SEVASTOPOULOS v REGINA [2011] NSWCCA 201

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: SEVASTOPOULOS v REGINA [2011] NSWCCA 201 Hearing dates: Friday 13 May 2011 Decision date: 06 September 2011 Before: Tobias AJA at [1] Johnson J at [2] Hall J at [3] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal be granted. (2) The appeal, in part, be upheld. (3) That the applicant be re-sentenced to a non-parole period of 8 years and 6 months commencing on 9 May 2005 and expiring on 8 November 2013 with an additional 4 years expiring on 8 November 2017. (4) Accordingly, the earliest date upon which the applicant will be eligible for release on parole will be 8 November 2013. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - appeal against sentence - supply of large commercial quantity of prohibited drugs - whether applicant's role as "broker", with no managerial function, entitled him to a finding of below the mid-range of objective seriousness - applicant received only minimal payment for his "services" - whether applicant had a legitimate grievance arising from disparity of sentences of co-accused - whether parity principle with respect to non-parole period infringed - finding of special circumstances made - proportion of non-parole period to head sentence in error - appeal allowed in part Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 Cases Cited: Cicciarello v R [2009] NSWCCA Lau v R [2010] NSWCCA 43 OM v R; MH v R; AA v R; AS v R [2009] NSWCCA 267 at [27] R v McNaughton (2006) 66 NSWLR 566 R v Pavan [2009] NSWDC 82 R v Sinkovich [2011] NSWCCA 90 R v Sutton [2004] NSWCCA 225 R v Wahabzadah [2001] NSWCCA 253 R v Way (2004) 60 NSWLR 168 Tyler v R; R v Chalmers (2007) 173 A Crim R 458 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Stephen SEVASTOPOULOS v REGINA Representation: Crown: D Staehli SC Applicant: S Odgers SC Crown: Commonwealth DPP Applicant: S E O'Connor File Number(s): 2006/15539 Decision under appeal Date of Decision: 2008-03-20 00:00:00 Before: Ainslie-Wallace DCJ File Number(s): 2006/15539