Read the full judgment text of CACC 000593/1998 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 27 April 1999 before Liu JA, Mayo JA, Stuart-Moore JA.
Criminal law – sentencing – trafficking in dangerous drugs – heroin and methamphetamine (ice) – multiple parcels of different types of drugs – whether sentencing court should aggregate total quantity of different types of drugs rather than impose consecutive sentences on each type – guilty plea – discount – revision of sentence. The applicant pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs, possession of dangerous drugs, and two counts of theft, and was sentenced to a total of 8 years imprisonment. Police found her in possession of 20.45 grammes of ice and 12.05 grammes of heroin hydrochloride in separate parcels, together with stolen items. The sentencing judge treated the ice and heroin tariffs consecutively, arriving at a 12-year starting point reduced to 8 years after a one-third guilty plea discount. On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that where separate parcels of dangerous drugs are found, the total quantity should generally form the basis for sentencing rather than consecutive sentences on individual quantities, and there was no reason to depart from this approach simply because the two parcels were of a different nature. Because the guideline progression differs between heroin and ice, the court adopted a notional aggregate tariff of approximately 9 years, reduced to 6 years after the guilty plea credit. Held: application allowed; 6 years imprisonment substituted for the 8-year sentence on the trafficking count; sentences on the other counts to remain the same. Sentence on count 1 reduced from 8 years to 6 years.
Legal issues: Aggregation of separate parcels of different types of dangerous drugs for sentencing
Outcome: Application allowed; treated as the appeal. Sentence on the trafficking count reduced from 8 years to 6 years imprisonment. Sentences on the other counts to remain the same.
Cited by 5 cases