R v Loudon [2020] NSWDC 57

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Loudon [2020] NSWDC 57 Hearing dates: 2 March 2020 Date of orders: 03 March 2020 Decision date: 03 March 2020 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Priestley SC DCJ Decision: See [44 ] – [47]; 18 month Intensive Correction Order on terms Catchwords: CRIME — Drug offences — Supply prohibited drug — Indictable quantity Legislation Cited: Drugs Misuse and Trafficking Act (NSW) Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 Cases Cited: Attorney General's Application under s37 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 No 1 of (2002) 56 NSWLR 146 R v Fangaloka [2019] NSWCCA 173 R v Pullen [2018] NSWCCA 264 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown) Luke Loudon (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Mr Clark, solicitor for the DPP Solicitors: Mr Pratt, solicitor for the offender File Number(s): 2019/00134860

Judgment 1. Luke Loudon ("the offender") appears in respect of two charges of ongoing supply of cocaine in breach of section 25A(1) of the Drugs Misuse and Trafficking Act (NSW) ("DMTA"). The maximum sentence in respect of each offence is 20 years imprisonment or 3500 penalty units or both. There is no standard non-parole period. Additionally there are seven backup charges to be withdrawn on conviction being the supply charges under section 25 DMTA which make up the section 25A offences. It should be noted here that the four charges constituting the sequence 12 offence in each case were of an amount greater than the indictable quantity but less than the commercial quantity and included three occasions of supplying cocaine and one of supplying methyl amphetamine. Further there are four offences on a form one to be taken into account in respect of the second of the section 25A charge being sequence 13. Those four charges were three charges of supplying a indictable quantity of cocaine and one charge of supplying a small quantity of cocaine. The maximum penalty in respect of these four charges is in each case 15 years imprisonment or a fine of 2000 penalty units or both. In respect of the sequence 13 matters there were three occasions of supplying cocaine, on two occasions it was the small amount and on the third occasion it was of an indictable amount. 2. Before setting out the facts I note that in regard to the Form 1 procedure it is important that the focus remains on the principle offences for which the offender is being sentenced. The procedure allows that in doing this greater weight may be given to the elements of personal deterrence and the community's entitlement to extract retribution for serious offences. Those two elements are entitled to greater weight than they may otherwise be given when sentencing for the primary offence; see Attorney General's Application under s37 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 No 1 of 2002 (2002) 56 NSWLR 146 per Spigelman CJ.