CDPP v Le [2026] VCC 360

(a) a photograph of a flight itinerary document displaying a flight path departing Brazil on 16 February and arriving in Melbourne on 18 February 2025 via Santiago, Chile.

(b) a PDF comprising a black and white scanned image of your passport, last modified on 30 January 2025.

(c) a number of documents saved in the Downloads folder, including:

(i) a 14-page Word document comprising Chapter 7.1 Federal Drug Offences - Court of Appeal sentence overview from the Victorian Sentencing Manual, published by the JCV.

(ii) a 91-page PDF document containing a schedule of comparative sentences titled 'Possess prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply' s6(1)(a) Misuse of Drugs Act.

(iii) a 52-page discussion paper titled 'The Market for Mules: Risk and Compensation of Cross-Border Drug Couriers'.

The metadata associated with documents (i) and (ii) shows that they were last modified on 20 December 2024. The metadata associated with document (iii) shows that it was last modified on 4 February 2025. I am told by your counsel that this was the last time that you opened it.

1. Your plea of guilty confirms the allegation that you knew that your suitcase contained a border controlled drug and that you imported the border controlled drug by bringing it into Australia.
2. It is conceded by the defence that this is serious offending and that a term of imprisonment with a non-parole period is the appropriate disposition. I accept that your motivation was for financial gain. $120,000 was anticipated to be provided: $20,000 for Anh Tuan and $100,000 for you. I accept that you intended to pass on the finances to your mother, to assist with her mortgage.
3. You accept that you were initially evasive with authorities at the airport. However, the moment that the anomalies were detected in your bag, you were cooperative, answered questions and provided your phone and passcode. Your counsel's position is that your overall offending falls within the mid-range of seriousness. You admit that you knew you were bringing into Melbourne a border controlled substance, although you were not aware what type of drug, specifically, it was. The actual quantity of the weight you brought in was also not clear to you and your counsel has submitted that that is why you asked the Border Force official how many bags there were. Your counsel also referred to the fact that there are no messages regarding the content of the drugs or its identity. Your counsel submits that while you were aware of a commercial limit, you had no knowledge of how much or what drug you were bringing in and he submits that this goes to your role and culpability to a certain extent. Your counsel submits that your offending lacks sophistication in this regard. However, by your plea, you admit that you knew you were importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug (namely cocaine).
4. It is clear that you were to receive a financial gain. While you were not an instigator of the offence, nor a principal offender, I consider that you played an important and integral role in the importation of cocaine. You were prepared to sustain the risk of the importation and were expecting to be well paid for your conduct. There is no dispute that the importation had a degree of organisation and planning and had you not been prepared to bring the drugs in they would not have arrived in Australia.
5. You told Anh Tuan in your messaging that you had been to Vietnam previously and been searched when re-entering Australia. Your counsel submits that given the rudimentary concealment of the drugs, the detection of your involvement was inevitable when you came back into Australia. Once the material was put through the machines, the anomalies were detected, and further enquiries revealed that the bags held cocaine.
6. Your counsel submits that your role was as a mule or a courier. You went overseas, picked up the package, and came back into Melbourne. Your counsel agrees that you had a significant role in that regard, as your job was essential to have the drugs imported. However, other people involved in a higher role had a greater profit, and you took all the risk without financial reward.
7. The prosecution does not agree that you were simply a 'drug mule'. The text messages confirm an element of discussion and planning. While they agree that you were not at the top of the chain, the prosecution submits that you were a principal offender to the extent of this charge, as without your involvement, the drugs would not have arrived in Australia.
8. I consider that your moral culpability is mid-range, on the basis of your criminal activity, your place in the hierarchy as best that I can assess it and the seriousness of the offending overall. I agree that although you planned where you needed to go and to come back into Australia, your involvement lacks some sophistication in that regard as you received instructions from Anh Tuan and it does not appear that you made independent decisions relating to the importation. However, you were made aware of the possible sentencing outcomes for federal drug related crime and proceeded regardless. You were to be a 'well paid' courier, and your involvement included discussion and planning. The harmful effects that flow from the importation of pernicious substances on our community are well known. You were an important participant in the importation and prepared to absorb the risk, given that you were to be paid. Although you were not a principal offender, I consider that you played a significant role in the importation, taking a crucial step for the drugs to be disseminated into the community. This is an inherently serious offence.
9. You were charged and remanded into custody on 18 February 2025, initially at the Metropolitan Remand Centre, and now at the Western Plains Correctional Centre. You remain on a methadone program while in prison. You maintain a strong relationship with your mother, intend to return to her address upon release and re‑establish yourself in the community. You have now served 398 days of pre‑sentence detention.
