Bhatia v R [2024] NSWCCA 28

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Bhatia v R [2024] NSWCCA 28 Hearing dates: 01 December 2023 Date of orders: 06 March 2024 Decision date: 06 March 2024 Before: Simpson AJA at [1] Button J at [2] Weinstein J at [3] Decision: (1) Grant leave to appeal against the sentence. (2) Appeal dismissed. Catchwords: CRIME – appeals – appeal against sentence – whether obligation on a sentencing judge to make a finding of fact about an offender's unlikelihood of re-offending – no such obligation on the evidence relevant and known to the court – where the sentencing judge made a "neutral" finding – appeal dismissed Legislation Cited: Children (Criminal Proceedings) Act 1987 (NSW), s 15A Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), s 16A Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 21A, 21A(3)(g), 21A(3)(i), 21A(5)(AA), Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5 Cases Cited: Alenezi v R [2023] NSWCCA 283 Azzopardi v R [2019] NSWCCA 306 DS v R; DM v R (2022) 109 NSWLR 82; [2022] NSWCCA 156 Li v R [2023] NSWCCA 112 Masters v R [2019] NSWCCA 233 Meoli v R [2021] NSWCCA 213 R v Olbrich (1999) 199 CLR 270; [1999] HCA 54 R v Storey [1998] 1 VR 359 at 369 Tonga, Samuel v R [2023] NSWCCA 120 Weininger v The Queen (2003) 212 CLR 629; [2003] HCA 14 Zheng v R [2023] NSWCCA 64 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Harinderjeet Bhatia (Applicant) Rex (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: A Chhabra and V Bromberger (Applicant) J Styles (Respondent)