Director of Public Prosecutions v Nguyen

[2017] VCC 448

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR -17-00580

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ANH TUAN NGUYEN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	19 April 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Nguyen
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 448

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 P. Triandos	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr G. Casement

HIS HONOUR:

1Anh Tuan Nguyen, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of cultivating cannabis in not less than a commercial quantity.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.

2You are 28 years of age.  You pleaded guilty at a relatively early opportunity.  Your counsel assures me you have some remorse and you must, of course, get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.  As I understand it there are no prior convictions either here or in Vietnam from whence you came.

3Firstly, pursuant to s.464ZF I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  That order having being made I must advise you that should you refuse to provide such a sample police may use reasonable force to take it from you.

4You are still a relatively young man.  I am advised and have no doubt that upon the completion of this sentence, whether it be at the end of the non-parole period or the head sentence, you will be deported to Vietnam.  I take it into account in the sense that you will undergo the sentence having that knowledge that the endeavours that you made when you came to Australia at an earlier age as an intelligent young man are now, in my view, hopelessly compromised.

5The offending is summarised that in Eastwood near Bairnsdale police raided the premises where you were residing on 17 October 2016.  It would appear to have been a simultaneous raid with another one.  In any event a warrant was executed and what was found in the house was the usual sophisticated hydroponic set up with great efforts made to conceal it.  There were 124 plants and the total weight was something, 64.65 kilograms.  As your counsel has pointed out I accept that a number of the plants were wilted and in poor condition and that may be because you were not much good at it or there could be other reasons that I am simply not aware of.

6In any event that is a very significant amount of cannabis and only an active custodial sentence would be the appropriate one.  I am not going to go through all the details of the crop, they are contained within the Crown opening which has now been tendered.  When you were interviewed by police you were somewhat reticent about accepting total responsibility for all this and as discussed with your counsel, just put your record of interview to one side and give you the benefit of the plea of guilty at a relatively early opportunity.

7Clearly the operation was being done at the behest of others and I have other information before me today in regard to that area and you are to be sentenced as a sitter not as an organiser.

8Turning to matters personal to you, as I have said, you are 28 years of age, you have been in custody for 184 days and you have never been in custody before.  You came from Vietnam around 2010 and had completed Year 12 in Vietnam.  You come from a middle class family.  You would appear to have been supported financially by them during part, at least, of your period in Australia.  At the time that this occurred you were, as I understand it, commencing a Bachelor of Business Studies at Cambridge College in the city.  You have got a good work record and I am told that your parents are ashamed of you. 
How you deal with all this when you get back to Vietnam will be a matter for you and your family.

9The prospects of your rehabilitation are up to you.  The risk of you re-offending in this country are zero.  I do take into account that it is serious offending.  It is a commercial quantity and matters of general deterrence, denunciation, appropriate punishment, must be put into effect.

10Your counsel has handed me a list of comparative cases and some of which
I seem to recall, have been involved in myself and I think you sit into the middle range of all that.  Accordingly, would you stand up for me now please.  You can stand up now.

11On the charge of cultivation, a sentence of imprisonment for a period of
24 months.  I direct that you serve a minimum term of one year before becoming eligible for parole.  That is probably academic.  I direct that 184 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence. 

12Pursuant to s.6AAA I say that but for your plea of guilty I would have given you three with a two.  All right.

13MR CASEMENT:  As Your Honour pleases.  Can I have one moment with my client?

14HIS HONOUR:  Yes you can.  I just need to talk to you again before they take him though.

15MR CASEMENT:  Yes.  Thank you, Your Honour.

16HIS HONOUR:  You are all right?

17MR CASEMENT:  Yes (indistinct words).

18HIS HONOUR:  Yes, all right, that's all right.

19MR CASEMENT:  I just didn't want to lose the interpreter, Your Honour.

20HIS HONOUR:  No, no, no that is fine.  I realise that. 

(At this stage the court proceeded with another matter.)

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