R v B, DS

The appeal concerned the sentence imposed on the appellant, who pleaded guilty to indecent assault, unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 12, and rape. The sentencing judge had imposed a total term of 15 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of nine years, having made a reduction for totality. The appellant was 69 years of age at the time of sentencing.

The central legal issues before the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia were whether the sentence was manifestly excessive and whether the sentencing judge had erred by failing to reduce the sentence for each individual offence before applying the totality principle.

The Full Court allowed the appeal for the limited purpose of directing that the sentence of 15 years' imprisonment be considered a single sentence pursuant to section 18A of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA), with the non-parole period of nine years fixed in relation to that head sentence. The Court held that while a reduction for totality ought to have been made in respect of each individual sentence, the overall sentence of 15 years was within the appropriate range and was not manifestly excessive.