Bees v The State of Western Australia

The appellant, Bees, appealed against the sentence imposed by the sentencing judge in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. Bees was convicted on his pleas of guilty to three counts of possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply. For the first count, the sentencing judge imposed a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment. The total effective sentence for all counts was 12 years' imprisonment. The appellant argued that the sentencing judge made an error of fact in finding that the only available inference was that he was involved in distributing large quantities of drugs for commercial benefit and that he was in the 'upper echelon' of the Perth drug trade. He also contended that a different individual sentence for count 1 or a different total effective sentence for all counts should have been imposed.

The court examined whether the sentencing judge's finding that the appellant was in the 'upper echelon' of the Perth drug trade was open to the judge on the evidence before him. The court also considered whether the individual sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for count 1 and the total effective sentence of 12 years' imprisonment for all counts were appropriate. The court held that the sentencing judge's finding was open to him on the evidence before him and that there was no error of fact in that regard. The court also held that the individual sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for count 1 and the total effective sentence of 12 years' imprisonment for all counts were appropriate.

The court dismissed the appeal against sentence. The appellant's conviction and sentence were affirmed. The court held that the appellant's involvement in the drug trade was significant and that the sentence imposed reflected the seriousness of his offending. The court noted that the appellant had a history of drug-related offending and that the quantity of drugs involved in the current offence was substantial. The court held that the sentence imposed was appropriate in all the circumstances of the case.