High Court of Australia
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
KIEFEL CJ, GAGELER, NETTLE, GORDON AND EDELMAN JJ
THE QUEEN APPELLANT
AND
AKON GUODE RESPONDENT
The Queen v Guode [2020] HCA 8 Date of Hearing: 14 November 2019 Date of Judgment: 18 March 2020 M75/2019
ORDER
1. Appeal allowed.
2. Set aside the orders made by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 16 August 2018.
3. Quash the sentences imposed by the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria on 16 August 2018.
4. Remit the matter to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria for further determination according to law.
On appeal from the Supreme Court of Victoria
Representation
K E Judd QC with A S Ellis for the appellant (instructed by Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (Vic))
O P Holdenson QC with C A Boston and L V Drago for the respondent (instructed by Stary Norton Halphen)
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
CATCHWORDS
The Queen v Guode
Criminal law – Sentence – Irrelevant consideration – Where respondent pleaded guilty to murder contrary to common law and to infanticide and attempted murder contrary to ss 6(1) and 321M of Crimes Act 1958 (Vic) respectively – Where primary judge sentenced respondent to 26 years and six months' imprisonment with non-parole period of 20 years – Where Court of Appeal allowed appeal against sentence and re-sentenced respondent to 18 years' imprisonment with non-parole period of 14 years – Where respondent's mental condition at time of offending called for application of principles stated in R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269 – Where element of offence of infanticide included disturbance of balance of mind – Where infanticide carried significantly shorter maximum penalty than offences of murder and attempted murder – Whether Court of Appeal erred by evaluating appropriateness of sentences imposed for murder and attempted murder in light of lesser maximum penalty for offence of infanticide.
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