R v NAD

The appellant, R, was convicted of a series of indecent assaults occurring between 1969 and 1975. The appellant was sentenced by a magistrate to imprisonment with a partially suspended sentence, taking into account the appellant's age, the appellant's guilty plea, and the appellant's adult daughter who was intellectually disabled. The appellant appealed against the sentence, arguing that the magistrate had failed to consider the exceptional circumstances of hardship to the appellant's daughter at the time of sentencing. The appeal was heard by the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The legal issue before the court was whether the magistrate had erred in failing to consider the exceptional circumstances of hardship to the appellant's daughter at the time of sentencing. The Crown conceded that such exceptional circumstances existed in light of new evidence relating to the position of the appellant's daughter since the appellant's imprisonment. The court had to determine whether this error was a significant one that warranted varying the sentence.

The court found that the magistrate's failure to consider the exceptional circumstances of hardship to the appellant's daughter at the time of sentencing was an error of law. However, the court considered the new evidence that had come to light and the Crown's concession that such exceptional circumstances did exist. The court varied the sentence by extending the period during which the sentence was suspended. The court noted that the appellant's daughter's situation had deteriorated since the appellant's imprisonment, and that this was a significant factor that should have been considered at the time of sentencing.

The court ordered that the sentence be varied by extending the period during which the sentence was suspended. The appellant's sentence was varied by extending the period during which the sentence was suspended by a further two years.