Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005

The court may direct that a sentence of imprisonment is taken to have started on a day before the day the sentence is imposed.

For subsection (1), the court must take into account any period during which the offender has already been held in custody in relation to the offence.

However, subsection (2) does not apply to—

a period of custody of less than 1 day; or

a sentence of imprisonment of less than 1 day; or

a sentence of imprisonment that is fully suspended; or

the suspended part of a partly suspended sentence of imprisonment.

If the offender is charged with a series of offences committed on different occasions and has been in custody continuously since arrest, the period of custody for subsection (2) must be worked out from the time of the offender’s arrest.

Subsection (4) applies even if the offender is not convicted or found guilty of—

the offence for which the offender was first arrested; or

any particular offence or offences in the series.