R v Ninos Georges

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Ninos GEORGES [2011] NSWDC 61
Hearing dates:	8 April 2011
Decision date:	08 April 2011
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	Haesler DCJ SC
Decision:	Count 1 - Proceeds of crime offence and Form 1. Section 12 suspended sentence 12 months.
Catchwords:	CRIMINAL - Proceeds of crime - Possess prohibited drug - Possess prescribed restricted substance - Operation Schoale
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1900 Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999
Cases Cited:	R v Thomson and Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 R v Peisley [2010] NSWDC 240 R v Saliba [2010] NSWDC 277 R v Tanya Youkhana [2011] NSWDC 63
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Regina Ninos Georges
Representation:	Mr F Santisi (Offender) Ms F Gray (Director of Public Prosecutions)
File Number(s):	2008/256487

SENTENCE

1. On 28 February 2007 police executed a search warrant at the flat of Ninos Georges, the offender, in Bondi Junction. There they located $255,250 in Australian currency in a number of areas in the premises set out in the photographs and noted in the Agreed Facts that are before the Court.

1. Also found was a money-counting machine, a number of mobile phones, two boxes of the human growth hormone known as Scitropin, two boxes of another human growth hormone known as Saizen and a small quantity of cannabis.

1. Subsequent investigations led to the Director of Public Prosecutions accepting that $55,000 of the cash found should not be the subject of the present charge.

1. This matter has a long history. Since the date of arrest the offender has been on bail and there have been lengthy criminal proceedings involving a large number of people associated with a Crime Commission and New South Wales Police Force operation which was given the code name Operation Schoale. As a result of this operation a number of people have been charged in relation to the importation of a commercial quantity of cocaine, the supply of large amounts of cocaine and their involvement with others in the holding and disposal of significant sums of cash.

1. The present offender's association with the matters that gave rise to Operation Schoale is that he is an associate of a man by the name of Luke Sparos and his wife Christine Saliba. The offender resided in the same apartment complex as those people and, for a period, his rent was paid by Ms Saliba.

1. The investigations and subsequent court appearances of the people associated with Operation Schoale took some considerable time. It is accepted by the solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions that this particular offender was not a major player and, as a consequence, his matter did not get the same priority as others. It is also accepted that while initially there were problems in coming to agreement between those then representing the offender and those then appearing for the Director, subsequently a spirit of co-operation developed that led to a fresh indictment being presented in January of this year. A plea of guilty was accepted. That plea was…