Director of Public Prosecutions v Silveira Bastos
[2020] VCC 213
•5 March 2020
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-19-01757
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ELIANE REGINA SILVEIRA BASTOS |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE GEORGIOU | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 29 January 2020 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 5 March 2020 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Silveira Bastos | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2020] VCC 213 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Import a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug – cocaine – courier
Legislation Cited: s307.2(1) Criminal Code (Cth)
Cases Cited:Lau v The Queen [2011] VSCA 324, DPP v Debesaitis Junior [2018] VCC 797
Sentence: 7 years and 8 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years and 10 months
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms N Simpson | Solicitor for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms A Burnnard (plea) Mr D. Gibson (sentence) | Victoria Legal Aid |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Eliane Regina Silveira Bastos, on 29 January 2020, you pleaded guilty to a single charge of importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, contrary to s307.2(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The drug imported was cocaine.
2 Ms Simpson, who appeared for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, opened the circumstances of your offending by reading from an amended summary of prosecution opening, which was tendered and marked exhibit P1.
3 On 3 May 2019 an application for a Visitor Short Stay Visa was lodged. The application was accompanied by a letter sent on 30 April 2019 in your name to the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection. The visa application declared that you were intending to travel to Australia as a tourist between 26 June 2019 and 5 July 2019, and that you had never previously travelled to Australia or applied for a visa to Australia. The application declared that your current employment was “financial assistant”. The letter advised that you intended travelling to Australia in the second half of June to the beginning of July 2019 for a vacation. The letter stated that you were interested in visiting Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast as a tourist. The letter also advised that you were employed as a financial assistant. The visa application and letter contained obvious falsehoods.
4 You do not admit being the author of the letter or the visa application and on the state of the evidence I am not able to find that you prepared those documents.
5 On 26 May 2019 you flew from Sao Paulo to Santiago. You were unaccompanied and had with you your Brazilian passport. You checked in two bags - being a tan Lansay branded suitcase and an orange Lansay branded suitcase. Each suitcase weighed 15 kilograms at check in. At Santiago you boarded Flight LA805 to Melbourne.
6 At about 5.38am on 28 May 2019 you presented at the entry control point at Melbourne International Airport on a Visitor Short Stay Visa that had been granted on 3 May 2019 and expiring on 28 August 2019.
7 Upon arrival in Australia you signed an incoming passenger card (“IPC”) in English, declaring that you were not bringing any prohibited item, including illegal substances, into Australia. You stated that you intended to reside at the Travelodge Docklands during your stay and that the main reason for your travel was a holiday. A telephone contact number was provided and you stated that your usual occupation was as a nurse.
8 On arrival you were selected by a staff member of the Australian Border Force (“ABF”) for baggage examination. At 6.09am you presented at the secondary examination area and provided your Brazilian passport and IPC. You were asked standard baggage questions utilising the Portuguese translation card. You confirmed in Portuguese that the IPC was yours, that you understood the questions on that document, and you had read and signed it. You also confirmed that the bags were yours, that you had packed them yourself and that you were fully aware of the contents.
9 ABF Officer Wang then conducted an examination of your handbag. During that examination he located a photocopy of an IPC in the Portuguese language completed with your personal details, declarations and travel details, as well as a Moto G5 mobile phone. You provided the swipe pattern to unlock the mobile device and handed it to the ABF officers for examination.
10 Also located in your possession was a Brazilian passport in your name, various travel documentation and a purse containing approximately AUD $1,300 and Brazilian Real (BRL) $692.
11 Officer Wang commenced an examination of your tan suitcase by removing the shrink wrap. The suitcase was emptied of its contents and an Ionscan swab taken of the inside of the suitcase and your personal effects. The scan returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine. The suitcase was then x‑rayed.
12 At about 6.21am ABF Officer Jones drilled a small hole into the hard lining of the suitcase revealing a white powdery substance. Testing of that white powder returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine. You were cautioned and given your rights with the aid of an interpreter.
