A High Court judge's decision not to impose a minimum non-parole period when sentencing a man for attempting to murder his mother was "a simple and understandable oversight", the crown said at a Court of Appeal hearing today.
The crown is appealing the nine-year sentence imposed on Northland man Hayden Karl
Brown, 22.
Brown was sentenced in the High Court at Whangarei earlier this year for the attempted murder of his mother Sue Brown at her Hukerenui home on June 30 last year. He also admitted a charge of arson.
The attack left Brown's mother with brain damage and ended her teaching career.
Crown lawyer John Pike said the sentencing judge, Justice Salmon, had the power to impose a minimum non-parole period under the new Sentencing Act.
For a minimum non-parole period to be imposed, the offence had to be outside the range of offending of a particular kind, and Brown's attack was.
Mr Pike acknowledged a difficulty in establishing what "an ordinary offence" was.
"Parliament has placed in the court the responsibility and duty to impose a sentence that must be served," Mr Pike said.
Determining when parole might be granted was now an everyday concern for the court.
Serving only one third of a sentence mitigated the deterrent factor of sentencing, which was an issue courts around the world were dealing with, Mr Pike said.
Gerard Winter is representing Brown.
The case is continuing.
- NZPA
