R v Hart

The case of R v Hart involved an appeal against the sentence imposed by the court. The applicant had pleaded guilty to one charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and grievous bodily harm. The applicant was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, suspended after four months for an operational period of 18 months. The court was required to decide whether the imposition of a short custodial sentence was within the proper exercise of the sentencing discretion.

The legal issues at hand were whether the sentence imposed by the court was manifestly excessive and whether the applicant's fault was so serious as to require some period of actual custody. The court held that the imposition of a custodial sentence was within the sound exercise of the sentencing discretion. This was based on the Court's decisions in R v Gruenert and R v Vance; ex parte A-G (Qld), which established that the death of a human being as a result of dangerous driving is so serious that a term of imprisonment of at least 18 months should be expected save in exceptional cases. The court found that the applicant's dangerous operation of his motor vehicle also caused serious injury to Constable Haupt, which further supported the need for some period of actual custody.

The court concluded that the sentence imposed was not manifestly excessive and the application for leave to appeal against sentence should be refused. Fraser JA agreed with the reasons of Keane JA and the order proposed by his Honour. The final order was that the application for leave to appeal against sentence was refused.