Lambert v The Queen

In *Lambert v The Queen*, the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia was asked to re-exercise the sentencing discretion of a trial judge. The appeal concerned the sentencing of the appellant for a total of 33 offences, primarily relating to the possession of numerous firearms and ammunition, some of which were stolen. The respondent conceded that the sentencing judge had made a material error by basing the sentence on maximum penalties that were substantially higher than those actually prescribed by law for several offences, thereby vitiating the exercise of discretion.

The legal issues before the Full Court included determining the correct maximum penalties for the offences of possessing a category H firearm without a licence, possessing a category H firearm without identifying characters, and possessing a category B firearm without a licence. Additionally, a further issue arose regarding the correct maximum penalty for the offence of theft, with the appellant arguing that the sentencing judge was constrained by section 5 of the *Criminal Procedure Act 1921* (SA) to impose a penalty not exceeding two years for these offences.

The Court accepted the respondent's concession that a material error had occurred in sentencing. Consequently, the Full Court was required to exercise the sentencing discretion afresh. In undertaking this task, the Court considered the correct statutory maximum penalties for the relevant offences. The appellant admitted to possessing all the firearms and ammunition, stating he had them from a period years earlier when he was heavily involved with drugs. The Court noted that most of the firearms found were stolen, and two of them lacked sufficient identifying characters.

The Full Court exercised the sentencing discretion afresh, imposing a new sentence that reflected the correct maximum penalties for the offences.