DPP v Quinn [2025] VCC 1878

1. The circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary of prosecution opening for plea, Exhibit P1, dated 5 November 2025. It is an agreed summary and will form the factual basis upon which you are to be sentenced.
2. On 16 March 2024, you were driving your Nissan X-Trail on the Monash Freeway, Mulgrave. You were the holder of a Victorian Probationary P2 driver's licence at the time.
3. The section of road on which you were driving had five lanes with two emergency lanes on either side of the road. The road was in good condition and the speed limit was 100 kilometres per hour.
4. At approximately 3.30 pm you were driving in a westerly direction in the second lane from the right. You suddenly veered left and collided into the concrete barrier on the left side of the road. Your car then careened back across five lanes of traffic before colliding into the concrete barrier on the far right. Significant damage was caused to your vehicle but fortunately no other car was involved in the collision.
5. Drivers of other cars stopped to render assistance. Police and paramedics attended shortly after the collision. You appeared to them to be drug affected. Police conducted a preliminary oral fluid test.
6. Paramedics assisted you out of your car. As you were getting out of the car you retrieved a black gym bag which was placed on the ambulance stretcher with you.
7. Police then searched your car for identification. In the course of their search, a wallet and an open folding knife was found in the driver's side footwell. The wallet was inspected, and police found a small bag containing white powder which, on subsequent analysis, was found to contain cocaine. Your black gym bag was also searched and in the main compartment were several Ziploc bags containing drugs of dependence.
8. In total, the following quantities of drugs were found in your possession:

149 grams of methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine ('MDMA'). That drug was found in four bags and, the pure weight of MDMA was 120 grams;

20.1 grams of ketamine in two bags weighing 17.8 grams and 2.3 grams;

5.7 grams of cocaine in three bags with a purity of 76-78 per cent.

1. The drugs found make up Charge 1, trafficking in MDMA; Charge 2, trafficking in ketamine; and Charge 3, possessing cocaine.
2. Charge 4, dealing with proceeds of crime is constituted by the finding of $4,390.00 in your possession.
3. You were taken to the Dandenong hospital by ambulance. A sample of your blood was taken. The blood sample was later analysed and showed that you had a prescribed illicit drug, namely cocaine, in your blood.
4. When interviewed by police in relation to the offending, you answered "no comment" to their questions.

1. Your personal circumstances and background are set out in Exhibit D2, a psychological assessment report of Dr Aaron Cunningham, dated 18 September 2025; Exhibit D5, a bundle of character references from family members and friends; and Exhibit D3, a medical report of consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Dr Schuyler Tan, dated 22 October 2025.
2. You were 24 years old at the time these offences were committed. You are now 26 years of age. You were raised in Berwick by your mother and father. You have an older sister. You reported to Dr Cunningham a stable and supportive home environment with no instances of abuse or trauma. Your parents, over the years, have fostered numerous children.
3. You have two children from previous relationships, aged two and three. Your children live with their respective mothers, but you see them on a regular basis. You are currently in a relationship and have been so for twelve months. I was told that this is one of your longest relationships. Your partner has a son.
4. You attended Hallam Secondary College and SEDA College, completing a Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning at Year-12 level. Since that time, you have held various jobs and you are currently employed as a plastics extruder operator working 12-hour night shifts. You have held that position for approximately 12 months and you are apparently progressing well in your employment.
5. You are living with your family, having returned to the family home shortly after these offences were committed. You have had two periods when you were not living at home, and on each occasion, you came to be in trouble with the law.
6. You have admitted your criminal record.
7. On 21 March 2022, for offences of intentionally causing injury, intentionally damaging property, possession of prohibited weapon without exemption or approval, and possession of cocaine, you were convicted and placed on a six-month community correction order requiring you to undergo assessment, treatment and rehabilitation for drug abuse or dependency, mental health treatment as directed, and any other treatment and rehabilitation as directed. You were also fined the sum of $2,000.00.
8. Your counsel, Mr Cleveland, also informed me of a subsequent conviction recorded at the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on 12 April 2024 on charges of possessing cocaine and MDMA, for which you were convicted and fined $800.00. Those offences occurred on 16 March 2024.
9. This morning I was advised of a further driving offence committed on 2 December 2024, for which, at the Frankston Magistrates' Court on 2 December 2024, your licence was cancelled and disqualified for a period of two years. This enlivens the provisions under the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) requiring a mandatory disqualification of four years from today.
10. I have had considerable regard to the character references tendered on your behalf. It is clear that you come from a very good family. Your parents are both employed, as is your older sister. Your parents have once again come to court today to offer their assistance. Your involvement in drugs and criminal offending, I surmise from their references, has caused them considerable anxiety and distress. They each write of the significant turnaround in your life since the offences before me were committed. Your father writes that in one sense, these charges are the best thing that could have happened to you, in that they have caused you to make significant and positive, changes in your life. You are very fortunate to have their continuing love and support. That support has included lending you money to pay off debts, as well as driving you to and from your employment each day. You are repaying your financial debt to your parents from your weekly pay.
11. Your grandmother, Deborah Harvey, writes that your parents are exemplary community members who have worked hard to provide not only for you and your sister, but hundreds of foster children. Other referees speak of your remorse and the turnaround thus far in your life, including your responsibility to your partner's seven-year-old son, as well as your own two children. You have also resumed playing baseball, which provides you with a positive, pro-social, outlet.
12. Following these offences, you were released on bail. A condition of your bail was that you supply urine drug screens each month to the informant. A series of ten drug screens were tendered on your behalf, Exhibit D6. Illicit drugs have not been detected in any of the test results.

