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[2016] WASCA 144
Court of Appeal (WA)
2016-08-17
Lure P, Mazza JA, Mitchell JA
Original judgment source is linked above.
JURISDICTION : SUPREME COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
CITATION : KALBASI -v- THE STATE OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA [2016] WASCA 144
Jurisdiction : DISTRICT COURT OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Criminal law - Appeal against conviction - Attempting to possess a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another - Whether the trial judge misdirected on the applicability of s 11(a) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA), the element of possession and consciousness of guilt - Whether the trial judge erred in disallowing cross-examination - Whether the trial judge erred in admitting evidence - Application of the proviso in s 30(4) of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 (WA)
Criminal law - Application for leave to appeal against sentence - Attempting to possess a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another - Total effective sentence 14 years 6 months' imprisonment - Whether the sentencing judge erred in his assessment of the superior role played by the appellant compared to his co-offender in the commission of the offence - Whether his Honour should have taken into account time to be served on parole
Prisons Act 1981 (WA), s 29
Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), s 15, s 34(2), pt 2 div 1, pt 13
Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 (WA)
Application for leave to adduce additional evidence granted
Leave to appeal on proposed grounds 3 and 6 refused
AK v The State of Western Australia [2008] HCA 8; (2008) 232 CLR 438
Allami v The State of Western Australia [2013] WASCA 230
Archibald v The Queen (1989) 40 A Crim R 228
Bugmy v The Queen [1990] HCA 18; (1990) 169 CLR 525
Cesan v The Queen [2008] HCA 52; (2008) 236 CLR 358
Cumming v The Queen (1995) 86 A Crim R 156
Davies v The State of Western Australia [2006] WASCA 151
Davis v The Queen (1990) 5 WAR 269; (1990) 50 A Crim R 55
Do v The State of Western Australia [2014] WASCA 218
Dodd v The State of Western Australia [2014] WASCA 13; (2014) 238 A Crim R 72
Edwards v The Queen [1993] HCA 63; (1993) 178 CLR 193
Festa v The Queen [2001] HCA 72; (2001) 208 CLR 593
Gassy v The Queen [2008] HCA 18; (2008) 236 CLR 293
Handlen v The Queen [2011] HCA 51; (2011) 245 CLR 282
Hoare v The Queen [1989] HCA 33; (1989) 167 CLR 348
Hughes v The State of Western Australia [2015] WASCA 164; (2015) 299 FLR 197
Kalbasi v The State of Western Australia [2013] WASCA 241
Kirby v The Queen [2003] WASCA 164
Kirby v The Queen [2003] WASCA 239
Krakouer v The Queen [1998] HCA 43; (1998) 194 CLR 202
Lai v The Queen [1990] WAR 151; (1989) 42 A Crim R 460
Lam v The Queen [2014] WASCA 114
Power v The Queen [1974] HCA 26; (1974) 131 CLR 623
Quartermaine v The Queen [1980] HCA 29; (1980) 143 CLR 595
R v Greatorex (1994) 74 A Crim R 496
R v Hillier [2007] HCA 13; (2007) 228 CLR 618
Sgarlata v The State of Western Australia [2015] WASCA 215; (2015) 49 WAR 176
The State of Western Australia v BLM [2009] WASCA 88; (2009) 40 WAR 414
The State of Western Australia v JWRL (a child) [2010] WASCA 179
The State of Western Australia v R [2007] WASCA 72; (2007) 33 WAR 483
Weiss v The Queen [2005] HCA 81; (2005) 224 CLR 300
Wicks v The Queen (1989) 3 WAR 372
Yates v The State of Western Australia [2008] WASCA 144
Zanon v The State of Western Australia [2016] WASCA 91
1 McLURE P: I agree with the orders proposed by Mazza and Mitchell JJA in the conviction and sentence appeals. I agree with their reasons on grounds 5 and 6 in the conviction appeal and ground 1 of the sentence appeal. I propose to state my own reasons on grounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and the application of the proviso in the conviction appeal. Grounds 1, 2 and the proviso are closely linked. The background is detailed in the joint judgment and not repeated here unless required for an understanding of these reasons.
Conviction appeal - grounds 1, 2 and the proviso
2 The appellant was convicted after a retrial of one count of attempting to possess a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another, contrary to s 6(1)(a) and s 33(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA) (MDA). The appellant did not give or adduce evidence at his retrial.
3 The charge related to 4.891 kg of 84% pure methylamphetamine in two padlocked tool cases inside a cardboard box which, on 12 November 2010, was in the possession of a freight company in Sydney for consignment to Perth. The consignment note for the cardboard box containing the drugs had instructions to ring James Walker on 0413 717 731 (the 731 number) for collection in Perth.
4 On 12 November 2010 New South Wales Police searched the cardboard box at the Sydney premises of the freight company. The methylamphetamine, in 10 heat-sealed bags, was located in the tool cases. Police brought the cardboard box to Perth and on 15 November 2010 rock salt was substituted for the methylamphetamine. The drug substitute was packaged and stored in the same way as the drugs found by police on 12 November 2010. A listening device was also placed in the cardboard box.
5 After an unsuccessful attempt on 15 November 2010, Matthew Lothian collected the cardboard box from the Kewdale premises of the freight company on 16 November 2010 and carried it into his house in Falstaff Crescent, Spearwood (Lothian's house) at about 3.16 pm on that day.
6 At about 3.20 pm on 16 November 2010, the appellant arrived by bicycle at Lothian's house. The appellant left Lothian's house at around 3.57 pm, 37 minutes later. The State case was that during that 37 minute period the appellant was in possession of the whole of the drug substitute (the intended drugs), believing it to be the methylamphetamine removed by police. It relied on, inter alia, the comings and goings of the appellant and Mr Lothian to and from Lothian's house on 16 November 2010, the listening device product of events in Lothian's house during the 37 minutes and a police video of a search of Lothian's house at 3.58 pm on 16 November 2010.
7 The evidence established the following. Mr Lothian's girlfriend, Venetia Tilbrook, was in Lothian's house from the time Mr Lothian arrived with the cardboard box at 3.09 pm on 16 November 2010 until she left at 3.38 pm. The only others in Lothian's house during the 37 minutes were the appellant and Mr Lothian. After the appellant entered Lothian's house at around 3.20 pm, the cardboard box was opened; the padlocks were cut from the tool cases; the 10 packages of intended drugs were removed from the tool cases; conversations took place between two males, much but not all of which was indistinct; the plastic vacuum sealed outer wrapping of the 10 packages containing the intended drugs was removed and placed in the kitchen sink; nine packages of intended drugs were placed on the bottom shelf of the kitchen cupboard; a plastic bag containing one package of intended drugs was placed in a beer carton used as a makeshift bin; a baking dish containing MSM (a cutting agent commonly added to methylamphetamine to increase the quantity of drug available for distribution) was on the stove in the kitchen; on the kitchen bench were three bowls, two pairs of disposable gloves, three digital scales, a lighter, and a box of disposable gloves; bolt cutters were found in the kitchen; at around 3.40 pm the appellant asked Mr Lothian for a pipe; about four minutes after the appellant asked for the pipe, the appellant said to Mr Lothian 'Don't move' and 'I'll come back'; around 3.57 pm the appellant left Lothian's house on his bicycle.
8 The appellant's DNA was on one of the two pairs of disposable gloves found on the kitchen bench. The State case was that the appellant and Mr Lothian were in the process of adding MSM to some of what they thought was methylamphetamine when the appellant sampled the substance and discovered it was not what he was expecting.
9 The respondent conceded ground of appeal 1 and relies on the proviso. The appellant claims in ground 1 that the trial judge erred in directing the jury that s 11 of the MDA applied to the offence with which the appellant was charged. Section 11 relevantly provides:
For the purposes of -
(a) section 6(1)(a), a person shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to have in his possession a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another if he has in his possession a quantity of the prohibited drug which is not less than the quantity specified in Schedule V in relation to the prohibited drug.
10 The amount of methylamphetamine giving rise to a presumption of intention to sell or supply is 2 gm. However, s 11 does not apply to an attempted breach of s 6(1)(a) of the MDA: Krakouer v The Queen [1998] HCA 43; (1998) 194 CLR 202.
11 After the parties closed their cases the trial judge raised with counsel, in the absence of the jury, his intended directions. The following exchange occurred on the issue of intention to sell or supply to another, referred to as 'the fourth element' and 'element 4':
STEVENSON DCJ: So what do we say about the fourth element?
MORRISSEY, MR: Well, if my client is found to be in possession, as I've put - if he's in possession of it ... the inference would be that he's in possession of it, intending to sell or supply the prohibited drug, given the volume. If he's found to be in possession, there's no - - -
STEVENSON DCJ: Can I tell the jury, Mr Morrissey, that I can go to presumptions, if you wish, but that there is no contest, there is no issue in this trial. If they are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that your client was in possession in the legal sense of the drugs at the relevant time in the relevant place, then they need not concern themselves with element 4.
There's no contest about that because your client doesn't seek to prove otherwise, given the deeming provision. The issue for the jury is to be found in relation to the third element.
MORRISSEY, MR: Yes, that's correct, your Honour.
STEVENSON DCJ: Yes. All right. Well, I just wanted to make sure I could - - -
...
MORRISSEY, MR: We went round and round and round but your Honour is correct, that the battlefield here is on element 3 (ts 1026).
12 This exchange is equivocal on the question whether the concession relating to intention was based on the fact of the very large quantity of high purity drugs in issue or on the application of the presumption in s 11 of the MDA.
13 On the subject of intention to sell or supply, the trial judge's direction to the jury was in the following terms:
I'm now going to deal with the fourth element upon the jury aid, that the accused intended to sell or supply the prohibited drug or any part of it to another. Members of the jury, you can give that element a tick. It is not an issue for you in this trial.
Very briefly, the law is that if you are found in possession of more than two grams of methylamphetamine then you are presumed to be in possession with intent to sell or supply it to another and the onus is on you to remove that presumption.
There is no issue in this trial about the fourth element and as I've said it will not delay your deliberations (ts 1057).
14 It is clear from the prosecution opening and closing that its case was that the appellant was in control (and thus in possession) of what he believed to be nearly 5 kg of methylamphetamine during the time he was in Lothian's house, at least until he became aware that the substance was not methylamphetamine. It was no part of the State case that the appellant was in physical custody of part of the intended drugs.
