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District Court 11 May 2018

R v Greenwood

[2018] NSWDC 499

DrugsFirearms & weapons

Citation: R v Greenwood [2018] NSWDC 499
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 11 May 2018
Judge: Buscombe DCJ

Background

The offender pleaded guilty in the Local Court to a series of drug and weapons offences arising from events in June and July 2016 at Hobartville and Richmond, NSW. Police identified his involvement through telephone intercepts conducted over approximately one month. The intercepts revealed that he had been manufacturing methylamphetamine at his home in a joint criminal enterprise with a co-offender, and separately supplying methylamphetamine and other prohibited drugs on multiple occasions.

When police executed search and crime scene warrants at the offender's Hobartville premises on 8 July 2016, they discovered a clandestine drug laboratory operating in the kitchen. They also found a collection of firearms, a prohibited weapon, and ammunition, giving rise to a separate series of weapons charges.

The offender appeared for sentencing on the principal offences, with three additional matters placed on a Form 1 to be taken into account (possession of drug administration equipment, supply of cannabis, and possession of ammunition).

  • What was the appropriate objective seriousness for each offence, including the drug manufacturing offence where the precise quantity produced could not be determined?
  • How should the offender's role, as the provider of premises and active participant in the manufacturing process, be assessed relative to his co-offender?
  • What aggregate sentence was appropriate across the drug and firearms offences, applying the principles in Muldrock v The Queen (2011) 249 CLR 120 in relation to standard non-parole periods where applicable?
  • What weight should be given to the Form 1 matters in the overall sentencing exercise?

Decision

Buscombe DCJ assessed the manufacture offence as involving inherent planning, noting that planning is always present in drug manufacturing. Because the agreed quantity (between 5 and 250 grams) was imprecise, the quantity factor could not be given determinative weight. The offender's role, providing the premises and actively participating in the manufacturing process, was found to be somewhat greater than that of the co-offender, who had been sentenced previously.

On the ongoing supply offence, the court found that multiple supplies of methylamphetamine to different recipients for financial reward had been established through the telephone intercepts, with several individual transactions identified in detail. The Form 1 matters were given limited weight in the overall sentencing calculation, consistent with applicable guideline principles.

For the firearms offences, the court set indicative sentences for each individual charge before constructing an aggregate sentence. The indicative sentences reflected the varying seriousness of the individual firearms involved, ranging from prohibited firearms in non-working order to a loaded shotgun and an unauthorised pistol. The aggregate sentence incorporated an element of accumulation to account for a separate breach of a section 12 bond (a reference to a previously suspended sentence under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)).

The total effective custodial term, combining the aggregate sentence with the activated bond, was five years and three months imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and three months, commencing 8 October 2016.

Orders Made

  • The offender was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months with a non-parole period of 11 months (in relation to the breach of the suspended sentence).
  • The offender was sentenced to an aggregate term of five years imprisonment with an aggregate non-parole period of three years.
  • Drugs seized are to be destroyed.

Key Takeaways

  • Where the precise quantity of a manufactured drug cannot be determined, the District Court held that quantity remains a relevant but not determinative factor in assessing objective seriousness; the offender's role and level of planning carry significant independent weight.
  • An offender's role as the provider of premises and active participant in a manufacturing joint enterprise may be treated as more serious than the role of the co-offender who sourced precursor materials, even where both parties are described as actively involved.
  • Under the aggregate sentencing approach, the court set indicative sentences for each firearms and weapons offence individually before arriving at a combined term, ensuring transparency in the accumulation and concurrency decisions.
  • The Form 1 procedure, where additional offences are taken into account rather than formally sentenced, is intended to have only a limited impact on the principal sentence; the District Court applied this principle to confine the weight given to the cannabis supply and ammunition possession matters.
  • Applying Muldrock v The Queen, standard non-parole periods served as reference points rather than fixed benchmarks in offences where they applied, with the court exercising its sentencing discretion in light of all the relevant circumstances.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), ss 24(1), 25A(1)
- Weapons Prohibition Act 1998 (NSW), s 7(1)
- Firearms Act 1996 (NSW), ss 7(1), 7A(1)

Cases:
- Muldrock v The Queen (2011) 249 CLR 120