The Court of Appeal confirmed that a sentence indication under s 207 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 (Vic) operates only as a ceiling on the total effective sentence and is not a starting point or benchmark to be reduced by additional mitigating material tendered at the plea hearing; treating it otherwise would amount to impermissible two-stage sentencing incompatible with the instinctive synthesis. On the manifest excess ground, the Court found the total effective sentence of 10 years' imprisonment (non-parole period of 7 years 3 months) for intentionally causing serious injury by stabbing causing incomplete spinal cord severance was well within range, given the objective seriousness, devastating victim impact, guarded rehabilitation prospects, and the offender's extensive criminal history, notwithstanding accepted Bugmy deprivation and limited Verdins factors. The comparable cases relied upon by the applicant were distinguished on their materially different facts.
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