13 At about 7.49 am Officer Wang spoke to you with the aid of a Portuguese interpreter. During the conversation you stated that even though you had previously said you understood the questions on the IPC, you did not in fact understand English. Officer Wang informed you of the photocopied IPC located in your handbag which was in the Portuguese language and that each section was filled in an identical manner to the English IPC which you presented upon arrival, but for Question 11 which is not here relevant.
14 At 8.18 am the orange suitcase was examined. An Ionscan swab taken of the inside of the suitcase returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine. An ABF Officer drilled a hole into the lining of the suitcase revealing a white powdery substance which returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine. The matter was then referred to the Australian Federal Police (“AFP”).
15 At approximately 9.45 am AFP Constable Harris attended and met with you. Constable Harris advised you that you were under arrest and you were cautioned and given your rights. You were then conveyed to the AFP Melbourne Airport Operations Centre where you participated in a police interview. You answered “no comment” to police questions.
16 Police inquiries reveal that:
(a)On 11 May 2019 a booking in your name was made for a double guest room at the Travelodge Hotel Melbourne Docklands for three nights between 28 May 2019 and 31 May 2019.
(b)On 29 May 2019 a person checked in to the Travelodge under your name and provided contact number +3519107782284. There is no information as to the identification provided upon check in.
(c)Virgin Airlines, Tiger Airways, Qantas Airlines and Jetstar Airlines had no records of travel booked by you for the period 28 May 2019 to 28 August 2019.
(d)You were previously granted a Visitor Short Stay Visa 15 February 2017 with an expiry date of 15 February 2018.
(e)You travelled to Australia on two previous occasions, being 14 March 2017 to 22 March 2017 and 3 October 2017 to 8 October 2017.
17 The substances located in each of the suitcases were tested at the AFP Forensics and the National Measurement Institute.
18 The gross weight of the substance located in the suitcases was 2,196 grams, of which 1,838 grams was pure cocaine. A marketable quantity of cocaine is greater than two grams and less than two kilograms.
19 The wholesale value of 2,196 grams of cocaine at a purity at 84.1 per cent is between $385,000 and $528,000. The street value of 1,838 grams of pure cocaine sold at a purity of 50 per cent per one gram cap is between $1,102,800 and $1,470,400.
20 You have been in custody since the date of your arrest on 28 May 2019 and have served as at today, 282 days by way of pre‑sentence detention. You are remanded at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
Background and personal circumstances
21 You were born in 1969 in the city of Florianopolis, Brazil. You are now aged fifty years. Your mother worked as a teacher and your father worked in a furniture shop. Both parents are deceased.
22 You are the youngest of four siblings. You have two older brothers and an older sister.
23 You were educated to the equivalent of year 12 in Florianopolis. You had no difficulties at school and an aptitude for hard work. Whilst still at school you were employed on a part time basis as a secretary.
24 On leaving school you put yourself through an 18 month personal carer’s course. Since then you have worked predominantly in the aged care profession in private clients’ homes and in nursing homes.
25 You lived with your parents until the age of 22 when you were evicted by your father as a result of your falling pregnant. Your eldest child, a son, is 24 years of age. He is studying to become a veterinarian. You have a second son aged 16. He completed his secondary schooling in 2019.
26 The father of your oldest son subjected you to much physical violence and abuse. You were together for approximately eight years. You told Ms Mynard, psychologist, that he was an alcoholic who was jealous and controlling of you. His assaults upon you sometimes required medical intervention. You felt ashamed and isolated as a result of his abuse.
27 At about the age of 30 you and your son returned to live with your parents. This marked the end of that abusive and violent relationship. Not long after you returned home your mother was diagnosed with leukaemia. She was eventually hospitalised and you ceased work in order to care for your father.
28 You received no assistance from your older siblings in the care of your father.
29 You formed another relationship and in approximately 2004 your second son was born. The relationship with the father of your second child ended after approximately one year.
30 At around the time of your second son’s birth you met your now husband. He worked as a mechanic. You moved in with him after the death of your parents, approximately five or six years ago.
31 Your parents died within a few months of each other, their house was sold and you moved into a rental property. You also returned to work as a carer and cleaner.
32 Not long after you moved into the rental property with your husband, he was arrested for drug trafficking. That was approximately five years ago. He remains in custody but is expected to be released some time this year. Your relationship with him ended effectively upon him being taken into custody.
