Director of Public Prosecutions v Hoang

[2018] VCC 684

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-18-00599

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

THANG VAN HOANG

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:	11 May 2018
DATE OF SENTENCE:	11 May 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hoang
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 684

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms J Warren	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr C. Pearson	C. Marshall & Associates Criminal Lawyers

HIS HONOUR: 

1Thang Van Hoang, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of cultivation of cannabis in not less than a commercial quantity.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.  You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity and made quite comprehensive admissions to the police.  You must get the benefit of that plea of guilty.  Remorse is problematic but certainly the utilitarian benefit of it is significant.

2You are now 41 years of age, you are from Vietnam.  You are an illegal immigrant and undoubtedly will be deported at the completion of the sentence I impose.  You have no prior convictions in this country and I am told no prior convictions in Vietnam.  Because you will be deported, your prospects of rehabilitation and the risk of your reoffending play really no part in this sentencing process.

3A summary of the offending is that in December of 2017 police went to premises in Vindon Avenue in Morwell because, they say, of a triple 0 call being made.  They did not have a warrant but were able to enter the premises to endeavour to find out who the lady with the reported cardiac arrest was.  In any event, to their surprise they found a very viable drug crop.  Plants were found and dried cannabis was found. 

4You and a co-accused - who is pleading not guilty so I will not deal with her in any way - arrived at the premises and were arrested.  Police found in the order of $750 on you which clearly was a result of you being paid to tend the crop within the house and gives rise to a summary matter of dealing with the proceeds of crime for which you are convicted and sentenced to seven days' imprisonment concurrent.

5In any event, police searched the car, searched the house, found no such heart attack victim but found, as I said, a crop and a number of other items.  You were taken to the police station and questioned about the crop.  In that interview you admitted to tending the plants, though you claimed you did not know what they were, said that you were going to be paid about $5000 a month, and that you had been there for two months.

6All in all, there was something in the order of about 80 kilograms of cannabis with unidentified substance within that. Apparently "due to some decomposition" by the time the 146 plants were taken ten days later to Forensics, there were only 82.  I do not understand quite what that is about, but the fact of the matter is on either basis it is a commercial quantity and a significant one.

7Obviously general deterrence plays a significant role in this sentencing process.  It is clear to all of us involved in the criminal law that the real architects of these crops get people such as yourself with no prior convictions, illegal immigrants, and no way really of being traced within this country, on the understanding that if apprehended you will not give anybody up and you will just simply do a bit of gaol and get deported.  People who are minded to engage in this activity as you did should be aware that there will be a significant gaol sentence involved if you are apprehended, and I am not about to start giving lectures on the dangers of hydroponically produced cannabis.  There must obviously be an element of denunciation and, as I have indicated, an appropriate punishment. 

8Your counsel has provided very succinct and helpful submissions on your behalf which point out, as I have indicated, you are 41, you come from Vietnam, you have no priors and you are here illegally.  You have been working for some years prior to your apprehension at Robinvale, picking fruit, strawberries and the like.  You have been sending some money home to Vietnam. 

9You are, I am told, a relatively well-educated man and achieved Year 12 standard in Vietnam.  Upon leaving university, as seems to be the case so often, you worked on cultivating rice.  You married at 24, you have two children aged 18 and 12 who live in Vietnam at the present time with your ex-wife.  I am told from the Bar table that you have sent money home to them.  You have a father who is 76 and in good health; however, your mother is 87 years of age and is in hospital with a variety of health issues and I accept that that must be an anxiety to you in the situation in which you find yourself.

10You are being held at Fulham where I am aware there are a number of Vietnamese-speaking prisoners but you have no capacity with the English language and accordingly there would be an element of isolation involved.  You have no history of illicit drug use, problematic alcohol or an significant gambling issues. You have, on the face of it, conducted yourself well in gaol, if that be an appropriate way of describing it, and I essentially sentence you as a crop-sitter of a commercial quantity.  There are numerous examples of sentencing for this sort of offence; in fact, I have indicated to counsel I have done many of them just in this area.

11Taking all those matters into account and weighing the offence up and trying to put it in its appropriate level with the matters personal to you, in my view in the end result the head sentence will be one of 24 months with a minimum term of 12, and I direct that 154 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.  As I have indicated, for the charge of proceeds of crime, seven days concurrent.  I direct that pursuant to s.6AAA, three with a two.

12MS WARREN:  As Your Honour pleases.

13HIS HONOUR:  He understands that, Madam Interpreter?

14INTERPRETER:  Yes.

15HIS HONOUR:  Thank you, he can go.

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