1. Dr Tan saw you over two periods. The first period was between October 2018 and July 2019. The second period is from 16 September 2024 to date. You present for a monthly psychiatric review that includes supportive therapy, risk assessment and urine drug screening.
2. Dr Tan stated you have been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, and methamphetamine use disorder.
3. When you returned to see him on 16 September 2024, you were recommenced on antipsychotic medication and, thereafter, ADHD medication. The antipsychotic medication subsequently ceased because there was no evidence of a relapse of psychosis.
4. Dr Tan states you have remained abstinent from recreational drug use over the last 12 months. He states you have been compliant with treatment, have expressed remorse for your actions, and have engaged in conduct consistent with psychosocial rehabilitation. Dr Tan considers you will require ongoing treatment. He also states that in comparison to your initial presentation in 2018, he has seen a significant maturity in you.
5. Dr Cunningham noted that you were treated in psychiatric care in 2018 at the Melbourne Clinic, Essendon Clinic, and Albert Road Clinic. You experienced auditory hallucinations in the context of methylamphetamine abuse. You have not experienced any such hallucinations for over 12 months preceding the date of his report.
6. Dr Cunningham noted that you began to use "party drugs" from the age of 18 and you told him you became "hooked on ice". You further stated that after the death of your best friend from suicide, your drug use escalated to the point where you quit your employment and were abusing cocaine daily. You reported not having used methylamphetamine for five years and have not used drugs since returning to your parents' home.
7. Dr Cunningham also noted that you struggled academically and socially at school, and you found that drugs facilitated your social connections.