33 You instructed your counsel that you were not aware that he was a drug trafficker until the time of his arrest. However, as properly mentioned by Ms Burnnard, that appears to be contradicted in the psychological report of Ms Mynard. No clear explanation is offered for that apparent contradiction. I am not able to make a finding as to whether or not you were aware of your husband’s drug trafficking.
34 With your husband’s incarceration, you experienced significant financial difficulties.
35 I was informed by Ms Burnnard that shortly prior to your travel to Australia your income was approximately BRL$600 per month (AUD $210). You were also in receipt of child support from your youngest son’s father of approximately BRL$160 per month (about AUD $56 per month). Your rent was BRL$900 per month and you were six months in arrears on your rental. You were in debt BRL$5,400 (AUD $1,950) for rent. You and your husband also had a personal loan outstanding of BRL$50,000 (AUD $17,500), which was incurred when he opened his mechanical repairs business. Your husband also had a credit card debt of BRL$30,000 (AUD $10,500), although you were not responsible for that debt.
Medical and psychological reports
36 A medical report of Dr Anthony Barnes dated 24th January 2020 was tendered and marked exhibit D2. Dr Barnes is a forensic psychiatrist attached to the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health and has been treating you at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre.
37 Dr Barnes reports that you have been an inpatient of the Marrmak acute psychiatric unit since 9 October 2019. You reported to him a past history in Brazil of major depressive disorder, your first episode occurring approximately eight years ago in the context of grief associated with the sudden deaths of both your parents. You were prescribed long term antidepressant medication and given psychological therapy in Brazil. You were referred to the Marrmak unit for management of a marked relapse of depressive symptoms, characterised by severely dysphoric mood, impaired sleep, profound guilt themes incorporating your inability to mother your adolescent son, and a preoccupation with physical symptoms, all resulting in significant suicidal ideation. Dr Barnes states that your major psychosocial stressors are further complicated by your significant isolation, both in terms of geographical distance from your family, and communication difficulties due to your limited English skills. You are currently being treated with antidepressant medication and sedating antipsychotic medication to assist with your anxiety and insomnia. You are also engaged in psychological therapy. Dr Barnes noted relatively slow improvement in your mental state. Your current management will continue in custody with the hope that you will regain adequate function and return to the general prison population.
38 A psychological assessment report dated 29 December 2019 was prepared by psychologist, Alison Mynard. The report was tendered and marked exhibit D1. Ms Mynard set out your general background information, including your mental health history. On presentation, she noted that your mood was low and you described yourself as very anxious and depressed, not knowing your future or when you will see your son again. You also reported hearing voices and some fleeting visual hallucinations, as well as paranoia over the past six months. I note that there is no reference to hallucinations and paranoia in Dr Barnes’ report.
39 In Ms Mynard’s opinion you suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder; persistent complex bereavement disorder; major depressive disorder; generalised anxiety disorder; and psychosis not otherwise specified. The diagnoses are made on the basis of the various matters you reported to her.
40 You reported to Ms Mynard that you struggled financially for several years. You told her that friends asked if you would commit the current offending and that you were reassured by those friends that you would not be at risk and that you would make enough money to pay your bills. You said that you were persuaded by those friends over a period of 12 months, receiving their reassurance that you would not be caught.
41 You told Ms Mynard that you had “done stupid things” and now had to pay the consequences. You accepted responsibility and blame for what you did. You expressed to her your remorse and strong feelings of guilt about your offending.
42 In Ms Mynard’s opinion, at the time of your offending you were suffering from a range of mental health issues that impacted your judgment causing impaired reasoning. Since being incarcerated you reported to her panic symptoms, escalated anxiety, depression and psychosis which, in Ms Mynard’s opinion, have been exacerbated by the stressful situation in which you find yourself. Your primary anxiety relates to your younger son’s well-being and the uncertainty of your future. Ms Mynard considers that you are already having a very difficult time in custody with your mental health conditions adversely affecting your ability to cope with imprisonment.
43 It is Ms Mynard's opinion that if you are able to engage in treatment for your mental health issues the risk of your reoffending will reduce. She considers that there is a moderate risk of you reoffending if there is no such intervention.
