Weber v R [2020] NSWCCA 103

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Weber v R [2020] NSWCCA 103 Hearing dates: 7 May 2020 Date of orders: 27 May 2020 Decision date: 27 May 2020 Before: Simpson AJA at [1] Rothman J at [26] Bellew J at [36] Decision: (1) The time in which to bring an application for leave to appeal against sentence is extended.

(2) Leave to appeal against sentence is granted.

(3) The appeal against sentence is allowed.

(4) The sentence imposed on the applicant in the District Court of NSW is quashed.

(5) In lieu thereof, the applicant is sentenced to imprisonment for a period of 7 years and 5 months to date from 13 June 2015 and to expire on 12 November 2022, with a non-parole period of 5 years and 2 months to date from 13 June 2015 and to expire on 12 August 2020. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – Appeal – Sentence – Importing border controlled drug in excess of the marketable quantity – Where sentencing judge failed to take into account the utilitarian value of the applicant's plea of guilty – Error established – Plea entered at the first available opportunity – Additional discount applied to reflect the applicant's assistance to police – Applicant resentenced

CRIMINAL LAW – Practice and procedure – Taking into account co-operation when sentencing a federal offender – Where applicant provided information to police at the time of his arrest – No evidence of usefulness of the information which was provided – Whether absence of such evidence disentitled the applicant to a discount for co-operation Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure Act) 1999 (NSW) Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) Criminal Code Regulations 2019 (Cth) Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) Cases Cited: Huang v The Queen 272 A Crim R 266; [2018] NSWCCA 70 Pfitzner v R [2010] NSWCCA 314 R v Barrientos [1999] NSWCCA 1 R v Benais [1999] NSWCCA 236 R v Cartwright (1989) 17 NSWLR 243 R v Elfar [2003] NSWCCA 358 R v Riddell (2009) 194 A Crim R 524; [2009] NSWCCA 96 R v Shannon (1979) 21 SASR 442 R v Thomson; R v Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383; [2000] NSWCCA 309 RPS v R (2000) 199 CLR 620; [2000] HCA 3 The Queen v Olbrich (1999) 199 CLR 270; [1999] HCA 54 Siganto v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 656; [1998] HCA 74 Tiknius v R (2011) 221 A Crim R 365; [2011] NSWCCA 215 Valsamakis v R [2016] NSWCCA 156 Winchester v R (1992) 58 A Crim R 345 Wong v The Queen; Leung v The Queen (2001) 207 CLR 584; [2001] HCA 64 Xiao v R (2018) 96 NSWLR 1; [2018] NSWCCA 4 Yenice v R (1994) 72 A Crim R 234 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Helmut Weber – Applicant Regina – Respondent Representation: Counsel: P Coady – Applicant P McEniery – Respondent