Director of Public Prosecutions v Gelu Pucea
[2023] VCC 1939
•25 October 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT BAIRNSDALE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
Case No. CR-23-00935
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| GELU PUCEA |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEMPSEY | |
WHERE HELD: | Bairnsdale | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 20 October 2023 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 25 October 2023 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Gelu Pucea | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2023] VCC 1939 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence.
Catchwords: Cultivation of commercial quantity of cannabis, firearms offences, unusual circumstances of offending – accused living in remote and isolated way post pandemic, offending principally driven by pursuing medicinal properties of cannabis oil (quite fixed ideas of the value of same, despite illegality), early plea of guilty, significant relevant prior cultivation of trafficking conviction, operation of s 52H Sentencing Act 1991, firearms possessed for hunting, modest amount of time in custody warranted as having already been served followed by period of supervision and treatment under auspices of parole warranted, totality, parsimony, comparable cases.
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act1958; Drugs Poisons Controlled Substances Act 1981; Firearms Act1996; Sentencing Act1991.
Cases Cited:Berichon v The Queen [2013] VSCA 319; Sultan v The King [2022] VSCA 205; R v Bourke [2020] VSC 130; R v Mezzaro [2015] VSC 528; DPP v Wagener [2021] VCC 665; DPP v Stankovic [2021] VCC 1968; DPP v Buchanan [2019] VCC 290; DPP v Burrniku [2019] VCC 13; DPP v Cole [2018] VCC 1788; DPP v Morris [2016] VCC 2087; Hendricks v The Queen [2014] VSCA 185.
Sentence: TES: 17 months with NPP of 10 months. PSD of 321 days. Section 6AAA Sentencing Act declaration: 2 years 8 months with NPP of 20 months.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr D Cordy | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr C Tom | Daniel Taylor Lawyers |
HIS HONOUR:
Introduction[1]
[1]Principally taken from the Summary of Prosecution Opening (Exhibit A), which was agreed as a statement of pertinent facts that I could sentence upon.
1This is an unusual case. You, Gelu Nicolae Pucea, are properly described as a middle aged, dedicated father and grandfather: a resourceful man with a strong work ethic and long history of employment in the forestry industry.
2You also have an almost unshakable evangelical like attitude towards the healing and medicinal properties of cannabis — cannabis oil especially.
3It is this belief — expressed in your interview at times in quite bizarre ways I must say, that in large part, explains the offending before me.
Offending
4You had no fixed address and, at the time of offending in 2022, were unemployed and living in an illegal bush camp at White Rocks Track, Double Bridges.
5On 7 December 2022 at 2.50 pm, officers from the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action located your bush camp at the end of White Rocks Track, Double Bridges.
6That camp comprised of a dome tent shelter, scooter, campfire, esky containing food and alcohol, a washing line, footwear, and kitchen area. Officers located multiple cannabis plants, approximately thirty to fifty centimetres in height, in pots, close to the river.
7No one was there when the police attended. Officers left the site and they notified the police at the Bairnsdale police station.
8At approximately 8.45 am on 8 December 2022, investigators from East Gippsland Crime Investigation Unit attended the bush camp where you were standing outside of the dome tent. You were arrested, given your caution and rights.
9At 9.00 am, that scene was examined and photographed.
10Police searched your 2013 Isuzu D-Max utility in silver, where they located:
(a) A Bonvit jar containing .22 ammunition rounds (rear passenger door pocket);
(b) An assortment of maps (front passenger seat);
(c) A loaded Winchester Rimfire .22 rifle with serial number: F503535 (behind the rear seat);
(d) A bag of .22 ammunition rounds (in a backpack in the rear seat);
(e) An assortment of notebooks (dashboard console);
(f) A black Canon digital camera (dashboard console);
(g) A USB stick (dashboard console);
(h) A black bottle containing liquid, believed at the time, cannabis oil (dashboard console);
(i) A Garmin GPS and charger (dashboard of the vehicle); and
(j) A plastic bag containing more .22 ammunition rounds (in the rear, passenger door).
11The above paragraph relates to two charges that you have pleaded guilty to on indictment:
(a) Charge 2: Storing a Firearm in an Insecure Manner Whilst Unlicenced – maximum penalty 240 penalty units or four years;
(b) Charge 3: Prohibited Person Possess Firearm – maximum penalty 1200 penalty units or 10 years imprisonment;[2]
(c) Related Summary Offence: Possession of Cartridge Ammunition – maximum penalty 40 penalty units.
