Where both manifest excess and parity grounds are raised on a sentence appeal, the established practice of the NSWCCA is to address manifest excess first, because a parity challenge assumes the sentence is otherwise correct. A sentencing judge who summarises evidence of childhood disadvantage and mental health conditions but fails to make findings about how those matters affect moral culpability and the purposes of sentencing commits appealable error. The Bugmy principles are enlivened where an offender experienced childhood emotional instability, parental neglect, exposure to domestic violence and resultant psychological disorders, even where the disadvantage is not as profound as in Bugmy itself.
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