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England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Decisions >> Boateng, R v [2011] EWCA Crim 861 (10 March 2011) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/2011/861.html Cite as: [2011] EWCA Crim 861, [2011] 2 Cr App Rep (S) 104, [2011] Crim LR 565, [2011] 2 Cr App R (S) 104 |
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CRIMINAL DIVISION
Strand London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE SPENCER
SIR CHRISTOPHER HOLLAND
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R E G I N A | ||
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MARY BOATENG |
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"No special reasons have been put forward to seek to reduce the minimum."
"If I could pass less, may I make it very plain, I would. I cannot, on the basis of matter as it is presented to me today."
"Before proceeding further it is necessary to determine the meaning of section 51A(2) in accordance with the ordinary principles applicable to statutory interpretation. This involves seeking to determine the meaning of the language used by Parliament in its statutory context. It is to be noted, as already pointed out, that part of the context is that section 5 of the Firearms Act creates an absolute offence. Secondly, the purpose of the provision is to ensure that absent exceptional circumstances the courts will always impose deterrent sentences. However, it is to be noted that if an offender has no idea that he is doing anything wrong, a deterrent sentence will have no deterrent effect upon him. The section makes clear that it is the opinion of the court that is critical as to what exceptional circumstances are. Unless the judge is clearly wrong in identifying exceptional circumstances when they do not exist, or clearly wrong in not identifying exceptional circumstances when they do exist, this court will not readily interfere."
"So far as we can determine the rationale of Parliament, the policy was to treat the offence as requiring a minimum term unless there were exceptional circumstances, not necessarily because the offender would be a danger in the future, but to send out the deterrent message to which we have already referred. The mere possession of firearms can create dangers to the public. The possession of a firearm may result in that firearm going into circulation. It can then come into possession of someone other than the particular offender, for example by theft, in whose hands the firearm would be a danger to the public. Parliament has therefore said that usually the consequence of merely being in possession of a firearm will in itself be a sufficiently serious offence to require the imposition of a term of imprisonment of five years, irrespective of the circumstances of the offence or the offender, unless they pass the exceptional threshold to which the section refers. This makes the provision one which could be capable of being arbitrary. This possibility is increased because of the nature of section 5 of the Firearms Act. This is different from most sections creating criminal offences. In the majority of criminal offences there is a requirement that the offender has an intention to commit the offence. However, firearms offences under section 5 are absolute offences. The consequence is that an offender may commit the offence without even realising that he has done so. That is a matter of great significance when considering the possible effect of section 51A creating a minimum sentence."