[2]You were prohibited because of the existence of an intervention order.
12North of the camp, along the creek bed, police located numerous cannabis plants, growing in tubes in foam boxes, alongside the riverbed. None of the plants were planted in the ground.
13A total of six items were located by way of groups of plants.
Item
Location
Item
Quantity
1.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (41 plants)
137g
2.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (51 plants)
202.3g
3.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (25 plants)
9.1g
4.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (27 plants)
215.9g
5.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (24 plants)
58.9g
6.
Stony Creek riverbed
Cannabis L (20 plants)
29.5g
14A total of 188 cannabis plants were seized, weighing 652.7 grams.[3] A commercial quantity is 100 plants or 25 kilograms. Numerous labels were seized from the tubes containing the cannabis.
[3]A commercial quantity is 100 plants or 25 kilograms. No statement as to the value of the plants was offered.
15It is those facts that see you plead guilty to:
(a) Charge 1: Cultivation of a narcotic plant commercial quantity – maximum penalty 25 years imprisonment.
16A further search of your camp revealed fertilisers and ammonia, stored in large plastic tubs, used in the cultivation of the cannabis.
17At the campsite, close to the dome tent, police seized:
(a) A 2014 Honda NBC 110 Solo, with Victorian registration, 2R3QS;
(b) The key, a box trailer with Victorian registration, Y15141; and
(c) A silver 2014 Isuzu D-Max Utility with Victorian registration, 1CG8NY.
18During a further search of the Isuzu D-Max, police located and seized your wallet, a laptop bag containing an HP laptop (serial number: 5CD6243YND), a quantity of USB sticks, SD cards and DVD’s, and an Apple iPhone.
19On Thursday, 8 December 2022 at the Bairnsdale police station, a record of interview was conducted.
20That interview is a wide-ranging account of over 150 pages long and taking up some 1,151 questions. Not all of the answers are coherent, and it seems police had a very difficult time keeping you focused on the offending at hand.
21That interview gives an insight into your broader life philosophy, of the importance of a connection with nature for mental and physical health, a distrust of the modern world, and a desire to live somewhere outside of it in self-sufficient way, not unlike a survivalist living ‘off the grid’.
22The interview, traverses your time in the army, firearms handling, the war in Ukraine, your view that you are a servant of truth who has saved many lives by growing a crop in the bush, the naked greed of Big Pharma (and your distrust of them and doctors), the horticultural and environmental challenges posed by the climate and the seasons for the crop you did plant, prospecting for gold (which was the way in which you were able to make some money, whilst living in the makeshift camp), curing your own cancer (presumably with cannabis, of which there was no evidence),[4] alternative remedies, your determination not be vaccinated against COVID-19 (noting you would rather die than be vaccinated — hence in one way, that is why you were living in the bush), the CERN large hadron collider, quantum frequencies, krill oil, naturopathic remedies, healing protocols and bee keeping, before truly getting into the motivation and science behind the crop.
[4]The fact of which was not supported by evidence, nor was it claimed you were actively labouring under any physical ailments or maladies at the time of the offending.
23It is fair to say that you have firm, fixed unconventional views about many things.
24You did provide the following information to police:
(a) That on 1 October 2022, (some two months prior to arrest), you set up camp at White Rocks Track, Double Bridges;
(b) You planted the seeds in tubes two days before the full moon, around 6 or 8 October 2022;
(c) The full moon apparently helps with the osmosis process;
(d) That the cannabis plants were all seedlings in the seven-inch tubes and that none of them were put in the ground, but the intent was to put them in the ground;
(e) There was a .22 firearm, that belonged to you in the back seat of the vehicle;
(f) There was a .22 ammunition round in the chamber;
(g) On occasions, you used the firearm to shoot rabbits for food;
(h) Through the cultivation of cannabis, you were striving to achieve a 1:1 ratio of THC to CBD (which was apparently a balanced dose where the presence of CBD can help offset the psychoactive effects of the THC);
(i) You do not cultivate cannabis for financial gain, rather, for its medicinal purposes, ‘I really needed that strain in order to make this oil to heal myself’.[5] And that you do not want to sell them (the cannabis), you just want good medicine to keep you alive.[6]
(j) You note that, 'They tend to give people paranoia and all this kind of thing. So the challenge is to sort of have the medicinal ones’ (this was referring to cannabis plants), 'you know, the ones that you can relax on it, you sort of get rid of the pain and it helps you with all these ailments, because they do'.[7]
(k) That a lot of cannabis growers in Australia will not have the flagship of CBD oil, that you have; and somehow,
(l) Dark forces are preventing cannabis, as one of the best medicines on the planet, from being legalised as ‘it does too much good'.[8]
[5]Record of Interview (ROI) Q556.