15 It is also clear from the defence opening by Mr Morrissey QC that he well understood the scope of the prosecution case and that the sole live issue between the parties was whether the appellant was in control of the intended drugs (jointly with Mr Lothian) when in Lothian's house. The appellant's defence was that he was not in possession of the intended drugs and that Mr Lothian was the owner and in sole possession thereof.
16 Mr Morrissey swore an affidavit filed in the appeal stating that had he recognised that s 11 of the MDA did not apply, he believed he would not have acceded to the direction to the jury that intention was not in issue. That evidence is not challenged. Notwithstanding the formulation of ground 1, the gravamen of the complaint concerning the direction is not the reference to the deeming effect of s 11 but the consequence of the appellant's concession that if the appellant was found to be in possession of the intended drugs the element of intention to sell or supply was satisfied.
17 However, on the State case at trial, a finding of intention to sell or supply to another was inevitable having regard to the very large quantity of high purity drugs involved. It is for this reason that ground 2 assumes particular significance for the purpose of the proviso.
18 In ground 2, the appellant claims the trial judge erred in his directions regarding possession as a result of the use of expressions 'involved with' (ts 1061), 'having done something' (ts 1055), 'dealt with' (ts 1052, 1053) and 'dealing with the intended drugs in [Lothian's house] in some way' (ts 1057). The appellant contends the trial judge used these expressions as equal to and synonymous with possession or control and that was an error because there are various ways in which a person can deal with a drug without being in possession of it. In particular, senior counsel for the appellant submitted that a person who samples a drug in order to decide whether to buy some for personal use, is not in possession of the amount sampled, or if he is, it is not with an intention to sell or supply to another.
19 There are two other, related aspects to ground 2. First, the appellant contends that the mischief in the directions on possession must be viewed in the context of the appellant's reliance on Mr Lothian's dealings with the drugs to establish that he owned the drugs to the exclusion of the appellant. It is said the trial judge diluted this defence by directing the jury that the State did not need to, and could not possibly, prove who was the owner of the drugs and the jury should have been directed that an inference of ownership by Mr Lothian might be incompatible with the State's case of joint possession with the appellant.
20 Second, the appellant contends that the effect of the misdirection on possession is compounded by the trial judge's direction that the State did not have to prove what the appellant had in his mind before he got to Lothian's house and that the State did not have to prove that the appellant put the nine unopened bags of intended drug substitute in the kitchen cupboard in order for him to be in possession but that if Mr Lothian had done so, nothing would turn on that. The appellant claims his intention prior to and upon his arrival at Lothian's house was relevant to whether he possessed the intended drugs with the requisite intention (to sell or supply to another) or an intention to test or purchase drugs for his own use. Evidence that Mr Lothian had moved the intended drugs was said to be relevant to his ownership or control thereof to the exclusion of the appellant.
21 I start with the ground as formulated. The expression 'dealt with' at ts 1052 and 1053 is a reference to the steps taken in relation to the intended drugs whilst the appellant was in Lothian's house for the purpose of proving that the appellant believed that he and Mr Lothian had a prohibited drug in their possession.
22 On the possession element, particular reliance is placed upon the following direction:
The issue is whether or not the accused was in possession of the intended drugs by reason of his control or having done something to them while they were in [Mr Lothian's house] (ts 1055).
23 When considered in its broader context, the expression complained of in that extract (and other similar expressions) would be understood as directing the jury's attention to whether, having regard to what had occurred in Lothian's house, the appellant was in control of the intended drugs, and thus in possession of it. That is clear from the directions as a whole. The trial judge identified the question to be whether the jury was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that while the accused was in Lothian's house he exercised control and dominion over the intended drugs even though it appeared Mr Lothian was also in possession (ts 1057). The trial judge continued:
So you will appreciate from my direction, awareness on its own of the existence of the intended drugs in [Lothian's house] is not sufficient. If you are satisfied that the State has as a fact proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was involved in dealing with the intended drugs in [Mr Lothian's house] in some way, that will assist you to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he was in possession of the drugs at the relevant time (ts 1057).
24 That is, the appellant's presence and participation in the activities relating to the intended drugs during the period he was in Lothian's house was part of the evidentiary foundation relied on to support an inference of control. That is also manifest in the following direction:
The State relies on a number of facts which it says the evidence has proved. They include the arrival of the accused at [Lothian's house] at 3.20 pm and the fact that he was inside those premises for about 37 minutes, during which time, the State says, you can infer from the evidence that he was involved in dealing with the intended drugs.
The State relies upon the surveillance operative's observations as to who came and went when. The State relies upon the listening device product, the audio and the content of the conversations between the two males on that evidence.
The State relies upon the position of the various items inside [Lothian's house] a minute or so after the accused had left the premises when the police arrived, and the State says to you that you can infer from all of the evidence what in fact was happening inside [Lothian's house] during the relevant time.
The State also relies upon the fact that two pairs of pink gloves were located by the police on entry on the kitchen bench, and one of those contained DNA from the accused. The State also relies upon the mobile phone evidence and the evidence of surveillance operative 329, who gave evidence that based on his observation at the time he thought that the accused appeared to make a telephone call in the park shortly after he left [Lothian's house] at 3.47 pm.
The State relies upon the fact that BlackBerry charger was located on the kitchen bench in the home of the accused at 71 Kintail Road, Applecross but that no phone was recovered in the investigations in the various places, and that charger did not fit other phones at 71 Kintail Road.
The State also relies upon the evidence that a white BlackBerry phone was located in the tool room at [Lothian's house], and you heard the evidence ... that it has a code lock on it and could not be downloaded (ts 1058 - 1059).
25 The trial judge then directed the jury on the various communications from the 731 number to the telephones of Ms Tilbrook and Mr Tassone (ts 1060) and identified the intermediate inferences in the State case, being that Mr Lothian waited until the appellant was inside the house before the cardboard box was opened, that the appellant had tested the intended drugs by using the pipe and that the appellant was involved in cutting the intended drugs (ts 1061). Thus, the trial judge directed the jury's attention to all the relevant facts and circumstances falling within what are, in effect, umbrella expressions for the purpose of determining whether the appellant was in possession of the intended drugs in Lothian's house.
26 The State case was confined to proving that the appellant was in control of all the intended drugs. It was no part of its case that the appellant was in physical custody of that part of the intended drugs he sampled or tested.
27 Moreover, it was no part of the defence case in opening (or thereafter) that the appellant's conduct in going to Lothian's house and his activities therein were consistent with an intention to purchase a small quantity of methylamphetamine for his own use, subject to satisfying himself (by testing or sampling) as to its quality. The background compels the conclusion that this was a considered and justifiable forensic decision. In his first trial, the appellant gave evidence that he went to Lothian's house for the purpose of purchasing drugs for his personal use and gave an innocent explanation for requesting a pipe. The evidence adduced by the State against the appellant at his first trial went beyond the evidence adduced at his retrial. A claim that the guilty verdict in the first trial was unsafe and unsatisfactory was dismissed: Kalbasi v The State of Western Australia [2013] WASCA 241.
28 The only hook relied on by the appellant on which to hang his claim in the appeal that an intention to purchase drugs for personal use, subject to a quality check by smoking a small amount, was a live issue at the retrial is a reference in defence counsel's closing address to the purchase of a Nissan car (ts 25). However, the purpose and effect of the analogy was directed to the point that a person does not 'control' a thing just by being present and looking at it. The only live issue between the parties at the retrial was whether the appellant was in control of the whole of the intended drugs.
29 Ground 2 as formulated is without merit. Moreover, the use of the umbrella expressions occasioned no relevant prejudice to the defence case that Mr Lothian was the owner and in sole possession of the intended drugs. Insofar as the alleged flow-on effects are in reality stand-alone complaints, they do not give rise to an error of law or miscarriage of justice.
30 As noted earlier, once the jury found that the appellant was in possession of the intended drugs, a finding that he was in possession with an intention to sell or supply to another was, having regard to the very large quantity of high purity drugs, inevitable. I am satisfied that the jury verdict of guilty is correct, that the s 11 error and the appellant's concession could and should have no effect on the verdict and that the retrial was fair in all respects. Accordingly, there has been no substantial miscarriage of justice.
31 The appellant claims the trial judge erred in permitting evidence of telephone contact between the 731 number and Mr Tassone whilst not permitting cross-examination on matters which flowed from it. In particular, it is contended the trial judge erred in not permitting defence counsel to question Detective Shanahan on the following: (1) why Mr Tassone had not been charged with an offence; (2) why no effort was made by police to interview him about his receipt of a call from the 731 number; and (3) the nature of his relationship with the appellant. At the hearing of the appeal, senior counsel for the appellant did not press claims (1) and (3). They are without merit.
32 The factual background is that Mr Tassone (and a number of others) collected the appellant from Hakea Prison on 18 November 2014. Mr Tassone also went with the appellant to his Applecross home and was present when it was searched by police on that day. Mr Tassone's phone was seized and was returned to him the next day (ts 933).
33 On 9 November 2010 Mr Tassone's telephone received an incoming call from the 731 number that went for 50 seconds (ts 937). Further, the telephone of the appellant's wife showed an SMS message from Mr Tassone on 17 November 2010.
34 The timing and frequency of telephone communications between the 731 number and Ms Tilbrook's mobile telephone, which was used by Mr Lothian, together with the nomination of the 731 number on the consignment note implicates the person using the 731 number in the consignment of the prohibited drugs from Sydney to Perth.
35 The evidence of the contact between the 731 number and Mr Tassone was relied on to connect the appellant to the prohibited drugs in the cardboard box. The defence position at trial was that to the extent the evidence had any probative value, the failure of the police to investigate Mr Tassone or take a statement from him would have put paid to any reliance on the evidence, which would become a neutral fact (ts 925). It was no part of the appellant's case that the police investigation was deficient in any respect. Evidence that there was no investigation or statement could not establish an innocent connection between the 731 number, Mr Tassone and the appellant (ts 922, 924). Further, it would not neutralise the evidence relating to the call from the 731 number to Mr Tassone. The probative value of that evidence derives from the broader context. There was evidence that the appellant was seen using a mobile telephone very shortly after leaving Lothian's house, although none was found. A missing BlackBerry from the appellant's home was not accounted for. There was a delay in searching the appellant's home because he had informed police that he lived at an address in East Perth. Mr Lothian's white mobile telephone, which he was seen using at the freight company's Kewdale premises, had a PIN lock and could not be downloaded. There was evidence in the listening device product that Mr Lothian had sent a text message to the appellant from the freight company premises on 16 November 2010. The extent to which the appellant and Mr Lothian protected their communications is consistent with the appellant receiving communications through an intermediary. The intermediary could be an innocent agent.
