Musca v The Queen

In this appeal, Julian Aaron Musca challenges his sentence imposed by Wallace DCJ following his convictions on four counts, two of which were for possession of child exploitation material under the Criminal Code (WA) and two for using a carriage service to access and transmit child pornography material under the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). The appellant pleaded guilty to each count. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The appellant was sentenced to a total effective sentence of 19 months imprisonment, of which 14 months were to be served. The appellant appealed on two grounds. The first ground alleged that the learned sentencing judge had erroneously applied the totality principle. The second ground alleged that the recognizance release order made in relation to the Commonwealth offences was manifestly excessive and disproportionate to the total effective sentence. The Court rejected the first ground, holding that the learned sentencing judge was alert to the need to ensure that the total sentence imposed in relation to multiple offences bore a proper relationship to the overall criminality involved in all of the offences. The Court rejected the second ground, holding that the minimum period of 5 months imprisonment imposed by the learned sentencing judge under the recognizance release order was not manifestly excessive, namely that the end result was not so unreasonable or unjust that this Court must conclude that a substantial wrong had occurred.