discretion independently. The commission of an offence while on parole is not automatically a matter of 'major aggravation' — its relevance must be assessed according to the circumstances of each individual case.
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