10. Your matter proceeded in the Magistrates' Court and resolved to a plea of guilty at a committal mention on 4 July 2025. It is agreed that your plea has been entered at an early opportunity. Your plea was first listed in the County Court on 10 October 2025 but was not reached. The plea was adjourned and proceeded on 16 March 2026. I consider that the delay in the matter not being reached some time ago has added to your custodial burden, which is a factor that I take into account in your favour.
11. You are entitled to receive a substantial benefit for your guilty plea. It has a highly significant utilitarian benefit. You have saved the court and the community the time and expense of running a trial. You have facilitated the efficient administration of justice and are entitled to a benefit for that. Your plea of guilty demonstrates an acceptance of responsibility for your offending, and your counsel submits that it is also consistent with remorse. The prosecution does not dispute this and I accept this submission.
12. You have a significant and protracted criminal history dating back to 2002, including relevant prior offences involving the possession and trafficking of drugs, which have all been dealt with summarily. You have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment on several occasions in the past. You have also received a number of community corrections orders and one intensive correction order, which have all been breached. Your similar prior convictions do not aggravate the objective gravity of the offending before the court. You are not to be doubly punished for your criminal history, although it remains relevant when considering community protection. The current incident demonstrates an escalation in the seriousness of your offending.
13. I turn now to your personal circumstances. You were born in November 1984 and are now 41 years of age. You are one in a sibship of four with three older half siblings from your father's previous relationship. You were born in Hong Kong, came to Australia when you were six months old and are now an Australian citizen. Your father was a Vietnam veteran, and your parents fled Vietnam to escape the war to Hong Kong initially, before migrating to Australia. Your father had a dry‑cleaning business and made just enough money to cover family expenses and feed his alcoholism. Growing up, your family struggled financially.
14. Your father would abuse alcohol and then become violent towards you, your mother and the other children. His behaviour was unpredictable and aggressive. Given that you were the oldest child in the household, you would protect your mother and siblings from the violence as best you could, even when your mother was pregnant. There is no dispute that you were exposed to family violence from a very young age. Although your mother was warm and caring, you have undergone a strained and traumatic relationship with your father, who remains in Melbourne. You have no positive memories about him. Your parents eventually separated around 10 years ago.
15. You attended primary school in Kensington and then Sunshine, before moving to the Sunshine College, where you were expelled part way through Year 11. You have held some positions of employment in various cleaning jobs and as a bartender. You have not worked for many years. Your primary source of income in the community has been through Centrelink.
16. You have a longstanding history of substance dependence, particularly involving heroin and methamphetamine. You have found it difficult to maintain employment in the past due to your substance use. You commenced using cannabis and heroin at the age of 16, and your drug use continued to increase and quickly became problematic. You commenced using methamphetamine at around the age of 18 and have continued to use it. You have also used ecstasy, MDMA and cocaine in the past, and you are currently on 60 ml of methadone treatment while incarcerated. You were previously on 120 ml. You describe that occasionally, you use heroin 'on top' of this treatment but not at the same level as before. You have not undergone any detoxification for approximately 13 years. You describe that you have undergone multiple drug overdoses, throughout your life.
17. At the request of your solicitor, you were assessed by clinical psychologist, Ms Alison Mynard, on 19 July 2025. She has provided a report for court, dated 20 August 2025 which includes reference to your traumatic personal history and your illicit substance use chronology.
18. Ms Mynard writes that you have experienced significant psychological distress throughout your life, much of which is linked to exposure to violence, trauma, and substance use. In your younger years, you spent time with peers engaging in fights and antisocial behaviour.
19. You have experienced three separate kidnapping incidents, each of which has had a lasting psychological effect. The first occurred in 2013, when you were held and tortured for two days, being burned with a blowtorch and physically assaulted with pliers. You believed that you were going to be killed. The event was not reported to police. Your substance use escalated after this event.
20. On a second occasion, while selling drugs in the past, you were abducted and beaten, although you were not held for long and no weapons were involved. The experience triggered memories of the first kidnapping and heightened your paranoia.
21. A third incident involved threats related to an unpaid debt, including that you were forced to go to a bank under duress.
22. In addition to these traumatic events, you report being threatened with firearms on multiple occasions, and shot at while driving.
23. You currently describe an ongoing avoidance of public spaces, persistent anxiety, disturbed sleep patterns, emotional withdrawal and heavy cannabis use. You have previously engaged with drug and alcohol services and have attended residential rehabilitation in Odyssey House multiple times. Despite these attempts at recovery, you found yourself returning to drug use, describing yourself as being caught in a lifestyle you could not break away from. You expressed feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, and a lack of direction during this period, particularly in the face of barriers caused by your criminal record.
