R v Pham

[2019] NSWDC 639

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Pham [2019] NSWDC 639

Hearing dates:

01 August 2019

Date of orders:

01 August 2019

Decision date:

01 August 2019

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

M L Williams SC DCJ

Decision:

An aggregate term of imprisonment of four years, one month, with a non-parole period of two years, eight months: at [33].

Catchwords:

SENTENCING — Mitigating factors — No record of previous convictions — Rehabilitation — Remorse — Unlikely to re-offend
SENTENCING — Penalties — Imprisonment — Intensive correction orders
SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence — Maximum penalty— Moral culpability — Multiple offences
SENTENCING — Subjective considerations on sentence — Drug addiction

Legislation Cited:

Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985

Cases Cited:

Allen v R [2014] NSWCCA 193
Imbornone v R [2017] NSWCCA 144
Nguyen v R [2015] NSWCCA 268
Parente v R [2017] NSWCCA 284
Parente v R [2017] NSWCCA 284
R v Henry (1999) 46 NSWLR 346
R v Lin [2018] NSWDC 286
R v Pullen [2018] NSWCCA 264
R v Qi [2019] NSWCCA 73
Robertson v R [2017] NSWCCA 205

Texts Cited:

Nil

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Regina (Crown)

  Mike Pham (Offender)

Representation:

Mr ER Freelander (Crown)

 

Mr B Galloway (Counsel for the offender)

  Mr R Zhai (Solicitor for the offender)

File Number(s):

2018/294945

Publication restriction:

Nil

Judgment

1. The maximum penalty of life imprisonment applies for the offending which brings 33 year old Mike Pham, before the Court today, arising out of the very bald facts that on 26 September 2018, he was arrested while getting out of a taxi outside an apartment complex in Pyrmont. He was carrying a backpack containing, 996 grams of 78% pure methylamphetamine, 0.63 grams of pseudoephedrine and $1900 in $50 notes, as well as a small set of scales and a mobile phone. He pleads guilty to one count of supply a prohibited drug in excess of a large commercial quantity under s 25(2) of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a standard non‑parole period of 15 years. That maximum penalty and standard non-parole period was increased in recent years from 20 years and ten years, respectively, at a time when the threshold for the offence was reduced from 1 kilogram to 500 grams.

2. A plea was entered in circumstances which, it is conceded, attracts a 25% discount for the utilitarian value of the plea. He has been in custody since 26 September 2018 and any term of imprisonment should commence on that date.

3. The money laundering count relating to the $1900 cash is to be dealt with on a Form 1 attached to the principal count. That will be dealt with in the way suggested by the Chief Justice in the guideline judgment on these matters.

4. There is also a summary matter of possess pseudoephedrine, to be dealt with on a s 166 certificate. It is common ground that that can be dealt with by way of an indicative sentence, forming…