R (Cth) v Chin [2021] NSWDC 176

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R (Cth) v Chin [2021] NSWDC 176 Hearing dates: 05 March, 08 March 2021 Date of orders: 08 March 2021 Decision date: 08 March 2021 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: Aggregate Sentence. Imprisonment for 3 years 6 months. NPP 2 years 4 months. Catchwords: CRIME – SENTENCE – Cth Offence – 9 Counts of either attempting to export, aiding an abetting attempts to export or exporting regulated native animal species – Late guilty plea of great utilitarian value – 20% discount allowed – Malaysian born Chinese man who left school at age of 16 years to work in manual jobs. To Australia on a tourist visit but was working in Australia for a number of years – Consideration of what he did in the smuggling syndicate – Neither a principal or a mere courier – Motivated by desire for money – Married one week prior to arrest – No animals died or were injured. Legislation Cited: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth) Cases Cited: Imbornone v R [2017] NSWCCA 144 Morgan v R [2007] NSWCCA 8 R v Kennedy [2019] NSWCCA 242 R v Robinson (1992) 62 A Crim R 374 Category: Sentence Parties: Crown – Regina (Cth) Offender – Chek Wei Javill Chin Representation: Crown – James (CDPP) Offender – McMahon (instructed by Eliopoulos Lawyers) File Number(s): 2019/00315295 Publication restriction: Nil.

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: Chek Wei Javill Chin stands for sentence as a consequence of pleading guilty to nine counts contained in an indictment dated 10 December 2020. Each count in the indictment is an offence against the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). The offences are either an exporting or attempting to export, or aiding and abetting an attempted exporting of regulated native animals. Each offence carries a maximum term of imprisonment of ten years and or a fine of $210,000. 2. The offences occurred between 14 December 2017 and 17 August 2018 either in the Sydney Metropolitan Area or the Melbourne Metropolitan Area. The offender was arrested on 9 October 2019, that is, more than 14 months after the last crime he committed and has been in custody since that time.