R v Salgado

[2021] NSWDC 24

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Salgado [2021] NSWDC 24

Hearing dates:

18 December 2020

Decision date:

18 February 2021

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

Mahony SC DCJ

Decision:

Full-time custodial sentence. For orders see [82]

Catchwords:

Import marketable quantity of border controlled drug (cocaine)

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act (NSW) 1999

Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth)

Criminal Code Regulations 2019

Cases Cited:

Gwardy v R [2020] NSWCCA 62

Howard v R [2019] NSWCCA 109

Kao v R [2019] VSCA 84

R v Ceissman [2001] NSWCCA 73

R v Nguyen; R v Pham (2010) 205 A Crim R 106; [2010] NSWCCA 238

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth)
Luis Alberto Salgado (Offender)

Representation:

Counsel:
G J Stanton (Offender)

Solicitors:
J Kisch (Cth Crown)

File Number(s):

20/56683

Publication restriction:

Nil

REMARKS ON SENTENCE

1. The offender is to be sentenced in respect of the following offence:

Count 3 – import a border controlled substance, namely cocaine, the quantity being a marketable quantity, pursuant to s 307.2 of the Criminal Code (Cth).

The maximum penalty proscribed is 25 years imprisonment and/or a fine of 5,000 penalty units.

2. The offence occurred on 20 February 2020, and following his arrest on that day, the offender was in custody until 23 April 2020, when he was granted bail. Following his plea of guilty, he was committed for sentence on 18 December 2020.

The sentence hearing

3. The sentence hearing took place on 18 December 2020. The Commonwealth Crown Sentence Summary became Ex A and included a Statement of Facts, which may be summarised as follows:

4. The offender was born in March 2000. At 6.05pm on 20 February 2020, the offender arrived at Sydney International Airport on QF28 from Santiago, Chile, travelling on an Australian passport.

5. On his incoming passenger card, the offender answered “no” to the question, “Are you bringing into Australia goods that may be prohibited or subject to restrictions, such as medicines, steroids, illegal pornography, firearms, weapons or illicit drugs?”

6. The offender collected his baggage comprising three suitcases and a backpack from the baggage carousel and presented himself to the Australian Border Force (“ABF”) for custom’s clearance. He was selected to undergo a baggage search, however, before that search commenced, he stated to ABF officers that:

“He packed the bags himself

He had drugs in his suitcases

He had ‘drugs in alcohol’”

7. The offender was cautioned and a digital record of interview, including a full search of the baggage, was undertaken. ABF officers located three bottles of alcohol. The offender indicated that these bottles were the ones he had mentioned earlier with drugs in them. A scan for narcotics returned a positive result for cocaine.

8. Within his suitcases officers located two soft sachets marked “hot chilli sauce” and “Al Plato”. The three sachets were subjected to a trace scan, and again, a positive result for the narcotic cocaine was returned. Also in his suitcase were a can of shaving cream and three white plastic containers.…