The case confirms that characterising offences as 'within the most serious category of offending' is not equivalent to a 'worst category' finding requiring life imprisonment, provided the sentencing judge properly places the offences on the spectrum of objective gravity. The absence of commonly found aggravating factors (threats, force, persistence over protest) does not reduce the objective seriousness of child sexual assault offences, particularly where the victim's extreme youth renders such factors irrelevant. A sentencing judge may evaluate the magnitude of abuse of authority even where it is an element of the aggravated offence. The majority rejected the dissenting view that sentences should be moderated to preserve room in the sentencing range for hypothetically worse cases.
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