36 The fact that the 731 number had contacted Mr Tassone is relevant and admissible contextual evidence in the circumstantial case against the appellant. On the other hand, whether or not police had investigated Mr Tassone or taken a statement from him is not relevant. Even if police had decided not to do so, the jury would be left to speculate about what informed that (inadmissible) evaluative assessment.
37 The appellant claims the trial judge erred in disallowing cross-examination of Detective Shanahan as to his knowledge of the appellant's bakery in Fremantle.
38 Defence counsel explained to the trial judge that he wanted to ask Detective Shanahan whether the appellant was heading generally in the direction of Fremantle when he left Lothian's house. The purpose of that evidence was not to contradict the State's contention relating to the 'flight evidence' based on the appellant's conduct in the park. Rather, it was directed to the State's contention that the appellant left Lothian's house because he had ascertained that the substance he smoked was not methylamphetamine.
39 Senior counsel for the appellant accepted, as is the case, that any error by the trial judge in disallowing cross-examination on this issue was of a trivial kind. It is incapable of giving rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice. Ground 4 should be dismissed.
40 Proposed ground 2 has no reasonable prospect of succeeding. It is in the following terms:
The court erred in failing to address itself, in sentencing, to the factors relevant to the fixing of the parole eligibility order (and non-parole period) it imposed under s 89 of the Sentencing Act; accordingly, the sentencing discretion miscarried in relation to the fixing of the overall sentence and the parole term imposed.
41 The issue is one of statutory construction. The appellant's submissions focus on s 89 and s 93, both of which are in pt 13 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) (the Sentencing Act). The appellant asserts, without any supporting analysis, that the introduction of those sections by the Sentencing Legislative Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 (WA) (the Amendment Act) altered the law in this State. I do not accept the assertion.
42 Central to the appellant's construction submission are the following steps. First, before fixing the term of imprisonment under s 89(1), the court must determine whether to make a parole eligibility order. Second, a court acting under s 89(1) is determining and fixing the appropriate length of the non-parole period. Third, the factors relevant to fixing the length of the non-parole period are the same factors applicable to the setting of a minimum term in the statutory framework considered in Power v The Queen [1974] HCA 26; (1974) 131 CLR 623, 627 and Bugmy v The Queen [1990] HCA 18; (1990) 169 CLR 525. Those principles are currently only applied in the determination of the non-parole period when an offender is sentenced to life imprisonment, which is not a 'fixed term' to which s 89 applies: Lam v The Queen [2014] WASCA 114 [42] - [48].
43 The appellant's construction argument fails at each step. The statutory penalties in, or relating to, the relevant offence creating provision, s 148 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2004 (WA) and s 39(2)(h) of the Sentencing Act are the source of the court's power to impose a term of immediate imprisonment, which power is regulated by pt 13. The term 'head sentence' is to be avoided in this context because it has a particular meaning under s 9AA of the Sentencing Act.
44 Section 89 is the source of the power to make a parole eligibility order, not the source of the power to sentence an offender to immediate imprisonment. That was also the case under the version of s 89 of the Sentencing Act as it was prior to the Amendment Act.
45 The existence of a parole eligibility order made under s 89(1) is the factum that enlivens the application of s 93 of the Sentencing Act which governs the release from imprisonment of a person on parole. Section 93 only applies to a prisoner serving a 'parole term', which is defined in s 85 as a term to which a parole eligibility order applies. Section 93(1) relevantly provides that a person serving a parole term is eligible to be released on parole -
(a) if the term served is 4 years or less - when he or she has served one half of the term; or
(b) if the term served is more than 4 years - when he or she has served 2 years less than the term.
46 Section 93(1) makes it unequivocally clear that the court has no role in determining the period that a prisoner has to serve before he or she is eligible to be released on parole. That period is the 'non-parole period', as that term is defined in the Sentence Administration Act 2003 (WA) (the
Administration Act). The history and purpose of this legislative framework is discussed in Lam [36] - [39]. The court has had no role in determining the non-parole period (minimum term) before and after the commencement of the Sentencing Act and the Amendment Act. Moreover, whether or not an offender will be released on parole is a matter solely within the power of the Prisoners Review Board under the Administration Act, s 19. It is always an unknown at the time of sentencing.
47 To suggest, as the appellant does, that a sentencing judge is required or permitted to ameliorate the effect of s 93(1)(b) by reducing the otherwise appropriate sentence is fanciful. It is inconsistent with the scheme in s 6 - s 8, s 39, s 89 and s 93 of the Sentencing Act and would subvert the obvious legislative intention and purpose.
48 In summary, each step in the appellant's construction argument is inconsistent with the text, context and purpose of the sentencing and parole provisions of the Sentencing Act and the wider statutory context. Steps 2 and 3 of the appellant's construction submission are also inconsistent with authority: Lam; Kirby v The Queen [2003] WASCA 239 [26]; The State of Western Australia v BLM [2009] WASCA 88 [22]. The appellant's construction must also fail even if s 89(1) is the source of the power to impose a term of imprisonment. The rejection of the appellant's construction does not depend upon, or require, a conclusion that a sentencing judge must first determine the length of the fixed term before determining whether to order eligibility for parole. Such a prescription introduces inappropriate formalism and rigidity that is not sourced in the Sentencing Act.
49 MAZZA & MITCHELL JJA: The appellant stood trial in the District Court before Stevenson DCJ and a jury on one count of attempting to possess a prohibited drug, namely methylamphetamine, with intent to sell or supply it to another, contrary to s 6(1)(a) and s 33(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA) (MDA). On 26 September 2014, the jury returned a verdict of guilty (ts 1085). On 1 October 2014, the appellant was sentenced to 14 years 6 months' imprisonment with eligibility for parole, backdated to commence on 17 March 2013 (ts 1159).
50 The appellant now appeals to this court against his conviction and sentence. In his appeal against conviction, he has applied to adduce additional evidence with respect to ground 1. The proposed additional evidence comes from senior and junior counsel who appeared for the appellant at trial. The State did not object to the admission of this
evidence (appeal ts 3). The application to adduce additional evidence should be granted.
51 The trial before Stevenson DCJ and a jury was a retrial. The appellant had been convicted at an earlier trial, but that conviction was quashed by this court in Kalbasi v The State of Western Australia [2013] WASCA 241. At the earlier trial, the appellant gave evidence. At the retrial, he did not give or adduce any evidence.
The State's case Facts of the offending
52 The primary facts established by the evidence were largely uncontested.
53 On 12 November 2010, New South Wales police, at the request of their Western Australian counterparts, obtained and then executed a search warrant at the premises of General Carrying Pty Ltd (General Carrying) in Sydney. New South Wales police were shown a cardboard box for consignment to Western Australia. According to the consignment note, dated 12 November 2010, the sender was 'Brendan Victor'. Written on the note was an instruction on receipt to call 'James Walker' on a specified mobile telephone number which ended with 731 (the 731 number) for pickup (exhibit 2). Detective Max Kral, of the New South Wales police, opened the cardboard box. Inside were two padlocked solid plastic toolboxes, each of which contained five heat-sealed plastic bags of what turned out to be methylamphetamine. Each of the 10 bags weighed approximately 500 g. Later analysis revealed that the total amount of methylamphetamine in the bags was 4.981 kg with a purity of 84% (exhibit 6).
54 On 14 November 2010, Detective Kral brought the cardboard box, without the methylamphetamine, to Perth. On 15 November 2010, its contents were replaced with rock salt, and the packages and cardboard box were 'reconstructed' (exhibit 7). Police placed a listening device inside the cardboard box. At this time, police did not know the identity of the person(s) due to receive the cardboard box and its contents.
55 Later on 15 November 2010, Detective Michael Hill went to the Kewdale premises of General Carrying. There, he observed a man named Matthew David Lothian attempt to pick up the cardboard box. Mr Lothian was sent away empty-handed and told to return the following day (ts 710). Mr Lothian was then kept under surveillance by undercover police officers until 9.45 pm that day (ts 763, 773). He was seen attending an address in Falstaff Crescent, Spearwood (Falstaff Crescent). Mr Lothian was observed making two calls from a public telephone box.
56 On 16 November 2010, Detective Hill brought the reconstructed cardboard box to General Carrying and gave it to the manager, Mr Robert Downing (ts 710). By this time, Mr Lothian was subject to constant undercover police surveillance. Mr Lothian was observed by undercover officers driving by car (a Toyota Prius) towards Kewdale. On the way, the vehicle ran out of fuel. Mr Lothian took a taxi to General Carrying, arriving at 2.15 pm. At about 2.18 pm, he was seen using a mobile telephone. Mr Lothian was seen collecting the cardboard box and placing it in the rear of the taxi. At 2.20 pm, the taxi drove off with Mr Lothian in the front passenger seat (ts 727). The taxi then drove to a petrol station where Mr Lothian purchased a jerry can of fuel. The taxi dropped Mr Lothian off at his car at about 2.38 pm (ts 729 - 730).
57 After Mr Lothian refuelled his car, he took the cardboard box from the taxi, put it in the boot of his car and drove to Falstaff Crescent, arriving there at about 3.09 pm. He was seen by undercover police officers carrying the cardboard box inside the house at about 3.16 pm (ts 738).
58 Less than 5 minutes later, at about 3.20 pm, the appellant arrived by bicycle at Falstaff Crescent (ts 738).
59 At 3.36 pm, Mr Lothian was seen leaving the house and going to his car for a short time and then returning (ts 744 - 745). At 3.38 pm, Mr Lothian's girlfriend, Ms Venetia Tilbrook, was seen leaving the house (ts 744). Mr Lothian was also seen temporarily leaving the house at about this time.
