STATE OF TASMANIA v BRADLEY SCOTT PURKISS 9 OCTOBER 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr Purkiss, you have pleaded guilty this afternoon to a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance. The controlled substance was cannabis. You grew it at your home at Elderslie for about a year before your arrest at the end of May 2017. You started using cannabis in large quantities to get relief from back pain. You began supplying some of it to Dwayne Davies by way of sale. The plan was that he would pay you partly in money and partly by way of barter, supplying goods to you. You actually received very little from him, but you did receive some goods, some of them of little or no value. You had some cannabis packaged ready for sale to perhaps other people when the police searched your property at the end of May 2017. You have minor convictions for drug offences on two occasions in earlier years. I take into account your personal circumstances which I do not need to repeat.
Because I have sentenced you to 24 years for murder this afternoon, I think the most appropriate penalty is a short concurrent sentence of imprisonment. I convict you and sentence you to four months’ imprisonment with effect from today, concurrently with your other sentence. I order the forfeiture to the State of Tasmania of the items mentioned in paragraph 10 of the Crown statement of facts in relation to the trafficking charge.