R v David GRAZIANO [2008] NSWDC 384

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v David GRAZIANO [2008] NSWDC 384

JUDGMENT DATE: 28 July 2008

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ

DECISION: For the cocaine offence - non parole period of 18 months, balance of term 12 months. For the ecstasy offence - non parole period of 1 year, balance of term of 6 months

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - supply ecstasy and cocaine - form 1 offences - plea of guilty at earliest opportunity - dealer or courier? - offender used cocaine to alleviate pain from injuries sustained in car accident - offence committed whilst on conditional liberty

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes Act 1900 s 25 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 s 10, s 32

PARTIES: Regina David Graziano

FILE NUMBER(S): 08/6287

COUNSEL: Mr Higgins for Mr Graziano

SOLICITORS: Ms Fitzpatrick for the Director of Public Prosecutions

JUDGMENT

1. Mr Graziano I am going to sentence you now. You can stay seated. First I give my reasons for sentencing which will take ten minutes or so and at the end I will impose my sentence. I am going to give my reasons because it is a public process and everybody needs to know why I am sentencing you. Do you understand that? All right.

2. I am sentencing David Julian Graziano for two crimes. They are both drug offences. Both were committed against s 25 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985. Each offence carries a maximum penalty of fifteen years imprisonment. The first was an offence of supplying five and a half grams of ecstasy. The second was an offence of supplying 6.8 grams of cocaine.

3. Briefly the circumstances were these. The offences occurred on 16 February 2008. Mr Graziano was pulled over by the police, because of a random breath test. For various reasons police thought it fit to search his car. They found a bum bag in the car. In the bum bag and in other parts of the car, they found the drugs. The cocaine was distributed over some ten small bags containing white powder which was the cocaine. The ecstasy was in the form of nineteen pink tablets contained in its own plastic bag. Police also found cash which included $775 and a separate amount of $290.