Out of curiosity, why do you not usually approve of it and what in this case makes it justified to you?
My reason for not approving of the court making examples of people would be along the lines of it not really working - people still commit crimes no matter how many examples seem to be made, and giving someone an excessive punishment to dissuade others is inherently unjust - so for me it’s hard to see a reason it would be okay in any case, even this one.
Your reasoning against it may be different though.