R v Cao [2020] NSWDC 845

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Cao [2020] NSWDC 845 Hearing dates: 21 August 2020 Date of orders: 21 August 2020 Decision date: 21 August 2020 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Buscombe DCJ Decision: The offender is sentenced to an aggregate term of 2 years and 9 months imprisonment and an aggregate non-parole period of 1 year and 10 months. An order is made in accordance with the short minutes of order forfeiting the $750. The matter on the s 166 certificate is to be withdrawn and dismissed. The cannabis plants are to be destroyed. Catchwords: CRIME — Drug offences — Cultivate prohibited plant — Knowingly take part in cultivation Legislation Cited: Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), ss 23(1A), 23(2)(a) Crime Sentencing Procedure Act 1999 (NSW), s 3A Category: Sentence Parties: Director of Public Prosecutions Mr The Cao Representation: Solicitors: Mr T Hammond Ms J McWhirter File Number(s): 2019/330012 Publication restriction: Nil

SENTENCE

Introduction 1. The offender stands to be sentenced today having pleaded guilty to the following two offences. The first is that between 25 June 2019 and 21 October 2019 at South Penrith he knowingly took part in the cultivation of prohibited plants by enhanced indoor means, namely 134 cannabis sativa plants, which was not less than the commercial quantity applicable to that prohibited plant. That is an offence under s 23(2)(a) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act and has a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment and/or a three and a half thousand penalty unit fine. 2. The second offence is that between 5 August 2019 and 21 October 2019 at Castle Hill he knowingly took part in the cultivation of a prohibited plant by enhanced indoor means, namely 30 cannabis sativa plants for a commercial purpose. That is an offence under s 23(1A) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act and has the same maximum penalty as the first offence. 3. The offender also acknowledges his guilt in relation to an offence on a form 1 of deal with property, $750, suspected of being the proceeds of crime, and asks that I take that offence into account when sentencing him on the first charge which concerns a commercial quantity of cannabis plants. The offence on the s 166 certificate has become the offence on the Form 1.