60 At about 3.57 pm, the appellant was observed leaving Falstaff Crescent, getting onto his bicycle and riding away into a large park opposite the house (ts 744). A surveillance operative observed him to appear to make a mobile telephone call (ts 764).
The listening device product recording (exhibit 31)
61 The recording of the sounds picked up by the listening device secreted inside the cardboard box is of poor quality. There is a difference between the time shown on the recording and the actual time of approximately four minutes. What we have distinctly heard is the following:
(a) Sounds consistent with the cardboard box being opened and the locks on the toolbox being cut.
(b) The sounds of three voices - two males (the appellant and Mr Lothian) and one female (Ms Tilbrook).
(c) The female voice (Ms Tilbrook) saying 'I'll be back', to which a male voice (Mr Lothian) replies 'See you later'.
(d) One of the males (the appellant) refers to the other as 'Matty'.
(e) At one point, the following conversation took place between the two males:
MR LOTHIAN: [indistinct] when I first text ya, yeah, from there, mate, anyway, everything went to shit (laugh).
THE APPELLANT: What?
MR LOTHIAN: [indistinct] my [indistinct] fucking [indistinct] let me down. Lucky mate, on the way back coz I knew I was getting low on fuel, I fucking pulled into a servo. I stopped like about 50 metres before the servo, I ran out of fuel. I was like 'fuck me'. No warning light, nothing.
(f) At about 3.40 pm, the following conversation between the two males is heard:
THE APPELLANT: Matty.
MR LOTHIAN: Yo.
THE APPELLANT: You got a pipe?
MR LOTHIAN: A what?
THE APPELLANT: A pipe.
MR LOTHIAN: Yeah.
(g) Approximately 10 minutes later, the appellant says 'Don't move. I'll come back', and shortly after, a door is heard to close.
62 On 16 November 2010, Detectives Peter Shanahan and James Ferrie were sitting in an unmarked police vehicle near Falstaff Crescent. Upon being advised that the appellant had left Falstaff Crescent and was riding across the park, they pursued him in their vehicle. Detective Shanahan testified that the appellant looked in his direction and stopped pedalling for a second, but continued to ride away (ts 908). Detective Ferrie shouted out of the vehicle window 'Police, stop', but the appellant did not do so. As police got closer to the appellant, Detective Ferrie again yelled 'Police, stop'. At this point, the appellant fell off his bicycle (ts 783 - 784, 909). The police vehicle then collided with the bicycle. Detective Ferrie said that he got out of the vehicle and yelled at the appellant for the third time 'Police, stop'. The appellant ran off, but he was pursued on foot by both officers. Eventually, the appellant stopped running and he was apprehended (ts 784, 909). The State relied upon the appellant's flight as evidence of consciousness of guilt.
Execution of the search warrant at the Falstaff Crescent premises
63 Meanwhile, at 4 pm, other police officers entered the Falstaff Crescent premises. Mr Lothian was the only person inside. Police video recorded their search (exhibit 15). The video shows that the living room and kitchen were small in area and in very close proximity. It was possible to see from the living room into the kitchen and vice versa (see floor plan, exhibit 20). The opened cardboard box that had been collected from General Carrying was found in the lounge area, and the open tool cases were in the adjacent kitchen area. One of the bags of rock salt, plastic clipseal bags and two broken padlocks were found in a beer carton that was being used as a makeshift bin (exhibit 26). The other nine bags of rock salt were found on the bottom shelf of a kitchen cupboard. The plastic outer wrapping of the 10 bags of rock salt was found in the kitchen sink. On the kitchen sink were four clean bowls, at least three of which may fairly be described as mixing bowls, three sets of digital scales, a box of disposable gloves and two pairs of what appear to have been used disposable gloves (exhibit 23). Bolt cutters were also found in the kitchen.
64 The two pairs of disposable gloves were close to each other and, in the case of one pair, one glove was inside the other. A third pair of disposable gloves was found on a table in the hallway. A substance commonly used to cut methylamphetamine, MSM, was found in a baking dish on the stove. A white BlackBerry mobile telephone was found in a room used to store tools. This mobile telephone had a PIN lock on it and the information in it could not be downloaded (ts 890). Mr Lothian had been seen using what appeared to be a white mobile telephone at the premises of General Carrying. Quantities of methylamphetamine said only to belong to Mr Lothian were found in the kitchen and in the bedroom drawer (exhibit 47; ts 919).
65 Documents found at Falstaff Crescent revealed that Mr Lothian had flown from Perth to Sydney on 11 November 2010 (ts 812). The relevant boarding pass was in the name of 'Lathian'. It is not known when Mr Lothian returned to Perth, but, plainly, he did so no later than 15 November 2010.
66 Dr Annette Broome, a forensic scientist employed by PathWest and a DNA expert, testified for the State. Her evidence was directed to the three pairs of disposable gloves found at Falstaff Crescent.
67 With respect to the single pair found on a table in the passage (GFE 17; exhibit 27.1 - 27.3; ts 830 - 831), a mixed DNA profile matching Mr Lothian and Ms Tilbrook was detected on both gloves. The appellant was excluded as a contributor to those mixed profiles (ts 991 - 994).
68 The two pairs found in the kitchen were marked GFE 16 and GFE 18 (exhibits 28.1 - 28.7, 29.1 - 29.4, and 30.1 - 30.2; ts 839 - 841). In relation to GFE 16, on the inside of glove A, a mixed DNA profile was detected. Mr Lothian and Ms Tilbrook were excluded as contributors. A DNA profile consistent with the appellant was detected. Statistical analysis revealed that it was 'approximately greater than 100 billion times more likely' that the appellant was the contributor to that profile than not (ts 997). On the inside of glove B, a mixed DNA profile was detected. Ms Tilbrook could not be excluded as a contributor to that profile. The analysis was inconclusive with respect to Mr Lothian. The appellant was not excluded as a contributor, with the same statistical outcome as the profile to which we have just referred with respect to glove A (ts 998). With respect to the outside of glove B, a mixed DNA profile was found, but the number of contributors could not be determined (ts 998).
69 In relation to GFE 18, it is sufficient to note that DNA profiles which matched Mr Lothian and Ms Tilbrook were detected. The appellant was excluded as a contributor (ts 995 - 996).
70 In examination-in-chief, Dr Broome was asked about secondary transfer of DNA. She explained that secondary transfer involves the transfer of DNA via an intermediary (ts 998). She went on to say:
So secondary transfer as in via an intermediate [sic]. It's a very complex subject, secondary transfer. There is a lot of information, often conflicting, in the literature about the possibility of occurrence and the amount of DNA that could be transferred. There are also a lot of - what's the word - a lot of conditions that could affect the amount of DNA that was transferred from primary substrate to secondary substrate. So I suppose what I'm trying to say is it's a very complex subject, and I can say that secondary transfer is possible under certain conditions, but I can't say if it occurred in a particular case and I can't say how likely it would be to occur under a particular scenario (ts 999).
71 In cross-examination, Dr Broome agreed that DNA may be transferred onto disposable gloves other than through wear. She accepted that secondary transfer could occur via shaking hands or touching a doorknob (ts 1001).
Execution of the search warrant at the East Perth premises
72 When the appellant was questioned in the park on 16 November 2010, he indicated that he lived at an address in East Perth. Police executed a search warrant at those premises. Despite the appellant insisting that this was where he lived, when police took him to the address, the appellant had to call somebody to let him in and identification belonging to other men was found in each bedroom.
Execution of the search warrant at the Kintail Road premises
73 On 18 November 2010, Mr Peter Tassone picked the appellant up from Hakea Prison when the appellant was released from custody on bail and took him to Kintail Road. Late in the afternoon on that day, police executed a search warrant at the appellant's usual place of residence in Kintail Road, Applecross (Kintail Road). This search was video recorded (exhibit 48). Present at the house were the appellant, a woman believed to be his wife and Mr Tassone.
74 A number of items were seized by police, including various mobile telephones, a BlackBerry telephone charger and some travel documents. Although the BlackBerry telephone charger was found on a kitchen bench next to a power point, no BlackBerry telephone was found in the house. The travel documents and other evidence adduced at trial revealed that the appellant flew from Perth to Sydney on 3 November 2010 and returned to Perth on 13 November 2010 (exhibit 58; ts 938 - 939).
Examination of mobile telephones seized by police
75 Police examined mobile telephones seized from Ms Tilbrook and from the appellant's premises in Kintail Road.
76 Three calls from the 731 number (said to belong to 'James Walker' on the consignment note) were found on Ms Tilbrook's telephone; two on 10 November 2010 and one on 17 November 2010. There was evidence that Mr Lothian used Ms Tilbrook's telephone.
77 There was a record on Mr Tassone's mobile telephone of an incoming call on 9 November 2010 from the 731 number. There was communication by text on 17 November 2010 between Mr Tassone's mobile telephone and the appellant's wife's telephone (ts 936). The contact details of the appellant and his wife's mobile telephone were stored on Mr Tassone's telephone (ts 935).
Evidence of Detective Senior Constable Bradley Marron
78 Detective Senior Constable Marron gave expert evidence as to the nature of methylamphetamine, its purity and how that purity is diluted by the use of such cutting agents as MSM, the manner it is used and sold and its value in November 2010. He testified that methylamphetamine with a purity of approximately 75% to 80% 'would indicate that that's from the point of manufacture' (ts 1007). He said the average purity of methylamphetamine seized between October and December 2010 was 40%. A table of methylamphetamine prices was tendered in evidence (exhibit 60; ts 1011). This shows that 4.981 kg of methylamphetamine was a highly valuable commodity. For example, if sold by the kilogram, it was valued at between $597,720 and $1,743,350; by the ounce (28 g), at between $1,867,875 and $2,668,392; and by the gram, at between $2,490,500 and $4,981,000.
79 The State charged the appellant with an attempt because the methylamphetamine which had originally been in the cardboard box was substituted with an inert substance.
80 The prosecutor said that the real issue for the jury to decide was whether the appellant knowingly attempted to possess what he thought was the methylamphetamine in the cardboard box (ts 684). The State's case was that the methylamphetamine sent from New South Wales was destined for an individual or a group of individuals. In other words, the State's case was that the appellant was either the sole possessor of the substance thought to be methylamphetamine or was in joint possession of it with, at least, Mr Lothian.
