El-Helou v R [2014] NSWCCA 209

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: El-Helou v R [2014] NSWCCA 209 Hearing dates: 22 August 2014 Decision date: 07 October 2014 Before: Macfarlan JA at [1]; Hidden J at [54]; Adams J at [55] Decision: (1) Allow the appellant's appeal against sentence. (2) Set aside order 4 made by this Court on 21 May 2010 and in lieu thereof: (a)set aside the orders of the District Court made on 10 July 2009; and (b)sentence the appellant Mr Gary El-Helou to a term of 10 years imprisonment comprising a non-parole period of 6 years and 8 months commencing on 11 July 2008 and expiring on 10 March 2015, and a balance of term of 3 years and 4 months commencing on the expiration of the non-parole period and expiring on 10 July 2018. (c)Accordingly the appellant will become eligible for release on parole on 11 March 2015. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - sentence - parity - appellant pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in one act of supply of prohibited drug - co-offender subsequently sentenced for an offence involving that and another act of supply and an offence of importing the drugs - whether appellant has justifiable sense of grievance in light of sentence imposed on co-offender in respect of the common offence - relevance of concurrence of co-offender's sentence with the sentence for his importation offence - sentences do not reflect marked differences between the offenders' respective offences and circumstances - appeal allowed Legislation Cited: Crimes (Appeal and Review) Act 2001 (NSW), s 79(1)(b) Criminal Appeal Act 1912 (NSW) Criminal Code (Cth), ss 307.11(1), 400.4(1) Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), s 25(2) Cases Cited: Ayik v R [2013] NSWCCA 119 Balloey v The Queen [2014] NSWCCA 165 Green v The Queen [2011] HCA 49; 244 CLR 462 Jones v The Queen (1993) 67 ALJR 376 Lowe v The Queen [1984] HCA 46; 154 CLR 606 Muldrock v The Queen [2011] HCA 39; 244 CLR 120 Ngati v R [2013] NSWCCA 203 Postiglione v The Queen [1997] HCA 26; 189 CLR 295 R v El Helou [2010] NSWCCA 111 R v Freeman [2005] NSWCCA 460 R v Way [2004] NSWCCA 131; 60 NSWLR 168 Rees v R [2012] NSWCCA 47 Tran v The Queen [2006] NSWCCA 266 Tu v R [2011] NSWCCA 31; 205 A Crim R 566 Wong v The Queen [2001] HCA 64; 207 CLR 584 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Gary Mathew El-Helou (Appellant) Regina (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: H Dhanji SC (Appellant) G A Farmer SC (Respondent) Solicitors: Lenz Legal (Appellant) Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent) File Number(s): 2009/4997 Decision under appeal Jurisdiction: 9101 Date of Decision: 2009-07-10 00:00:00 Before: Solomon DCJ File Number(s): 2009/4997