[6]Ibid Q701–702.
[7]Ibid Q650.
[8]Ibid Q661.
Mandatory provisions
25Cultivation of commercial quantity is a Category 2 offence. That means the court is required to impose a sentence of imprisonment, other than a sentence of imprisonment combined with a CCO,[9] unless one of the circumstances set out in paragraphs (a) to (e) of s 5(2)H of the Sentencing Act 1991 are established.
[9]Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s 5(2)H.
26None of these circumstances were agitated on the plea; rather, it was put that a straight sentence allowing for your immediate release was appropriate.
Procedural history
27Having been arrested on 8 December 2022, the matter progressed quickly through the criminal justice system. After some brief negotiations, once the hand up brief was served, the matter resolved as a straight hand up brief, plea of guilty on 31 May 2023. It was then listed in this circuit of October 2023, before me as a plea.[10]
[10]See helpful chronology provided on your behalf – part of Exhibit 1.
28You have served 321 days from the time of your arrest to now, by way of pre‑sentence detention (that is to say, just over 10 months).
Matters personal to the accused[11]
[11]Much of the following is derived from Exhibit 1: Outline of Plea Submissions.
29In a well prepared and presented plea, your counsel described you as a 58‑year‑old, dedicated father and grandfather, with a strong work ethic and a long history of employment in the forestry industry. He then developed the plea by reference to the following matters and I draw quite heavily on his written submissions, as I do so.
Personal background
Family
30You were 57 at the time of the offending and you are now 58. You were born and raised in Romania and you are the only child of your parents’ union. Your grandmother was apparently a naturopath — a field that you have continued to have an interest in.
31You shared a loving relationship with your parents; however, your home environment was tense and difficult, due to your father’s alcoholism. Your parents would have regular conflict over your father’s drinking and you recall having to retrieve your drunken father from local bars.
32You married your first wife at the age of 23 in Romania. Shortly after, you had a daughter, Adela, who is now 35 years of age. She has two sons, aged 5 and 7.
33Romania in the mid to late 80’s was a grim, despotic state. Rationing of basic items for ordinary people like you, were in place. When Adela was six months old, you fled to, what was then Yugoslavia, as a refugee seeking asylum. You spent three months in a refugee camp before being accepted to Australia as a political refugee, in December 1989. You became an Australian citizen in 1991 and in 1992, only then, were you and your wife and child, able to be reunited here. You sent whatever money you earned back home by working in fruit picking, for instance, in Mildura.
34Your marriage ended approximately one year after your wife and Adela migrated to Australia. The strain of being apart for so many years took a toll on the relationship. Post separation, you had the care of your daughter every second weekend and half of the school holidays. It is said, and I accept, that you and your daughter share a close relationship. The letter that she provided on this plea,[12] tells me that. She appeared by way of video link in support of you on the plea and I note that she does so today, at the time of your sentence.
[12]Exhibit 4.
35In 2008, you returned to Romania and you reconnected with a friend from childhood, you commenced a relationship with her and married. You then returned with your wife back to Australia to be close to your daughter.
36In November 2019, your second wife returned to Romania to care for her mother who became unwell. She was then unable to return to Australia due to the COVID‑19 pandemic. She chooses to remain in Romania at present.
37You have been unable to speak to her since being remanded. Your daughter is in regular contact with her and keeps you updated, which makes for a particularly lonely existence I expect.
Education and employment
38Upon completion of high school, you were conscripted and completed two years of military service. You then completed a diploma in Forestry and worked as a Forest Ranger.
39When you arrived in Australia, you obtained employment at the Visy factory in Noble Park. You worked there for five months before moving to Mildura to pick fruit. You did this for four months before securing a position as a Forest Officer with the Department of Environment and Land Management. That position was based in Alexandra.
40Whilst employed there, you were supported to complete a Diploma in Forestry and to improve your English skills.
41Consistent with some of the ideas I have referenced when dealing with your record of interview, you studied naturopathy yourself for a while in 2000.
42You worked as Forest Officer for four years, before taking a voluntary redundancy to open a nursery in Alexandra. Unfortunately, that business was not viable and it failed within a year of its inception. You estimate you lost about $40k in 1994/5.
43You returned to work as to arborist and have a certificate in horticulture.
