The purpose of aggregate sentencing under s 53A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) is not to achieve a lesser effective sentence than would have been imposed by traditional individual sentences, but to ameliorate the difficulties of applying Pearce v The Queen in sentencing for multiple offences. Where offending over a short period is fairly characterised as a single course of conduct, a substantial degree of notional concurrency is required. A psychologist's report purporting to diagnose psychiatric conditions may properly be treated with caution where the psychologist lacks medical or psychiatric training.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 27 later cases that cite this judgment.
5 of the 27 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.