1. In very helpful sentencing submissions, Mr Cleveland relied on the following matters in support of a submission that I sentence you to a community correction order. In summary, Mr Cleveland relied on the following matters:
   • Your pleas of guilty which, I was told, were entered at an early time following a resolution of the charges. It was submitted that your pleas of guilty have high utilitarian value and are indicative of your remorse, your willingness to facilitate the course of justice, and your acceptance of responsibility for your offending;
   • You have, it was said, a very limited criminal history which I have earlier recited. You have not committed any further offences following the commission of these offences;
   • Your relative youth at the time of your offending and the importance of rehabilitation were also relied on;
   • Your mental health history in which you have previously been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and methylamphetamine use disorder. As I have said, you have since the commission of these offences, re-engaged in treatment with Dr Tan. In this regard, Mr Cleveland relied on the second and fifth principles in R v Verdins;[1]
   • Your personal circumstances at the time of the offending;
   • The delay between the commission of the offences and your sentencing;
   • The steps towards your rehabilitation you have undertaken since the offending. These include returning to live with your parents, abstaining from illicit substances, re-engaging with treatment for your underlying health conditions, full-time employment, and devotion to your partner, your partner's son, and your own two children, who are aged two and three years;
   • The significant family support available to you;
   • Your past compliance with the six-month community correction order;
   • The application of the principle of totality and the need to ensure that the total effective sentence is not disproportionate to your offending;
   • The principle of parsimony requiring that you not be sentenced to a more severe punishment than is necessary to achieve the applicable sentencing purposes.
2. Regarding the objective gravity of your offending, Mr Cleveland accepted that the charges upon which you fall to be sentenced are inherently serious, particularly the trafficking of MDMA. He submitted, in effect, that your offending was not particularly sophisticated, nor did it show a high degree of organisation. Mr Cleveland submitted that your offending constitutes single-date trafficking and that you were not motivated purely out of financial reasons, but rather to support your own drug use.
3. You instructed Mr Cleveland that you relapsed into drug use after you moved out of home, and against the background of the suicide of a good friend that had a profound impact on your emotional wellbeing. You also witnessed, I was told, a very serious workplace incident. You told Mr Cleveland that you resorted to cocaine use to "numb" your own emotional pain. You instructed him you were using up to seven grams of cocaine a day.
4. Regarding your current job, this is your longest continuous period of employment, and it is put that you are performing very well and are in line for a promotion - taking over from a soon to retire colleague.
5. Mr Brydon, who appeared on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted that the most serious aspect of your offending is the trafficking of MDMA, particularly having regard to the quantity of 149 grams, well in excess of the traffickable quantity of three grams. The pure quantity of that MDMA, namely 120 grams, exceeds the pure commercial quantity of 100 grams. This, he submitted, is a relatively high quantity for a charge of trafficking. The quantity of ketamine, namely 20.1 grams, Mr Brydon submitted, is 6.7 times the trafficable quantity.
6. With regard to the charge of possession of cocaine, Mr Brydon submitted that the appropriate maximum penalty is one of five years' imprisonment. As I discussed with Mr Cleveland during submissions, without evidence being called on your behalf, and given the circumstances as stated in the prosecution opening, I could not be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the possession charge was not committed for any purpose relating to trafficking in cocaine. I do accept, however, that you were at the time a user of cocaine.
7. Mr Brydon submitted that the delay in this case is not particularly lengthy and has not resulted in any particular extra burden. However, he accepted that the rehabilitative steps you have taken during this period are plainly relevant to sentence.
8. Mr Brydon submitted that I should sentence you to a term of imprisonment and impose a relatively low non-parole period.

