Hagon v The King

The applicant, a qualified massage therapist, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault against nine female clients, with the offending occurring between August 2019 and November 2021. The sentencing judge imposed a head sentence of six years imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years, nine months, and nineteen days. The applicant sought permission to appeal his sentence, arguing that the sentencing judge failed to give him credit for time already served, including eight days in custody on remand and two years, three months, and twenty-one days on home detention bail. The respondent consented to the appeal being allowed for the purpose of resentencing.

The legal issue before the Court of Criminal Appeal of South Australia was whether the sentencing judge erred by failing to account for the time the applicant had already served in custody and on home detention bail when imposing the sentence. The Court was required to determine the appropriate sentence after making allowance for this period of time served.

S Doyle and David JJ found that it was appropriate to intervene and resentence the applicant, acknowledging the oversight in the original sentencing. While the Court did not definitively rule on the applicability of section 20 of the Sentencing Act 2017 (SA), it was satisfied that an allowance for time served was warranted. The Court determined that the head sentence and non-parole period identified by the sentencing judge were otherwise appropriate, and the primary task was to adjust these to reflect the time already served.

The Court granted permission to appeal, allowed the appeal, and set aside the original sentence. In lieu thereof, the applicant was sentenced to imprisonment for five years and four months, with a non-parole period of four years, one month, and nineteen days. This revised sentence was backdated to commence on 26 August 2024.