Director of Public Prosecutions v Varadi, Zoltan
[2013] VCC 461
•9 April 2013
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised (Not) Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-12-02383
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ZOLTAN VARADI |
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JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Smallwood | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | ||
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 9 April 2013 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Varadi, Zoltan | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2013] VCC 461 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms G Coghlan | |
| For the Accused | Ms J Pisasale |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Zoltan Varadi you have pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a drug of dependence and one count of possessing a drug of dependence. In this situation, they carried maximum penalties of 15 years and one year respectively.
2 You are 37 years of age, you pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity and indeed made appropriate admissions to the police. I accept that your plea is accompanied by appropriate remorse. I will also give you significant benefit for the utilitarian aspects of that plea.
3 Trials involving a matter such as this can often take an inordinate period of time and use up a lot of resources. Obviously you get the benefit of that. You have no relevant priors other than one very old possess cannabis. You therefore fall to be sentenced under those circumstances which all go very much of course in your favour.
4 The circumstances of the offending evolve around a between dates charge from July to September 2011. The charge is trafficking and the basis of it is manufacture for sale. I firstly annex the Crown opening to these my sentencing remarks so I do not have go into great detail. Attached to that annexure is a further annexure which contains a list of all the items that were seized by police, their function and other details about them. I include that rather than speak for about 20 pages.
5 The circumstances were that in July of 2011 investigators from the Clandestine Laboratory Squad were carrying out a number of investigations. One of those involved one Ollier, and one Marks. They were part of what is alleged to be a sophisticated drug manufacturing and trafficking syndicate. There was clearly contact between you and Mr Ollier and it is that which I understand brought you to police attention. Telephone intercepts were put in place and they revealed discussions between you and Ollier talking about the manufacturing of drugs. You also had physical contact with Mr Ollier as was viewed by surveillance police.
6 On 14 September 2011 as a result of all these investigations, a search warrant was executed which permitted the search of your rubbish bins. At that point police found cardboard boxes and empty blister packets labelled Codral, Sudafed, and chemist-owned cold and flu medication. As is well known, those sorts of medications contain pseudoephedrine which can be described as a precursor insofar as amphetamine is concerned.
7 On 17 September 2011 police instigated a number of searches including the homes of Ollier, Marks, and yourself. The warrant was executed at your address and you were home at the time. Police conducting a search identified a large number of items on the premises consistent with the manufacture of amphetamine type substances, they evacuated and ventilated the premises so a full search could be conducted and the premises declared safe. You were interviewed later that day. The Crown opening says that you were cooperative when interviewed and answered all questions. You made some admissions to the manufacture of amphetamine type substances and what you described as experiments and failed attempts. You said that what you were trying to do was make Speed and that you were just "trying to make a buck". You agreed that you knew Ollier and said that whilst you did not assist each other, you collaborated with him. Ollier and Marks certainly at this stage are not called upon to be sentenced by me so I make no further comment about that.
8 A total of 179 exhibits was seized from your premises. They included various unlabelled glass and plastic containers containing liquids and solids, other containers labelled methylated spirits, acetone, caustic soda, hydrochloric acid and iodine. A large quantity of empty cardboard packaging and empty blister packets from products containing pseudoephedrine were also located and seized. I have seen a photograph which shows a portion of that. A large quantity of scientific glassware and apparatus was also seized. A schedule and also the further part of the Crown opening indicate that also found were handwritten notes on the manufacture of amphetamine and it is clear to anybody that you were in the course of all this making an enthusiastic concerted and persistent attempt to manufacture amphetamine to a quantity that could be sold. I make no findings as to how much had been sold, I have no doubt you did and indeed you yourself said you were trying to make a buck which would be sufficient in itself I think to satisfy the criteria for trafficking.
