Zhang v R [2011] NSWCCA 233

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Zhang v R [2011] NSWCCA 233 Hearing dates: 17 August 2011 Decision date: 26 October 2011 Before: WHEALY JA at 1 LATHAM J at 2 HARRISON J at 46 Decision: Leave to appeal granted Appeal dismissed Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - application for leave to appeal against sentence - import commercial quantity of heroin and methylamphetamine - weight given to recent expressions of contrition must be slight - sentencing judge had regard to the applicant's evidence, co-operation and assistance on the question of contrition - discount for assistance and plea of guilty did not fall outside appropriate range - information assessed as low value and applicant caught committing the offence - applicant responsible for initiating and organising importation - applicant on parole for a similar offence - no lesser sentence warranted in law. Legislation Cited: Criminal Code Act 1995 Crimes Act (Cth) 1914 Cases Cited: R v Thomson [2000] NSWCCA 309 ; 49 NSWLR 383 R v Sutton [2004] NSWCCA 225 R v Ellis (1986) 6 NSWLR 603 Tyler v R ; R v Chalmers [2007] NSWCCA 247 Danial v R [2008] NSWCCA 15 Ryan v The Queen [2001] HCA 21; 206 CLR 267 R v Barrientos [1999] NSWCCA 1 DPP v De La Rosa [2010] NSWCCA 194; 205 A Crim R 1 R v Holland [2011] NSWCCA 65;205 A Crim R 429 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Zuy Lin Zhang - (Applicant) Regina - (Respondent) Representation: J Ghabrial / N Parsons - (Applicant) P McDonald - (Respondent) Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions - (Respondent) File Number(s): 2009/11689 Decision under appeal Date of Decision: 2010-07-30 00:00:00 Before: King SC DCJ File Number(s): 2009/11689