Where an offender gives sworn evidence of remorse at sentencing that is not cross-examined or contradicted, a sentencing judge who does not accept that evidence must make some comment to that effect; silence on the topic will be treated as a failure to take remorse into account. The rule of fairness requiring cross-examination before rejecting a witness's evidence applies in sentencing proceedings even where the Evidence Act does not apply. However, identification of such error will not result in resentencing where the original sentence is already extremely lenient.
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