81 The appellant was represented at trial by competent and very experienced senior and junior counsel. Essentially, the appellant, as is his right, put the State to its proof. In his opening address to the jury, Mr Morrissey QC told the jury that the appellant's defence was that 'he wasn't in control' of the contents of the cardboard box; that is, he did not possess it either himself or jointly with others (ts 685).
The issue of intention to sell or supply to another
82 Neither the prosecutor nor defence counsel made any reference to the element of intention in their opening addresses. Later in the trial, after the parties had closed their cases and when the learned trial judge raised, in the absence of the jury, his intended directions, defence counsel conceded that if the appellant was found to be in possession '... the inference would be that he's in possession of it, intending to sell or supply the prohibited drug, given the volume' (ts 1026). This concession was entirely understandable on the facts of the case and is consistent with an understanding that the case against the appellant concerned his alleged possession of the nearly 5 kg of the 'drug' in the cardboard box. His Honour inquired of defence counsel as to whether he was 'comfortable' with a direction to the effect that 'there's no contest about [intention] because [the appellant] doesn't seek to prove otherwise, given the deeming provision [an obvious reference to s 11 of the MDA]'. Defence counsel answered 'Yes, that's correct, your Honour' (ts 1026). The prosecutor took no exception to this.
83 A reading of the transcript of the closing addresses bears out that the real issue in the case was whether the appellant was in possession of the 'drug' in the cardboard box, namely, 4.981 kg of what was thought to be methylamphetamine. Defence counsel did not seriously contend that the appellant had no knowledge of the drug. The real issue was whether he exercised control of it jointly with Mr Lothian.
84 Before turning to the grounds of appeal against conviction, it is convenient to describe the relevant law in respect of the offence of attempted possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another.
85 Section 33(1) of the MDA states:
(1) A person who attempts to commit an offence (the principal offence) commits -
(a) if the principal offence is a crime, the crime; or
(b) if the principal offence is a simple offence, the simple offence,
and is liable on conviction to the same penalty to which a person who commits the principal offence is liable.
86 The 'principal offence' in this case is an offence contrary to s 6(1) of the MDA, which reads:
(a) with intent to sell or supply it to another, has in his possession ...
(b) ...
(c) ...
a prohibited drug commits a crime, except when he is authorised by or under this Act or by or under the Poisons Act 1964 to do so and does so in accordance with that authority.
87 Methylamphetamine is 'a prohibited drug' as defined in the MDA.
88 Section 3(1) of the MDA defines the term 'to possess' in these terms:
to possess includes to control or have dominion over, and to have the order or disposition of, and inflections and derivatives of the verb 'to possess' have correlative meanings;
89 Section 11(a) of the MDA reads:
For the purposes of -
(a) section 6(1)(a), a person shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to have in his possession a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another if he has in his possession a quantity of the prohibited drug which is not less than the quantity specified in Schedule V in relation to the prohibited drug; or
(b) ...
90 Schedule V to the MDA, read with s 11(a), specifies that 2 g of methylamphetamine gives rise to the presumption of intention to sell or supply.
91 A person may possess a prohibited drug by having actual physical custody of it or by having control or dominion over it.
92 In order to possess a prohibited drug it is necessary that the accused has knowledge of that drug, being 'knowledge ... that he or she had possession of a prohibited drug of some kind, even though that person did not know what prohibited drug he or she possessed'. Knowledge is established 'if there is proof of a belief by the accused in the likelihood (in the sense that there was a significant or real chance) that he or she had a prohibited drug in his or her physical possession or otherwise in his or her control or under his or her dominion': The State of Western Australia v R [2007] WASCA 72; (2007) 33 WAR 483 [50], [67]. The State does not have to prove that the accused has knowledge that the prohibited drug in his or her physical custody or control or dominion is, as a matter of law, a prohibited drug: Sgarlata v The State of Western Australia [2015] WASCA 215; (2015) 49 WAR 176. The State must prove that the accused had an intention to possess the prohibited drug: Davis v The Queen (1990) 5 WAR 269; (1990) 50 A Crim R 55, but cf Davies v The State of Western Australia [2006] WASCA 151. The elements of knowledge and control must coincide: Lai v The Queen [1990] WAR 151; (1989) 42 A Crim R 460 and Cumming v The Queen (1995) 86 A Crim R 156, 162 - 163.
93 We will deal with the grounds in numerical order.
94 Leave to appeal has been granted on grounds 2, 4 and 5. The question of leave to appeal on proposed grounds 1, 3 and 6 was referred to the hearing of the appeal (white AB 4).
Proposed ground 1 - alleged misdirection as to intention
The learned trial judge erred in his directions regarding intention.
Particulars
96 The ground is conceded by the State which, in turn, seeks to rely on the proviso in s 30(4) of the Criminal Appeals Act 2004 (WA). Although this court is not bound by the State's concession, it should be accepted.
97 The prosecutor, defence counsel and the trial judge all shared the misapprehension that the deeming provision in s 11(a) of the MDA applied to an offence of attempted possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another. This is borne out by the exchange between his Honour and defence counsel to which we earlier referred at [82] and by the directions given in the summing up. Those directions were as follows:
I'm now going to deal with the fourth element upon the jury aid, that the [appellant] intended to sell or supply the prohibited drug or any part of it to another. Members of the jury, you can give that element a tick. It is not an issue for you in this trial.
Very briefly, the law is that if you are found in possession of more than 2 g of methylamphetamine then you are presumed to be in possession with intent to sell or supply it to another and the onus is on you to remove that presumption.
There is no issue in this trial about the fourth element and as I've said it will not delay your deliberations. You must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt about the fourth element. You do not need to concern yourself with where the drugs might have gone, how they might have got there, when they might have been moved or whatever. It's simply not relevant to your deliberations for the purpose of this trial. The fourth element is proof beyond reasonable doubt and you should give it a tick (ts 1057 - 1058).
98 These directions were erroneous as to the applicability of the presumption in s 11(a) of the MDA. The presumption in s 11(a) does not apply to an alleged attempt to possess a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply it to another: see Krakouer v The Queen [1998] HCA 43; (1998) 194 CLR 202 and Do v The State of Western Australia [2014] WASCA 218 [28].
99 We would grant leave to appeal on proposed ground 1 and uphold the ground. We will consider the question of the proviso later in these reasons.
Ground 2 - alleged misdirection as to possession
The learned trial judge erred in his directions regarding possession.
Particulars
101 The appellant submitted that the oral directions given to the jury in relation to the element of possession were, at times, correct. However, he contended that error arose in his Honour's 'repeated use' of expressions such as being 'involved with', 'having done something', 'doing something with' or 'dealing with the intended drugs in some way' as synonyms for possession or control (white AB 10, par 20). The appellant submitted that the use of such expressions interchangeably was apt to mislead because there are various ways in which a person can deal with a drug which are, themselves, insufficient to establish possession or control. As to the effect of this alleged misdirection, the appellant submitted that:
(a) The 'mischief' in the learned trial judge's directions must be viewed in the context that his Honour 'diluted' the submission made on the appellant's behalf to the jury that Mr Lothian was the owner of the drug to the exclusion of the appellant when his Honour directed the jury that the State did not need to prove who owned the drug.
(b) The effect of the alleged misdirection was 'compounded' by his Honour's further directions that the State did not have to prove what the appellant had in his mind before he got to Falstaff Crescent, or that the appellant put the nine unopened bags of 'methylamphetamine' in the kitchen cupboard at Falstaff Crescent.
102 As we understand the appellant's submissions, it is alleged that the overall effect of his Honour's directions on possession, in context, pitched the State case on possession too low, with the consequence that the jury may have found that the element of possession had been established on an insufficient legal basis.
103 The State submitted that the effect of his Honour's directions on possession, when viewed as a whole, is that the jury was correctly instructed on the meaning of the term 'to possess' in the MDA.
104 His Honour gave detailed oral directions as to the element of possession (ts 1052 - 1057). These directions were accompanied by a written jury aid. The appellant takes no issue with this course or with the content of the jury aid.
105 The learned trial judge commenced the direction by reading to the jury the statutory definition of the term 'to possess' in the MDA (ts 1052). His Honour then proceeded to instruct the jury as to the meaning of the word 'possession'. In this regard, he correctly told the jury that the State must prove beyond reasonable doubt three requirements of possession, being that the appellant had:
(a) knowledge that the thing he was in possession of was a prohibited drug of some kind (ts 1052);
(b) either actual physical custody or control of the substance (ts 1053 - 1054); and
(c) an intention to exercise control or dominion over the substance (ts 1056).
106 As to the first requirement (knowledge), the learned trial judge directed that knowledge could only be proved by inference (ts 1052 - 1053). He told the jury that it was insufficient for the State to simply prove that the appellant suspected that the substance was a prohibited drug (ts 1053). Consistently with what was said in The State of Western Australia v R, his Honour said that the appellant:
[M]ust have knowledge that [the substance] was in fact a prohibited drug or he must have a belief in the likelihood that there was a real chance and significant chance that it was in fact a prohibited drug (ts 1053).
During the course of his direction on this requirement, the learned trial judge twice referred to the substance which was 'in' or 'taken from' 'the cardboard box' and 'dealt with' (ts 1052 - 1053). His Honour directed the jury that the State did not have to prove what the appellant had in his mind before he got to Falstaff Crescent. He did so in the context of explaining to the jury that the issue was whether, when the appellant was inside the premises at Falstaff Crescent, he was in possession, with Mr Lothian, of the 'intended drugs' (ts 1053).
107 As to the second requirement (actual physical custody or control), his Honour gave uncontroversial directions that a person:
(a) does not need to own a prohibited drug to be in possession of it (ts 1054);
(b) may possess a prohibited drug without holding or having physical custody of it - for example, when a person has control or dominion over the object (ts 1054); and
(c) may possess something which is hidden, provided that the person knows where it is hidden and has access to that place (ts 1055).
