The Supreme Court imposed a three-year Youth Justice Centre Order rather than adult imprisonment for manslaughter by unlawful and dangerous act committed by a 17-year-old Aboriginal offender who deliberately drove a stolen car at a 16-year-old pedestrian in the context of youth gang rivalry. The Court found exceptional circumstances existed under s 32(2C) of the Sentencing Act 1991 based on the offender's reasonably good rehabilitation prospects, vulnerability in adult custody, Aboriginality, diagnoses of ADHD, cPTSD and learning disorder, childhood disadvantage, and the mitigating effects of youth, undue pre-charge delay, and an early guilty plea. The indicated sentence but for the guilty plea was five and a half years' imprisonment with a three year and nine month non-parole period, underscoring the significant discount afforded by the plea and the dispositional shift from adult imprisonment to youth detention.
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