R v Kamara; R v Kassem

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Kamara; R v Kassem [2019] NSWDC 947

Hearing dates:

19 July 2019

Date of orders:

19 July 2019

Decision date:

19 July 2019

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

M L Williams SC DCJ

Decision:

Kamara: An aggregate term of imprisonment of three years with a non-parole period of one year, ten months;

Kassem: An aggregate term of imprisonment of two years, 10 months with a non-parole period of one year, eight months: at [48].

Catchwords:

CRIME — Drug offences — Ongoing supply — Supply prohibited drug

SENTENCING — Aggravating factors — Breach of conditional liberty — Planned or organised criminal activity

SENTENCING — Mitigating factors — Plea of guilty — Remorse — Rehabilitation

SENTENCING — Penalties — Imprisonment

SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Co-offenders — Deterrence — Factual basis for sentence — Form 1 offences — General principles — Multiple offence — Objective seriousness

SENTENCING — Subjective considerations on sentence — Age of offender — Drug addiction — Special circumstances

Legislation Cited:

Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999

Cases Cited:

Attorney General’s Application under s 37 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 No 1 of 2002 (2002) 56 NSWLR 146

R v Qutami (2001) 127 A Crim R 369

Imbornone v R [2017] NSWCCA 144

Parente v R [2017] NSWCCA 284

R v CBK [2002] NSWCCA 457

R v Henry (1999) 46 NSWLR 346

Robertson v R [2017] NSWCCA 205

Texts Cited:

Nil

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Regina (Crown)

Omaru Kamara (Offender)

Ahmed Kassem (Offender)

Representation:

Mr N Leach (Crown)

Mr E Tabchouri (Solicitor for Kamara)

Mr G Stanton (Counsel for Kassem)

File Number(s):

2019/384351; 2017/384352; 2018/311439

Judgment

1. Two relatively young men, Omaru Kamara and Ahmed Kassem, aged 30 and 31  respectively, came under the attention of a police strike force which was established to investigate the street level of supply of prohibited drugs from within licensed premises in the Kings Cross area. The strike force was established to investigate the ongoing drug supply by these two men.

2. Investigators used a variety of investigative techniques including authorised persons to make purchases, conducting covert surveillance and lawfully intercepting communications from both of the offender’s telephones. It was discovered during the course of their investigation that Kamara and Kassem had run their businesses from various hotels within the Sydney CBD where they received telephone calls from people known to them and these people either placed orders on behalf of customers at clubs or for themselves. They supplied cocaine and MDMA.

3. They appear for sentence, both having pleaded guilty at an early opportunity, which justifies a 25% discount on a term of imprisonment due to the utilitarian value of the plea, facing a number of serious charges involving drug dealing and supply.

4. The Crown Prosecutor’s documents have unusually but very helpfully specified the individual charges each of them are facing together with the charges taken into account in some cases on a Form 1 and the principal charges…