His Honour told the jury that it was not necessary for the State to prove that the appellant put the nine unopened bags in the kitchen cupboard at Falstaff Crescent (ts 1055). He told the jury that the issue was:
[W]hether or not [the appellant] was in possession of the intended drugs by reason of his control or having done something to them while they were in [Falstaff Crescent] (ts 1055). (emphasis added)
108 The learned trial judge concluded his directions on actual physical custody or control by saying:
Nevertheless, the location of where the drugs are found and the circumstances as they existed at the time are all matters which may be taken into account by you in determining whether or not you can infer that the [appellant] in this case was in possession of the intended drugs ... (ts 1056).
109 His Honour then proceeded to direct the jury on the third requirement (intention to exercise control or dominion over the substance). He said that the appellant's intention must have been 'a present intention existing at the time that he was inside [Falstaff Crescent]' (ts 1057). His Honour explained that this was because the State's case was that he possessed the drug while inside those premises. He then told the jury that awareness of the existence of the 'intended drugs' at Falstaff Crescent, on its own, was insufficient. He continued:
If you are satisfied that the State has as a fact proved beyond reasonable doubt that the [appellant] was involved in dealing with the intended drugs in [Falstaff Crescent] in some way, that will assist you to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he was in possession of the drugs at the relevant time (ts 1057). (emphasis added)
110 His Honour concluded his directions on possession by saying:
So members of the jury, with respect to possession, you must be satisfied that in the way I have described [the appellant] had some control over the drugs in [Falstaff Crescent] at the relevant time even though Mr Lothian may also have had control or possession of the same drugs at the same time.
You must be satisfied that the [appellant] knew that the drugs were in fact prohibited drugs in the way that I have already directed you. You must be satisfied that he did something with respect to those drugs to indicate control over the drugs at the relevant point in time, and you must be satisfied that it was his intention in doing what he did to in fact have control or at least exercise control or dominion over the drugs at that point in time (ts 1057). (emphasis added)
111 After the learned trial judge gave the direction on the element of intention (which has been described in [97] of these reasons), his Honour proceeded to summarise the State's and defence cases (ts 1057 - 1063).
112 During the course of summarising the State's case, his Honour repeated, in substance, the submission made by the prosecutor that it was inconceivable that Mr Lothian would open the cardboard box containing approximately 5 kg of what was thought to be methylamphetamine in the presence of someone 'who was not involved with those drugs' (ts 1061).
113 While summarising the defence case, his Honour said:
[The appellant] says that Mr Lothian was in control of the intended drugs on his own at all times and that even though he was inside Mr Lothian's place at [Falstaff Crescent] for about 37 minutes, he did not exercise any control over those drugs. In other words, he was not involved in doing anything with them (ts 1062). (emphasis added)
114 Defence counsel took no exception to his Honour's directions on possession.
115 As with any jury direction, his Honour's directions on possession in this case must be read as a whole and the expressions used must be viewed in their proper context. While it is true that his Honour used expressions such as 'dealt with' (ts 1052 - 1053), 'or having done something to them' (ts 1055), 'was involved in dealing with the intended drugs' (ts 1057 - 1058, 1060), '[the appellant] did something with respect to those drugs to indicate control' (ts 1057), 'was not involved with those drugs' (ts 1061) and 'was not involved in doing anything with them' (ts 1062) during his directions on possession and in his summing up of the parties' cases, none of these expressions, either individually or in combination, could have reasonably misled the jury.
116 A focus of the State's circumstantial case against the appellant on the element of possession was on what he did in respect of the cardboard box and its contents while he was inside the premises at Falstaff Crescent. The State alleged that he was involved in the opening and unpacking of the cardboard box and its contents. It was also alleged that he sampled the 'drug' to ascertain its quality.
117 It cannot reasonably be expected that these things would be spelt out in terms whenever it was necessary to refer to how it may be that the appellant possessed the 'drug'. In his instructions on possession, his Honour's use of expressions such as 'deal with', 'having done something to them', being 'involved with', etc, were no more than a convenient methods of encapsulating the State's case in a way which could be understood in the context of the manner in which the case was run, and to avoid an unduly repetitive summing up. When his Honour came to summarise the competing cases, the expressions used by him, whether 'involved with' or 'involved in' were appropriate synonyms for possession.
118 His Honour's direction that the State did not have to prove what the appellant had in his mind before he got to Falstaff Crescent was correct and was given in the context of focusing the jury's attention on the State's case, which was that the appellant was in possession of the 'drug' while he was inside the premises at Falstaff Crescent. His Honour did not direct the jury that what the appellant had in his mind before he got to Falstaff Crescent was irrelevant.
119 His Honour's direction that the State did not have to prove who owned the drug was also correct. The direction did not 'dilute' the appellant's submission concerning Mr Lothian's alleged ownership of the 'drug'. The real issue in the trial was not who owned the drug, but whether the appellant possessed it.
120 Although not decisive, it is telling that the appellant's experienced trial counsel - who would have been acutely aware of the importance of the accuracy of the trial judge's directions concerning possession, given that it was the real issue for decision in the case - took no exception to them.
The learned trial judge erred in permitting evidence of telephone contact between the 731 number, Ms Tilbrook and Mr Tassone whilst not permitting cross examination on evidence which flowed from it.
Particulars
123 In oral argument, the focus was on the evidence of Mr Tassone. Senior counsel for the appellant said that 'if the Tassone argument doesn't succeed, well, then, the Tilbrook one isn't going to' (appeal ts 22).
124 It will be recalled from [53], [77] and [76] of these reasons that:
(a) the consignment note on the cardboard box containing the methylamphetamine had an instruction on receipt to telephone 'James Walker' on the 731 number;
(b) Mr Tassone's mobile telephone recorded an incoming call from the 731 number on 9 November 2010; and
(c) several calls from the 731 number were made to Ms Tilbrook's telephone.
125 The evidence of telephone calls from the 731 number to Mr Tassone were relevant to prove a link, albeit indirect, between the appellant and the consignment of the drug. Mr Tassone was an associate of the appellant. He was present when the appellant's house at Kintail Road was searched and he picked up the appellant when he was released from custody on bail. There was also an SMS from Mr Tassone to the appellant's wife on 17 November 2010.
126 It appears that neither Mr Tassone nor Ms Tilbrook were charged in connection with this matter, nor were they called to testify at the appellant's trial.
127 Prior to trial, the appellant objected (unsuccessfully) to evidence the State proposed to lead that he was collected from Hakea Prison after spending two nights on remand. In written submissions prepared on behalf of the appellant in support of the objection, it was expressly conceded that the State could lead evidence without challenge that the 731 number was found in Mr Tassone's telephone and that on 18 November 2010, one of the persons present at the appellant's property in Kintail Road was Mr Tassone (combined blue and green AB 174).
128 On the third day of the trial, the prosecutor objected to foreshadowed cross-examination of Detective Shanahan, to the effect that neither Mr Tassone nor Ms Tilbrook had been charged with any offence arising out of this particular transaction. The learned trial judge refused to permit the cross-examination on the basis that it was irrelevant 'to the issues in this trial' and tended to invite the jury to speculate as to why the two were not charged (ts 902 - 904).
129 Later that day, defence counsel sought a ruling from his Honour as to whether he would be permitted to cross-examine Detective Shanahan regarding why he had not interviewed Mr Tassone or 'pursued his relationship with the [appellant]' (ts 922 - 923). His Honour indicated that he did not regard those matters as relevant (ts 925). In response, defence counsel sought a ruling that 'the Tassone evidence ought to be excluded altogether' (ts 925). His Honour declined to do so because, he said, it was part of the State's circumstantial case (ts 925).
130 The principal submission put on behalf of the appellant was that counsel should have been permitted to cross-examine Detective Shanahan about his failure to investigate Mr Tassone as a means of neutralising one of the strands of evidence which connected the appellant to the consignment. The appellant placed some reliance on R v Greatorex (1994) 74 A Crim R 496 to support this submission. Alternatively, his Honour should not have permitted the evidence with respect to Mr Tassone to be adduced (appeal ts 23 - 25).
131 As we have said, the evidence of telephone contact between the 731 number and the mobile telephones of Mr Tassone and Ms Tilbrook was admissible because it was relevant to show an indirect connection between the consignment and the appellant. In our view, whether Detective Shanahan sought to interview Mr Tassone was of no relevance. It says nothing about the nature or the extent of the connection between Mr Tassone and the appellant; neither does any apparent failure to charge Mr Tassone (or for that matter, Ms Tilbrook). It would not have had the neutralising effect now alleged on behalf of the appellant. Of course, such a line of cross-examination, if pursued, poses obvious risks to the accused, although we note that in the present case, the appellant was apparently prepared to take the risks.
132 In the circumstances of the present case, the proposed cross-examination of Detective Shanahan sought to raise irrelevant matters. The learned trial judge was correct to rule as he did. It follows that there was no proper basis upon which to exclude the evidence.
133 Greatorex does not assist the appellant. In that case, Ms Greatorex was charged with drug offences arising out of the discovery in her garden of a jar which contained heroin, cocaine and cannabis resin. It was alleged that when she was asked by a detective about the jar she said 'It's mine, how did you know it was there?' Later, she denied saying 'It's mine' and denied any knowledge of the jar or its contents. She identified by name another person, apart from herself and her children, who lived in the house. It was also said that another person, DA, had confessed to his wife, JA, that the drug was his (the third party confession). It was said that JA sought to provide police with this information, however by that time, DA had died.
134 At Ms Greatorex's trial, the judge refused to allow defence counsel to cross-examine police about the course of the police investigation and the third party confession. Defence counsel sought to justify the proposed cross-examination on the basis that it impugned the credit of police. The police's credit was particularly important by reason of Ms Greatorex's alleged admission and her subsequent denial of that admission.
135 Simpson J (with whom Abadee J agreed generally on this point (499)) held that the trial judge erred in not permitting the proposed cross-examination because it was relevant to the credit of police, which was a live issue in the case (507).
136 The difference between Greatorex and the present case is that there was no issue in this case as to Detective Shanahan's credit and the proposed cross-examination was not directed to this or any other relevant subject.
137 Leave to appeal on proposed ground 3 should be refused.
Ground 4 - Detective Shanahan's knowledge of the whereabouts of the appellant's bakery
The learned trial judge erred in disallowing cross examination by defence counsel of Detective Shanahan as to his knowledge of the appellant's bakery in Freemantle [sic].
