Channon v The Queen

The appellant, Brian Dennis Lovelock, appeals against the severity of the sentence imposed upon him by the learned trial Judge. The appellant was charged with three offences: breaking, entering, and stealing, malicious injury, and stealing a motor truck. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year for the first three offences, and six months imprisonment for the fourth offence, to be served concurrently with the first three. The appellant argues that the sentence was affected by error and was unreasonable. The court was required to decide whether the trial judge was in error in fixing a non-parole period of one year and whether the sentence was inappropriate. The court found that while there was no self-evident element of harshness in the non-parole period, the trial judge did not give due weight to certain factors such as the appellant's background and the circumstances surrounding the commission of the offences. The court agreed that the non-parole period should be reduced and followed the order proposed by Brennan J. The final orders of the court were not explicitly stated in the judgment.