1. You have pleaded guilty to all charges, and it is not disputed that your pleas were entered at an early time. Your pleas of guilty are of significant utilitarian value. You have spared the court and community the cost and time of a committal hearing and trial. You have spared witnesses from having to give evidence against you. I accept that your pleas of guilty are indicative of your remorse for your offending, have facilitated the course of justice, and mark an acceptance by you of responsibility for your offending.
2. The offence of trafficking in a drug of dependence is an inherently serious offence. This is so whether or not you are a user of illicit drugs. The offence has a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment, reflecting the seriousness with which Parliament, on behalf of the community, views such offending. The trafficking of drugs of dependence causes untold misery and harm, not only to those who are addicted to drugs, but also to their families and to the wider community.
3. The quantity of MDMA you had in your possession for the purpose of sale, I accept is a relatively high quantity. However, you are not charged with trafficking in a commercial quantity of that drug. The charge relates to a single day of trafficking.
4. I consider that the objective gravity of you trafficking in MDMA is serious given the quantity of drug involved. While all drug trafficking must be viewed as serious offending, your trafficking of ketamine, again on the basis of quantity, is less serious. I take into account that the trafficking charge concerning both those drugs was committed on a single day, and I accept Mr Cleveland's submission that there is no evidence to suggest that your trafficking was sophisticated or showed a high degree of organisation.
5. Charge 3 relates to your possession of cocaine. As earlier stated, the appropriate maximum penalty is, in my opinion, one of five years' imprisonment. You possessed a relatively small quantity of that drug, and I accept that you were also a user of that drug at the time of these offences.
6. The offence of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime has a maximum penalty of 15 years' imprisonment, again marking the seriousness with which that offence is viewed. However, as was fairly conceded by Mr Brydon, the proceeds you dealt in were relatively modest.
7. The summary offence of careless driving has a maximum penalty of 12 penalty units; the summary offence of possessing a controlled weapon without lawful excuse has a maximum penalty of 12 months' imprisonment; and the offence of driving under the influence of a drug has a maximum penalty of three months' imprisonment. The manner of your driving on this occasion was extremely careless, and you are very fortunate that you did not collide with other cars. Driving under the influence of a drug, notwithstanding the relatively low maximum penalty, should also be viewed as a relatively serious instance of the offence in the circumstances of your case, given that you were driving on a freeway that has a speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour.
8. The fact that you were a drug user at the time you committed these offences does not in any way excuse your offending. However, I accept that your motivation in committing these offences was, in part, to fund your own drug use.
9. With regard to the level of your moral culpability for this offending, I have regard to the circumstances in which your relapse into drug use occurred and your age at the time of these offences. These factors allow for some reduction in your level of culpability.
10. However, offences such as these, particularly the drug trafficking charges, require particular emphasis on sentencing considerations of general deterrence and denunciation. Others who are minded to commit offences such as trafficking in drugs of dependence should understand that they risk significant punishment. Such conduct, given the harmful impact it has on the community, must be strongly denounced. There is also a need for the sentence to deter you from further offending and to protect the community from you.
11. You are still a youthful offender, but only just. Accordingly, your rehabilitation is also a significant sentencing consideration. Your efforts over the last 20 or so months have been commendable. As I have stated, you have returned to live at home with your highly supportive family, you have recommenced psychiatric treatment with Dr Tan, you have been working steadily over the last 12 months, and engaged in full-time nightshift work. You are also in a stable relationship and have taken on parental responsibilities. Importantly, you have been abstinent of illicit drug use during that period and you have not committed any further offences. Although 20 months is not a significant period of rehabilitation, the indications are positive and it appears to me that your prospects may be regarded as good to very good, provided you remain abstinent from illicit drug use.
12. I have had regard to the fact that you have a very limited history of offending and have never before been sentenced to a term of imprisonment. I accept that should you be sentenced to a term of imprisonment, given your mental health diagnoses, a sentence of imprisonment is likely to weigh more heavily on you than it would on a prisoner in normal health. Your mental health conditions are also relevant to the kind of sentence to be imposed.
13. I have given careful consideration to the submissions of counsel. I have, since the plea hearing, received a number of comparative sentences to which I have also had regard in my consideration of current sentencing practice. The sentences in the cases provided ranged from two years and six months' imprisonment[2] to a

