R v Jones

[2016] NZHC 424

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND ROTORUA REGISTRY

CRI-2015-063-2651 [2016] NZHC 424

THE QUEEN

v

JAMES ALLAN JONES

Charges:

Plea:

Possession of methamphetamine for supply;

Possession of cannabis for sale

Guilty

Counsel:

N Tahana for Crown
M J Hine for Prisoner

Sentenced:

14 March 2016

SENTENCING NOTES OF BREWER J

Solicitors:           Gordon Pilditch (Rotorua) for Crown

Families Matter Law Practice Ltd (Rotorua) for Prisoner

R v JONES [2016] NZHC 424 [14 March 2016]

Introduction

[1]      Mr Jones,  you have pleaded  guilty to  charges  of being in  possession of methamphetamine for supply and possessing cannabis for the purpose of sale.1   The maximum sentences for those charges are life imprisonment and eight years’ imprisonment respectively.

[2]      You sought a sentence indication.  On 15 December 2015, Lang J indicated that your offending justified a starting point of four years’ imprisonment.2     His Honour reduced the starting point to three years six months’ imprisonment to take account of the mitigating and aggravating factors of the offending.   Justice Lang noted  that  further  discounts  might  be  available  for  your  personal  factors.    It depended on the pre-sentence report and what else could be put before the Court on your behalf.   However, it was made clear that these factors could not reduce the

sentence to one which would make home detention an option.

[3]      Mr  Jones,  you  accepted  the  sentence  indication  and  pleaded  guilty  on

3 February 2016.  Because I did not give the sentence indication, I am not bound by it.  But I agree with it and so I will sentence you accordingly.

Facts

[4]      I will summarise the facts, very briefly, for the record.

[5]      The charges you face were laid as a result of a Police operation targeting another person in the Bay of Plenty region.  That person was identified as a central and dominant figure in the commercial scale distribution of methamphetamine throughout the North Island.

[6]      The Police discovered, through interception of text communications, that you were seeking a meeting with this person. You met the person in a bar in Tauranga on

the evening of 3 June 2015.

1      Both charges fall under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, s 6(1)(f).

2      R v Jones [2015] NZHC 3213.

[7]      Later that evening, you drove towards Rotorua.  You were stopped by Police whilst returning on the Tauranga Direct Road.   The Police searched your vehicle. They found two small black pouches concealed within the roof lining of the car. One of these contained 28 grams of methamphetamine, and the other contained

76 grams of dried cannabis head material.

[8]      The black pouch containing the 28 grams of methamphetamine also had three empty small unused snaplock bags.   These were consistent with the size of bag commonly used to sell  methamphetamine in one gram lots.   The cannabis was contained in two separate bags, each of which contained 28 grams of cannabis, and six further bags, each of which contained a cannabis bud.

Sentence calculation

[9]      Justice  Lang  told  you  during  the  sentence  indication  hearing  how  he calculated your sentence.  As I said, I respectfully agree with how he did that and so I will just summarise instead of repeating his remarks:

(a)       The start point on the lead charge of possessing methamphetamine for

supply is four years’ imprisonment.

(b)      The uplift for the cannabis offending, having regard to totality, is eight

months’ imprisonment.

(c)       There is no uplift for your previous drugs convictions.

(d)Your pleas of guilty, although not entered at the earliest opportunity, are  entered  well  in  advance  of  trial.  The  maximum  discount  of

25 per cent is justified.

Personal mitigating factors

[10]     This brings me to whether your personal circumstances, as told to me by your lawyer in his submissions, and as set out in the pre-sentence report, should further reduce your sentence.  I have decided that they should.

[11]     Mr Jones, you are not a teenager.  You are a mature man.  You have been gaining criminal convictions for a 16 year period and now I have to send you to jail. But, and this is important, you seem to realise how and why it is that you have got to this point.  The writer of your pre-sentence report says you now show real insight into your situation and readily take responsibility for your actions.

[12]     I have the letter that your lawyer just handed up to me.  If it were only your letter, I would put it to one side.  Judges see letters like that all the time and they bear similar hallmarks.   There is an industry in prison for more experienced prisoners helping people like you to write letters like that.  But it is not all I have.  The writer of the pre-sentence report says that you displayed remorse and insight throughout your interview.  You know that your methamphetamine addiction was the start of the path that led to where you stand today.  You know that if you want to step off that path then you need to take part in the rehabilitation programmes available to you in prison.

[13]     Mr Jones, that positive attitude of yours is something I can recognise in your favour.   It shows me that you have, at least in your head, made a start in your rehabilitation.   I do not want to send you to prison for the maximum time that is available to me.  I want you to make the changes that you need to make in your life so that when you get out of prison, you can start again and make something of yourself.  I do not want myself or another Judge to see you back here with further drugs convictions in a year or so, under circumstances which would simply mean another and longer period of imprisonment.   Your future is in your hands.   I can reduce the time you spend in prison now as a means of encouraging you towards rehabilitation, and I am going to give you a further discount of eight per cent of your sentence.

Conclusion

[14]     Justice Lang’s start point was four years, eight months  imprisonment.   I reduce that by eight per cent for your personal characteristics and that takes it down to four years, three-and-a-half months.   I reduce this finally by the 25 per cent

discount for your guilty pleas.  That results in a (rounded) endpoint of three years

three months’ imprisonment.

Sentence

[15]     Mr Jones, please stand:

(a)       On the charge of possessing methamphetamine for supply, you are

sentenced to three years three months’ imprisonment.

(b)      On the charge of possessing cannabis for sale, you are sentenced to

two years’ imprisonment.

[16]     These sentences are to be served concurrently, which means they are served at the same time.

[17]     Please stand down.

Brewer J