R v Howe

In *R v Howe*, the appellant, Howe, appealed against his sentence imposed by a judge of the District Court of South Australia. The appeal concerned the factual basis for sentencing, specifically the calculation of discounts under section 10C of the Sentencing Act.

The central legal issue before the Full Court of the Supreme Court of South Australia was whether the sentencing judge had provided adequate reasons for the discounts applied to the appellant's sentence. The Court was required to determine if the discounts were appropriately calculated and justified in light of the gravity and circumstances of the offences.

The Court found that the sentencing judge had not given adequate reasons for the calculation of the discounts allowed under section 10C of the Sentencing Act. However, considering the seriousness of the theft offence, the Court indicated that a starting point of at least nine months imprisonment would be appropriate if it were to resentence the appellant. Applying a 10 per cent discount to this starting point would result in a sentence of just over eight months for the theft offence alone.

Ultimately, the Court dismissed the appeal pursuant to section 353(4)(b) of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA), as it was obliged to do irrespective of the sentencing discount issue, without taking into account the sentence for the unlawfully on premises offence. Nicholson J agreed with the reasons provided by Blue J.