BS was charged with ‘Assault occasioning actual bodily harm domestic violence related (AOABH)’, contrary to s 59 Crimes Act 1900 and Sentenced to 1 year and 16 days in prison, with a non-parole period of 9 months and 12 days. The maximum penalty for this offence is 5 years imprisonment. BS has a significant history of similar charges.
Chris Cole represented BS in relation to a Severity Appeal against his original sentence. Submissions were made to the Presiding Judge by both the Prosecutor and Defence. At the time of Appeal BS had already served just over 3 months in custody.
Ultimately, His Honour allowed the appeal, backdated the sentence further, reduced the indicative sentence and made a finding of ‘special circumstances’. Accordingly, BS was re-sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months, backdated and comprising of a non-parole period of 7 months.
This is an outstanding result for BS who is now due to be released on parole in August.