STATE OF TASMANIA v JAMES LEE HARPER GEASON J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 5 DECEMBER 2019
Mr Harper, you appear for sentence today on a plea of guilty to a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance, namely cannabis. I am also sentencing you on your pleas of guilty to charges of selling a controlled drug (methylamphetamine), cultivating a controlled plant, possessing a controlled plant, using a controlled plant and being in possession of a thing used for the administration of a controlled drug. They are all minor offences that I am dealing with pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code.
On 7 December 2018 police attended at your home with a drug related warrant and a search was undertaken. Police located a cannabis plant, digital scales, a quantity of cannabis bud, a smoking device, small clip-seal bags containing 6.5 grams of cannabis and 6.89 grams of cannabis, cannabis seeds, some unused clip-seal bags, $1200 in cash and a black iPhone. At the conclusion of the search you were interviewed. You admitted that all of the items which were located by police were yours, except for the smoking device which you said was left there by mates who used it when they visited you. You accept by your plea that you were in nevertheless in possession of it. You admitted planting the cannabis plant. You told the police that you last used cannabis about one month before, and you admitted to the trafficking in that drug. You told police that this trafficking activity had been going on for about 6 months and had also occurred from a previous address where you resided.
I have regard to the matters put in mitigation by Mr Sullivan. In particular I note that you are employed and gainfully so. I note that that requires a degree of effort and commitment on your behalf, not least to travel the distance required to get to work and you are to be commended for that commitment. I have also received a reference from your employer and it appears to be that your prospects in that employment are good. You are a youthful offender and gainful employment represents a pathway to your rehabilitation. In my view, you are entitled to an opportunity to prove that this conduct, though serious, was an aberration.
The minor offence of selling methylamphetamine is a very troubling diversion into an engagement with that drug, a drug that has exceptionally serious consequences. I accept that this was a one-off.
Trafficking is always serious because it puts drugs into the community. I accept the submission made by Mr Sullivan that those to whom you trafficked were already users, but of course there is always a risk that they will on-sell anything that you provide to them, so that it cannot be said absolutely that you have not contributed to the dissemination of drugs into the community. Whatever view is taken of cannabis, it is against the law to traffic in it and you have broken a law that is intended to provide protection to the public. It is necessary to impose a penalty which discourages you from engaging in that behaviour in the future and which deters others.
As I have said, you are a youthful offender who is gainfully employed with good prospects. You have not offended in this fashion before. I have made a pecuniary penalty order which will have a significant impact upon you.
On the charge of trafficking I sentence you to 9 months’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for a period of 3 years on condition that you are of good behaviour for that period and commit no offence punishable by imprisonment. In relation to the matters on complaint I record convictions.