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District Court 21 September 2020

The Queen v Watson

[2020] NSWDC 659

Drugs
CRIME SENTENCE

Citation: The Queen v Watson [2020] NSWDC 659
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 21 September 2020
Judge(s): Wilson SC DCJ

Background

The offender, a 65-year-old man not engaged in employment, appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to multiple charges arising from a police investigation into drug manufacture. The investigation, codenamed Strikeforce Burleigh, had been established in September 2016 specifically to examine his activities.

The primary offending occurred on 14 and 15 December 2017. On the evening of 14 December, police stopped a hire car driven by the offender on the Pacific Highway and located 13.93 grams of methylamphetamine. The following day, police executed a search warrant at the offender's residence in Kariong and found items consistent with drug manufacture in the garage, including apparatus associated with producing methylamphetamine using pseudoephedrine.

The offender was granted bail in December 2017 but failed to appear at Gosford Local Court in February 2018. A bench warrant was issued and remained unexecuted until July 2019, when he was arrested in Queensland and extradited to New South Wales. He had been in continuous custody from 24 July 2019.

  • What sentence was appropriate for manufacturing a prohibited drug (methylamphetamine) under s 24(1) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW)?
  • What weight should be given to the related Form 1 matters (additional charges of supply, possessing precursors, and possessing drug manufacture apparatus) when sentencing on the principal charges?
  • How should the sentences for possessing precursors and possessing drug manufacture apparatus be structured alongside the principal manufacturing offence?
  • What, if any, additional penalty was warranted for the knife in public place offence and the failure to appear on bail?
  • What discount applied for the guilty pleas, and how should pre-sentence custody be treated?

Decision

The court treated the Form 1 matters as aggravating the principal charges by increasing the weight given to personal deterrence and the community's entitlement to retribution. The Form 1 charges were not sentenced separately but were taken into account to elevate the penalties for the principal sequences to which they attached.

Wilson SC DCJ arrived at indicative sentences before assembling the final aggregate term. The indicative sentence for the principal manufacturing charge (sequence 6), incorporating the Form 1 supply matter and after a 25 per cent guilty plea discount, was three years. The indicative sentence for possessing a precursor (sequence 7), similarly incorporating Form 1 matters and the plea discount, was also three years. For possessing drug manufacture apparatus (sequence 2) with its related Form 1 charges, the indicative sentence after the plea discount was 18 months.

Applying the totality principle, the court imposed an aggregate sentence of four years for the three drug offences, with a non-parole period of two years. The sentence was backdated to commence on 24 July 2019, the date the offender entered custody following his arrest in Queensland.

For the knife in a public place offence and the failure to appear on bail, the court recorded convictions but imposed no additional penalty under s 10A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW). The backup possession charge was withdrawn and dismissed.

Orders Made

  • Aggregate sentence of 4 years imprisonment for the three drug manufacture-related offences (manufacturing methylamphetamine, possessing a precursor, and possessing drug manufacture apparatus), commencing 24 July 2019 and expiring 23 July 2023.
  • Non-parole period of 2 years, commencing 24 July 2019 and expiring 23 July 2021.
  • Conviction recorded for custody of a knife in a public place (sequence 3, charge 104) with no additional penalty under s 10A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.
  • Conviction recorded for failure to appear on bail (sequence 4, charge 104) with no additional penalty under s 10A.
  • Backup possession charge (charge 104, sequence 1) withdrawn and dismissed.

Key Takeaways

  • The District Court confirmed that Form 1 matters, while not sentenced directly, are taken into account by increasing the weight given to personal deterrence and retribution when fixing the penalty for the principal charge to which each Form 1 attaches.
  • A 25 per cent discount for guilty pleas was applied to the indicative sentences for each principal drug charge before the court assembled the aggregate term.
  • Under s 10A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, a court may record a conviction without imposing any further penalty, a course taken here for the minor public place knife offence and the bail failure.
  • Pre-sentence custody counted in full: the aggregate sentence was backdated to the date of arrest in Queensland, meaning the non-parole period had already partially elapsed by the time of sentencing.
  • Maximum penalties under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (15 years for manufacture, 10 years for precursor and apparatus offences) were described by the court as guideposts reflecting community attitudes to seriousness, not as default starting points.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation:
- Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), ss 24, 24A, 25
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 5, 10A
- Bail Act 2013 (NSW), s 79
- Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW), s 11C

Cases cited: None cited in the provided judgment text.