R v Thangavelu [2015] NSWDC 390

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Thangavelu [2015] NSWDC 390 Hearing dates: 5 November 2015 Date of orders: 05 November 2015 Decision date: 05 November 2015 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Neilson DCJ Decision: Convicted

Offender sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year and three months commencing on 7 November 2014

Offender to be released on recognisance in the sum of $500 to be of good behaviour commencing on 7 November 2015 Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence – Import a Tier 1 prohibited good, 842 grams of pseudoephedrine, purity of 80% – Offender arrived in Sydney by airplane from Malaysia with luggage containing two toiletry bottles concealing pseudoephedrine – Likely that offender had a gambling habit, had become indebted and needed to serve as courier or "drug mule" to settle debts – Arrested on date of offence, in remand for 11 months – Guilty plea at earliest opportunity – 49 year old Malaysian male, ethnically Tamil, limited English, experience of NSW Custodial System more onerous – Offender has young family, but no evidence to establish that the period that the offender has already spent in custody caused the family "exceptional hardship" – Prior good character, however prior good character facilitated offending Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1914 Customs Act 1900 Customs Regulations 1926 Cases Cited: R v Chung (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Armitage DCJ, 6 June 2014) R v Goh (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Charteris DCJ, 20 March 2014) R v Hinton [2002] NSWCCA 405 R v Yan Huang [2012] NSWDC 298 R v Le (County Court of Victoria, O'Neill CCJ, 13 May 2015) R v Manh Hung Nguyen (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Solomon DCJ, 23 march 2012) R v Togias [2001] NSWCCA 522 R v Tram Anh Vo (Unreported, District Court of New South Wales, Haesler SC DCJ, 23 August 2013) R v Zerafa [2013] NSWCCA 222 Category: Sentence Parties: Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) (Crown) Saegar Thangavelu (Offender) Representation: Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) (Crown) Ms E Manea (Offender) File Number(s): 2014/00359770 Publication restriction: No