Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) In this section
—
family relationship has the meaning given in the
Restraining Orders Act 1997 section 4(1);
offence does not include an offence specified in
the High Risk Serious Offenders Act 2020 Schedule 1;
victim has the meaning given in section 13.
(2) This section
applies if —
(a) a
court is sentencing an offender to imprisonment for an indictable offence; and
(b) the
offence —
(i)
involved the use of, or counselling or procuring the use
of, or conspiring or attempting to use, a firearm against another person; or
(ii)
involved the use of, or counselling or procuring the use
of, or conspiring or attempting to use, serious violence against another
person; or
(iii)
resulted in serious harm to, or the death of, another
person.
(3) The sentencing
court may declare the offence committed by the offender to be a serious
offence for the purposes of —
(a) the
High Risk Serious Offenders Act 2020 ; and
(b) the
Sentence Administration Act 2003 Part 5A.
(4) The court must
regard the existence of any of the following circumstances as an aggravating
factor when deciding whether to make a declaration —
(a) the
offender has a history of violent offending;
(b) the
offender was in a family relationship with a victim of the offence when the
offence was committed;
(c) a
victim of the offence was under 12 years of age when the offence was
committed.
(5) A declaration may
be made by the court on its own initiative or on an application by the
prosecutor.
(6) In addition to
subsection (2), this section applies if —
(a) a
court is sentencing an offender to imprisonment for an offence; and
(b) the
offence is a family violence offence (category B); and
(c) the
offender is a serial family violence offender, whether the offender was so
declared by —
(i)
the court referred to in paragraph (a) at the time of the
offender’s conviction for the offence referred to in that paragraph; or
(ii)
another court.
(7) In a case where
subsection (6) applies, the sentencing court must make a declaration under
this section.
(8) This section does
not limit the ability of a court to make a declaration in relation to the same
person under section 124E.
[Section 97A inserted: No. 45 of 2016 s. 20;
amended: No. 6 of 2017 s. 12(2)-(4); No. 29 of 2020 s. 120(2) and (3); No. 30
of 2020 s. 24; No. 28 of 2024 s. 70.]