9 Also found were (indistinct) some which is of no great significance. As indicated, I am not going to go through the schedule which outlines all the exhibits that were found and seized. It had been going on for a couple of months for which I am to sentence you, and as I have indicated I think it was a considered operation and it would have required planning, a deal of expense, to what amount I do not know, and the necessary persistence which I have already referred to. It has to be regarded as serious, it calls for the application of general deterrence. In your particular situation I do not think specific deterrence will have any real significance but there must also of course be denunciation and punishment. I indicated during the course of the plea sometimes you will see people pleading to trafficking and you have been caught up in chain of people and they do need pay back debts and all sorts of things. It seems to me that to actually start from ground level and manufacture the drug that is to be sold is a very significant crime indeed but again as I indicated during the plea, you had to get the pseudoephedrine from somewhere and in these sorts of matters there is very little explanation given as to how that has occurred. Be that as it may, as I said it is serious and a custodial sentence is inevitable.
10 What was put on your behalf was that in all the circumstances of this matter, such a sentence could be wholly suspended. I am satisfied that by operation of law that a sentence for offences carried out at that time can be suspended. Whether I do or not is another matter.
11 Matters personal were put before me insofar as suspension was concerned. You have family support, you have a good work record, you currently have work, I am told from the Bar table you had previously used drugs commencing when you were about 33. I have got material before me that suggests that after arrest you attended some counselling sessions so I have no reason not to accept that you are not using at the present time. You have shown that you were able to stick by a partner with whom you had a very volatile relationship. You have a stable environment because you now live with your daughter and your mother. You have reached the age of 37 with no relevant prior convictions and when I look at all the material it is hard to assess the prospects of your rehabilitation but they are certainly not extinguished. The risk of you re-offending would depend upon your rehabilitation. It was put to me and again I accept this to a degree that you used personally yourself and that you had other expenses that you needed to pay for.
12 You came from Budapest when you were small. Your father died not long after your arrival in Australia and your mother then remarried. The stepfather was killed in a motor vehicle collision which you witnessed. I accept that as a consequence of that, you had a somewhat troubled childhood and indeed you were seeing a psychologist. At no stage was it put to me that any of the principles contained in Verdins are applicable to this particular matter and I see no psychological impediments and difficulties. So far as you are concerned, that would make a custodial sentence any more difficult than for an ordinary prisoner if there be such a concept.
13 I do not consider that there is anything particularly unusual about your personal circumstances to justify suspending a sentence and I think it is a serious offence and serious example of that offence. I am being careful of course not to sentence you for a commercial quantity which on the amount of equipment you had, given time will have evolved.
14 I think in the end what I can do is impose a sentence and partially suspend it. I do not see in your particular situation that parole is particularly necessary and where you are not using and you have all those stabilised features such as work and family support, I do not think you need specific deterrence and punishment to serve a large part of it for legitimate deterrence demand in my view with this sort of offending, that people who do it will know that they are going to go to gaol.
15 Accordingly, taking all those matters into account on Charge 1 you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of three years. On Charge 2, one week.
16 I direct that two years of the three years be suspended for a period of three years leaving one year to serve.
17 I direct that three days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.
18 Pursuant to s.6AAA so that you understand the benefits of your plea of guilty, I say that but for your plea, you would have been sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of four years with a minimum term of two and a half years.
19 I will not (indistinct) people while I sign these, I will go out the back and sign these.
20 MS COGHLAN: As Your Honour pleases.
21 HIS HONOUR: There are no other orders I need to make other than these?
22 MS COGHLAN: No, Your Honour. Can I just ensure that Your Honour has there the forfeiture order and the 464ZF?
23 HIS HONOUR: Disposal order and - - -
24 MS COGHLAN: Sorry, disposal order.
25 HIS HONOUR: Yes. I will sign these out the back and I will be straight out.
26 (Short adjournment.)
27 HIS HONOUR: Those orders are made and handed down. What it is, I think this is a Commonwealth provision, not a state one but I will do it anyway.
28 MS COGHLAN: Your Honour, I might be wrong about that.
29 HIS HONOUR: I will do it just in case I am wrong.
30 You have been given a partially suspended sentence. Once you have done the time, I make it clear to you that if you re-offend during the three years with any offence carrying imprisonment, you have to show exceptional circumstances otherwise the balance will be restored. That would be very difficult.
31 MS COGHLAN: Thank you, Your Honour.
32 HIS HONOUR: Right.
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