12-month community correction order.[3] 14. As may be seen from the comparative cases to which I was referred, there has been a wide range of sentences imposed for drug trafficking, no doubt reflecting the myriad circumstances in which offences of this nature occur and the myriad personal circumstances of each offender. I have had regard to the cases provided to me as one of the considerations in the sentencing discretion. 15. At the conclusion of the plea hearing, and without deciding the issue, I had you assessed for a community correction order. In the opinion of the assessing officer, you displayed a level of insight into your offending and expressed your fortune that no one else was hurt as a result of your driving. You stated that the incident has been a "massive wake-up call". 16. You have been assessed as presenting a medium risk of general re-offending and you have been found suitable to undertake a community correction order. 17. In my opinion, in all the circumstances, a community correction order will best address the sentencing considerations I am required to take into account. In my opinion, you have demonstrated an intention to continue on the path towards rehabilitation, and should you achieve full rehabilitation, that will best serve the protection of the community. Appropriate conditions can be attached to the order to ensure that you continue on your path to full rehabilitation as well as ensuring that you are justly punished for your offending. The duration of the order and conditions to be placed on the order will, in the circumstances of this case, address issues of deterrence and denunciation. 18. I propose to place you on a community correction order on Charges 1, 2, 3 and 4 on the indictment and the related summary charges 12 and 13. The conditions of the proposed order are as follows. 19. The order will last for 42 months commencing today and ending on 11 June 2029. 20. You are required to attend at the Pakenham Community Correctional Services office within two clear working days after the commencement of the order. 21. You must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time the order is in force. 22. You must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed by Regulation 15 of the Sentencing Regulations 2021 (Vic). That means that you must not attend at the Office of Corrections, or wherever they direct you, under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 23. You must report to and receive visits from the Secretary or his or her delegate. That includes a Community Corrections officer. 24. You must let a Community Corrections officer know within two clear working days of you changing your address or job. 25. You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the Secretary or his or her delegate. 26. You must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary or his or her delegate. 27. You must perform 250 hours of unpaid community work over the 42-month period as directed by the Regional Manager. If you fail to comply with this part of the order, the Secretary to the Department of Justice or his or her delegate may give you a direction to perform additional hours of unpaid community work in accordance with the provisions of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) (Sentencing Act). 28. You must be under the supervision of a Community Corrections officer for a period of 42 months. 29. You must undergo assessment and treatment, including testing for drug abuse or dependency, as directed by the Regional Manager. 30. You must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment and that may include psychological, neuropsychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the Regional Manager. 31. You must participate in programs and/or courses that address factors relating to the offending as directed by the Regional Manager. 32. Mr Quinn, do you understand the conditions of the order? 33. OFFENDER: Yes, your Honour. 34. HIS HONOUR: Mr Cleveland, do you wish to approach your client to ensure that he understands the conditions? 35. MR CLEVELAND: Your Honour, what I propose to do is, provided your Honour's minded, I'm happy take the CCO for his signature and walk him through those conditions. 36. HIS HONOUR: Yes, you can do that, but you understand the conditions do you? 37. OFFENDER: Yes, your Honour. 38. HIS HONOUR: Do you agree to be placed on the order on those conditions? 39. OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour. 40. Mr Quinn, you have said you understand the conditions and you agree to being placed on the order on those conditions. If you contravene the community correction order, you will be brought back before me for resentencing. You have already had one opportunity at a community correction order. I am giving you another one now. Should you breach the order, I doubt very much that you will get another opportunity. If you breach the order, you come back before me. It is highly likely that I will send you to gaol. Do you understand that? 41. OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour. 42. HIS HONOUR: Very well. Take a seat. We will just get the order printed, Mr Cleveland and, Ms Skepper, we will get copies for you. 43. On related summary offence 11, I think it is, of careless driving, you are convicted and fined the sum of $1,000.00. 44. All licences held by you, driver's licences that is, are cancelled. You are disqualified from driving for a period four years commencing today. I should tell you that if you are caught driving whilst disqualified, that is an offence punishable by imprisonment and will certainly breach your community correction order. So do not drive. 45. Pursuant to s 6AAA Sentencing Act, had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the sentence I would otherwise have imposed is one of two years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 months. 46. You may step out of the dock. 47. MS SKEPPER: Your Honour, there was just the issue of the disposal order and the forfeiture order. 48. HIS HONOUR: Yes. Thank you. Mr Cleveland, you do not wish to be heard on those? The forfeiture order relates to the $4,390.00 cash and the disposal order relates to all the drugs that were located, as well as the folding knife. 49. MR CLEVELAND: They're consented to, Your Honour. 50. HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Yes, thank you, Ms Skepper, I will make those orders. If you could step forward and sign the order, please, Mr Quinn. 51. Well thank you to both members of counsel for your assistance. 52. MR CLEVELAND: As the court pleases. 53. HIS HONOUR: Please adjourn the court.

[1] (2007) 16 VR 269.

[2] DPP v Lawson [2022] VCC 2029; DPP v Searl [2017] VCC 732.

[3] DPP v Jurd [2021] VCC 228.