Director of Public Prosecutions v Fadl Maroun

[2015] VCC 871

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA  Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -11-00657

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

Fadl Maroun

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE MONTGOMERY
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	25 June 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Fadl Maroun
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 871

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr M.J. Gibson	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Mr J.B. Saunders

HIS HONOUR:

1Fadl Maroun, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a controlled drug, MDMA.  The quantity trafficked being a commercial quantity between 10 May 2008 and 6 August 2008.

2The facts of the matter are set out in the prosecution summary, which is Exhibit 1 on the file.  I will not, in any detail, recount the facts.  That exhibit will be placed on the file to place the sentence in its factual context.  There is no issue taken by the defence with the facts as outlined.

3

Briefly stated on two occasions you supplied an undercover officer with a total of approximately 13,000 MDMA pills.  The combined weight of the pure MDMA was 1.124 kilograms, an amount around more than twice the commercial quantity.  This trafficking was part of larger trafficking by

Rob Karam, of which you were aware.  However you are only to be sentenced for the crime to which you have pleaded guilty to.

4The background of Karam's activities provides the context of your involvement.  You have no other criminal history.  The prosecutor, Mr Gibson, filed written submissions and supplemented those with oral submission.  He acknowledged that your role was subservient to Mr Karam's and that you were his intermediary.  He referred me to various cases and a table of sentences.  He submitted that the case of Alan Saric, a case that I dealt with, was the closest to your case here when I come to consider the issue of parity on sentencing.

5Your counsel, Mr Saunders, also filed written submissions and supplemented those orally.  He set out your background and personal circumstances.  I will not now recount it in detail.

6You were born in Lebanon and the family came to Australia in 1988.  You were the youngest of five children.  Your father died in 1992 leaving your mother to raise the family.  You obtained your VCE and began a computer course however after two years you left that and obtained work in 2002 at Crown Casino as a croupier.  You were arrested in August 2008 and Crown Casino then terminated your employment.  In 2010 you went to Holmesglen College and undertook a business course.  You set up your own fencing business. 

7In 2012 you commenced a relationship with Janelle Guarino and have a young son.  Your business was successful.  Whilst you are in custody the family home will be rented.  Janelle and your son will live with her parents and the business will be wound up.  Two character witnesses were called on your behalf and written references were tendered.  I have taken all those matters into account. 

8Mr Saunders submitted on your behalf in sentencing you I should take into account the following mitigatory matters.  One, you have no other criminal history. Two, your plea of guilty.  You made an offer to plead guilty on 18 April 2013.  Although this was not at the first opportunity in the context of the case it was, in my view, a timely offer.  You will be given the appropriate discount as the plea of guilty is an acceptance of responsibility by you by your offending and has saved the court the time and expense of a contested jury trial.  Three, Mr Saunders pointed to the delay in the matter and linked that with point 4 which was, he submitted, your prospects of rehabilitation.  He submitted that you had demonstrated that you were a person who not only had rehabilitated yourself but upon release that will continue.

9I have taken all those factors into account.  I have taken into account all the submissions made, cases referred to by both parties.  I have considered and applied s.16A and s.17A of the Crimes Act (Cth).  I am satisfied that in all the circumstances imprisonment is the appropriate sentencing disposition. 

10As I have said I have taken into account your plea of guilty, the fact that you have no other criminal history, the delay in the matter, particularly as it is combined with rehabilitation.

11In sentencing for drug matters of this type general deterrence is of paramount importance.  That is, the courts must impose a sentence that will make others think about committing similar acts.  People who break the law in this fashion must understand that there are lengthy prison sentences at the end of it.

12Specific deterrence, that is particular to you, has a role to play because of the circumstances of the offending but it is moderated because you have no other criminal history and have demonstrated a capacity to rehabilitate yourself.

13Your association with Mr Karam at the time no doubt appeared attractive to you.  A lot of it seemed to be going from one coffee shop to another but, upon reflection, you might agree that it has led to your presence here today in court. 

14Taking the delay into account you have used that time by setting up a successful, lawful, business.  You have a partner and a young child.  You have much to look forward to when you come out of gaol.  You can lead a lawful life upon release if your motivation is genuine.  I accept that you have good prospects of rehabilitation. 

15These are not empty words as I personally know two people who have been released from gaol after serving three or four years for serious drug offending who have started up successful small businesses and have not re-offended.  They have left behind their life of crime, come back into society being productive members of society.  However that is a matter that you will have to work out.  I do say that if you were to re-offend upon release you have got the example of Mr Karam and others as to the length of sentence you get for such major drug trafficking. 

16I have read the reason in the case of Alan Saric and it seems to me that for sentencing consistency that is the case I should be looking at not the other case referred to me of Merrill, in which the Court of Appeal uplifted a sentence to six years with a four year minimum. That is reported at [2015] VSCA 52.

17Mr Saric handled 15,000 pills at a weight which was three times the commercial quantity.  You handled 13,000 pills which was two times the commercial quantity.  Reading through my reasons for sentencing him his plea was similar to yours.  There was the issue of delay.  He pleaded guilty.  He had used his time whilst awaiting the plea to rehabilitate himself.  The differentiation between yourself and Saric, in the context, is the difference in the amounts and upon my reflection your material as to rehabilitation seems stronger to me.  So I have taken that into account.

18Doing the best I can, weighing up all those factors, I sentence you to a term of imprisonment of five years, nine months with a non-parole period of three years, three months.

19I declare under s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act that if you had pleaded not guilty and the matter proceeded to trial, it is always difficult to assess what it would be, I would have given you a sentence of seven and a half years with a non-parole period of five and a half years. Is there another orders or matters I need to attend to?

20MR GIBSON:  Fifty-one days.

21HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Thanks, Mr Gibson.  I declare the 51 days that you have served be reckoned to be part of the sentence that I have just imposed.

22MR GIBSON:  And Your Honour has to obviously utter the words "that sentence starts today".

23

HIS HONOUR:  Yes of course.  It's a Commonwealth matter.  Thanks,

Mr Gibson.  And the sentence starts today.

24MR GIBSON:  Yes, thank you.  If Your Honour pleases.

25HIS HONOUR:  Can you take FM out, thank you. 

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