R v Kalaja

In the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Court of Appeal heard an appeal against sentence by the respondent, Kalaja, who had pleaded guilty to trafficking cannabis, and two counts of supplying cannabis, which were particulars of the trafficking offence. The Court of Appeal was asked to determine whether the sentence imposed by the trial judge was manifestly excessive or inadequate. The respondent was sentenced to a total of seven years imprisonment for the trafficking offence, with parole eligibility after serving 20 months in custody. The trial judge had found that the respondent was the courier of 100 pounds of cannabis for the principal of a large drug enterprise and had acquired $130,000 worth of cannabis from the principal for sale to his own customers. The Court of Appeal found that the sentence was manifestly excessive due to the fact that the respondent had only been involved in the drug trafficking for a period of two and a half months and had pre-sentence custody of about four months that was not declarable. The Court of Appeal varied the sentence by substituting a sentence of imprisonment of five years 10 months for the sentence of imprisonment of seven years on count 1, and confirmed the other sentences and orders made on the sentencing on 19 August 2016.