Prior conviction
44You then commenced tree lopping and was self-employed. You did this until you were incarcerated in 2004. The reason for that being, you pleaded guilty to cultivation of a large commercial quantity of cannabis. You trafficked cannabis too, as well as possessed firearms. A property you owned outright was forfeited as a result of that offending. As a gauge as to just how serious that offending was (and as to its true commerciality) you were sentenced to four years and 10 months, with a non-parole period of three years. One would have thought such a sentence would deter you entirely from any association with cannabis. It appears it did not.
45Upon your release from custody, you subcontracted as a consultant arborist for Oznet, an electricity provider, as part of a hazardous tree program. Your role was to identify trees that could fall on powerlines. The project ran for many years on fixed term contracts and concluded at the commencement of 2020 (coinciding I might add, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic). This time in our recent history plays a part in contextualising your offending.
The offending
Context
46As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, you found it extremely difficult to gain stable employment. Your financial situation was dire and you did not wish to be a burden on your daughter, who was experiencing her own difficulties, and you became homeless as you owed a vast amount of money in unpaid rent. As a result, you decided to camp at the offence location.
47Ms Kennedy, who provided a psychological report on your behalf, observed in her report that:
Overall, Mr Pucea impressed me as a man whose capacity for generally good judgement and ability to plan and execute positive and self-sustaining behaviours, has been negatively impacted by loneliness, loss of employment and housing during the COVID pandemic, together with his unshakeable belief in the health properties of medicinal cannabis.[13]
[13]Exhibit 2: Report of Christine Kennedy, dated 13 October 2023, p. 3.
48I should add that in Ms Kennedy’s helpful report, she excluded frank mental illness such as psychosis or hallucinations or delusion as barriers to reform. You are at least of average intelligence and surprisingly, (given the way that the record of interview was conducted) indicated that you did not fit any DSM criteria.
49It is proper now when dealing with motivation for the offending to note the following. There are references in that report about your activism for de-criminalisation of cannabis and preparedness to die in prison for this belief.[14] It is in part because of these permissive attitudes that you still harbour, that I am not inclined to sentence you to a straight term of imprisonment, but will rather shape a sentence that is designed to counsel and disabuse you, of the legitimacy of dealing with cannabis in whatever way you please, knowing full well, it is illegal. Your attitude as expressed to Ms Kennedy, suggests that you are hard to properly deter from similar offending and it fortifies my view that you will require supervision upon release to prevent its reoccurrence.
Objective gravity
[14]Which I must say sits uneasily with the cannabis education course certificate you rely on as part of Exhibit 3: Me, Myself and I GEO Life Skills Program’ Certificate of Completion dated 2 July 2023. ‘Cannabis & Me’ Certificate of Achievement dated 21 April 2023.
Cultivation
50It is accepted that cultivation of cannabis, in not less than a commercial quantity, is a serious offence, which is indicated by the maximum penalty being 25 years and its status as a Category 2 offence.
51The commercial quantity threshold is 100 plants or 25 kilograms. Your offending exceeded the number of plants by 88, however, the total weight of those plants was only 652.7 grams.
52Whilst the weight or the number of plants is an important factor in assessing the seriousness of the offending, in the unusual circumstances of this case, there are other factors which have a prominence in the assessment of objective gravity:
(a) You were a sole operator, and not part of a large syndicate;
(b) There is no evidence that you were growing the plants for the purposes of sale, or putting the drug into the wider community (a proposition which the Crown accepted);
(c) The offending did not involve the use of sophisticated hydroponic sets ups or electrical bypasses — but I add, nor did it need to, given the level of thought that went into the crop and your experience in cultivating;
(d) The plants were grown in the open;
(e) The motivation for growing the cannabis was to create cannabis oil, as an alternative health remedy — which could only seemingly be realised once the sex of each plant was known after they flowered (which in some way goes to explain why so many plants were propagated — as a contingency plan, as it were).
53Having regard to the constellation of uncommon factors in this case, the offending in relation to the cultivation of cannabis, can be properly described as a relatively, and I use that phrase advisedly, low range example of the offence.
Firearms offences
54You were prohibited from possessing a firearm because of an intervention order granted against you in the past.
