Ingomar v Police No. Scgrg-98-1145 Judgment No. S6875

The case of Ingomar v Police involves an appeal by the appellant against the sentences imposed by the Magistrates Court at Port Augusta. The appellant pleaded guilty to multiple charges including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assaulting police officers in the execution of their duty, resisting police, damaging a motor vehicle, and damaging a front door. The court was tasked with determining whether the overall sentence of 10 months imprisonment was excessive and whether the sentencing magistrate adequately considered the appellant's cultural background and disadvantaged circumstances.

The court considered whether the magistrate properly applied the principle of totality in sentencing and whether the overall sentence was manifestly excessive given the appellant's youth, cultural background, and history of alcohol abuse. The court noted the importance of recognising the special circumstances of Aboriginal defendants in sentencing, particularly in relation to alcohol abuse and the disproportionate impact of imprisonment on them. The court found that while the magistrate was aware of these factors, there was an error in the imposition of the sentence due to the duplication of the resist arrest conviction and a technical failure to apply section 75 of the Correctional Services Act.

The court decided to reconsider the sentence, taking into account the serious nature of the assaults and the appellant's youth and background. It concluded that the justice of the case would be met by reducing the overall sentence to six months, with the two four-month sentences for assaulting police officers to be served concurrently with the two-month sentence for damaging a motor vehicle. The reduced sentence of six months would commence from the expiration of the one day the appellant must serve as the unexpired balance of the sentence upon which he had been released on parole. The court ordered the respondent to pay the appellant's costs of the appeal.