R v Hunter

[2021] NSWDC 375

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Hunter [2021] NSWDC 375

Hearing dates:

14 May 2021

Date of orders:

17 May 2021

Decision date:

17 May 2021

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

Bennett SC DCJ

Decision:

Aggregate sentence of imprisonment of 7 years 6 months with a non-parole period of 4 years 3 months

Catchwords:

CRIME — Money laundering — Dealing with money suspected of being proceeds of crime

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1900

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1990

Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985

Cases Cited:

Attorney General’s Application No.1 of 2002 [2002] NSWCCA 518

Imbornone v R [2017] NSWCCA 144

Porter v R [2008] NSWCCA 145

R v Borkowski [2009] NSWCCA 102

R v De Simoni [1981] HCA 31

R v Harrison [2001] NSWCCA 79

R v Qutami [2001] NSWCCA 353

Siganto v The Queen [1998] 149 CLR 656

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Regina (Crown)
Terrence Geoffrey Hunter (Offender)

Representation:

Ms Sloan (Crown)

Mr Keller (Counsel for the Offender)

Director of Public Prosecutions (NSW) (Crown)

File Number(s):

2017/00339681

REVISED EX TEMPORE Judgement

Introduction

1. Terrence Hunter appears for sentence upon four charges arising from his relationship with Cheryl Rea, who is now known as Cheryl Graham, in the course of which he fraudulently arranged loans and dealt with proceeds that were generated by this activity, ultimately to the economic and emotional detriment of the victim.

2. The offending extended from late July 2004 to 31 December 2018 within four discrete periods particularised in the individual counts upon which sentence is to be determined and the offences included in the Forms 1.

3. The misconduct giving rise to the prosecution was acknowledged by the offender’s counsel to have commenced with the first of the loans he fraudulently arranged, followed by the rollover of funds acquired by further fraudulent loans from which in each case some proceeds were used to discharge the preceding loan with the balance of the funds distributed to accounts to which the offender had access and used for his purposes whatever they might have been.

4. The essence of the submission made on behalf of the offender was that this was activity in which he engaged from his tendency to fulfill desire to assist others.

The Proceedings

5. The matter commenced on May 14, 2021 but could not be completed without further assistance with regard to the analysis of the agreed statement of facts generally, to understand with some precision the loss suffered by the victim directly affected by the misconduct and the monetary value of the benefit available to the offender.

6. Counsel agreed to revisit the matter and provide further assistance upon their joint consideration of a forensic accountant’s report so that this information might be made clearer. The hearing was adjourned to Monday May 17, 2021 for my decision and judgement. In the meantime I once more reviewed the agreed facts and the matrix of account details provided.

7. The parties caused to be transmitted to my associate “further agreed facts for sentence”, with additional comment upon counts two, three…