R v Samuel BARRAZ [2008] NSWDC 93

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Samuel BARRAZ [2008] NSWDC 93

HEARING DATE(S): 24 April 2008 EX TEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 24 April 2008

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

DECISION: See paragraphs [18], [19], [20], [21] & [22]

CATCHWORDS: CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Forms 1 - Proceeds of crime - False instrument

LEGISLATION CITED: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

CASES CITED: R v Thomson & Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383

PARTIES: The Crown Sanuel Barraz

FILE NUMBER(S): DC 2008/11/0008

SOLICITORS: NSW DPP Fay Rose Legal

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Samuel Barraz appears for sentence today. He pleaded guilty today to five offences on an indictment but they were in substitution for a number of matters to which he had earlier pleaded guilty at the Local Court. The pleas of guilty were entered at the earliest opportunity and so, consistent with the decision in R v Thomson & Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383, in order to reflect the utilitarian benefit of the pleas, the sentences I will announce at the end of these remarks will be twenty five per cent less than they would otherwise have been.

2 Mr Barraz is to be sentenced for three offences of engaging in transactions with the proceeds of crime and two offences of using copies of false instrument in order to persuade another person to accept it as a copy of a genuine instrument, in order that he could obtain some money.

3 These five offences are far from the full extent of the offender's criminality. Attached to each of the offences of engaging in transactions with the proceeds of crime are Form 1 matters. On each of the Form 1 matters there are either fourteen or fifteen further related offences. The total criminality engaged in by the offender extended over a period of about a year and ultimately led to him obtaining a significant sum of money, namely $153,000 through the use of fraudulent loan applications.