R H McL v The Queen

The case of R H McL v The Queen concerned an appeal to the Court of Appeal of Victoria by the appellant, who had been convicted of various sexual offences against his two step-daughters. The appellant was found guilty of multiple counts of incest, gross indecency, indecent assault, and causing a child to take part in prostitution. Following his convictions, the appellant appealed against them and sought leave to appeal against his sentence, but later withdrew the sentence appeal.

The legal issues before the Court of Appeal included whether it possessed the power to re-sentence the appellant on the remaining convictions after quashing some of them, and whether the substituted sentence should be subject to a ceiling to prevent an increase in punishment following a successful appeal. The Court was also required to consider the principles of proportionality and totality in sentencing.

The Court of Appeal reasoned that it was entitled to increase the remaining sentences because they were imposed for offences that formed part of a continuing course of criminal conduct. The original sentences had been compressed by the trial judge to avoid exceeding the appropriate punishment for the overall criminal conduct, resulting in individual sentences that were manifestly inadequate. The Court applied the principle of totality, as established in cases like *Thomas* and *Mill*, which requires a review of the aggregate sentence to ensure it is just and appropriate. The Court concluded that the individual sentences and the total effective sentence for the remaining convictions were manifestly inadequate and that it would have been an error to leave them standing.

The appeal was dismissed.