The Queen v. Pham

Lower Court Judgment

5/09/2014 Supreme Court of Victoria (Court of Appeal) (Maxwell P, Osborn & Kyrou JJA)

[2014] VSCA 204

Catchwords

Criminal law – Sentence- Sentencing procedure – Sentencing statistics, schedules, tariffs, comparisons, etc. – Consistency for federal offences – Where respondent brought 577 grams of heroin into Australia and pleaded guilty to one charge of importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug – Where respondent was originally sentenced to eight years and six months imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years – Where sentence was reduced on appeal to six years imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years – Whether federal offenders should be sentenced in accordance with “current sentencing practices” of a particular State or Territory to the exclusion of sentencing practices in other jurisdictions – Whether it is permissible to determine objective seriousness of the offending by reference to a statistical analysis of comparable cases which grades those cases by the weight of the drugs expressed as a percentage of the statutory threshold for a more serious offence.

Short Particulars