STATE OF TASMANIA v MARK JOHN MORSILLO 5 AUGUST 2022
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
Mark John Morsillo, you have pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance, namely cannabis, between on or about 1 February 2020 and 8 July 2021. You are also to be sentenced on a number of summary matters, being dealt with by this court pursuant s 385A of the Criminal Code, being one count of manufacturing a controlled drug, namely amphetamine, contrary to s 21 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, one count of possessing a controlled drug, namely amphetamine, contrary to s 24 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, one count of supplying a controlled drug, namely amphetamine, contrary to s 26 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, one count of using a controlled drug, namely amphetamine, contrary to s 24 of the Misuse of Drugs Act. You are also to be sentenced for two counts of using a controlled plant, namely cannabis, contrary to s 25 of the Misuse of Drugs Act and two counts of possessing a thing used for the administration of a drug, contrary to s 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
On 25 February 2021, police officers attended your residence in possession of a warrant and conducted a search. They found a considerable quantity of cannabis product in various rooms throughout the house. In total, police seized 1,885.7 grams of cannabis product made up as follows: loose cannabis – 1,224.87 grams, cannabis mix – 10.84 grams, cannabis bud – 649.99 grams. The State acknowledge that included in the amount was 320.55 grams of cannabis located on the garage floor, which was predominately leaf but did include some stalk from where the plants had been harvested. Also located within the residence were two grow rooms. In a grow room in the bedroom, police located a tent containing 15 cannabis plants, three grow lights, three transformers, a charcoal filter and a fan. In a second grow room located in the garage, police located six grow lights, nine transformers, two charcoal filters and five fans. There were not any plants growing in the grow room in the garage, however, there was evidence that cannabis had been recently harvested there. Remnants consistent with cannabis plants having been stripped were found on the garage floor. In addition to these items, police also found various smoking devices, quantities of zip lock bags, three sets of digital scales with cannabis residue upon them, a quantity of cannabis lollies and a cannabis grinder with cannabis residue on it. Police located nine cannabis root balls in the backyard. They also observed a CCTV camera positioned in a tree on the front of the nature strip monitoring the front of your property. You were arrested and later the same day and participated in a video record of interview. You made significant admissions. You admitted growing the cannabis plants in the grow rooms from seed, tending to the plants on a daily basis until they were ready to harvest, harvesting the cannabis, drying it, packaging it and selling it. You also told police that you smoked cannabis on a daily basis and had been doing so since the age of 12. You told police you smoked approximately half an ounce of cannabis per day. You also admitted to police that you had used methyl amphetamine on 14 February and that you purchased one point a month earlier for approximately $150.00. You admitted that you had been growing cannabis since arriving in Tasmania approximately two years earlier and had started selling cannabis in Tasmania from about February 2020. You admitted selling the cannabis on a daily basis to a group of around ten people. You told police that initially you had only grown enough plants to meet your personal needs, but after meeting neighbours who also smoked cannabis, you increased your production of cannabis and started selling it. You said between February and August 2020, you had only sold a “couple of ounce bags a month” but since August 2020, had sold approximately 54 ounces of cannabis. You admitted you sold the cannabis for approximately $300.00 per ounce. You agreed that you would have sold approximately $16,200.00 worth of cannabis and that the money had been spent on bills, mortgage and other household expenses.
At the conclusion of the interview, you were charged and bailed. Subsequently on 8 July 2021, police conducted a second drug related search, pursuant to warrant, at your residence. During this search, they located a new grow room that you had established at the rear of the residence. It was inside a shed. Within the shed, police located four mature cannabis plants and ten immature cannabis plants, a number of bottles of chemicals associated with the propagation of cannabis plants, ballast boxes, an exhaust fan and filter, grow lights and a grow room filter. It is highly aggravating, in my view, that after you had been charged and bailed following the February 2021 search, that you re-established a new grow room and, again, began to cultivate cannabis. Police also located cannabis product and smoking devices. In the lounge room, they found a zip lock bag containing 2.74 grams of cannabis mix. In the kitchen, they found zip lock bags containing a total 29.07 grams of cannabis. Additionally, in the laundry police located an amount of glass ware and chemicals, consistent with the operation of a clandestine laboratory. There was evidence to suggest a “cook” had recently occurred. You subsequently participated in a record of interview and admitted to police that you had made about 4.5 grams of amphetamine. You told police that you had given about half of the 4.5 grams to your neighbour and that you had kept the balance. You said you had used some, had shared some with other people and had also swapped some of the amphetamine for cannabis. As to the grow room, you said you had commenced growing cannabis plants again within a short time of the February search. You said you had recommenced growing cannabis for your own personal use. You again admitted to establishing and tending to the plants within the grow room. You also told police that you were supplying some other people with cannabis. You said since the February search you had also obtained cannabis from other sources in order to meet supply. You said that you intended to use the cannabis harvested for your own use as well as to supply cannabis to approximately five other people.
