R v Poungpech [2019] NSWDC 160

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Poungpech [2019] NSWDC 160 Hearing dates: 22 March 2019 Date of orders: 22 March 2019 Decision date: 22 March 2019 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Grant DCJ Decision: Imprisonment for a period of five years with a non-parole period of three years. Catchwords: CRIME — Drug offences — Supply prohibited drug — Knowingly take part in supply SENTENCING — Penalties — Imprisonment Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown) Kitiya Poungpech (Offender) Representation: Solicitors: Mr Triscari (Solicitor Advocate, Crown) Ms Hunter (Offender) File Number(s): 2017/00222992

Judgment

HIS HONOUR: 1. Kitiya Poungpech appears before me for sentence having pleaded guilty to one count knowingly take part in the supply of methylamphetamine in the amount of 734.8 grams which is not less than a large commercial quantity applicable to that drug. A large commercial quantity threshold is crossed once one has in possession 500 grams or more of the drug. The statutory maximum penalty is life imprisonment with a standard non parole period of 15 years. The statutory maximum is a yardstick for a sentencing judge, it is but one of a number of relevant factors to be taken into account in the instinctive synthesis of sentencing as is also the standard non period which is a yardstick as well. In relation to the maximum penalty a judge should steer by the maximum penalty but not aim for the maximum penalty. 2. There is an agreed set of facts which appears in exhibit 1 of the Crown Sentence Summary. I intend to set out briefly some of the facts in this case: 3. Ting Gao was identified as a target of a police strike force. The offender was involved in an intimate relationship with him and she leased a room at an address in Miowera Road Chester Hill. On 28 June 2017 police executed a search warrant at the address. A search of the offender's bedroom located several boxes and bags stored in a cupboard. Police located various items of equipment to manufacture prohibited drugs in the boxes and bags including glassware, heating and drying devices. Police also searched a brown box which was located adjacent to the other boxes and bags on the top shelf of the cupboard. The box contained a large resealable plastic bag which contained 734.8 grams of the prohibited drug methylamphetamine. 4. The offender was arrested at the scene, she denied knowledge of the contents of the various boxes and bags. On 8 July 2017 police attended the Villawood Detention Centre. The offender nominated a female called "Candy" as the person who placed the items in her room and owned the commodities. Police received confirmation of forensic results from examinations conducted on the drug manufacture equipment and the fingerprints of the offender's boyfriend were located on glassware. On 21 July 2017 police attended the Villawood Detention Centre and placed the offender under arrest. The offender agreed to participate in an electronically recorded interview. She made a number of admissions during the course of the interview. She admitted that she lied to police on 18 July 2017 and the person she knows as Candy had no involvement in the storage and ownership of the prohibited drugs and bags/boxes containing drug manufacture equipment located in her bedroom. She said she lied to protect Gao. 5. The offender stated she was fully aware of the presence of the brown box containing the prohibited drugs. She said Gao had brought the drugs to the offender's bedroom approximately one month earlier. She stated Gao had removed the drugs which were in paper wrapping and placed them in the brown box. She stated she did not question Gao in relation to the storage of drugs at her residence. She stated she was aware the crystalline substance was the prohibited drug methylamphetamine. She herself was using methylamphetamine three to four times a week which she administered via a glass pipe. She said she had used the drug for two years since arriving in Australia. She stated she did not sell or supply any drugs including the ice stored in the bedroom. 6. Four fingerprints of Gao were located on plastic packaging used to contain the prohibited drugs. One fingerprint of the offender was located on plastic packaging used to contain the prohibited drugs. The substances seized by the police from an assortment of plastic bags in the brown box were found to contain methylamphetamine, there were 734.8 grams of the drug and it was 78% pure. 7. The offender agrees that she knowingly took part in the supply of methylamphetamine because she provided her room, tolerated and permitted her boyfriend Gao to possess and store the drug in her room knowing that it would ultimately be supplied by him.