R (Cth) v Barnard; R (Cth) v Bishell [2021] NSWDC 400

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R (Cth) v Barnard; R (Cth) v Bishell [2021] NSWDC 400 Hearing dates: 12-15 July 2021 Date of orders: 15 July 2021 Decision date: 15 July 2021 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: Offender (Barnard): head sentence 16 years 6 months NPP 11 years. Offender (Bishell): head sentence 7 years 6 months NPP 4 years 6 months. Catchwords: CRIME – SENTENCE – Attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, methamphetamine – Almost 1 tonne gross of drug, 792.1kg pure drug – Over 1,000 times the commercial quantity – Street value of drug was $495.96 Million – Barnard was master of a yacht and Bishell was the deckhand – At direction of a principal in Dubai offenders sailed yacht from Darwin to Mooloolaba and then to a rendezvous south of Norfolk Island with another yacht which carried the drug from Mexico – Drug then transported onto offenders' yacht – Yacht intercepted by NSW Police on a journey to Broken Bay where drug was to be landed – Different roles of offenders – Different personal circumstances. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Criminal Code (Cth) Cases Cited: R v Aryton [2020] NSWDC 45 R v Jackson [2020] NSWCCA 230 R v Lembke [2020] NSWCCA 293 R v Nguyen; R v Pham [2010] NSWCCA 238 R v Pirello, Spero & Tobin [2018] NSWSC 1843 R v Thomson (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 R v Toa Toa (District Court of NSW, Maiden DCJ, 22 February 2019) Xiao v R [2018] NSWCCA 4 Category: Sentence Parties: Crown (Cth) – Regina Offender – Sebastian Seve Barnard Offender – Mark Robert Andrew Bishell Representation: Crown (Cth) – S. Duggan Offender (Barnard) – A. Conwell Offender (Bishell) – D. Barrow File Number(s): 2020/00116089 2020/00116093 Publication restriction: Nil.