R v Lee; R v Ooi

[2019] NSWDC 476

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Lee; R v Ooi [2019] NSWDC 476

Hearing dates:

26 April 2019

Date of orders:

26 April 2019

Decision date:

26 April 2019

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

M L Williams SC DCJ

Decision:

Lee: A term of imprisonment of 2 years, 3 months with a non-parole period of 18 months: at [22].
Ooi: A term of imprisonment of 18 months with a non-parole period of 13 months: at [22].

Catchwords:

SENTENCING — Aggravating factors — Breach of conditional liberty
SENTENCING — Mitigating factors — Plea of guilty — Rehabilitation — Remorse
SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Circumstances of offence— Co-offenders — Joint criminal enterprise — Form 1 offences — Parole period
SENTENCING — Subjective considerations on sentence — Drug addiction — Special circumstances

Legislation Cited:

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999
Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985

Cases Cited:

McDowall v R [2019] NSWCCA 29
Parente v R [2017] NWSCCA 284

Texts Cited:

Nil

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Regina (Crown)

 

John Lee (Offender)

  Huey Ooi (Offender)

Representation:

Ms James (Crown)

 

Ms Towagi (Offender – Lee)

  Mr Scragg (Offender – Ooi)

File Number(s):

2018/163729; 2018/163730

Judgment

1. John Lee, aged 29, and Huey Li Ooi, aged 34, were partners in life and partners in crime and it leads to them both pleading guilty to a charge of supply a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis, under s 25A(1) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment with no standard non‑parole period. This penalty is, of course, a yardstick to be used in the sentencing process, which has to be carried out in accordance with the purposes of sentencing under s 3A of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.

2. Ms Ooi is also to be dealt with on Form 1, for an offence of knowingly take part in the supply of a prohibited drug, under s 25(1). That matter will be dealt with in the way suggested by the Chief Justice in the guideline judgment on these matters.

3. It is common ground that the agreed facts are relevantly the same for both offenders, and they are summarised in a table of drug supplies. In short, a Police strike force was set up in September 2017 to investigate the supply of drugs in the Redfern area. The first of supply occurred on 7 May 2018 and the last on 24 May 2018. There were 11 incidents involved over that time; seven of which involved Lee handing over drugs, four of which involved Ooi handing over drugs, and the first one, which involved Lee handing over the drugs, also involved Ooi providing a phone number, and that is the basis of the Form 1 matter, so it is clearly encompassed in the overall criminal episode.

4. The modus operandi was to sell drugs to a person that they did not know was an authorised person, obviously, working at the behest of the task force. Lee first…