STATE OF TASMANIA v KUSH KALRA 20 OCTOBER 2025
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE SHANAHAN CJ
Kush Kalra you have pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance, namely ketamine, contrary to s 12(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001 (“the Act”).
An application has been made by your counsel pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code 1924 (“Code”) that I also deal with an additional three minor offences being counts 2, 3 and 4 charged on complaint 1253/2025.
Those three minor offences include one count of possession of a controlled plant or its products, namely cannabis, in breach of s 25 of the Act; one count of possession of a thing used for administration of a controlled drug, namely a smoking device, contrary to s 23 of the Act, and use of a controlled drug, namely cocaine, contrary to s 24 of the Act. You pleaded guilty through your counsel to each of these three offences.
I now deal with each of these four matters.
You were born on 8 June 1994 and were 30 years of age at the time of the offending. You ordinarily resided in Western Australia, at the time of the offence, when you visited Tasmania as a tourist.
After arrival in Tasmania you hired a Toyota Hi-Ace van, registration L22FX, from Van Experiences Tasmania.
On 24 January 2025, the owner of the hire company met you at a hostel on Argyle Street in Hobart to hand over the vehicle. The owner observed you to be spaced out and confused at the time you collected the vehicle.
At 3.30 pm on 31 January 2025, you sent a text message to the hire company advising you had caused damage to the van. The owner responded asking you to meet in person so he could inspect the vehicle. You replied at 4.38 pm and said you were at the Botanical Gardens but would be heading off soon and could not meet up.
The owner then contacted police and reported that he was concerned that you may be driving under the influence of drugs. He provided police with the location of the van via the onboard tracking system. A broadcast was issued to members of Tasmania Police to keep an eye out for the van as you may be driving under the influence.
At approximately 5.50 pm on that day, police observed the van near the Hobart Aquatic Centre on Davies Avenue and intercepted it. Police observed you sitting in the driver’s seat with a female sitting in the front passenger seat. You submitted to a breath test which returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.00.
Police asked you if you had taken any illicit drugs over the past 48 hours. You said you had been at a festival. When asked if you had taken anything at the festival, you responded, “Yeah, I did.”
You were cautioned and required to submit to an oral fluid test, which returned positive indications for cocaine, methylamphetamine, and amphetamines.
When you were asked by police if you expected anything to come up on the test, you made admissions to having used cocaine that morning to wake up. You denied having any more cocaine with you. Police then conducted a search of the van. You denied that there were any illicit substances on your person or in the vehicle.
Police located a black leather bag in the back of the van on the mattress, which contained: a small bag containing 1.2 grams of cannabis; a snap-lock bag containing 8.3 grams of white powder, a snap-lock bag with a yellow seal containing 68 grams of white powder; two small snap-lock bags containing trace amounts of white powder; a large quantity of unused snap-lock bags; a five dollar note with traces of white powder; $4000 in cash, made up of fifty dollar notes, and a grey Samsung phone.
The Samsung phone was in addition to the iPhone you had with you.
In the centre console of the van, police located a black bum bag that contained $3275 – in one hundred dollar, fifty dollar and twenty dollar notes.
Further drug paraphernalia was located in the vehicle: a small bag containing 3.6 grams of cannabis in a black backpack in the boot of the vehicle; digital scales in a box in a bag in the driver’s seat; a fabric drawstring bag containing a metal straw and small spoon; a grinder containing cannabis residue in a paper bag behind the passenger seat; and a smoking device in a shoebox in a plastic bag in the boot. Police formed the view that the white powder was cocaine.
You and your passenger were then questioned in relation to the illicit substances. You stated, “No comment,” and your passenger denied the substances were yours. You were both arrested and transported to the Hobart Police Station.
Your female passenger participated in an electronically recorded interview. She stated that she knew you as you had previously been in a relationship together but had not spoken for about eight months. She said that the drugs were not hers and the black bag was not hers, but she had seen you carrying the black bag to and from the vehicle from your accommodation. She said she knew there was a quantity of drugs in the van but had no idea there was that much.
Prior to handing your iPhone to police, you wiped the phone by performing a factory reset. You participated in an electronically recorded interview and made the following statements under caution: that you had arrived in Tasmania about a week previously and had been travelling around. You were travelling with a friend, showing her around Tasmania. She had arrived the day before yesterday. You had been to a festival in Nugent.
You had sold jewellery and made about three thousand dollars in cash. You slept in the van. You had used cocaine here and there, and you had been trying to quit. You use cocaine socially, and you said you had used cocaine on the morning of 31 January 2025. You had one line, you say less than 100 milligrams.
You recognised the backpack, you stated it was not your friend’s bag. You said that the empty zip-lock bags were not yours. You said you had not slept in the van for the last three nights. You denied that you brought the cocaine from Western Australia. You denied selling cocaine. You said all the cash was yours and that you had brought some with you from Western Australia. The rest of the money in the van was from sales at the festival.
