Parker v Gleeson

The applicant, Parker, has moved to review orders made by a magistrate sentencing the respondent, Gleeson, to five months' imprisonment on each of two charges of dangerous driving. The sentences were suspended upon conditions and Gleeson was also disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence for eight months. The orders of imprisonment were suspended on the basis that Gleeson was suffering from a mental illness which impaired his self-control and judgment, and there was a reasonable prospect that he would submit to medical treatment to avoid a recurrence of the illness. Gleeson's licence was disqualified for eight months. The applicant argued the sentences should not have been suspended and that the period of licence disqualification was manifestly inadequate. The court found that the magistrate was entitled to take into account Gleeson's mental illness as a mitigating factor and to suspend the sentences, but the period of licence disqualification was manifestly inadequate. Gleeson was ordered to be disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence for 12 months on the first offence and for three years on the second offence, served cumulatively.