Man escapes prison time after pleading guilty to supplying drugs & dealing with the proceeds of crime

Lawyer-in-charge: Lara Menon

Our client was a 23 year old man who, on New Year’s Eve, was stopped by Police for the purposes of a random breath test. When Police indicated they would like him to undertake a roadside drug test, our client’s demeanour changed. During questioning by Police, our client made admissions to using cocaine, to the presence of drugs in his car and even assisted Police to locate the drugs in his car. In addition, our client was found to have $600 cash in his possession. When Police looked through his phone, they found messages on Snapchat indicating that he was supplying cocaine in the local area.

In reviewing the charges against our client, Lara negotiated with Police to have the deal with proceeds of crime charge downgraded to accurately reflect that there was only $600 cash found. Following entering a guilty plea, Lara made submissions to the Court that a number of tragic circumstances had occurred in our client’s teenage years and early adulthood had contributed to our client turning to drugs. Lara also made submissions that our client had excellent prospects of rehabilitation and had voluntarily undertaken many steps to address his drug use and offending behaviour.

The Court ultimately agreed with Lara’s submission that our client had excellent prospects of rehabilitation and noted that a period of supervision would be sufficient to ensure the protection of the community. Our client avoided a full time custodial sentence, placed on a Community Corrections Order to be supervised by Community Corrections, complete 200 hours of community service and must abstain from drug use.