TAYLOR, E F

STATE OF TASMANIA v EMMA FAYE TAYLOR                    15 SEPTEMBER 2022

COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE                                                               JAGO J

 

Emma Taylor you have pleaded guilty to one count of perverting justice. I have also agreed pursuant to s 385A of the Criminal Code to deal with summary charges of possess a controlled drug namely methylamphetamine, use a controlled drug namely methylamphetamine and use a controlled plant namely cannabis.

 

On 18 July 2020 two police officers saw you walking in Devonport. They approached you because you were stumbling and they were concerned as to your welfare. Because of your demeanour they asked for identification. When you opened your bag to produce it one of the police officers observed drug paraphernalia.  As a result you were searched, and inside your bag police found a snap lock bag which contained a small quantity of methylamphetamine. Police asked you to confirm your identity. You told police your name was Dayna Faye Wing and provided a false date of birth. These were in fact your sister’s details. Police suspected you might not be being forthright and warned you that it was an offence to provide incorrect details. You nevertheless maintained you were Dayna Wing. You told police the snap lock bag containing methylamphetamine was yours and admitted to having used it a couple of hours earlier. You also told police that you had last used cannabis the day before. You were advised you would be summonsed for the drug offences. Your sister, Ms Wing subsequently received the summons. She questioned you and you admitted you had used her name to avoid getting into trouble with the police. Ms Wing subsequently informed the police and it seems the summons in respect to her was withdrawn. For reasons that seem to be related to police and not you, you were not arrested in respect to this matter until 5 December 2021. You appeared in an after-hours court that day and your bail was refused. You spent one night in custody.

You have no relevant prior convictions. In September 2022, however, you were sentenced for a number of bail offences and a matter of common assault, and a 12 month community correction order was imposed. That order has only just commenced in its operation and will hopefully assist you in your rehabilitation.

You are 35 years of age. Unfortunately you are homeless and are currently on a wait list for public housing. You receive Centrelink benefits. You have three children. They are all currently subject to care and protection orders but you maintain regular contact with them. You are trying very hard to achieve some stability in your life in the hope they may be reunified into your care. I take into account your plea of guilty. I also take into account that you did not avoid criminal responsibility for the drug offences. You admitted to your sister what you had done and she in turn was able to inform the authorities.

Perverting justice is always regarded as serious because of its tendency to subvert the justice system. You lied with the intention of avoiding the criminal consequences of your conduct in respect to the drugs. Persons who are convicted of this crime are almost always sentenced to imprisonment, not only to punish the offender but to send a clear message to those who might be tempted to act as you did, that prison is the likely outcome. That is so even if, as in this case, the attempt to avoid detection was ultimately unsuccessful.  The fact it was unsuccessful of course remains relevant to sentencing.

For those reasons I have enunciated, I have concluded that a prison sentence is required although in the circumstances I am satisfied it is appropriate that I wholly suspend it.

You are convicted on each count to which you have pleaded guilty. For the crime of perverting justice you are sentenced to imprisonment for three months, wholly suspended for a period of 15 months from today. It is a condition of that sentence that for the 15 month period you commit no offence punishable by imprisonment. You should understand that if you breach that condition the sentence will be activated unless a judge determines it is unjust to do so.

In respect to the three summary offences, you are fined the sum of $400.