R v Skinner

The appellant, R Skinner, was convicted on his pleas of guilty to two offences under the Controlled Substances Act 1984 (SA): trafficking in a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug and cultivating a commercial quantity of controlled plants for sale. The appeal was heard by Kelly, Blue and Doyle JJ of the Supreme Court of South Australia.

The legal issues before the court were whether the sentencing judge erred in failing to find that exceptional circumstances existed to justify suspending the sentence for the serious and organised crime offence, and whether the judge erred in her application of s 18A of the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA) by imposing a single sentence for the two offences.

The court considered the circumstances of the offending, which involved the discovery of approximately 28 kilograms of dried cannabis and 32 cannabis plants on the appellant's farming property, with an estimated commercial value of up to $120,000. The sentencing judge had imposed a single sentence of imprisonment for two years and eight months, reduced from a starting point of three years and four months due to the guilty pleas. However, the judge declined to suspend the sentence, finding that exceptional circumstances, as required by s 38(2)(c) and 38(2ba) of the Sentencing Act for serious and organised crime offences, were not established. The appeal court found the second ground of appeal, concerning the use of s 18A, to be not established.

The appeal was dismissed.