Stehbens v Police

The appellant, Stehbens, appealed against the sentence imposed by the Magistrates Court of South Australia, following his conviction for theft and receiving stolen property. The appellant had a history of criminal offending and committed the offences while on parole. The court was tasked with determining whether the magistrate correctly set the non-parole period in relation to the new term of imprisonment and whether the magistrate erred in backdating the non-parole period to commence before the term of imprisonment to which it related. Additionally, the court had to consider whether the magistrate failed to account for six months spent in custody when calculating the head sentence.

The court found that the magistrate erred in backdating the non-parole period so that it commenced before the term of imprisonment to which it related. The court also held that the magistrate erred in failing to take account of the six months spent in custody when calculating the head sentence. The court clarified that the limitation of two years imprisonment which may be imposed by the Magistrates Court under section 19 of the Magistrates Court Act is not a maximum by reference to which all sentences in the Magistrates Court should be scaled.

The appeal was allowed, and the appellant was re-sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months. The total sentence, including the unserved previous sentence, was two years, seven months and 23 days. The non-parole period was set at 14 months.