Importation of Commercial Quantity of Methylamphetamine

Lawyer-in-charge: Luisa Gaetani

Our client was a 39 year old man with no previous criminal convictions. He had recently separated from his wife and finalised parenting arrangements for his two young children, when he woke up to police banging down his door at 6am one morning. He was informed that the police had obtained a search warrant to seize any electronic devices as he was alleged to have been involved in the importation of commercial quantity of Methylamphetamine from America. There was a parcel delivered in a vacuum cleaner box to an acquaintance house which was intercepted by police.

Our client would meet with the acquaintance between 1 to 2 times a fortnight and on a couple of occasions went out to dinner together. Our client was concerned about the welfare of the acquaintance after not hearing from him for several days, so drove to the acquaintance house. When he arrived, he saw the front door damaged and was immediately concerned, not realising at that point that the acquaintance had been arrested.

The acquaintance in his electronically recorded interview, informed police that our client was the instigator of the importation and the person that arranged for the parcel to be delivered to his house. Our client was arrested and refused police bail. We appeared in Fairfield Local Court for a bail application and after the second appearance and four weeks in custody, he was granted bail with an ankle bracelet to monitor his whereabouts.

He maintained his plea of not guilty and ultimately went to trial. Luisa instructed a Barrister and the case that was presented to the jury on behalf of our client was that he had no knowledge of the offence and no involvement whatsoever. The Police were unable to present evidence to the jury to suggest that our client had made contact with any party in America to orchestrate the importation, and they were unable to produce any evidence to suggest that our client financially gained from the importation.

Ultimately, after an approximate 2 week trial in Sydney District Court, the verdict was presented and our client was found not guilty after 17 months of an extremely serious and stressful drug charge looming over our client’s head. The not guilty verdict was an emotional and relieving experience for all involved and we were so happy to be involved in a process where we were able to maintain our client’s innocence.