When sentencing orders expressly impose separate sentences for individual offences and direct they be served consecutively, those orders will be construed as imposing separate cumulative sentences notwithstanding that subsequent orders refer to a 'total head sentence' and 'the sentence'. The power under s 20 of the Sentencing Act 2017 (SA) to rectify sentencing errors cannot be used to replace separate cumulative sentences with a single penalty — it is limited to supplying deficiencies such as specifying the order in which cumulative sentences are to be served.
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