The Supreme Court allowed a prosecution appeal against sentence, finding manifest inadequacy where a magistrate imposed concurrent 12-month good behaviour orders (with only core conditions) and short fully-suspended sentences for 14 family violence offences against three victims over eight years. The Court held that the magistrate's implicit assessment of objective seriousness was sufficient in the circumstances, and that the characterisation of the offending as 'excessive chastisement' was open on the evidence as a finding about the respondent's subjective state of mind rather than an imputed defence. On resentencing, the Court imposed a total sentence of two years imprisonment fully suspended, with cumulative sentences for the most serious offences, but declined to impose full-time custody given the respondent's complex PTSD, risk of psychological decompensation in custody, and post-sentence rehabilitation in the community.
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