R v Nguyen

Phong Thanh Nguyen appealed against his sentence for armed robbery and illegal use of a motor vehicle. The sentencing judge imposed a head sentence of eight years, to be served after a non-parole period of seven years, and disqualified his driving licence for 12 months. The appellant argued that the non-parole period should be fixed in a way that gave proper credit for his early pleas of guilty and his time in custody since the date of the offending. The appeal raised issues concerning the appropriate approach to credit for time spent on remand and the fixing of a non-parole period.

The court held that the appeal should be allowed. The head sentence of eight years should commence on the expiration of the activated sentence. The non-parole period should be six years, with respect to the total sentence of eight years and nine months. The sentence and the non-parole period should commence on 9 August 2001. The court found that the sentencing judge did not adequately take into account the appellant's early pleas of guilty and his time in custody when fixing the non-parole period. The court emphasised that the time spent on remand should be brought into account in an appropriate manner. The appropriate approach was to set a non-parole period that gave proper credit for the appellant's early pleas of guilty and his time in custody since the date of the offending.

The final orders of the court were that the appeal should be allowed, the head sentence of eight years should commence on the expiration of the activated sentence, a non-parole period of six years should be fixed with respect to the total sentence of eight years and nine months, and the sentence and the non-parole period should commence on 9 August 2001. The court noted that the appellant had already served nine months in custody since the date of the offending.