R v Ali

The matter before the court was an appeal by the applicant against his sentence for attempted murder, which the applicant argued was manifestly excessive. The applicant had been convicted following a trial of attempted murder, and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with an automatic serious violent offence declaration. During the trial, the applicant had pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, common assault and going armed in public so as to cause fear. The applicant was found to have deliberately driven his vehicle into the complainant’s street and collided with her vehicle, before retrieving a machete and striking the complainant multiple times. The sentencing judge found that the applicant held an intention to kill at all times during the attack.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the sentencing judge had wrongly found that the applicant held an intention to kill at all times, and whether the applicant’s sentence was manifestly excessive. The court considered the sentencing principles and the appropriate range of sentences for the offences committed by the applicant. The court found that while the sentencing judge was correct to find that the applicant held an intention to kill, the sentence imposed for the offence of going armed in public so as to cause fear was excessive.

The court allowed the appeal in part and set aside the sentence imposed for the offence of going armed in public so as to cause fear, substituting a sentence of two years imprisonment. The sentences and orders otherwise made at first instance remained unaffected. The court held that the sentence for going armed in public so as to cause fear was excessive, given the applicant’s other convictions and the circumstances of the attempted murder. However, the court found that the sentence for attempted murder was within the appropriate range of sentences for that offence. The applicant was granted leave to appeal and the appeal was allowed in part, with the sentence for going armed in public so as to cause fear being substituted for a sentence of two years imprisonment.