R v Sylla ROBILLARD [2007] NSWDC 115

New South Wales District Court

CITATION: R v Sylla ROBILLARD [2007] NSWDC 115 This decision has been amended. Please see the end of the judgment for a list of the amendments.

HEARING DATE(S): 11 May 2007

JUDGMENT DATE: 11 May 2007

JURISDICTION: Criminal

JUDGMENT OF: Berman SC DCJ

CATCHWORDS: Criminal Law - Sentence - Importation of a border controlled drug - Serving sentence in a foreign country

PARTIES: Crown Sylla Robillard

FILE NUMBER(S): 07/11/0179

SOLICITORS: Commonwealth DPP Legal Aid Commission

SENTENCE

1 HIS HONOUR: Sylla Robillard appears for sentence today having pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity to an offence of importing a border controlled drug, namely cocaine at a quantity which was a marketable quantity. He was detected at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport by customs officers. Strapped to his leg was a bag of cocaine. It weighed in total close to a kilogram, with the pure weight of cocaine later found to be about three-quarters of a kilogram. It is a substantial package with a substantial value.

2 The offender co-operated with officers in that he allowed them to search him. He must have known at that stage that the package would be discovered and that he would be spending a considerable time in prison. The offender is a Canadian citizen who lives in Montreal. He flew from Montreal to Vancouver with the drugs in his possession and thence to Australia.

3 It is a matter of interest, but not a determinative in any way of the sentence I will impose, that this is the second occasion this week that this court has been asked to deal with a Canadian citizen living in Montreal, importing cocaine into Australia via Vancouver. As I said it is a matter of interest only and has not affected the sentence that I will impose in the present case.