Sentences of 5 years for rape by digital penetration and 4 years 6 months for attempted rape by digital penetration were held manifestly inadequate where the offending was predatory, involved significant violence, occurred in public against a stranger victim, and the offender was on bail. The Court confirmed that the upward adjustment in sentencing for digital rape signalled in Shrestha v The Queen applies, and that such cases raise a point of principle sufficient to engage the DPP's appeal jurisdiction and defeat the residual discretion argument. Digital rape should not be treated as categorically less serious than penile rape; gravity depends on the particular circumstances.
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