Chen v R [2018] NSWCCA 157

Court of Criminal Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Chen v R [2018] NSWCCA 157 Hearing dates: 4 July 2018 Decision date: 01 August 2018 Before: Meagher JA at [1] Schmidt J at [2] Button J at [3] Decision: (1) Leave to appeal granted. (2) Appeal dismissed. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – appeal against sentence – asserted error of sentencing judge in finding that applicant was aware that the shipment of narcotics contained a 'significant amount' of illicit drugs – asserted error of sentencing judge giving excess weight to finding that applicant's motivation for offending was financial gain – sentence imposed asserted to be manifestly excessive – discussion of other sentences imposed for drug importation – applicant appreciated quantity of drugs was significant – applicant involved himself in the importation of a very large quantity of a prohibited drug in order to benefit financially – sentence imposed not manifestly excessive – appeal dismissed Legislation Cited: Criminal Code 1995 (Cth), ss 11.2, 307.1 Cases Cited: Chan, Lo and Nguyen v R [2010] NSWCCA 153 Obiekwe v R [2018] NSWCCA 55 R v Nguyen; R v Pham [2010] NSWCCA 238; (2010) 205 A Crim R 106 R v Onyebuchi; Ex parte Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions [2016] QCA 143 R v Tran, Tran & Nguyen [2013] NSWCCA 136; (2013) 233 A Crim R 167 Stipkovich v The Queen [2018] WASCA 63 Webber v The Queen [2014] NSWCCA 111 Xiao v R [2018] NSWCCA 4 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Qiang James Chen (Applicant) Regina (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: I Lloyd QC (Applicant) L Crowley (Respondent)