Beynon v The State of Western Australia

In this case, the appellant, David James Beynon, sought leave to appeal against his sentence imposed by the District Court of Western Australia for two counts of aggravated home burglary and two counts of stealing. The appeal was heard by the Court of Appeal of Western Australia, consisting of Buss P, Mazza JA and the author, who delivered the judgment. The appellant argued that the sentencing judge made express errors of fact and that the total effective sentence infringed the first limb of the totality principle. The court found that while the sentencing judge did make an error of fact by stating that the appellant committed one of the aggravated home burglaries in company, when in fact he did not, it was not reasonably arguable that a different sentence should have been imposed. Furthermore, the court held that the total effective sentence of 2 years and 4 months' imprisonment was well within the proper exercise of the sentencing judge's discretion and did not infringe the first limb of the totality principle. Therefore, leave to appeal was refused, and the appeal was dismissed.

The final orders of the court were:

1. Leave to appeal is refused on both grounds.
2. The appeal is dismissed.