Admissions to police and identification of co-offenders do not constitute 'assistance' under s 5(2H)(a) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) where the information was already known to investigators. Section 5(2H)(a) poses a single binary question — has the offender assisted? — without a qualitative threshold as to the value of the assistance. For s 5(2H)(e), while individual mitigating factors may be generically common, their cumulative impact can constitute 'substantial and compelling circumstances that are exceptional and rare' where there is a direct causal link between the offender's condition and the offending, and the condition renders the offender exceptionally vulnerable in custody.
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