Case studies on sentence indications
1. The court will give a sentence indication only if the accused applies for it, and only if the prosecution agrees. Furthermore, the court may refuse to give a sentence indication, if it considers that it does not have sufficient information to assess the impact of the offence on any victim.
2. In case study 1 (a charge of recklessly causing serious injury), the judge refused to give a sentence indication due to the nature of the offence.
3. In case study 1, following the court’s refusal to give a sentence indication, the matter was returned to the list and was listed for trial before a different judge.
4. The matter in case study 1 was listed for trial before a different judge. A subsequent sentence indication was sought before the trial judge and this was consented to by the Crown. The judge indicated that an immediate custodial sentence would not be likely to be imposed. The defendant pleaded guilty at the next available opportunity.
5. After the defendant in case study 2 sought an indication on a charge of recklessly causing serious injury (and the Crown consented to the request), the judge indicated that an immediate custodial sentence would be likely to be imposed.
6. The defendant in case study 2 pleaded guilty at the next available opportunity and was sentenced to an immediately servable period of imprisonment.