Director of Public Prosecutions v. Lade

The respondent had previously been sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to six charges relating to sexually assaulting, stalking, and threatening to kill his ex-wife, as well as attempting to pervert the course of justice (saying that he would kill himself if the victim did not drop the charges against him), and violating a family-violence intervention order. The Director of Public Prosecutions appealed this sentence, arguing that it was “manifestly inadequate.” Upon consideration of the gravity of the offending conduct, its effect on the victim, and aggravating features such as the existence of the intervention order, the Court of Appeal reversed the sentence. The court found that the previous decision gave too much weight to mitigating factors, some of which should not have been taken into account at all, such as the judge’s finding that the respondent regarded “now at least the relationship as [being] over.” He was re-sentenced to two years and 11 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years.