Section 5(2H)(e) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) does not impose a balance of probabilities burden on the offender; whether substantial and compelling circumstances exist that are exceptional and rare is an evaluative judgment for the sentencing judge. Circumstances which individually are relatively common may in combination enliven the exception. The frequency with which individual mitigating factors are encountered in the County Court does not by that fact alone deprive them of their character as exceptional and rare.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 68 later cases that cite this judgment.
6 of the 68 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.