Defence submissions on plea
44 Ms Burnnard submitted that your involvement in this offence arose as a result of suggestions made to you by persons you met whilst visiting your husband in gaol. You were in significant debt and agreed to become involved to earn money to clear your debt. You instruct that those persons made all of the arrangements and provided you with the suitcases and plane tickets. You were to receive $35,000 AUD upon your return to Brazil. You instructed your counsel that you were not aware of the precise contents of the suitcases and that shortly before your trip to Australia you expressed an unwillingness to go but that those persons had threatened you and your son.
45 The learned prosecutor took issue with your assertions that others made all the arrangements relating to the offending; that you expressed an unwillingness to go but did so as a result of the threats to you and your son; and that you were not aware of the precise contents of the suitcases or their value.
46 No evidence was provided in support of your assertions and as such I am not able to make a finding.
47 I am prepared to accept that you were in a financially difficult situation as outlined above and that you were expecting to receive an amount of AUD$35,000 for your involvement in importing the drug into Australia.
48 With regard to your conduct, Ms Burrnard submitted that there is an absence of aggravating factors, or rather, that I could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of any of the following:
i. that you conceived of the offending;
ii. that you made travel arrangements;
iii. that you prepared travel documentation apart from the IPC; and
iv. that you knew the value, quantity or weight of the drugs.
49 I agree, I cannot be satisfied of those matters beyond reasonable doubt. The prosecution has not submitted that I should be.
50 As to your role, Ms Burrnard submitted that you should be sentenced as a courier. This was conceded by the prosecution.
51 Ms Burrnard accepted that as a courier you were an essential part of the operation but she submitted that your role as a courier placed you at a low level in the hierarchy.
52 Your motive for offending, she submitted, was financial but in response to desperate financial circumstances.
53 Ms Burrnard acknowledged the seriousness of your offending noting that 1,838 grams of pure cocaine is 919 times the marketable quantity, and represents approximately 92% of the commercial quantity. She conceded that this placed your importation at the higher end of marketable quantity importations.
54 However, she submitted that there is no evidence of your knowledge of the quantity or value of the drugs you imported.
55 Ms Burrnard relied on your cooperation with members of Australian Border Force in providing your mobile phone pass code and keys to the suitcases.
56 Ms Burrnard also relied on the reports of Dr Barnes and Ms Mynard, submitting that the fifth principle of Verdins[1] applies in your case. She submitted, based on those reports, that there has been a significant deterioration in your mental health since your arrest and incarceration. It was submitted that by reason of your mental health problems, the sentence to be imposed will weigh more heavily on you than it would on a person in normal health.
[1]R v Verdins, R v Buckley, R v Vo (2007) 16 VR 269
57 In addition to the difficulties arising from your mental health problems, Ms Burrnard highlighted the fact that you are significantly isolated due to your very limited ability to speak English. I am told that this limits your ability to engage in courses at the gaol. Further, there is only one other prisoner who speaks Portuguese. You are also isolated from your family and friends and have very few visitors at the gaol. This adds to your burden. You are particularly concerned about the fate of your 16 year old son living in Brazil. You do, however, have telephone contact with him.
58 Ms Burrnard submitted that custody will also be more onerous because of your worries about your family, in particular, your son and the uncertainty of when you will be deported from Australia.
59 Ms Burrnard relied on your early plea of guilty made at the committal mention on 2 September 2019 which avoided a committal hearing and trial.
60 In relation to sentence, Ms Burrnard properly conceded that an immediate term of imprisonment with a head sentence and non-parole period was warranted.
61 Ms Burrnard accepted that you fall to be sentenced at the upper end of marketable quantity.
62 Ms Burrnard submitted that your offending was motivated by financial difficulty and a desire to clear significant debts accumulated in your home country.
63 Expressions of remorse for your offending are to be found in the references provided by your son, Leonardo Bastos Costa, and Ms Vera Lucia de Oliveira Nitsch. Those references were tendered during your plea hearing and marked exhibit D3.
64 It was submitted that your prospects for rehabilitation are good given your mature age of 50 years, absence of prior offending and your desire to be reunited with your children.
