R v NONG [2010] NSWDC 227

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v NONG [2010] NSWDC 227

HEARING DATE(S): 1 October 2010 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 1 October 2010

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: Sentenced to imprisonment consisting of a non parole period of twenty months with an additional term of a further twenty months, making a total overall sentence of three years and four months.

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a large commercial quantity of cannabis by enhanced indoor means - Limited involvement - Principle of parity

PARTIES: The Crown Guanglong Nong

FILE NUMBER(S): 2009/00147024

COUNSEL: Mr B Brassil - Offender

SOLICITORS: The Director of Public Prosecutions LLoyd Truman Sadiq

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Guanglong Nong appears for sentence today after having pleaded guilty at an early stage to an offence of knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a large commercial quantity of cannabis by enhanced indoor means. That is a relatively new offence created as a result of community concern of high quality cannabis being grown in indoor locations, that high quality cannabis having high concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol, and thus causing more harm to the community than more traditional methods of cannabis cultivation.

2 Not only was the offence created but it carries with it a standard non parole period of ten years. Both the creation of the offence and the relatively standard non parole period are clearly an indication of the seriousness with which offences of this type are to be considered.

3 I will say at once that the authorities on which the Crown and Mr Brassil rely would perhaps suggest that the legislature's intention has not yet been met.