That account was not accepted by the State and I do not accept it for the purposes of sentencing.
You stated that you were a hundred and ten per cent sure that the cocaine did not belong to your friend. Further that the two bags of cannabis found in the vehicle belonged to you, as did the grinder and smoking device. You admitted you had been using cannabis for about 10 years; and last used it the previous Thursday when you smoked “a few cones” before bed. You stated that cannabis does not affect your driving. You admitted that the scales were yours and that you used them to weigh cannabis and said that the scales should not have any other substance residue on them. Also that you had no intention of taking cocaine back with you to Western Australia.
You gave a “no comment” response when police asked who the cocaine belonged to, when you were asked where you purchased the cocaine from and whether you purchased it in Tasmania. You did so again when asked how much you paid for it and if it was for personal use; and also when you were asked what you use two mobile phones for; if you had seen the substance before, and how often you use cocaine?
At the conclusion of the interview, you were charged, processed, and detained for court.
Subsequent testing of the powder seized from the black backpack confirmed that it was ketamine, not cocaine. That explains the difference in the language on the indictment compared to that in respect of charge 1 on complaint 1253/25.
The State confirmed on your sentencing hearing that ketamine is an anaesthetic, commonly found in either liquid, powder or tablet form. At the relevant time, it sold at street level for $150 for half a gram; $250 for a gram; and $3500 for a half ounce, being 14 grams; and between $5,000-$6,000 for an ounce, being 28 grams.
The total weight of the ketamine found in your possession was 76.3 grams. If sold as ounce deals, it had the potential street value of $10,000 – $12,000. If sold as gram deals, it had the potential street value of $19,000. And if sold as half gram deals, it had the potential street value of $22,800.
On 1 February 2025, the owner of the hire vehicle advised police that he had located further drug paraphernalia in the van. Police conducted a further search of the van and found a further three plastic bags containing white powder, on the floor, and a single plastic bag containing white powder inside a sunglasses case in a brown backpack. The backpack also contained three SIM cards and one SD card.
I was told by the State that the substances seized on 1 February 2025 have not yet been forensically analysed. The combined weight of the four small snap-lock bags was 1.6 grams. The State does not assert any criminal liability in respect of these items. I have not taken these substances into account for the purposes of sentence.
The State’s case is that you trafficked in ketamine by having it in your possession on 31 January 2025 with the intention to sell it.
You have spent some time in custody, and I am told that the appropriate date for backdating, is 1 February 2025. Your counsel disputed this and suggested a date of 31 January 2025 be adopted. Little turns on one day either way, but I will accept that you have served 8 months and 21 days as at today, and will back date any sentence to 31 January 2025.
You have no prior convictions in Tasmania. You do however have relevant prior convictions in Western Australia. You were most recently sentenced and fined, on 6 November 2024 in the Perth Magistrates Court, for two counts of possessing a prohibited drug, being cannabis.
In July 2021, you were sentenced to two counts of possession of a prohibited drug, being cocaine, and two counts of supplying a prohibited drug also being cocaine, in relation to which you received a supervision order for 12 months. Prior to that, in 2019 you were convicted of three counts of careless driving causing death, GBH or bodily harm, one count of driving with an illicit drug, which was your second offence.
In respect of the 2019 offending I note your statement to police that cannabis does not affect your driving. Human experience suggests that is something of an heroic conclusion. Certainly your track record suggests you should have greater insight in that regard.
The State submitted that specific deterrence is relevant, given your prior convictions. I accept that submission. General deterrence and denunciation of drug offending is always relevant in matters such as this. Illicit drug use is widespread in the community. It leads to economic and social harms. Those harms are not only experienced by the users of drugs themselves, but it motivates the carrying out of property related offences. It can also lead to violence, for example, in the context of enforcing drug debts. The detection of this type of offending is difficult. It diverts police resources from other law enforcement activities. It can also lead to motor vehicle accidents and other social harm.
You had a total of 76.3 grams of ketamine in your possession, this is not a small amount. The potential impact on the community of the distribution of such amounts of ketamine is significant. The State was unable to identify any comparative sentences in relation to trafficking ketamine. It was said that ketamine related offending does not appear to be particularly common in this jurisdiction.
It was submitted that there is no trafficable quantity for ketamine that’s prescribed in the Act, so it’s difficult to gauge the objective seriousness. Certainly ketamine is a “controlled drug” and appears in Schedule 1 of the Act at Part 2, at item 141. The definition of “trafficable quantity” at s 3A of the Act makes it clear at paragraph (a) that “in the case of a controlled drug that is not mixed with or contained in any other substance, a quantity of the controlled drug that is not less than the quantity specified in column 3 of the table in Part 2 of Schedule 1 in relation to the controlled drug” is the trafficable quantity. There is no value that appears in column 3 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 opposite item 141.
