R v Wade [1996] QCA 225

The application for leave to appeal against sentence relies substantially on the age of the appellant and the absence of any previous convictions. He was only 20 at the time of commission of this offence and 20 at the time of his conviction, having been born on 9 December 1974. In his favour also, he had a good work history.

It was submitted that the learned Magistrate did not have proper regard to the provisions of the Penalties and Sentences Act, in particular subsections 3 and 4 of section 9.

It is true that for any young man such as the appellant with no prior convictions imprisonment would be a last resort. On the other hand, as the learned Magistrate pointed out, this was a vicious and cowardly assault upon a drunken and apparently smaller man and it was carried out whilst the complainant was lying or crouching on the ground. The savagery of the assault can be gathered to some extent by the injuries which it caused, which included a fracture of the jaw requiring insertion of a plate and loss of some teeth. It must also be said that there was no remorse shown by the appellant here, as indicated by his contesting of the case, and this appeal.