Prosecution submissions on plea
65 Ms Simpson accepted that your role is that of a ‘courier’ but added that this did not necessarily entitle you to any degree of leniency. She correctly pointed out that courts have repeatedly stated that illicit drug organisations are only able to prosper because people are ready, willing and able to undertake these types of roles.
66 Ms Simpson submitted that with regard to your moral culpability, I should have regard to the following:
a. You played a crucial role in the importation of the drug into Australia. The drug would not have made it into Australia but for your actions.
b. There was a degree of pre-meditation and planning involved in the offending. Whilst she relied on the letter and Visa application in support of this submission, as stated earlier, I am not able to make a finding that you were responsible for the documentation. However, it is clear that there was significant premeditation by reason of what you told Ms Mynard concerning the reassurances you received over a period of 12 months that you would not be caught. You must have been involved in some level of planning if only to receive travel instructions and what you were to do upon your arrival into Australia.
c. The cocaine was concealed within the lining of both suitcases, to avoid detection by authorities. Whilst there is no evidence that you personally placed the cocaine within the lining of the suitcase you must have been aware that a substance was concealed within the suitcases.
67 Ms Simpson submitted that your offending falls at the higher end of objective seriousness for this type of offence based on the quantity imported.
68 Ms Simpson also relied on the monetary value of the drug as a matter that goes to the gravity of the offending. As earlier stated, the street value of the cocaine, sold at a purity of 50% per individual gram, is between $1,102,800 and $1,470,400. The wholesale value of the cocaine, sold at a purity of 84.1%, is between $385,000 and $528,000. These figures were not disputed.
69 Regarding your motivation for offending, Ms Simpson accepted that you were motivated by financial reward. She submitted that the offence is greater when it is motivated by financial reward. The prosecution did not, however, dispute that your motivation was in response to your desperate financial circumstances.
70 Ms Simpson accepted that you entered your plea of guilty at an early stage, being the committal mention on 2 September 2019 following discussions between your counsel and the prosecution. The prosecution concedes that the early plea of guilty is of utilitarian value and that, coupled with your limited cooperation, is evidence of remorse and a willingness to facilitate the course of justice.
71 As for your cooperation with authorities, Ms Simpson submitted that provision of the passcode and key was a small matter in your favour.
72 I was informed that you have no prior convictions in Australia or overseas. In light of that fact, together with your mature age and early plea of guilty, the learned prosecutor submitted that specific deterrence has little significance as a sentencing factor in this case.
73 With regard to your lack of prior convictions, Ms Simpson submitted that little weight should be given to that factor as the lack of prior convictions may have assisted in the offending by enabling you to travel to Australia without suspicion.
74 It was accepted that prison will be more burdensome by reason of your limited English language skills, lack of family and friends to visit you in custody, significant cultural differences, the circumstances of your youngest son in Brazil, and the mental health issues identified in the reports of Ms Mynard and Dr Barnes.
75 However, Ms Simpson submitted that little weight should be given to those factors in circumstances where you travelled to Australia for the sole purpose of committing the offence. In such circumstances, you ought to expect that no, or little weight in mitigation will arise from the inevitability of serving the sentence in Australia and the consequent hardship that arises. I consider the submission to be correct in so far as each of those factors is concerned save for the burden caused by your mental health issues.
76 In relation to s.16A(2)(p) of the Crimes Act, which allows a judge in passing sentence, to take into account the probable effect that any sentence or order under consideration would have on any of the person’s family or dependants, Ms Simpson stated that provision could only have effect if exceptional circumstances were established. She submitted, correctly in my opinion, that there is insufficient evidence to make such a finding in this case.
77 Ms Simpson provided me with a table of comparative sentences of intermediate appellate authorities, noting that they may be used as “yardsticks” to illustrate, but not define, the possible range of available sentences. I have had regard to those comparative sentences.
Sentencing Considerations
78 Section 307.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 states that:
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person imports or exports a substance; and
(b) the substance is a border controlled drug or border controlled plant; and
(c) the quantity imported or exported is a marketable quantity.
