NSW Crime Commission v Nguyen [2019] NSWSC 782

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: NSW Crime Commission v Nguyen [2019] NSWSC 782 Hearing dates: 2 May 2019 Decision date: 02 May 2019 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Ierace J Decision: Orders sought made. Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – procedure – restraining orders sought - ex-parte - orders made Legislation Cited: Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: New South Wales Crime Commission (Applicant) Tien Dien Nguyen (Defendant) Representation: Solicitors: New South Wales Crime Commission (Applicant) Ex parte File Number(s): 2019/00137584

Judgment 1. HIS HONOUR: This is an ex parte application for orders sought pursuant to the Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) in respect of certain property set out in schedules to draft orders which have been tendered to the Court. The background to the application as set out in an affidavit of Katie Elaine Bourne, which was sworn on 30 April 2019, and in annexures to that affidavit, is, in essence, the fruit of an investigation by police in respect of the defendant. A summary of the relevant part of the investigation is set out in a document which is Annexure B to the said affidavit, which is a fact sheet in relation to three charges against the accused. Those charges are that, between 1 September and 2 October 2018, the defendant cultivated 76 cannabis plants which was not less than the commercial quantity. The second charge is that, between the same dates, he did abstract, consume, cause to be wasted or divert electricity without authority which was consumed, pursuant to the Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW). The third charge, as with the first, was brought under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) and is a count of supply prohibited drug between the same dates, being 329 grams of cannabis. 2. The essence of the content of the fact sheet is that, in September 2018, investigators attached to the police force at Penrith received information that an address at Prospect was being used for the cultivation of cannabis by an enhanced indoor means. On 2 October 2018 police, during the course of surveilling the premises, observed the accused to drive to the premises and enter through the front door at around 6pm. 3. Later that evening police stopped the vehicle in which the accused had been seen arriving at the premises from reversing out of the driveway and ultimately the accused was searched, that is, the defendant in this application. He was found to have on his person a wallet containing $1,450 in Australian currency. A subsequent search of the premises found that they were, indeed, being used for the cultivation of Indian hemp, complete with fans, exhaust systems and bypassed electricity facilities. 4. Having regard to the matters contained in the affidavit, I find that there are reasonable grounds for the suspicion advanced in relation to the property which is scheduled to the draft orders. Accordingly, I make orders in the terms proposed in the draft orders.