139 A number of witnesses for the State testified as to the appellant's movements after he left Falstaff Crescent. The principal witnesses on this point were Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie.
140 During the course of Detective Shanahan's cross-examination, he was asked whether he was aware that the appellant operated a bakery in Fremantle. Detective Shanahan answered 'Yes' (ts 967). The prosecutor objected to the answer, asserting that it was hearsay and that she was 'not sure of [its] relevance' (ts 967). In the absence of the jury, defence counsel explained that he wished to ask a further question of Detective Shanahan, namely, whether the appellant was 'heading generally in the direction of Fremantle' in order to support the inference that when the appellant left Falstaff Crescent, he was heading in the direction of his business in Fremantle (ts 969).
141 His Honour upheld the prosecutor's objection, commenting that the witness 'can't say that [the appellant] has a business in Fremantle' (ts 970) and, in substance, it was not within Detective Shanahan's knowledge whether the appellant was 'headed towards his workplace or his business' (ts 971).
142 In this court, the appellant's counsel explained that before he was pursued by Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie, the appellant was riding in the direction of his workplace (appeal ts 27). It was, in effect, submitted that if the appellant was riding in the direction of his business in Fremantle, that might contradict the State's contention that he was fleeing from police (appeal ts 27).
143 The State submitted that any knowledge Detective Shanahan had of the appellant's bakery in Fremantle was hearsay, and that his Honour did not err in disallowing the cross-examination proposed by defence counsel.
144 The direction in which the appellant travelled immediately after leaving Falstaff Crescent is trivial. The real issue concerning the appellant's conduct after he left those premises was whether he fled when called upon by police to stop. Even if the appellant was headed in the general direction of Fremantle, where it appears he has a business, it says nothing about whether he possessed the 'drug' the subject of the charge.
145 Technically, his Honour was correct to rule against defence counsel on the basis of hearsay. However, the jury had already heard Detective Shanahan answer 'yes' to the question about the appellant's bakery in Fremantle, and many trial judges would have allowed defence counsel's proposed follow-up question and left it at that. Assuming that his Honour should have allowed defence counsel to ask the follow-up question, it is difficult to see how the refusal to do so has occasioned a miscarriage of justice given the trivial nature of the issue. We would dismiss ground 4.
146 However, if we are wrong, there has not been as substantial miscarriage of justice. We would invoke the proviso pursuant to s 30(4) of the Criminal Appeals Act. We deal with the question of the proviso later in these reasons.
Ground 5 - directions on the appellant's consciousness of guilt
The learned trial judge erred in his directions regarding consciousness of guilt.
Particulars
148 As mentioned earlier, the State relied upon the appellant's alleged flight from Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie as evidence of consciousness of guilt.
149 The evidence of Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie about their pursuit of the appellant in the park was inconsistent in some respects. For example:
(a) Detective Ferrie said that their chase of the appellant after he and Detective Shanahan got out of their unmarked police vehicle went for 30 - 40 m (ts 784), whereas Detective Shanahan said that he thought that it went for about 100 m (ts 909); and
(b) Detective Shanahan said that he did not hear Detective Ferrie call out 'Stop, police' when Detective Ferrie got out of the vehicle.
150 Each was generally consistent in describing how the appellant changed directions while pedalling away from the vehicle, and that after the appellant fell off the bicycle, he ran from police for some distance.
151 At trial, defence counsel submitted that the evidence of Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie was incapable of sustaining an inference of consciousness of guilt. His Honour rejected this submission (ts 792). This ruling was not challenged in this court (appeal ts 30).
152 In his closing address to the jury, defence counsel submitted, in substance, that the evidence did not establish that the appellant had fled from police. It was submitted that the appellant did not initially hear any order to 'stop' while the unmarked vehicle was pursuing him. However, once Detective Ferrie got out of the vehicle and called on the appellant to stop, he did (closing addresses, 25 September 2014, ts 19 - 20).
153 The learned trial judge began his directions on flight by giving an inference direction (ts 1073 - 1074). He then summarised the evidence relevant to flight. Having done so, he said:
At the end of the day it's a matter for you to have regard to the whole of the evidence in relation to what the officers said they called out and the timing of that, and whether or not you are satisfied that the [appellant] appreciated that he was being called upon to stop by police officers (ts 1074 - 1075).
154 His Honour then said this about the flight evidence:
[T]his is part of the evidence you may consider in your deliberations. However, the State says that the evidence, if you accept it, has an extra quality about it, namely that it constitutes in effect an implied admission by the [appellant] of his guilt of the alleged offence with which he has been charged.
In other words, the State says that the flight by the [appellant] is probative of his guilt, and is evidence of his consciousness of his guilt of the alleged offence (ts 1075). (emphasis added)
155 His Honour told the jury that, whether this evidence was capable of leading to an inference of consciousness of the appellant's guilt was a matter for them to decide on 'the whole of the evidence you have heard in this trial' (ts 1075). He repeatedly told the jury that before they could draw the inference that the appellant fled out of a consciousness of guilt of the alleged offence, it must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the inference 'can be drawn' (ts 1075 - 1076).
156 His Honour instructed the jury that they should bear in mind the comments made by defence counsel in relation to this aspect of the evidence (ts 1075). This was clearly a reference to defence counsel's submissions in his closing address on the issue of flight.
[I]n considering whether you should or can draw the inference in the manner contended for by the State, bearing in mind that a person may behave in a way suggestive of a recognition of guilt for reasons other than such recognition of guilt. These might include, for example, the fear of being unjustly accused of the alleged offence.
The consciousness must be a consciousness of guilt of the specific offence alleged and not of some other offence or some other discredible conduct, and you can only use the flight as evidence of a consciousness of guilt by [the appellant] of the offence charged if you are satisfied that its points unequivocally, and as I have said, beyond reasonable doubt to a consciousness of guilt on his part for the offence for which he has been charged.
As mentioned, there may be many reasons for [the appellant's] flight, even after he became aware that he was being pursued by the police. These include the possibility of resultant panic or fear on his part in the circumstances, or as I have mentioned, a wish to escape an unjust accusation, or because of guilt of some other, lesser criminal offence.
So consistently as I have directed you, when you are drawing an inference with respect to this inference, however, you must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt before you draw the inference that it can be drawn in the way that I have indicated to you.
If you are not so satisfied; that is, you're not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, then you would put this issue to one side and you would not need to consider it in your deliberations (ts 1076).
158 Evidence which suggests a consciousness of guilt is admissible as an implied admission against interest: Dodd v The State of Western Australia [2014] WASCA 13; (2014) 238 A Crim R 72 [95] (Buss JA, with whom Newnes JA agreed). In such cases, a judge may give directions which are analogous to those given when lies are relied upon as evidence of consciousness of guilt in accordance with Edwards v The Queen [1993] HCA 63; (1993) 178 CLR 193.
159 In the context of lies requiring an Edwards direction, the direction must ordinarily encompass the following:
(b) the jury must be told that the lie will not be evidence against the accused unless the lie was deliberate;
(c) the jury must be reminded that there are many reasons why people tell lies, apart from the realisation of guilt;
(d) the jury must be told that it cannot use the lie as evidence against the accused if it accepts an explanation for that lie that is consistent with innocence;
(e) the jury must be told that the lie will not be evidence against the accused unless the lie was told out of a consciousness of guilt (that is, the accused knew that the truth would implicate him or her in the offence) and the lie reveals knowledge of the offence charged or some aspect of it; and
(f) the facts, events and circumstances relied upon by the State to indicate that the lie constitutes an admission against interest must be precisely identified: Dodd [98].
160 As McLure P explained in Allami v The State of Western Australia [2013] WASCA 230 [3], post-offence conduct differs from lies in a material respect. Ordinarily, lies are relevant and admissible as evidence going to the credit of the person whose evidence is challenged at trial. It is only in exceptional circumstances that lies are capable of being relevant to a fact in issue (or a fact relevant to a fact in issue) in a criminal trial. By contrast, flight evidence is ordinarily relevant to a fact in issue. The risk in relation to flight evidence is that the jury may accept it as consciousness of guilt without considering whether there are, or may be, other explanations for the conduct.
161 The written submissions in support of ground 5 largely reflect the particulars to the ground. In oral argument, senior counsel for the appellant developed his submissions differently from the written submissions (appeal ts 29). He confirmed that he was content to be confined to his oral submissions on this ground (appeal ts 35). Those submissions turned on two points:
(a) The first point centred on that part of the learned trial judge's directions in which he told the jury that the flight evidence had 'an extra quality'. Senior counsel contended that his Honour's direction to the jury conveyed that the appellant's running away was a piece of circumstantial evidence that could be used against him, but also, that the jury could use that evidence as an implied admission. Senior counsel contended that there was no distinction between these two things, thus the idea of 'an extra quality' was erroneous (appeal ts 33).
(b) The second point senior counsel sought to make was that the directions did not 'adequately bring home' to the jury that they must be satisfied that he fled out of a consciousness of guilt in respect of the offence with which he was charged and not because he was seeking to sample a smaller amount of the drug for his own purposes (appeal ts 36).
162 The directions given by the learned trial judge were legally correct and conformed appropriately with the principles in Edwards. In particular, his Honour made it crystal clear that, before the jury could accept the appellant's flight as evidence of consciousness of guilt, they had to exclude other explanations for that conduct. In fact, the direction was unduly favourable to the appellant because, although the evidence of flight was not an indispensable link in the chain of circumstantial reasoning, his Honour erroneously directed the jury that the evidence of consciousness of guilt could not be relied upon unless the inference was proven beyond reasonable doubt: Allami [81] (Buss JA).
163 We do not accept either of the points made by senior counsel for the appellant in oral argument.
164 Leaving aside the issue of consciousness of guilt, the appellant's actions after he left Falstaff Crescent were relevant. It will be recalled that the appellant was seen by one of the surveillance operatives to apparently make a telephone call while he was in the park. Further, upon his apprehension, he told police that he resided in the apartment in East Perth. However, the flight evidence did, in fact, have an extra quality to it because the State alleged that the jury could infer from it (in combination with other evidence) a consciousness of guilt on the appellant's part. His Honour's direction that the evidence of flight had 'an extra quality' was not erroneous.
