R v Mouhalos No. Sccrm-98-56 Judgment No. S6637

[1998] SASC 6637

R  v  MOUHALOS

Court of Criminal Appeal:  Doyle CJ, Millhouse and Nyland JJ
DOYLE CJ
This is an application for leave to  appeal against sentence.
Mr Mouhalos was convicted for the offence of possessing methylamphetamine for sale.  A sentence of 4 years 3 months imprisonment was imposed.
Leave to appeal against sentence was refused by Mullighan J.
By application dated 3 April 1998, Mr Mouhalos applied to have determined by the Full Court his application for leave to appeal against sentence.  The application was considered by the Full Court in private pursuant to Rule 15 (7) of the Supreme Court Criminal Appeal Rules 1996.
The application was considered by a court comprising me, Millhouse and Nyland JJ.
We are unanimously of the opinion that leave to appeal should be refused.  The sentence imposed on the applicant was moderate under all the circumstances.
As to disparity, it would appear that the appropriate comparison is between the sentence imposed on Mr Mouhalos and the sentence that would have been imposed on his co-offender, but for the plea.  The difference is quite significant, but, in the opinion of the court, the difference is readily explicable by the fact that the applicant is the principal offender, has the poorer record and did not plead guilty.
Accordingly, it appears that the appeal has no reasonable prospect of success.
For those reasons, the court has refused leave to appeal.