R v Solomon

The defendant, Troy Louis Stuart Solomon, was convicted of the murder of his five-month old daughter Aaliyah Izabella Betty Solomon. The court had to decide on the appropriate sentence for the defendant, considering the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case. The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

The court considered the aggravating factors, such as the breach of trust from the defendant's position of responsibility as Aaliyah's parent, the level of violence involved in the offending, and the defendant's callousness in attempting to conceal and avoid responsibility. The court also considered the defendant's age, lack of prior convictions, and his lack of meaningful remorse as potential mitigating factors. However, the court found that these factors did not warrant a departure from the statutory minimum term.

The court found that the defendant's case fell within the provisions of s 104 of the Sentencing Act, which required the imposition of a minimum sentence of 17 years' imprisonment for murder cases of this serious kind. The court concluded that it would not be manifestly unjust to impose a minimum term of 17 years on the defendant.