Where an offender has a pre-existing brain injury, it is for the offender through counsel to advance argument and, if necessary, evidence that the brain injury was a mitigating factor in any of the ways described in R v Verdins. Absent such argument and evidentiary basis, the sentencing judge is not required to speculate as to whether the offence was at least partly the result of the brain injury, and there is no basis to diminish the importance of considerations of deterrence and denunciation.
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