Our client, who had a reasonably lengthy history involving illegal substances, was this time charged with possessing just under 2kg of cannabis with intent to sell or supply it. After police arrived at his house and took their time forcing entry, they were met by our client coming in from the backyard. Bags of cannabis were recovered from over the fence and on the roof of the house. While the prosecution insisted that the finding of electronic scales, multiple mobile phones and a large quantity of cannabis indicated a high level of criminality warranting immediate imprisonment as punishment, we argued that the poor quality of the cannabis, the lack of sophistication and little effort to avoid detection suggested that, at best, he was a small time dealer.
Sentencing proceedings turned into a hot contest, with the added hurdle for the defence being to overcome a verbal pre-sentence report which revealed a poor history of compliance with court orders in the past, including bail undertakings. However, since being charged, our client had voluntarily commenced and made positive gains in rehabilitation while on the methadone program. His ability to demonstrate he was capable of making change in spite his previous failings, coupled with his dealings in cannabis being at the lower end of the hierarchy of distribution, narrowly avoided a term of immediate imprisonment. Our client was sentenced to a conditionally suspended term of 12 months imprisonment.