In mitigation, Mr Cangelosi pressed for a sentence that you be released forthwith on the basis of time served, effectively 8 months and 21 days. It was submitted that such a sentence meets the needs of general and specific deterrence, and denunciation. However, the Court was concerned about the history that you have in respect to drugs as demonstrated by your prior convictions in Western Australia and that those issues do not appear to have been addressed given your current offending, and despite the July 2021 supervision order to which you were sentenced in Western Australia. The submission also did not directly engage the seriousness of your offending when seen through the prism of the amount of ketamine and the three summary charges which are also the subject of this sentence.
I was told in that regard that you have had a problem with illicit substances from the age of 18, and that those problems explain your background offending in Western Australia. It was submitted that the drugs in your possession were partly for personal use albeit I was not told anything about your ketamine use. I also note the paraphernalia found in your possession is consistent with trafficking drugs. I am told that this period in custody is the longest period of abstinence that you have had in your life.
On its own that submission indicates the fundamental difficulty you have had with various controlled substances – in that regard I note your prior offending with cocaine and cannabis, and the conviction for careless driving which I have referred to. Your counsel submitted that you seek to make the most of this recent lengthy period of sobriety. One can only hope that is so.
It was submitted that upon release from custody, you will be returning to Western Australia where you will be supported by family and friends in seeking to maintain your abstinence from drugs in the community. Of course the support of family and friends has not been enough to support your sobriety in the past, as I understand the submission your enforced abstinence in prison is to be the spring board and family and friends will assist you in maintaining your sobriety going forward.
In your case there are difficulties in making a community supervision order. Such an order I am told is not easily transferrable to Western Australia, and you do not have a suitable address in Tasmania at which to reside. It was put that you were travelling in a caravan prior to your arrest.
It was suggested that once you were assessed by Community Corrections you may not be found suitable for such an order. No such assessment was sought. Certainly experience suggests that unstable housing or a lack of residential accommodation may well result in a negative assessment for community supervision. That does not, however, mean that you do not require professional assistance and supervision in seeking to maintain your sobriety within the community.
It was also submitted that the transfer of a community supervision order can take weeks and that you preferred to be dealt with otherwise than by such an order.
The thrust of the plea in mitigation was that whilst there is a background of illicit drug use, you are now clean and you will not return to the use of illicit substances. That you have well and truly learned your lesson. Certainly, your prior offending and the sentences imposed in Western Australia suggest I should be wary in accepting that submission.
There does seem to be a pattern in relation to illicit drug use, and clearly the penalties that have been imposed have not dissuaded you to-date. Generally, the court would be concerned to ensure you get professional therapeutic assistance to build your resilience after a period of abstinence. It was submitted that whilst that may well be the manner in which one would expect the matter to proceed attempting to engage in a therapeutic exercise here is going to lead to significant practical problems for you.
It was submitted that in order to encourage rehabilitation I impose a partial suspension of sentence with a specific condition that you not commit any offence involving a controlled substance.
You are still a relatively young man and that places some weight on rehabilitation as an object within the sentencing process. As I stated at the sentencing hearing, if you continue down the path you were on prior to your arrest it is not going to have a happy ending. Your counsel submitted that you have excellent prospects of rehabilitation. You have a partner, a child, and were running a successful jewellery business whilst undertaking a qualification in gemmology prior to your arrest. You undertook those studies with the Gemmological Association of Australia. I am told your position is that you have much to look forward to in life with your partner and child and your intended business endeavours. You do not want to be back in custody.
I was told if the matters to which you have pleaded guilty had crystallised earlier it is likely that the matter would have resolved at an earlier time. I won’t speculate about that.
I make an order pursuant to s 38 of the Act that the following items be forfeited to the State of Tasmania, being items 1 to 14, 16, and 18 on property seizure record number 240976; and items 1 to 4 on property seizure record 246401.
I make a further order pursuant to s 36B(2) of the Act that you pay the costs of analysis of the substance seized on 31 January 2025, being $558.
I make a third order pursuant to s 16 of the Crime (Confiscation of Profits) Act 1993 that the $7275 seized by police from you on 31 January 2025, being items 17 and 18A on property seizure record 240978, be forfeited to the State of Tasmania, as it is tainted property being the proceeds of drug sales.
Kush Kalra, I convict you on the single count on the indictment and also the three summary charges on complaint 1253/2025, being charges 2, 3 and 4 on that complaint. I impose a single sentence. Mr Kalra, I sentence you to a term of immediate imprisonment of 18 months backed dated to 31 January 2025 but suspend the execution of 9 months of that term on condition that you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment for a period of 18 months. You say that you wish to remain sober, return to Western Australia and make a life with your partner and child you now have that opportunity, how you use it is entirely up to you.