In summary then, the situation is that between February 2020 and 8 July 2021, a period of approximately 17 months, you trafficked in cannabis. You engaged in a continuing trade involving the growing and sale of cannabis. You also, at times, obtained cannabis from others in order to on-sell it. Between 1 February 2020 and 25 February 2021, you sold on a regular basis to approximately ten people. Between 25 February 2021 and 8 July 2021, you sold on a regular basis to approximately five people. In terms of the potential value of the cannabis located during the February search, assuming you continued to sell in ounces, as you indicated during your record of interview, the potential value of the dried cannabis located at your residence was approximately $20,205.00. The potential yield from the 15 plants found in the grow room, assuming the plants were female and all grew to maturity, was a possible return in the vicinity of $96,300.00. As to the plants found growing during the July search, again assuming the plants were female and grew to maturity, there was a potential yield amounting to in the vicinity of a return of $88,800.00. It is noted, of course, that ten of the plants found during the July search were still quite immature and such a yield may well not have eventuated.
I note that you are now 55 years of age. You have a significant history of offending relating to drug matters. Your offending commenced as a youth, consistent with your admissions that you have been a cannabis user since the age of 12. Your convictions for drug related offending extend far beyond charges relating to possession for personal use. You have been convicted in New South Wales of supplying a prohibited drug on a number of occasions, supplying cannabis in a commercial quantity, as well as a charge of dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime. On my tally, you have 22 prior convictions for drug related offending. You have received substantial periods of imprisonment in the past for drug related offending. I accept that you have had a difficult upbringing. You did not know your father. Your mother was an alcoholic. Sadly, around Christmas 1986, when you were 19, your brother suicided. I am told this has had a significant deleterious effect upon you as your last communication with your brother involved an argument. You have struggled to come to terms with your brother’s passing since. You are a bricklayer by trade and have held positions of employment in that trade in the past. You are currently in receipt of a Disability Pension as a consequence of a number of health concerns, including a serious lung condition and mental health issues. You have used cannabis in large quantities for an extended period of time. Your addiction is pronounced. It is not suggested that you currently have any motivation to address it. You have also struggled with addiction to other substances in the past, including heroin and amphetamine but to your credit, you have undertaken programmes, including the methadone programme, in order to address those addictions. I accept that your cultivation of cannabis began as a scheme to provide for your own personal use, but evolved into selling quantities to other users. I note you were fully co-operative with police and made substantial admissions throughout the course of both interviews. You have pleaded guilty at an early stage following resolution of some outstanding issues with the State and that counts in your favour.
Mr Morsillo, Parliament has made cannabis a controlled substance. As a controlled substance, commercial dealings in it have to be treated seriously and must be discouraged by the courts. There are good reasons for its prohibition. It has a range of adverse effects on both mental and physical health. Here, you set up a sophisticated growing operation on not one, but two occasions. As I have already commented, it is significantly aggravating, in my view, that after you were charged and bailed in respect of the February search, you all but immediately re-established another grow room at your residence and resumed your illegal activities. You are entitled to credit for your plea of guilty and co-operation, but there is obviously a need for the sentence to strongly address both general and personal deterrence. Imprisonment is the only sentence that can appropriately mark the seriousness of your criminal conduct.
You are convicted of all matters to which you have pleaded guilty. In relation to the two counts of possess thing used for administration of a controlled drug, I make no further order. In respect to all other matters, I impose one sentence. You are sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served one half of that sentence.
I make an order that the following items be forfeited to the State:
Items referred to in paragraph 24 of the Crown’s Statement of Facts and listed on Property Drug Exhibit Sheet 269159 of 21; items referred to in paragraph 25 of the Crown’s Statement of Facts and listed on Property Seizure Record Receipt 185435; items referred to in paragraph 26 of the Crown’s Statement of Facts and listed on Property Seizure Record Receipt 159806; items referred to in paragraph 27 of the Crown’s Statement of Facts and listed on Property Seizure Record Receipt 159807; and items referred to in paragraph 28 of the Crown’s Statement of Facts and listed on Property Seizure Record Receipt 159808.
The Forfeiture Order does not apply to Item 29, mobile phone, paragraph 24 or Item 2, mobile phone, paragraph 26.