Regina v Christopher Mallia [2007] NSWDC 324

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: Regina v Christopher Mallia [2007] NSWDC 324

HEARING DATE(S): 30/11/2007

JUDGMENT DATE: 30 November 2007

JURISDICTION: District Court of New South Wales

JUDGMENT OF: Cogswell SC DCJ at 1

DECISION: Overall sentence of three years and six months with a non-parole period of two years and three months.

CATCHWORDS: Criminal law - Sentence - Manufacture pseudoephedrine - Supply amphetamine - Firearms offences - Range of objective seriousness - Rehabilitation - Partial accumulation of sentences

ss 24(1), 25(1), 29 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 ss 61(1)(b), 65 Fireams Act 1996 LEGISLATION CITED: s7(1) Weapons Prohibition Act 1988 s32 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 ss 154J, 527C Crimes Act 1900

PARTIES: Regina Christopher Mallia

FILE NUMBER(S): 07/21/1162

SOLICITORS: Ms Summerfield for the NSW DPP Mr Conomos for the offender

JUDGMENT 1. I am sentencing Christopher Mallia for a series of drug and firearm offences. The issues which I need to address are how serious each of these offences is, to what extent the sentences should overlap and the significance of the factor of rehabilitation.

2. On 26 October 2006 the police entered a house or a unit in Whalan where Mr Mallia was living. They had a search warrant. They located drugs, weapons, cash and other items. The weapons were a shortened shotgun and what I shall refer to as a stun gun. The drugs were methylamphetamine. What was found amounted to 9.16 grams, 7.1 grams of which had a purity of 77 per cent. Those 7.1 grams were estimated by a police expert to have the potential of producing just over $2,800 if sold on the street. They also found just under 90 grams of a substance containing paracetamol. The evidence is that this kind of substance is commonly what's left behind when cold and flu tablets are used in an illegal attempt to manufacture methylamphetamine. Amongst the items found were 256 cold and flu tablets. In addition and related to the firearms were a number of shotgun shells and bullets.