Where an offender is sentenced for serious drug supply offences and the sentence is backdated to run largely concurrently with a pre-existing sentence for separate offending, the effective additional imprisonment attributable to the new sentence is a critical measure of adequacy. An aggregate sentence that produces an effective additional non-parole period of only 16 months for four drug supply offences (three carrying life imprisonment) is manifestly inadequate, even where the offender has a strong subjective case including mental illness, childhood disadvantage, and good rehabilitation prospects. The NSWCCA has power to vary the commencement date of a federal sentence imposed at the same trial as State offences, by operation of s 7(1A) of the Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) picked up by s 16E of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), s 68(1) or s 79(1) of the Judiciary Act 1903 (Cth).
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 4 later cases that cite this judgment.
2 of the 4 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.