55Your counsel accepted that the offending in relation to the firearm is serious. In Berichon v The Queen,[15] Redlich JA stated that the conduct of a prohibited person in possession of an unregistered firearm, may be placed in ‘one of two broad categories of seriousness’:
The conduct of a prohibited person in possession of an unregistered firearm may be placed in one of two broad categories of seriousness. Those categories have been discussed in R v Graham and Armistead v The Queen. The first category of cases are those where the conclusion is not open that the possession of the firearm is associated with some ongoing criminal activity. Sentences of a low order of imprisonment are usually appropriate unless the previous criminal history of the offender warrants a more substantial sentence, proportionate to the gravity of the offence. The second category of cases are those where the evidence enables the conclusion that the possession is for the purpose of criminal activity or a specific criminal purpose, more severe sentences are then usually in order. Such sentences will be appropriate where the firearm is for example possessed in the context of a criminal activity to provide security or as a means of enforcement. The prior convictions of the offender in conjunction with circumstantial evidence may also enable the conclusion to be drawn that the possession is for some unlawful activity.[16]
[15][2013] VSCA 319.
[16]Ibid [26] (citations omitted).
56The court can only make a finding that the possession of a particular firearm was for a sinister or criminal purpose, if I was to be satisfied of so, beyond reasonable doubt.[17]
[17]Sultan v The King [2022] VSCA 205, [41].
57During your interview with investigators, you explained that you had the firearm for protection from wild animals, whilst living in the bush and to hunt rabbits.[18]
[18]ROI Q484, Q488.
58There is no evidence that you had been, was, or planned to be, involved in any form of other criminal or sinister activity, involving the use of the firearm in question. In those circumstances, it cannot not be reasonably concluded to the requisite standard, that you had possession of the firearm for some criminal or other sinister purpose.
59Mr Cordy on behalf of the Director, very fairly agreed with that proposition.
60None of the foregoing makes me feel particularly comfortable though, that you had access to, and kept a firearm unsafely in the way that you did. You have been imprisoned before for possessing longarms and storing guns incorrectly. You were prohibited for good reason. You are not free to do as you please and arm yourself, no matter what the reason. It is troubling aspect that runs through this offending, that you think in some part, when your own perceived needs require it, the law ought not really apply to you.
Mitigating factors
Cooperation with investigators and plea of guilty
61You cooperated with investigators executing the search warrant and assisted them in showing them around the property to the location of the plants,[19] and also notified them of the presence of the firearm.[20]
[19]Ibid Q453–460.
[20]Ibid Q464–468.
62The matter resolved and proceeded by way of a straight hand-up brief and I accept that the plea of guilty can properly be regarded as an early one. Moreover, this plea has real and significant utilitarian benefit. You have accepted responsibility for the offending and you facilitated the course of justice and obviated the need for a trial.
63The utilitarian value of your plea has had an additional layer of utility in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] The disruption to criminal trials has meant longer delays and greater pressure on the already strained resources of the criminal justice system. In that context, the discount afforded to an offender such as you on a plea, ought to be heightened. I accept that the timing and utility of your plea of guilty, will be reflected in a real and palpable discount on your sentence.[22]
[21]R v Bourke [2020] VSC 130, [32].
[22]R v Mezzaro [2015] VSC 528 [19].
Sentencing purposes
Denunciation, just punishment, specific deterrence and general deterrence
64It is conceded quite properly by your counsel that denunciation, just punishment and general deterrence are relevant considerations for offences of this kind.
65The circumstances of the offending are unusual and looked against the majority of cases where a commercial quantity of cannabis has been cultivated. You are not necessarily a traditional or suitable vehicle for general deterrence perhaps in the way others might be. The need for general deterrence in this case is moderated somewhat.
66But you have prior convictions both for growing cannabis and possessing firearms. A truly significant term of imprisonment was imposed on you for cultivation, trafficking and other consequences that followed that offending, such as the loss of your home. This did not deter you from the present offending. You knew full well that the present offending was wrong. What is more, the comments made to the psychologist strongly suggest that you had no interest, really in desisting from your involvement from cannabis. I am told the promise of returning to live with your daughter, and the toll that your absence for the last 10 months or more has taken on her, acts as a protective mechanism for you. I am inclined to view this fixation you possess about cannabis, has the potential only to lead to further offending, if your life circumstances conspire to make things hard for you. This needs to be addressed and will be done so under the auspices of parole.
67As a side note, medicinal cannabis is now medically available under prescription and if you truly need it, and there is a demonstrated medical need for it, then no doubt, an experienced medical practitioner will treat you accordingly.
Parsimony
68While of course the sentence imposed must adequately punish an offender, the court must impose a sentence that is no more severe and appropriate in all of the circumstances. That will be the case here.