24. You report that life outside of custody is extremely stressful, particularly due to ongoing financial and family-related pressures. One of the most distressing periods you recall was when your mother nearly lost her home, which significantly worsened your anxiety. Given that you were unable to secure stable employment, financial pressure increased and you state this contributed to your decision to engage in criminal activity. Ms Mynard states that the cumulative stressors, being family dysfunction, financial hardship and caregiving concerns have had a significant impact on your mental health and decision-making.
25. Ms Mynard confirmed that you met the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She writes that your trauma exposure, flashbacks, avoidance and sense of ongoing threats are clear. You have difficulties with emotional regulation, negative self-beliefs and challenges in relationships. Your drug history, weight loss and disrupted sleep are also demonstrative of how your trauma has affected both your body and your mind.
26. She opines that your complex-PTSD impacts your current experience of incarceration. Overall, your risk of deterioration in custody is considered moderate, primarily due to the enduring and treatment-resistant nature of your complex-PTSD symptoms combined with the exacerbating stresses of the prison environment. Without trauma-informed psychological support and structured rehabilitation planning, there is a substantial risk that your mental state will worsen over the course of incarceration, which could undermine both your wellbeing and your capacity for effective reintegration upon release.
27. Your counsel has submitted that your deprived background is a significant factor to be taken into account. The prosecution does not dispute the submission that you have undergone a difficult and disadvantaged upbringing, which may give rise to some allowance enlivened by the principles enunciated in Bugmy[2]. I accept that your traumatic and disadvantaged childhood had a significant impact on your personal development. The relevance of the trauma does not diminish over time, notwithstanding your criminal history. I accept that the principles of Bugmy are enlivened in your case, and that this is a mitigating factor on your plea. Your moral culpability should be reduced accordingly. The principles of deterrence, denunciation and just punishment should also be moderated, although they are still relevant and should not be eliminated entirely. This is counterbalanced, however, by the need for community protection, which remains a relevant sentencing consideration, particularly given that you have conducted a criminal lifestyle over a lengthy period.
28. Your offending here was largely motivated by the significant financial rewards that were available to you. Given that you were clearly motivated by this, mitigating factors related to Bugmy can be moderated, although they are still relevant and should not be eliminated entirely. Further, general and specific deterrence have importance. While I am required to take the mitigating factors into account, I am still required to impose a sentence that is proportionate to the gravity of your offending.
29. Your counsel also submits that limbs 5 and 6 of Verdins[3] are applicable. This is not disputed by the prosecution either. The psychological report confirms that imprisonment may weigh more heavily on you than it would on a person in normal health. There is also a serious risk that imprisonment will have a significantly adverse impact on your mental health, and this too is a mitigating factor.
30. Despite the fact that when you were first spoken to by the authorities at the airport you did not initially tell the truth, once the anomalies were detected you became cooperative. You provided your mobile phone and gave your passcode. You confirmed your mobile number with the authorities and provided the combination number for the lock on the suitcase. As a result of providing this information, the authorities were able to conduct a thorough analysis of your phone. Your counsel has submitted that your cooperation with the authorities in effect narrowed the police investigation and assisted in saving time and resources for your straightforward offending. I accept this submission.
31. Your counsel submits that you have expressed remorse and insight into your offending. You acknowledged to Ms Mynard the poor choices you have made, and expressed remorse for the impact of your actions, indicating the potential for rehabilitation. I accept that you have demonstrated remorse for your offending and this will be reflected in the disposition to be imposed. Although you have shown insight into your offending behaviour, given your ongoing circumstances, I consider that your prospects are guarded.
32. I have considered the sentencing principles outlined in s 16A(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth),[4] being a non-exhaustive list of matters the Court must take into account. I have taken into account the maximum penalty for the offence. I have considered the cases to which I was referred and current sentencing practices.
33. Balancing all these factors as best I can, you are convicted and sentenced to nine years and six months' imprisonment.
34. I fix a non-parole period of six years and three months' imprisonment.
35. I enter pre-sentence detention as 398 days.
36. 6AAA: Had the matter not proceeded as a plea of guilty, I would have imposed a sentence of 12 years and six months with a non-parole period of eight years and six months.

[1] Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) s 307.1(1) ('Criminal Code').

[2] Bugmy v The Queen (2013) 249 CLR 571.

[3] R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269.

[4] Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) s 16A(2).