R v Thompson

The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed to the Supreme Court of South Australia against a decision of the District Court to defer sentencing a defendant. The defendant had pleaded guilty to two offences: aggravated assault committed on 11 February 2009, and aggravated causing harm with intent to cause harm committed on 8 November 2010. Both matters were heard together in the District Court.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the sentencing judge erred in ordering the deferral of the defendant's sentencing under section 19B of the *Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988* (SA), and whether the circumstances of the offending were such that a suspended sentence was inappropriate. The judge had deferred sentencing to allow the defendant an opportunity to demonstrate his ongoing commitment to rehabilitation.

The Court allowed the appeal, holding that the gravity of the defendant's offending and his prior offending history necessitated the imposition of an immediate custodial sentence. Consequently, the Court found that section 19B of the *Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988* (SA) should not have been invoked. The proceedings were remitted to the District Court for the defendant to be sentenced, with the explicit direction that sentencing should not be by way of remand under section 19B.