STATE OF TASMANIA v SIMON BROOKS GEASON J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 26 JUNE 2019
Mr Brooks, you have pleaded guilty to trafficking in cannabis, and to some minor drug related matters arising out of the same episode, which I am dealing with pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code.
I note the submissions which have been very ably made by counsel on your behalf.
You are 36 years old. I am told that you were introduced to cannabis at a very young age, and but for your father’s intervention, your use may have continued and escalated. It is all the more disappointing, I think, in the circumstances of his intervention that you find yourself before the Court for offending of this nature, though I accept what has been put to me, that in some respects this is attributable to pain management or your view that it was an appropriate means of affecting pain management. That explains your personal use.
Nevertheless, trafficking is a serious offence and it is viewed seriously by the Court because it is the means by which others are introduced to drugs. It contaminates the community, and for that reason a sentence that deters others from behaving in that way is required.
In terms of your personal circumstances I accept that the need for personal deterrence is, in all the circumstances, moderate. I accept that the process of coming before the Court has had a salutary effect upon you, and I accept that there have been personal consequences at home as a result of your offending, so I expect that each of those things will operate upon your consciousness and cause you to reflect before you offend in a similar way. So I do accept the need for personal deterrence in your circumstances is reduced.
As I say, the need for a sentence for general deterrence is one that weighs significantly upon my thinking in terms of framing an appropriate penalty.
In all the circumstances a term of imprisonment is necessary in order to mark the community’s objection to the act of trafficking in prohibited substances, its condemnation of that behaviour.
I accept the submission that you did not in fact traffic this drug and that any such plan was intended to be limited to people known by you to be users of this drug.
A sentence of six months’ imprisonment is the sentence I intend to impose upon you today, but in regards to the operation of that sentence I am persuaded by your counsel that I should suspend its operation. I do so on condition that you commit no offence punishable by a term of imprisonment for a period of two years. This means that you are not going to goal today, but if you offend over the next two years, and commit an offence for which a term of imprisonment may be imposed you may very well find yourself required to serve that period of six months.
The sentence acknowledges your early plea of guilty which attracts a discount of 20% of the sentence I would otherwise have imposed.
In respect of the matters on the other complaint 340/2019, I will simply record convictions.
Whilst I accept that you are a man who has learnt his lesson, you need to keep those lessons at the forefront of your mind so that you do not fall into these ways again.
I am asked to make a forfeiture order, and I make that order, save that item number 16 on receipt 287404, your iPhone, will be deleted from that list and I make an order requiring you to pay for the cost of the analysis in the sum of $770 within 28 days.
The nett effect of what I have done today is:
- You are sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years on condition you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment;
- I have recorded convictions on the other matters;
- I have forfeited the property contained in the schedule 287404;
- And I have made an order requiring you to pay $770 by way of analyst’s fees.