R v Osborne; R v Dayaratne; R v Leahy

In the matter of R v Osborne; R v Dayaratne; R v Leahy, the defendants were jointly charged on the indictment that they carried on the business of unlawfully trafficking in dangerous drugs, with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation, but guilty to the offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs. The Crown did not accept the guilty pleas and the trial proceeded as a judge-alone trial. The court was required to determine whether the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the circumstance of aggravation, specifically, whether the Crown had established that in the relevant period, each of the defendants were participants in a "criminal organisation" as defined by s 161O of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld) and knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the offence was being committed in association with participants in a criminal organisation.

The court found that the defendants had established an association with the required collective unity to constitute a group of three persons who were informally engaged in the serious criminal activity of trafficking dangerous drugs and, by their association, represented an unacceptable risk to the safety, welfare or order of the community. The court found that the three defendants were each participants in the criminal organisation and that their conduct was such that it would reasonably lead someone else to consider each of them to have been a participant in the criminal organisation. The court found that the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the circumstance of aggravation and found the defendants guilty of trafficking in dangerous drugs with a serious organised crime circumstance of aggravation.