Chalabian v R [2024] NSWCCA 47

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Chalabian v R [2024] NSWCCA 47 Hearing dates: 8 November 2023 Date of orders: 5 April 2024 Decision date: 05 April 2024 Before: Leeming JA at [1]; Walton J at [2]; Fagan J at [3] Decision: 1. Refuse leave to appeal against conviction on ground 1. 2. Grant leave to appeal against sentence on ground 3. 3. Dismiss the appeal against sentence. Catchwords: CRIME — Appeals — Appeal against conviction —Directions of trial judge — Whether trial judge's direction about alternative verdicts erroneously restricted the jury's deliberations — No error — Leave refused SENTENCING — Appeals — Appeal against sentence — Relevant factors on sentence — Parity principle — Two co-offenders sentenced with benefit of pleas and application of the totality principle — Unorthodox method of achieving appropriate totality reduced the co-offenders' sentences for the common offence — No justifiable sense of grievance arising from co-offenders' sentences or from a related offender's sentence Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) Criminal Code (Cth) Supreme Court (Criminal Appeal) Rules 2021 Cases Cited: Kelly v R [2017] NSWCCA 256 King v The Queen (2012) 245 CLR 588; [2012] HCA 24 R v Chalabian (No 13) [2022] NSWSC 470 R v Dev Menon [2023] NSWSC 768 R v Hausman; Hausman v R; R v Rostankovski; Rostankovski v R [2022] NSWCCA 24 Stanton v The Queen [2003] HCA 29 Wood v R [2022] NSWCCA 84 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Rex (Respondent) Sevag Chalabian (Applicant) Representation: Counsel: P McDonald SC with J Paingakulum and C Tran (Respondent) T Game SC with D Barrow SC (Applicant)