The State of Western Australia v Maxton

The appeal in The State of Western Australia v Maxton was heard by the Court of Appeal in Western Australia, which comprised Buss P, Mazza JA, and Hall JA. The respondent, Maxton, was convicted of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm and failing to stop immediately after the occurrence of an incident which occasioned grievous bodily harm to another person. The District Court sentenced Maxton to 3 years 2 months' imprisonment for the first count and 12 months' imprisonment for the second count, to be served concurrently. The State appealed against the sentence, arguing that the individual sentence for the first count was manifestly inadequate and that the total effective sentence infringed the first limb of the totality principle. The Court allowed the appeal, set aside the primary judge's sentencing decision, and resentenced Maxton to 4 years 8 months' imprisonment for the first count and 4 months' imprisonment for the second count, to be served cumulatively. The new total effective sentence was 5 years' imprisonment, backdated to 6 January 2022, with Maxton being eligible for parole.