GOVINDARAJU v REGINA [2011] NSWCCA 255

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: GOVINDARAJU v REGINA [2011] NSWCCA 255 Hearing dates: Wednesday 6 July 2011 Decision date: 01 December 2011 Before: Bathurst CJ at [1] Hall J at [2] Harrison J at [113] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal granted. (2) Appeal against sentence upheld. (3) The sentence imposed by the District Court on 16 July 2010 be set aside. (4) That the applicant be sentenced to non-parole period of 4 years and 3 months imprisonment to commence on 12 April 2009 and to expire on 11 July 2013 and a balance of term of 3 years and 9 months to expire on 11 April 2017. Accordingly, the first date upon which the applicant will eligible for release on parole will be 11 July 2013. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - appeal against sentence - denial of procedural fairness - whether applicant's role was "above that of a courier" - psychologist's report to establish role - whether trial judge erred in finding role as an aggravating factor CRIMINAL LAW - appeal against sentence - whether trial judge erred in using an Assessment of Assistance as evidence of objective gravity CRIMINAL LAW - appeal against sentence - whether errors warrant intervention of the appellate court - whether sentence was greater than it ought to have been, given erroneous findings as to role Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) Customs Act 1901 (Cth) Cases Cited: Baroudi v R [2007] NSWCCA 48 Bourchas v R (2002) 133 A Crim R 413 Bugmy v R (1990) 169 CLR 525 Deakin v R (1984) 58 ALJR 367 Dinsdale v The Queen (2000) 202 CLR 321 DPP (Cth) v De La Rosa (2010) 273 ALR 324 Hili v R (2010) 272 ALR 465 Inge v The Queen (1999) 199 CLR 295 Le v R [2006] NSWCCA 136 Lowndes v The Queen (1999) 195 CLR 665 Olbrich v R (1999) 199 CLR 270 Parker v Director of Public Prosecutions (1992) 28 NSWLR 282 Power v The Queen (1974) 131 CLR 623 R v Bezan [2004] NSWCCA 342 R v Jimson [2009] QCA 183 R v Meggett (1999) 107 A Crim R 257 R v Mirzaee [2004] NSWCCA 315 R v Nguyen; R v Phan [2010] NSWCCA 238 R v Nikolovska [2010] NSWCCA 169 R v Pham [2005] NSWCCA 314 R v Ruha & Harris; ex parte Commonwealth DPP [2010] QCA 10 R v Tadrosse (2005) 65 NSWLR 740 R v Tran [2007] QCA 221; (2007) 172 A Crim R 436 Teehan v R [2006] NSWCCA 401 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Balamurugan GOVINDARAJU v REGINA Representation: C: S Callan A: R Mathur C: Commonwealth DPP A: Legal Aid Commission of NSW File Number(s): 2009/11135 Decision under appeal Date of Decision: 2010-07-16 00:00:00 Before: English DCJ File Number(s): 2009/11135