STATE OF TASMANIA v RICHARD LIONEL HINGSTON 3 NOVEMBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE TENNENT J
Richard Lionel Hingston, you have been found guilty of one count of trafficking. On 12 October 2007, police intercepted a car you were driving. The passenger was your then partner, Tanara Bryant. You and the car were searched. Police found on your person 4.6gms of powder found to contain methylamphetamine. You were arrested. Your partner told police that you had been selling methylamphetamine over the previous four months. She was a user of the drug and you supplied methylamphetamine to her free to an extent, but also sold to her. The evidence was that you sold to others as well.
You are 36 years old and have been addicted to drugs for a large part of your adult life. Your trafficking was primarily to cover your own drug habit, and to an extent that of your partner. You were, nevertheless, on the facts provided to me selling approximately $1,000 per week worth of drugs. However, it was accepted by the State that this was not a large scale commercial operation. As I said, you were selling primarily to cover your own habit.
You are single. You have a number of children to at least three different relationships. None of these children live with you. Two of them live interstate and you have no relationship at all with them. There is a 17 year old who you speak to on a reasonably regular basis, and there are two young children currently in State care whom you also speak to when your mother has access to them. You have not worked for a number of years. You have a lengthy history of drug related offending going back to 1992. You were convicted of minor drug offences on 9 January 1992, 29 June 1999, 8 June 2001 and 23 October 2003. On 2 March 2007, I convicted and sentenced you in respect of one count of trafficking in methylamphetamine and a number of minor drug related offences; a term of five months imprisonment was imposed. It is to be noted that the current offending began almost immediately upon your release from custody. On 17 September 2007, you were sentenced to another count of trafficking, that offending having occurred in December 2006. The sentencing judge imposed a 16 week term of imprisonment, but wholly suspended it for a period of two years to enable you to take part in the Magistrates Court mandated drug program. You did not however complete that. On 8 January 2008, you were found in possession of a quantity of methylamphetamine and subsequently convicted of possession of that substance. On 23 June 2008 in respect of that matter, you were ordered to serve a period of two months imprisonment, which term was again wholly suspended. On 30 August 2008, you were convicted in respect of a number of drug related offences committed in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Again a wholly suspended sentence was imposed. While some of these convictions are not prior convictions, they are indicative of your disregard for the law when it comes to misuse of drugs.
I have had the benefit of a pre-sentence report and a forensic mental health report which were requested in relation to your being sentenced in respect of numerous unrelated offences in the Magistrates Court. That sentencing was to have occurred within the last couple of weeks, but I am told today that it has been deferred to 9 November, evidently on the basis that the magistrate is considering as one of his options having you assessed to re-enter the court mandated drug program.
The two reports I have indicate that you remain in need of assistance for drug abuse. It is put to me by your counsel that you have been clean of drugs since your entry into custody in March of this year. There have however been other periods when you have been free of drugs, but it has not lasted. The reports also indicate that you have suffered from depression, predominantly in relation to issues arising from the removal of children from your care.
You have had the benefit of a number of occasions of sentences designed to assist with your rehabilitation. In particular, you were given, as I have indicated, an opportunity to address your drug problems in 2007 through the court mandated drug program. You did not take advantage of that and became re-involved with drugs after that date.
You have been sentenced twice before for trafficking. I accept that your trafficking offending is largely related to your own drug habit. However, at some point in time, the courts must impose a sentence which will act as both a personal and general deterrent to somebody who is a repeat offender, notwithstanding that that repeat offending arises from their own drug habit. Trafficking in drugs such as methylamphetamine can have an horrific impact on the community. That is a matter which does not appear to concern you given you continue to re-involve yourself in possession and sale of methylamphetamine.
This offending occurred over two years ago, and the delay in the matter being dealt with has not been through any fault of yours. Notwithstanding that, as I have indicated, I take the view that there must be a deterrent sentence.
You spent a period of two months in custody shortly after your arrest in relation to this matter and I will take that into account in sentencing.
In all the circumstances you are convicted of one count of trafficking. You are sentenced to serve a period of nine months imprisonment. To accommodate the two months imprisonment that you have already served, that sentence is to take effect from 3 September 2009. There will also be an order that upon your release from custody you be subject to a probation order for a period of 12 months. I do not propose to add any precise conditions to that order because it is clear that Community Corrections officers are aware that you require assistance in relation to drug matters.
There will be an order that you pay a victim of crime compensation levy of $50 within 28 days of your release from custody. There will also be an order pursuant to the Misuse of Drugs Act that you forfeit to the State the set of scales and pieces of paper found in your car at the time of search in October 2007.