Court of Appeal finds an error in principle in the sentencing of a man for sexual offences against his two nieces and has consequently quashed the original sentences, imposing a new total sentence of 5 years. The original court had sentenced the man to 5 years for indecent assault and concurrent 20-month sentences for sexual assault, with the latter running consecutively to the former. The Court of Appeal determined that the headline sentence for the indecent assault was excessive and reduced it, resulting in a new sentence of 3 years for count 2 and 2 years for count 6, with no suspension of the sentence but with a 5-year post-release supervision order.
Court of Appeal, sexual offences, indecent assault, sexual assault, error in principle, headline sentence, mitigation, consecutive sentence, totality principle, post-release supervision, sex offenders register, familial trust breach, victim impact, aggravating factors, mitigating factors, re-sentencing.