When exercising the discretion under s 30(6) of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 (WA) to vary a sentence following acquittal of another offence on appeal, the court will generally not impose a total effective sentence more severe than that originally imposed, absent strong reason. A sentence 'takes into account' the sentence for the acquitted offence where the sentencing judge excluded the criminality of the acquitted counts from the remaining offence to avoid double punishment, thereby imposing a lower sentence than would otherwise have been appropriate. The question whether s 30(6) permits imposition of a more severe total effective sentence was left open.
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