Park v The Queen [2021] HCA 37

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA

KIEFEL CJ,

GAGELER, KEANE, EDELMAN AND GLEESON JJ

JONG HAN PARK APPELLANT

AND

THE QUEEN RESPONDENT

Park v The Queen

[2021] HCA 37

Date of Hearing: 2 September 2021

Date of Judgment: 10 November 2021

S61/2021

ORDER

Appeal dismissed.

On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Representation

B J Rigg SC with J S Paingakulam for the appellant (instructed by Legal Aid NSW)

H Baker SC with B K Baker and K M Jeffreys for the respondent (instructed by Solicitor for Public Prosecutions (NSW))

Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.

CATCHWORDS

Park v The Queen

Criminal law – Sentence – Plea of guilty – Where appellant sentenced in District Court of New South Wales for multiple offences including taking a conveyance without consent of owner contrary to s 154A(1)(a) of Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) ("offence") – Where maximum penalty for offence five years' imprisonment – Where offence dealt with as a "related offence" under s 165 of Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW) – Where sentencing court subject to jurisdictional limit of two years' imprisonment for offence – Where s 22(1) of Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) provided sentencing court may impose lesser penalty than it would otherwise have imposed but for plea of guilty – Where sentencing judge awarded 25% discount for guilty plea for offence – Where indicative sentence of two years and eight months' imprisonment exceeded jurisdictional limit – Whether sentence that court "would otherwise have imposed" can exceed jurisdictional limit.

Words and phrases – "aggregate sentence", "appropriate sentence", "discount to the sentence", "guilty plea", "indicative sentence", "jurisdictional limit", "lesser penalty than it would otherwise have imposed", "maximum penalty", "plea of guilty", "sentence in excess of the jurisdictional limit".