R v Uati-Palemia [2020] NSWDC 927

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Uati-Palemia [2020] NSWDC 927 Hearing dates: 15/12/20 Date of orders: 15/12/20 Decision date: 15 December 2020 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Bourke SC DCJ Decision: Convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 4 years with a NPP of 2 years (7/3/20-6/3/22). I find special circumstances. Catchwords: Crime – Sentence – Supply prohibited drug Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 Cases Cited: Bugmy v R (2013) 302 ALR 192 CDPP v De La Rosa [2010] NSWCCA 194 Parente v R [2017] NSWCCA 284 Wat v R [2017] NSWCCA 62 Category: Sentence Parties: NSW DPP – Crown Tony Uati-Palemi - Offender Representation: Ms Hooper for Crown Mr Anderson for Offender File Number(s): 20/74366

remarks on sentence 1. Mr Tony Uati-Palemia is before the Court for sentence today on a single charge of supply a prohibited drug under section 25(2) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985. The maximum penalty for that offence is 20 years' imprisonment and it also has a standard non-parole period specified, which is of ten years. The maximum penalty and the standard non-parole period are of course guideposts in the sentencing exercise to which I have had regard. He has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and therefore is entitled to a 25% discount on account of the utilitarian value of that plea.

FACTS 1. The facts of the offence are agreed and are as follows. At about 10.45pm on Saturday, 7 March 2020, police were conducting surveillance in a street in St Clair when they saw a vehicle stop out the front of a particular house in Cassia Place, St Clair. About 25 minutes later the police saw a male walk from the garage of those premises holding a bag. That person was the offender. He then approached the vehicle that was in front of the house and got into the rear passenger seat on the driver's side and the vehicle then drove off. Police a short time later stopped the vehicle on Mamre Road, St Clair, and found three people in the car, including this offender, who was in the back seat, and two other males who were also in the car. 2. They searched the car and found at the feet of where the offender was sitting a Coles supermarket bag in which they found a plastic container with a large amount of a crystalline substance. That substance was subsequently analysed and found to be methylamphetamine, with a total weight of 446.52 grams and with a purity of 79.5%. In other words, a purity of methamphetamine which puts it into the category of what is these days referred to as ice, although I note that that is not a legal description. 3. Police also found another bag in the boot of the vehicle which contained a large number of resealable plastic bags and two sets of electronic scales. A number of mobile telephones were also found in the vehicle. The offender was arrested and taken to St Marys Police Station where, after speaking to a lawyer, he declined to be interviewed. The agreed facts also indicate that his fingerprint was found on the box that contained the drugs. Those are the facts on which he is to be sentenced.