Calabrese v The Queen

The appeal concerned the sentencing of the appellant, Mr Calabrese, by the District Court of South Australia. The appellant had been convicted of an offence involving an offensive weapon, specifically a firearm. The appeal was heard by the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia.

The central legal issue before the Full Court was whether the ten-month suspended sentence of imprisonment imposed by the District Court was manifestly excessive, having regard to the appellant's offending and the time already spent in custody. The Court was required to determine if the original sentence adequately reflected the principles of general and personal deterrence, community safety, and the impact of the time served.

The majority of the Court, comprising Livesey P and David JA, reasoned that the sentence was manifestly excessive. They held that given the appellant had already served 15 days in prison, a ten-month suspended sentence was not necessary to achieve the objectives of deterrence or community safety. Consequently, they set aside the District Court's orders and, upon resentence, recorded a conviction without imposing any further penalty under s 23(2)(d) of the Sentencing Act 2017 (SA). Lovell JA, while also finding the sentence manifestly excessive and setting aside the original orders, imposed a different resentence. Lovell JA sentenced the appellant to six months imprisonment, with a 15% reduction for his plea and a further reduction of 15 days for time spent in custody, suspending the sentence on the same conditions as the original sentencing judge.