R v Stebbings

4. The applicant be released on parole on the expiry of his non-parole period. 24 ADAMS J: I agree with the orders proposed by Smart AJ. I wish to add an observation of my own concerning the application by his Honour of the judgment of this Court in Thomson (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 . As the Court was at pains to explain, the purpose of express reference to the amount by which a sentence following a plea of guilty would be reduced was the utilitarian advantage to the due administration of justice inhering by pleas of guilty in appropriate cases. The Court also expressed interest in the reduction, so far as possible, of the unhappy effects on victims who are required to give evidence if an unnecessary trial proceeds. It is clear that even a plea at the commencement of a trial will, in the usual case, require a discount of ten per cent which is the bottom of the discount proposed in the guideline judgment Unless the circumstances are special, to reduce that figure by a significant margin is to undermine the specific purpose to which the Court has directed its judgment.

25 In this case, there is nothing in my opinion which could have appropriately led to a discount less than that proposed as the lowest by this Court in Thomson . The plea of guilty also spared the victim from the need to give evidence in relation to what would have undoubtedly been a distressing situation. Smart J has observed that the five per cent discount given in this case by his Honour was inadequate. If I may say so, with respect, that observation is entirely justified.