STATE OF TASMANIA v JAMIE LEE STEIN ESTCOURT J
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 15 MAY 2020
The defendant, Jamie Lee Stein has pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a controlled substance between 23 February 2018 and 20 August 2018.
I have also agreed to deal with complaint 54292/2018, which is a complaint containing a number of summary offences. I do so under s 385A of the Criminal Code. This complaint arises out of the police attendance at the defendant’s property on 20 August 2018, which triggered the complaint of trafficking.
Complaint 54292/2018 contains the following 6 summary offences:
1 Possess controlled plant;
2 Use controlled plant;
3 Use controlled drug;
4 Possess smoking device;
5 Selling controlled plant;
6 Selling controlled drug.
Charges 5 and 6 on the complaint are subsumed into the trafficking indictment.
The defendant, was 25 to 26 years of age at the time of the offending. He resided at 2/3 Stubbs Court in Penguin.
On 5 June 2018, Tasmania Police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home. Officers located modest amounts of cannabis and methylamphetamine.
At the conclusion of the search officers conducted a video recorded interview with the defendant, during which he said that all of the items seized were his, that he had used drugs since he was 15 years old, but sometimes goes cold turkey, for example he said he had about 2 months off drugs around Christmas time the previous Christmas.
He said he used a “fair bit” of methylamphetamine, he estimated he used about 1 point a day. He had it last the day before and consumed it orally. He said on average he smoked between 1 to 1 ½ grams of cannabis a day.
He said he purchased 1 to ½ grams of methylamphetamine for about $400 a gram from someone he met at the park in Penguin. He had used 2 points from what he had purchased. A gram of methylamphetamine would last him a week to a fortnight. He admitted to selling cannabis and methylamphetamine such as that which police found in the “deal bags”.
He said that he received $350 per fortnight in Centrelink payments. He said that he sold drugs “because I’m not going to waste all my money on drugs”. He agreed his drug habit was about $500 per week in cost (not including MDMA). When he was asked how he affords the drugs he consumes he said he just “turns it over.”
The Crown asserts that the defendant sold drugs to an equivalent value of that which he consumed in order to cover the cost of his personal consumption.
One of the four mobile telephones seized was examined. The first message relating to the sale of drugs was on 31 May 2018. The defendant exchanged SMS and text messages with at least 11 different people.
Photographs taken from Facebook Messenger messages on one of the phone’s show that the defendant exchanged messages with at least 3 different people regarding the sale of each of the drugs particularised in the indictment. The first “Messenger” message relating to the sale of drugs was on 23 February 2018.
A selection of the messages have been made available to me and I have considered them. They are contained in a document filed with the Crown Statement of Facts and marked Annexure A.
On 20 August 2018 Tasmania Police executed a second search warrant at the defendant’s home. Officers located a quantity of snap lock bags, 0.48 grams of cannabis in a small snap seal bag and other drug paraphernalia.
At the conclusion of the search, officers conducted a video recorded interview with the defendant. During the interview he said that he last used cannabis on Sunday. He said, on average, he smokes a gram of cannabis a week. He said he mixes it. He said that he last used methylamphetamine 2-4 days ago. He administered it with a syringe. He said he uses 2-3 points of methylamphetamine per day. He estimates that the cost of that habit is about $700 to $800 per week. He said he did not think he had sold cannabis since June.
One of the messages located on his phone from 9 July 2018, however, is a message he sent to a female offering methylamphetamine. He told her that she should tell her friends to buy from him.
He told police that on average he sells methylamphetamine for $100 a point, and that he only sells by point. He pays about $500 for half a ball of methylamphetamine, there are about 15 ½ points in a half ball. A full ball has about 30 points, he last got one of those when the police last came. He estimated he used 21 points of methylamphetamine per week, again, worth $700 to $800. He said he last sold about $70 worth methylamphetamine a fortnight ago. He estimates that he has done a handful of deals since police were last there, about 10 point deals.
Police took photographs of messages, evidencing actual sales and arranging sales, which were located on the defendant’s mobile telephone. Those messages show contact with at least 8 different people. A selection of those messages have been made available and have been considered by me. They are contained in a document filed with the Crown Statement of Facts and marked Annexure B.
The total amount of drugs seized by Tasmania Police from the defendant is as follows:
• 68.46 grams of cannabis;
• 7.24 grams of methylamphetamine; and
• 4 MDMA tablets.
Based on the defendant’s admissions that he had a drug habit which cost approximately $500 to $800 per week, it is calculated that during the period of the indictment he sold drugs to support his habit with a value of between $5500 and $8800.
The Crown makes application pursuant to s 11(1)(b) of the Crimes (Confiscation of Profits) Act 1993 for an order pursuant to s 21 of that Act that the defendant pay a pecuniary penalty of $5500. I assess the penalty in that sum and I make that order. I allow 28 days for that amount to be paid by the defendant. If more time is required an arrangement can be entered into.
The Crown makes an application pursuant to s 38 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 2001 for, an I make and order that, the following property be forfeited to the State of Tasmania:
Items 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 17 on Property Seizure Record Receipt 169218;
Item 4 on Property Seizure Record Receipt 169219;
Items 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9 on Property Seizure Record Receipt 156404.
There has been a delay in the finalisation of this matter, which is the defendant’s fault having failed to appear, and subsequently arrested on the warrant. Since 12 February 2020, he has been in custody in respect of these matters. On that day he pleaded guilty to the complaint and was committed to appear in Burnie on 16 March 2020.
The defendant is 28 years old. He has relevant prior convictions, however they are all summary offences. He has two young children, aged 2 and 4 years old. In his childhood, he resided with his mother and siblings, and their stepfather. His stepfather subjected them to physical and mental abuse on a regular basis.
The defendant suffers from Bi-Polar Disorder, and has been told in the past that he may suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He completed his education up to year 9 in school and has worked in various jobs since then.
As to his drug use, he starting using marijuana at a young age and was influenced by peers at school; he commenced using more addictive substances shortly thereafter. His use of illicit substances was exacerbated when he lost his employment due to a drug drive offence – his significant increase in use led to a debt owed to the individual who was supplying him with illicit substances. It was this debt that led him to agree to sell those substances. At all times, he was supplying the substances in order to support his own habit.
All cases of trafficking are serious and frequently attract sentences of imprisonment, although often wholly or partly suspended. Methylamphetamine is an insidious drug which brings misery and suffering to those who use it and is responsible for a great deal of crime committed by those seeking to buy it. Having said that the period of the trafficking in this case is not great and the amount of drugs and money involved is relatively modest.
The defendant is convicted on all counts and I impose a single sentence of 9 months’ imprisonment back dated to 12 February 2020 with the balance from today suspended for a period of two years on condition that the defendant commit no offence punishable by imprisonment during that time.