27 Jul 2022
Where a murder plainly falls within s104 aggravating categories (victim vulnerability; brutality/cruelty) an MPI of 17 years will not be manifestly unjust unless exceptional, clearly demonstrable mitigating factors place the case outside the statutory band; the judge properly applied that test and the combination of guilty plea and personal circumstances did not render 17 years manifestly unjust in this case.
13 Jul 2022
Leave to appeal out of time granted; the offending involved limited premeditation, exposure to risk from unprotected sex and significant psychological harm, placing it at the bottom of band one under R v AM; the starting point of six years six months and the discounts applied were within range and not manifestly excessive; therefore the sentence of three years and nine months was affirmed; publication of the complainant's occupation was permitted while name/address suppression remains.
10 Jun 2021
Judge fixed starting points of 8 years for the Butler manslaughter and 9 years for the Ratana manslaughter, applied totality to set an aggregate starting point of 16 years, allowed a 20% global personal/cultural discount and a 20% guilty plea discount, resulting in a final determinate sentence of 9 years and 7 months with no minimum period of imprisonment and the organised-group sentence to be served concurrently.
23 Nov 2020
Leave to appeal out of time was declined because the long unexplained delay, the appellant's misapprehension that Zhang applied to his sentence at the time, and the limited merits of the proposed appeal (the sentence was not manifestly excessive and the Judge had considered background material and applied an appropriate starting point and plea discount) meant the interests of justice did not justify an extension, notwithstanding admission of the s 27 report as evidence.
9 Aug 2019
Starting from a 3.5 year (42 month) tariff for one-punch manslaughter, the Judge allowed a 35% reduction for personal mitigation (cultural background, remorse, restorative justice, youth and rehabilitation prospects), a four month credit for restrictive EM bail, and a 25% guilty plea discount, reducing the effective imprisonment to about 17 months; applying the principle of the least restrictive appropriate sentence the Court converted the outcome to eight months' home detention as the final sentence.