In the Supreme Court of Queensland case R v MEI [2024] QCA 223, the Court of Appeal addressed a sentence application from the District Court at Cairns, where the applicant, MEI, had pleaded guilty to five domestic violence offenses committed on June 1, 2022. MEI was originally sentenced to three and a half years of imprisonment for his most serious offense, strangulation, with concurrent sentences for other charges. The appeal focused on two main issues: whether the sentence was manifestly excessive due to the late parole eligibility date and whether the sentencing judge erred in setting this date. The key issue was the calculation of the applicant's "period of imprisonment," which was disrupted by an eight-day gap when MEI was out of custody. The Court of Appeal found errors in the sentencing process, particularly in how time served and parole eligibility were calculated, leading to a re-exercise of sentencing discretion. The Court granted the appeal to vary the pre-sentence custody period to 286 days and adjusted the parole eligibility date to November 15, 2024, based on a corrected understanding of MEI's imprisonment duration.
Full text: https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/150637