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Key decisions

  • R v Sabbah [2025] NSWCCA 203
  • Barber v R [2025] NSWCCA 179

R v Sabbah [2025] NSWCCA 203

Sentencing – intentional choking – assessment of objective seriousness

In this case, the Court of Criminal Appeal (‘CCA’) examined the ‘relatively new’ offence in section 37(1A) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) (‘Crimes Act’) of intentionally choking and set out a range of factors relevant to assessment of the objective seriousness of the offence.

The respondent (this was a Crown appeal) was convicted by a jury of a variety of domestic violence offences: four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (‘AOABH’) and—of particular relevance to this summary—four counts of choking contrary to s 37(1A) of the Crimes Act. For most of the offences he received a sentence of five years and three months, with a non-parole period of three years and three months. However, two of the four counts of choking were dealt with by way of Community Correction Orders (‘CCOs’) for a period of 12 months—meaning they would expire before the conclusion of the non-parole period. The Crown appealed against the sentence, asserting, amongst other things, the imposition of CCOs for the choking counts was erroneous.

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