Hong v R [2017] NSWCCA 238

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Hong v R [2017] NSWCCA 238 Hearing dates: 11 September 2017 Date of orders: 09 October 2017 Decision date: 09 October 2017 Before: Basten JA at [1]; Beech-Jones J at [2]; Fagan J at [44] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal be granted.

(2) Appeal allowed in part.

(3) Vary the sentence imposed for sequence 2 on the indictment so that the sentence for that offence is to commence on 2 June 2017 and expire on 1 March 2020 with the non-parole period to expire on 1 December 2018.

(4) The appeal be otherwise dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – sentence – application by offender for leave to appeal – child pornography offences – whether sentence unreasonable or plainly unjust – applicant's criminality around the mid-range level of seriousness – early plea demonstrated genuine remorse – Court could not confidently find that there was a low risk of re-offending –hardship suffered by the applicant's family taken into account – whether sentence was outside the appropriate range for the criminality of the offence – whether the sentence reflected the applicant's subjective case – comparable cases or statistics do not support a conclusion that the applicant's sentence was manifestly excessive Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 91H Crimes Act 1958 (Vic), s 70 Criminal Code (Cth), s 474.19 Migration Act 1958 (Cth), ss 500, 501 Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 (Vic) Cases Cited: Dennis v The Queen [2017] VSCA 251 Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Pratten (No 2) [2017] NSWCCA 42 Fitzgerald v R [2015] NSWCCA 266 James v R [2009] NSWCCA 62 Kentwell v The Queen (2014) 252 CLR 601; [2014] HCA 37 Miao v R [2017] NSWCCA 89 Obeid v R [2017] NSWCCA 221 R v Martin; 246 A Crim R 477; [2014] NSWCCA 283 R v Porte 252 A Crim R 294; [2015] NSWCCA 174 R v Zerafa 235 A Crim R 265; [2013] NSWCCA 222 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Andrew Aun Hsiung Hong (Applicant) Regina (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: S Kluss (Applicant) D Barrow (Respondent)