STATE OF TASMANIA v SHAUN KEVERALL KAYE 22 OCTOBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Shaun Kaye, you plead guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance. On 21 August 2024 the police saw you riding an E-scooter along Risley St in Kings Meadows. They knew that the scooter was stolen because it had a geo-locator, and so they intercepted you, even though you tried to flee. They found a snap lock bag in the pocket of your pants containing 19 grams of methylamphetamine. Inside your backpack were other drugs, ammunition and three knives. Back at the police station the police searched the bag around your waist and discovered two snap lock bags with a further 39.6 grams of methylamphetamine and $5450 in cash, all in $50 notes, which was the proceeds of drug sales. Your vehicle was searched at your home. It contained a silencer and various ammunition. You are not charged with firearm offences, but firearms are the tools of a drug trafficker.
The 58.6 grams of methylamphetamine you had was worth, depending on how it was sold, up to $56,000. However, it was other evidence of drug purchases and sales, and your bank records, which reveal the true scale of your activities. Messages on your phone between December 2023 and August 2024 revealed extensive trafficking during that period of about 16 months. On 13 December 2023 you sent a message to your son that you had access to “a couple of kilos” of an unidentified drug and 1000 MDMA pills, but that you were having trouble importing them into Tasmania. Messages in June 2024 evidenced sales of an ounce of methylamphetamine for $6,000 and discussions about increasing the price. In July 2024 there were multiple messages with your son to the effect that you together had accumulated about $30,000 to buy methylamphetamine for sale, and evidencing drug debts to you exceeding $60,000. A couple of days later a message evidenced your wish to purchase a kilogram of methylamphetamine for $130,000 for sale. Messages in August disclose that you had at least two other persons selling drugs on your behalf.
The police also discovered many messages on phones of your customers evidencing sales. Even more revealingly, your bank records disclosed 219 unexplained receipts between April and August 2024 totalling $219,000. Whether some of the intended purchases in the quantities referred to in the messages in fact were achieved cannot be determined. However, the evidence of the actual sales and the bank account reveal a moderately large business and an intention to buy and sell as many drugs as you could.
You are now aged 46. You have faced adversity in your life. As a child you were removed from the care of your parents and placed into foster care. You were the victim of sexual abuse more than once. Despite this, until your life became affected by drug addiction and criminal behaviour, you demonstrated that you could sustain productive employment. Much of your criminal record is related to abuse of illicit drugs, which also led to the removal of your three children from your care in 2011. The effect of that exacerbated your addiction. Compensation funds obtained through the redress scheme only served to increase your drug use. You have a considerable record for violence and dishonesty and general criminality extending back to when you were a youth. Most relevantly you have a prior conviction for trafficking in 2014, although that was a much less serious case than this. You have served terms of imprisonment in this State as well as in South Australia and Victoria. The seriousness of trafficking in illicit drugs has been emphasised on many occasions. Those who traffic in illicit drugs should expect harsh punishment. The use of and trade in methylamphetamine causes terrible harm. It is a matter of great concern to the courts and the community and generates other offending, especially crimes of dishonesty and violence. On the information given to me you were conducting a business in the sale of methylamphetamine of substantial scale extending over a period of 16 months. It involved considerable sums of money, importation into Tasmania, or at least plans to do so, and recruitment of others to sell on your behalf. Whilst your original trafficking may have been driven by your own drug use, the primary motivation must have been profit because the nature and scale of the trafficking extended far beyond that necessary to fund your addiction. You were mindful of the consequences were you to be caught but took the risk. No sentence other than a significant term of imprisonment is appropriate.
The principal mitigating factor is your plea of guilty. It will result in a reduction of your sentence and the earliest eligibility for parole because it facilitates justice and has avoided the need for what was likely to be a long and costly trial. However, it is not indicative of the type of remorse a court looks for. Your rehabilitation is also addressed by allowing for parole. You were remanded in custody on 16 October 2026 but had previously spent four days in custody.
You are convicted on the indictment. You accept that the $5450 in cash was proceeds of drug sales but it has already been made subject to an unexplained wealth declaration. I order that the three seized snap lock bags are forfeited to the State. Pursuant to the Misuse of Drugs Act, s 36B, I assess the reasonable expense of and attending the analysis and examination of the controlled substance as $1953 and award that sum against you as part of the costs of the prosecutor. You have 28 days to pay. You are sentenced to imprisonment for three and a half years from 12 October 2026. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served half of that term.