Rehabilitation
69Your work history demonstrates a strong work ethic and ability to achieve a high level of stability in his life. You are without doubt, resourceful and resilient.
70It is submitted that you have good prospects for rehabilitation — first in the sense that there are no identifiable barriers to reform, such as mental illness. Second, you enjoy strong family support in your daughter. Upon release from custody, you will reside with her in stable, supported accommodation.
71You also have had a job interview while in custody with ‘Fruit2Work’, a not‑for‑profit social enterprise that provides employment opportunities to people who have been incarcerated. I am told and I accept that you will be able to commence work with them upon your release from custody.
72At risk of repetition, I acknowledge these positive factors in your future, but cannot help but conclude that your prosects will be enhanced by supervision and treatment — a form of scaffolding, if you like.
Totality and concurrency
73The offending in this case occurs on the same day. In those circumstances, it is submitted that a high degree of concurrency is ‘just and appropriate’, ‘looking at the prisoner’s criminality as a whole’.[23]
[23]Postiglione v The Queen (1997) 189 CLR 295, [341].
74I consider the firearms offences are discrete (and serious) enough to warrant a separate sentence collectively, that will be set as an aggregate, with a modest amount of cumulation imposed, on the sentence I impose for the cultivation charges.
Comparable cases[24]
[24]Chart being part of Exhibit 1.
75The court must, as it always does, have regard to current sentencing practices. This is one factor amongst many to be considered in reaching a just sentence.[25]
[25]Those being DPP v Wagener [2021] VCC 665; DPP v Stankovic [2021] VCC 1968; DPP v Buchanan [2019] VCC 290; DPP v Burrniku [2019] VCC 13; DPP v Cole [2018] VCC 1788; DPP v Morris [2016] VCC 2087; Hendricks v The Queen [2014] VSCA 185.
76Broadly speaking, those cases that are said to be comparable, confirm that for cultivation of commercial quantities of cannabis, it is possible to receive modest terms of imprisonment (i.e., 12 months or under), either alone, or in combination with a CCO (when circumstances permit) and very occasionally, a standalone CCO.
77It is accepted that comparable cases have limitations.[26] Further, it is acknowledged that each case must turn on its own facts. It is submitted, however, that notwithstanding their inherent limitations, comparative cases can assist in assessing where particular offending falls on the spectrum.
[26]Though all cases referred to had an accepted medical purpose in common (for instance PTSD, chronic pain, terminal cancer etc), the same cannot quite be said for you as there is no supporting information about any illness you suffer or chronic pain you live with, rather the tenor of your interview is much more vague than this, leaning towards ‘wellness’ or something mystical and less tangible than the offenders in the comparable cases.
Ultimate sentencing submission
78Mr Tom conceded that deterrence, denunciation and just punishment combine to require that a term of imprisonment be imposed in this case, but submitted that this is a case, where all relevant sentencing principles could be adequately addressed, with a term of imprisonment of time already served.
79The Crown submitted that a head sentence and non-parole period was appropriate, but did note and agree with some of the more unusual circumstances of both this offending, and you as an offender, that mitigated the sentence I was to impose.
80I am of the view that your interests, as well as those of the community, would be best served by facilitating ongoing rehabilitation and in my view, this would be best achieved by imposing a minimum term such that you are able to make an immediate application to the Adult Parole Board, to be eligible for return to the community under a period of meaningful conditional supervision.
Sentence
81Mr Pucea, I come to the portion of my remarks where I pass sentence on you and you will be sentenced as follows. Charge 1, cultivate commercial quantity of cannabis, 16 months’ imprisonment. That will be the base sentence. Storing firearm in an unsecured manner and prohibited person possess firearm, will be dealt with by way as an aggregate, four months' imprisonment. Related Summary Offence 5, possession of ammunition in the circumstances described, you will be fined $100.
82I order that one month of the aggregate sentence imposed on Charges 2 and 3, be served cumulatively upon the base. This brings about a total effective sentence or a head sentence of 17 months. I declare that you be eligible to apply for parole having served 10 months. To be clear Mr Pucea, that means now.
Other matters
Section 6AAA
83Under s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I can indicate that but for your plea of guilty, I would have likely imposed a sentence of two years, eight months and set a non-parole period of 20 months.
PSD
84Pursuant to s 18 of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that you have served 321 days up to, but not including today, as having already been served in satisfaction of the sentence I have imposed today.
Ancillary orders
85I will grant the orders sought by the prosecution, namely those for disposal and forfeiture.
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