Nguyen v R [2024] NSWCCA 231

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Nguyen v R [2024] NSWCCA 231 Hearing dates: 11 October 2024 Date of orders: 13 December 2024 Decision date: 13 December 2024 Before: Wright J at [1]; Cavanagh J at [79]; Yehia J at [80] Decision: (1) Grant the applicant leave to appeal. (2) Dismiss the appeal. Catchwords: SENTENCING – objective seriousness – whether judge erred in finding that offender was a "trusted middle-man" in a hierarchy in the absence of details of the hierarchy – sentencing judge's finding open on evidence SENTENCING – whether aggregate sentence manifestly excessive – whether indicative sentences were individually excessive leading to the aggregate sentence being manifestly excessive – indicative sentences not individually excessive – aggregate sentence reflected totality of criminality involved and was not unreasonable or plainly unjust – aggregate sentence not manifestly excessive Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 193C(2) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW), s 5(1)(c) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), ss 3A, 5, 53A(2)(b), 54A(2) Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), ss 24(1), 25(2) Cases Cited: DL v R [2020] NSWCCA 164 DPP (Commonwealth) v De La Rosa (2010) 79 NSWLR 1; [2011] NSWCCA 194 Du Plessis v R [2024] NSWCCA 164 House v The King (1936) 55 CLR 499; [1936] HCA 40 JM v R [2014] NSWCCA 297; (2014) 246 A Crim R 528 Kemp v R [2014] NSWCCA 153 Kurniawan v R [2017] NSWCCA 171 Markarian v The Queen (2005) 228 CLR 357; [2005] HCA 25 Obeid v R (2017) 96 NSWLR 155; [2017] NSWCCA 221 R v Edwards (1996) 90 A Crim R 510 R v Nguyen [2023] NSWDC 288 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Joey Nguyen (Applicant) Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: G Wendler (Applicant) C Curtis (Respondent)