79 Following the plea hearing Ms Burnnard helpfully forwarded to the court an email in which she referred to Lau v The Queen [2011] VSCA 324. In that email she acknowledged that offenders who are reckless as to the nature of the substance imported, rather than having a specific intention to import a border controlled drug, are to be treated in the same way as offenders who do so intentionally and that while a lack of knowledge is not a mitigating factor, the presence of intention or knowledge is an aggravating factor.
80 At paragraph 30 of the judgment of Maxwell ACJ and Beach JA, their Honours noted that:
'The appellant's recklessness with respect to the second element, the substance being a drug, meant that he was aware of a substantial risk that it was a drug and proceeded to take that risk in circumstances where it was unjustifiable to do so. Thus understood, proven recklessness as an element of this offence necessarily carries with it a significant degree of moral culpability.'
81 In sentencing you I am required to have regard to each of the sentencing matters set out in section 16A Crimes Act (Cth), insofar as they are applicable.
82 I consider the nature and circumstances of this offence is serious. As already mentioned, the amount of drug imported into the country was at the very upper end of the marketable quantity with a high wholesale and street value. I agree with Ms Simpson’s submission that your offending falls at the higher end of objective seriousness for this type of offence.
83 I also find that your degree of moral culpability is significant. With the exception of your desperate financial situation, there is little if anything else that reduces your moral culpability. This offence was a matter you contemplated over a significant period of time and you only agreed to participate once you were satisfied that there was little chance of your being caught.
84 I accept that you pleaded guilty at the earliest possible time and that such a plea marks an acceptance by you of your responsibility for your offending conduct; that you facilitated the course of justice and that there are significant utilitarian benefits that flow from the plea. There has been no committal hearing, no trial. Witnesses have been spared from giving evidence. You are entitled to a real measure of leniency by reason of your early plea of guilty.
85 Your plea is also an indicator of your remorse. I have also had regard to your expressions of remorse to Ms Mynard and your character referees. I accept that you are genuinely remorseful for your conduct.
86 You cooperated with ABF and AFP officers to some small degree by enabling access to your telephone and suitcases.
87 In all of the circumstances of your case, I accept the submissions that there is little need to deter you from offending in the future.
88 However, there is a strong need to impose a sentence that will deter others who are minded to engage in similar conduct. It has often been said that illicit drug industry is a scourge in the community and those involved in the illicit drug trade must be condemned and punished. Although your role was that of a courier, it was an important role facilitating the existence of the illicit drug trade. Your conduct is to be denounced.
89 In sentencing you I am required to impose a punishment that is adequate for the offence you committed.
90 I also have regard to the fact that you are a person without prior conviction, and according to your character referees and background, an otherwise good and caring person who has expressed genuine remorse for your conduct.
91 I also accept that you are a person whose prospects of rehabilitation are good, provided you address your mental health issues.
92 I consider that a significant factor in your case is that by reason of the state of your mental health as set out in exhibits D1 and D2, the sentence of imprisonment which I must impose will weigh more heavily on you then on a person in normal health. I particularly rely on exhibit D2, the report of your treating psychiatrist noting that you have been an inpatient of the psychiatric unit at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre since 9 October 2019. You are a person with a history of mental health problems of which there has been a marked relapse since your incarceration.
93 I have had regard to each of the comparative sentences to which I was referred by the learned prosecutor, as well as the decision of Debesaitis Junior, a decision of Judge Cannon, reported at [2018] VCC 797 to which I was referred by Ms Burrnard. That case dealt with the offence of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely cocaine. As stated earlier, those decisions provide some guidance but are not controlling factors.
94 As I intend to sentence you to a term of imprisonment which exceeds three years I am required to fix a non-parole period. In your case I will fix a relatively low non–parole period given that you have never before been in trouble with the law and given my assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation and the fact that there is little need for specific deterrence. Those factors tend to suggest that the need to protect the community from you is low.
95 Ms Silveira Bastos, would you please now stand.
96 You are convicted of the offence charged.
97 You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of seven years and eight months and I direct that you serve three years 10 months before you become eligible for parole. The sentence imposed commences today.
98 I declare that you have already served 282 days, not including today, of the sentence by way of pre-sentence detention.
99 Had it not been for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of eight years and six months with a non-parole period of four years and six months.
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