R v McKeown [2022] NSWDC 720

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v McKeown [2022] NSWDC 720 Hearing dates: 24 November 2022 Date of orders: 24 November 2022 Decision date: 24 November 2022 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Haesler SC DCJ Decision: Sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 4 years 1 month with a non-parole period of 2 years 1 month. Catchwords: CRIME – Supply prohibited drug greater than or equal to large commercial quantity SENTENCING - Relevant factors on sentence – early plea - Form 1 - rolled up drug quantity – multiple supplies - middle man with access to upline supplier - drug user in financial difficulty due to COVID loss of work - demonstrated progress toward rehabilitation - special circumstances Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1995 Cases Cited: Hamzy v R (1994) 74 A Crim R 341 Jadron v R [2015] NSWCCA 217 Category: Sentence Parties: Brock McKeown (the offender) Director of Public Prosecutions Representation: Counsel: Mr Z Khan (for the offender)

Solicitors: Legal Aid NSW (for the offender) Mr L McGonigal (for Director of Public Prosecutions) File Number(s): 2021/00276745

SENTENCE – EX TEMPORE REVISED

Introduction 1. Brock McKeown today confirmed a plea of guilty that he had entered in the Local Court to one charge of supplying the prohibited drug methylamphetamine in not less than the large commercial quantity: s 25(2) Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1995. That offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and for a matter taking into account only objective factors which fall in the middle of the range there is a standard non‑parole period of 15 years imprisonment. That maximum and the standard non‑parole period are important guides to the exercise of the Court's sentencing discretion. While content has to be given to the standard non‑parole period that does not mean that I start with the maximum or the standard non‑parole period and make proportional deductions from it. 2. When I sentence McKeown for that offence. he also asks that I take into account a matter on a Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Form 1, the offence of dealing with the proceeds of crime. It is appropriate that I do so. He has admitted his guilt in relation to that matter. When he was arrested, he was in possession of $10,000. That sum represents a payment for one of the transactions that brings him before the Court. It is an example of the overall drug supply operation he was running and of the amounts of cash involved. Because the matter on the Form 1 is illustrative of McKeown's overall criminality and as I will be having regard to a series of transactions involving supply of drugs for cash when I formulate my sentence, it would be wrong if I were to double count those facts by taking into account both when I come to assess the overall criminality of his actions and then again as part of a Form 1. This is a matter where the Form 1 allows for the slate to be cleared.