R v Rankin

[2019] NSWDC 706

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Rankin [2019] NSWDC 706
Hearing dates:	17 April 2019
Decision date:	17 April 2019
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	Haesler SC DCJ
Decision:	Full time custodial order of 1 year 10 months to be served by way of an intensive correctional order. For orders see [13] – [15]
Catchwords:	SENTENCE – Supply prohibited drug – methylamphetamine. SENTENCING — Relevant factors on sentence – addict low in hierarchy – on parole – early plea – reasonable prospects if given assistance - intensive corrections order
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Jason Rankin (the offender) Director of Public Prosecutions
Representation:	Counsel: Mr S Fraser, Public Defender (for the Offender)   Solicitors: Morrisons Law (for the Offender) Ms N Olender, Director of Public Prosecutions
File Number(s):	2018/00119037

Judgment

1. Jason Rankin does not need a lecture from me about the harm that the use or abuse of illicit drugs can cause to individuals or the community. He has, first hand, experienced the problems that arise from an addiction to illicit drugs. He has spent time in custody, where he has had to spend time at close quarters with those who are in gaol because of drug problems.

2. When he went to gaol in 2017, I am sure he made a promise to himself and to the Court that he would not return, but on his release, he fell back into his drug habit. This is so often the case. He had to obtain his drugs from someone. With limited resources and a drug habit, the only way he could support that habit was by supplying to others.

3. The problem, of course, is that that action facilitates and enhances the very problem that led him to gaol and to drug use in the first place. Because of his addiction, he was spreading the illicit drugs further into the community. It is by using and utilising desperate people, like Rankin, that those who make enormous profits from the sale and distribution of drugs succeed in their business empires. With that said, without people such as Rankin, those empires could not proliferate and the harm that they do could not continue. Accordingly, the law is pretty simple; the fact that you are addicted to drugs is not a mitigating factor. It simply helps explain why the offender came to commit the offence and it helps me, when it comes to determining how I structure the appropriate penalty. If Rankin can turn his life around, and if he can be given support to do that, he will benefit. But more importantly, the community will benefit.

4. In January 2018, the police were targeting James Strickland. Strickland was supplying methylamphetamine in the local community. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December 2019. The police monitored Strickland, and that monitoring led to them picking up the fact that in February 2018, the present offender Jason Scott Rankin contacted Strickland and arranged for the purchase of three “balls” of methylamphetamine.

5. For reasons that still continue to puzzle me, although we left imperial measures in the last century, perhaps before Rankin was born, we still break drug supplies down into ounces and pounds. An ounce is 28 grams. A ball is one eighth of an ounce - 3.5 grams. He is to be sentenced for this one supply, but it is obvious from the material before the Court that this is but one aspect of his continuing criminality.

6. Rankin was on parole at the time. He had had his parole period extended after an appeal to this Court for a break and enter matter. It is a condition of parole that an offender promise to be of good behavior. The fact that he broke his promise to himself, the State Parole Authority and to the Court, is a factor that aggravates the sentence that I have to impose today.

7. Rankin has admitted his guilt in the Local Court. I will reduce the sentence by 25% to give a benefit for the utilitarian value of that plea. While on parole, he was also arrested and sentenced for another matter. It was while he was on remand for that matter, that he was arrested for this crime. When he was sentenced for the other matter, the magistrate did not credit him with approximately three weeks of time served. I cannot give him the benefit of that time in a strict sense, but I can take into account that he has served close to five months of custody last year. It also appears from the material before me, that this time in custody has caused him to think and reflect about his future, and what he was going to do with his life.

8. The consequences of that thought and reflection are addressed in the report of Ms Hubner: exhibit 1. Although not supported by evidence on oath, there is nothing in this material which is controversial and it appears to match all of the other material before me. As a young man, he was not enamoured of school. He was attracted to delinquent peers, but he was able to go to TAFE, and he was able to complete an apprenticeship as a roofer. It would appear his association with delinquent peers led to, first, the abuse of alcohol and then other drugs.

9. The partying lifestyle soon led to a drug habit, an abuse of alcohol and methylamphetamine. He told a psychologist at the time he committed this offence, he was “a fucking mess,” and that self-assessment is reflected in more prosaic and academic terms in the findings made by Ms Hubner after her testing. She recommends that he address the perpetuating factors of his drug use to avoid relapse. He requires individual counselling, and in the community, might benefit from either a day or full time rehabilitation program, and referral to other support programs.

10. Ms Hubner’s report is supported by what is set out in the Sentence Assessment Report of Mr Hale of 22 January 2019. It indicates that since his release last year, Rankin has been re-engaged with family, has obtained full time work, has had a positive response to supervision during his recent parole and engaged with psychological and counselling services. He still remains at medium risk of reoffending, because his history suggests that he is vulnerable to the uptake of the use of illicit drugs and alcohol. However, it is not believed that further supervision is required, and that is a measure of the trust that Community Services placed in him.

11. That said, supervision is a mandatory condition of an Intensive Corrections Order. Other conditions are also required, and include, in this case, continued engagement with psychological services and alcohol and other drug counselling. It is time Rankin put something back into the community. Although he is working full time, he has indicated a willingness to undertake community work. It will mean he will not have much leisure time, so be it. He should work for the community. This seems a better option than a return to gaol where he will be a burden on the community.

12. While the Court recognises the harm that is done by the distribution of illicit drugs and recognises the guidance offered by the maximum penalty - here, 15 years imprisonment - taking into account his early plea of guilty, a sentence of less than two years, in my view, one year and ten months could be imposed. That sentence could, and in my view, should, given all the material before me, be served by way of intensive correction in the community. An intensive correction order is, obviously, a more lenient disposition, but it has harsh conditions. If breached, it can result in a return to gaol, or further harsh conditions. It will, as I said, require Rankin give something back into the community. In all of the circumstances this appears to me to be the fairest and justice way of disposing of this matter.

Orders

13. In accordance with your plea, you are convicted for a sentence to a term of imprisonment of one year and ten months to commence today. That is to be served by way of an intensive correction in the community. There is a standard commission you accept the supervision of the Probation and Parole service, for as long as they deem necessary.

14. Further, that you engage in programs as directed, or continue to engage in programs as directed, relating to psychological services, and Alcohol and other Drug (AOD) counselling. That you complete 150 hours of community service, as directed. You report to the Wollongong office of Community Corrections, preferably today, but by the end of the week. You will have to sign those orders and acceptance of those orders in the Court office before you leave today, Mr Rankin.

15. Mr Rankin, just to repeat. If you breach the order, you will not come back before me, but you could be subject to sanction. The worst sanction that could be imposed would be a return to custody for the balance of the sentence, this will be hanging over you for the next one year and ten months, do you understand that?

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Decision last updated: 27 November 2019