Nguyen v The Queen

HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIABELL, GAGELER, KEANE, NETTLE AND GORDON JJPHILIP NGUYEN  APPELLANTANDTHE QUEEN  RESPONDENTNguyen v The Queen[2016] HCA 174 May 2016S271/2015ORDERAppeal dismissed.On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales RepresentationP M Wass SC with G E L Huxley for the appellant (instructed by Legal Aid Commission of NSW)J H Pickering SC with H Baker 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.CATCHWORDSNguyen v The QueenCriminal law – Sentencing – Manslaughter – Excessive self-defence – Where deceased a police officer – Where appellant taken to have shot deceased in honest but mistaken belief that deceased was person posing as police officer with intent to rob appellant – Whether sentencing judge erred in assessment of objective gravity of offence by taking into account absence of circumstance which if present would render subject offence a different offence – Relevance of R v De Simoni (1981) 147 CLR 383.Criminal law – Sentencing – Totality principle – Where appellant convicted of manslaughter and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – Whether open to sentencing judge to impose wholly concurrent sentences – Whether appellate court erred in partially accumulating sentences – Whether sentence imposed manifestly inadequate.Words and phrases – "accumulation", "concurrency", "De Simoni principle", "manifestly inadequate", "objective gravity", "totality".Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 3A(a), 21A(1).BELL AND KEANE JJ.   This appeal raises two issues concerning the application of...