Director of Public Prosecutions v Reynolds

[2016] VCC 1632

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Case No. CR 16-01287

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

GRANT REYNOLDS

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JUDGE:	His Honour Judge Smallwood
WHERE HELD:	Warrnambool
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	Friday 4 November 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Reynolds
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 1632

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

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Ms Hassan	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Ms Clark	Dwyer Robinson Pty Ltd

HIS HONOUR:

1       Grant Marcus Reynolds, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, that drug of dependence being synthetic cannabinoids.  That carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment.  You are 61 years of age.  You pleaded guilty to a settled indictment in circumstances where you could have defended it had you so chosen.  Most importantly, you have no prior convictions of any description.  There has also been a delay of some 12 months before you were charged, and I take that into account as well.  A great deal of common sense has been shown in resolving this matter and I simply refer to the Crown opening.

2       As I said, you are now 61 years of age and you were, and had been for three weeks, managing a tobacco shop in Warrnambool.  At about 10 am on 23 January, police executed a warrant at that shop and located there a bag containing a substance in the form of a green vegetable matter.  That bag was later analysed and found to contain, in indeterminate quantities, two synthetic cannabinoids, as I have now had explained to me.  The total weight of the bag was 1.03 kilograms, and of course, it is unable to be said how much of that was the actual drug of dependence or drugs of dependence, as there were two of them as I understand it.

3       Clearly - and you made full admissions to this - you were selling it through the shop.  You professed that you did not know that it was illegal.  In the circumstances of such, there has been a great deal of publicity about these sorts of matters and you have pleaded on the basis that you took the risk that there was a likelihood that it would be an unlawful substance, and I accept that that is in fact the case.  You did tell police as far as you were aware it was herbal incense.  I have read the statement of the person who was arrested leaving the shop in regard to that.  I take that into account.  In any event, you were selling it, the drug was illegal, and clearly it is not to be regarded as trifling, and it is not to be regarded as a drug which is, in any way, shape, or form, a joke.

4       I think, insofar as this drug is concerned, it will probably take a seizure of a very large quantity before all the analyses and various ways in which it is to be regarded are formulated, and you are not to be made a guinea pig for that.  The Crown's submission was that a Community Corrections order was within range.  After discussion with your counsel, I have determined that I would give a fine in an appropriate Community Corrections order range of work hours.  If at some future stage you wish to turn it into work hours, you can apply to do so.  It is a fine which will be of significant proportions and with conviction, which is a penalty in itself, to show, as I have said, that the offending is not to be regarded as in any way trifling.

5       I have read the submissions by your counsel.  Those submissions in brief can be said to say that - (1) the matters I have just referred to.  (2) That you have worked all your life; that your parents are still alive, your father in his 80s.  Both are unwell and you clearly look after them.  I have taken into account your plea of guilty to a settled indictment.  You are a man who has worked all his life and continues to work at the age of 61.  You have enjoyed, over many years, being involved in professional bike riding and I have read what your counsel has to say about that.  You, as I in fact recall, are an Austral Wheel Race winner.  In fact, I think you won the one before Danny Clark's last one, if I recall correctly.  You probably raced against a former member of counsel known as Rick Patterson, if I recall correctly too.

6       OFFENDER:  Rick, yeah, was a very good friends.  He's deceased now.

7       HIS HONOUR:  You have children from previous relationships, and it seems that you come from a hardworking and honest family over an extended period of time.  To be in this sort of trouble at your age, you can call those prior matters into account on your behalf.  I am sure that this will not occur again, as you have fully realised that the consequences would be somewhat dramatic if you were apprehended in such a way. 

8       Accordingly, taking all those matters into account, and in no way, shape, or form regarding the offending as trifling, I think the prospects of your rehabilitation should be good and the risk of you reoffending in circumstances such as these should be virtually nil.  Accordingly, I fine you the sum of $3,000 with conviction.  There will be a stay of three months on the payment of that fine.  Any other orders?  I have made the disposal order, or I have not?

9       MS HASSAN:  No other orders, Your Honour.

10      HIS HONOUR:  Do you want to dispose of the cannabis?

11      MS HASSAN:  It is on the order.

12      HIS HONOUR:  I have signed that one, have I?

13      MS HASSAN:  Yes.

14      HIS HONOUR:  That is why I asked, I could not remember if I signed it or not.  That is all right.  I have signed so many of them.

15      MS HASSAN:  If Your Honour pleases.

16      HIS HONOUR:  Thanks for that, ladies.  See you Monday.

17      MS CLARK:  Yes, Your Honour.

18      MS HASSAN:  If Your Honour pleases.

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