165 As to the second point, his Honour directed the jury that the appellant's consciousness of guilt had to be in respect of 'the offence for which [the appellant] has been charged'. In the context of the case, that instruction must have been understood in the context of the appellant attempting to possess almost 5 kg of methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply it to another. There was nothing inadequate about the directions.
166 Given the way this ground was argued, it is not necessary to deal with the written submissions. It is sufficient for us to say that none of the errors alleged in the particulars to ground 5 has any merit.
Proposed ground 6 - evidence of appellant's presence in Sydney
The learned trial judge erred in admitting evidence that the appellant and Mr Lothian were in Sydney on 12 November 2010.
Particulars
169 As we mentioned in [74] of these reasons, travel documents were seized by police which showed that the appellant flew to Sydney on 3 November 2010 and returned to Perth on 13 November 2010. Mr Lothian flew to Sydney from Perth on 11 November 2010. It may be that he, too, was in Sydney on 12 November 2010. The consignment note on the cardboard box was dated 12 November 2010, being the date on which the cardboard box was delivered to General Carrying in Sydney. Detective Shanahan testified that neither the appellant nor Mr Lothian dropped the cardboard box off at General Carrying (ts 960). The appellant's trial counsel objected to the admission of the evidence of the appellant's, but not Mr Lothian's, presence in Sydney. He submitted that the evidence was irrelevant. His Honour allowed the evidence on the basis that it was 'another strand' in the State's circumstantial case against the appellant (ts 609 - 616).
170 In the appellant's written submissions to this court, it was said that the appellant's trial counsel sought to have the evidence excluded in the exercise of his Honour's discretion (white AB 23, par 79). An examination of the relevant transcript does not reveal that the appellant's trial counsel relied upon any argument to the effect that the evidence should be excluded in the exercise of his Honour's discretion. Accordingly, ground 6 is wrongly premised. As his Honour was not asked to exercise his discretion to exclude the evidence, it cannot be said that he erred.
171 Nevertheless, we will treat the ground as alleging a miscarriage of justice was occasioned by reason of the admission of the evidence that the appellant was in Sydney on 12 November 2010. In this court, senior counsel for the appellant submitted that all that the evidence showed was that the appellant was in Sydney and no inference can be drawn that he was there in respect of the drug (appeal ts 37). Senior counsel for the appellant also pointed to the fact that the prosecutor made no reference to the evidence in her closing address and nothing was said about the evidence in the summing up (appeal ts 36).
172 In our opinion, his Honour did not err in admitting the evidence. The State's case on possession required it to demonstrate the appellant's connection with the contents of the cardboard box consigned from Sydney to Perth. It was plainly relevant that the appellant was in Sydney at the time the cardboard box was consigned to Perth. The evidence did not, by itself, show that the appellant had a connection with the contents of the cardboard box, but it had that tendency when considered in combination with other evidence. The essential flaw in the appellant's argument is that the submission focused on the evidence in isolation when it needed to be viewed as part of many facts that comprised the State's circumstantial case.
173 In any event, we can see no reason why his Honour ought to have excluded the evidence on discretionary grounds. The appellant does not clearly articulate the unfair prejudice the evidence allegedly created. Evidence is not prejudicial merely because it strengths the prosecution case. It is prejudicial only when the jury are likely to give the evidence more weight than it deserves or when the nature or content of the evidence may inflame the jury or divert the jurors from their task: Festa v The Queen [2001] HCA 72; (2001) 208 CLR 593 [51]. In our opinion, a jury was unlikely to give the evidence more weight than it deserved. It did not have the capacity to inflame the jury or divert the jurors from their task.
174 The fact that the evidence did not receive much attention from the prosecutor is, perhaps, a matter of good fortune for the appellant. The fact that it was not mentioned in the prosecutor's closing submissions does not, in our view, make it irrelevant.
175 Leave to appeal on proposed ground 6 should be refused.
176 As ground 1 has been made out, the appellant's conviction should be set aside unless the proviso in s 30(4) of the Criminal Appeals Act applies.
177 Section 30(3) of the Criminal Appeals Act provides that this court must allow an appeal against conviction by an offender if in its opinion:
(a) the verdict of guilty on which the conviction is based should be set aside because, having regard to the evidence, it is unreasonable or cannot be supported; or
(b) the conviction should be set aside because of a wrong decision on a question of law by the judge; or
179 The meaning and effect of these sections has been discussed in many cases, but the leading authority on the proviso remains, in our view, Weiss v The Queen [2005] HCA 81; (2005) 224 CLR 300. As this court described in Hughes v The State of Western Australia [2015] WASCA 164; (2015) 299 FLR 197 [61], consideration of the proviso requires consideration of two aspects: outcome and process. Bearing in mind that there is no rigid formula defining the scope of the process aspect, it is recognised that some process errors are of such a nature that the application of the proviso is excluded. In other words, where the process aspect is engaged, the proviso cannot be invoked even if the appellate court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the accused's guilt. The process aspect determined the result in such cases as AK v The State of Western Australia [2008] HCA 8; (2008) 232 CLR 438 (failure to give reasons on an important subject in a trial by judge alone); Gassy v The Queen [2008] HCA 18; (2008) 236 CLR 293 (unbalanced summing up); Cesan v The Queen [2008] HCA 52; (2008) 236 CLR 358 (jury distracted by the judge falling asleep from time to time) and Handlen v The Queen [2011] HCA 51; (2011) 245 CLR 282 (case run on mistaken assumption as to legal basis of liability): see also Zanon v The State of Western Australia [2016] WASCA 91 [164].
180 Where it is necessary to consider the 'outcome' aspect of the proviso, it is useful to repeat what was said in Hughes at [63] - [65]:
Weiss, a case in which prejudicial inadmissible evidence was adduced at trial by the prosecution, is authority for the following propositions which address the 'outcome' aspect of the proviso. First, the appellate court must itself decide whether a substantial miscarriage of justice has occurred. Second, the task of the appellate court is an objective task not materially different from other appellate tasks. It is to be performed with whatever are the advantages and disadvantages of deciding an appeal on the record of the trial; it is not an exercise in speculation or prediction. In particular, the task is not to be undertaken by attempting to predict what a jury, whether the jury at trial or some hypothetical future jury, would or might do. Third, the standard of proof of criminal guilt is beyond reasonable doubt [35], [39].
In particular, the appellate court must make its own independent assessment of the evidence adduced at trial (and any evidentiary material not disclosed) and determine whether, making due allowance for the natural limitations that exist in an appellate court proceeding, the accused was proved beyond reasonable doubt to be guilty of the offence on which the jury returned its verdict of guilty [41].
Generally, the appellate court's task must be undertaken on the whole of the record of the trial, including the fact that the jury returned a guilty verdict. In that event, the issue is whether the error in question would, or at least should, have had no significance in determining the verdict that was returned by the trial jury [43].
181 The State submitted that the proviso should be applied in this case. In substance, it contended that, although there was a misapprehension as to the applicability of s 11 of the MDA to the charge, the appellant's intention was not a live factual issue at trial. The State contended that the case concerned whether or not the State had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant possessed, in the sense that he controlled, the whole of the 4.981 kg of what was thought to be methylamphetamine. If the appellant possessed such a large and valuable quantity of methylamphetamine, it was implausible that he would do so other than for the purpose of selling or supplying it to another.
182 The appellant sought to deal with this argument by submitting that it was suggested at trial - albeit, as senior counsel for the appellant submitted to this court, 'delphically' - that the appellant might have possessed a small quantity of the 'methylamphetamine' purely for the purpose of sampling it with a view to perhaps buying some of it later. In other words, that the appellant possessed a small amount of a drug without the intention to sell or supply it to another (appeal ts 7 - 8). To show this, senior counsel for the appellant referred this court to a part of defence counsel's closing address to the jury in which it was said:
If a person turns up somewhere where something bad is happening, you don't assume that they are bought into it completely. Take it out of criminal context for a second. You go down to your Nissan dealership, go in the door, and you look at the Nissans, and you say, 'Look, there's 10 beautiful - 10 Nissans that I like - I want. I'll get one for myself, and if I like it, I'll get one for my daughter if I like it.' You know. 'Show me the Nissans.' You don't control those Nissans just by looking at them (closing addresses, 25 September 2014, ts 25).
183 By application dated 30 June 2015, the appellant sought leave pursuant to s 40(1)(e) of the Criminal Appeals Act to adduce additional evidence in this appeal (yellow AB 2).
184 In its written submissions in respect of the application of the proviso, the State contended that defence counsel's 'lack of objection' to his Honour's directions with respect to the element of intention supported its argument that there was no substantial miscarriage of justice. The additional evidence sought to be adduced by the appellant was in answer to this submission.
185 The additional evidence was in the form of brief affidavits from the appellant's trial counsel, Mr Peter Morrissey, sworn on 29 June 2015 (yellow AB 8 - 9), and Mr Alan Troy, sworn on 3 June 2015 (yellow AB 6 - 7).
188 The State did not require defence counsel for cross-examination and the contents of the affidavits were not challenged. In light of that evidence, our analysis of the proviso proceeds upon the basis that defence counsel's acceptance that the presumption in s 11(a) of the MDA applied to this case was an oversight and not a deliberate forensic decision.
189 In substance, the appellant submitted that, for two reasons, the error in ground 1 was a 'process' error of such a nature that the application of the proviso is excluded. First, the jury returned a verdict of guilty without having considered whether the particular crime with which the appellant was charged was committed by him. Second, the removal of the element of intention from the jury's consideration was analogous to a failure to leave a defence to a jury.
190 Further, the appellant submitted that the 'outcome' aspect had not been satisfied because, in substance, this court could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the appellant's guilt.
191 We will turn first to the 'outcome' aspect, followed by the 'process' aspect, in our analysis of the application of the proviso in this case.
192 We begin by rejecting the appellant's submission that the defence case was even 'delphically' fought on the basis that the appellant possessed a small amount of methylamphetamine merely to sample it.
193 The opening and closing addresses of counsel and the learned trial judge's summing up reveal that the case was about whether the State had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant possessed, in the sense of control, the entire contents of the cardboard box. The evidence concerning the appellant sampling the contents by asking for a pipe with which to smoke some of the methylamphetamine was a part of the State's circumstantial case. Whatever defence counsel may have intended to convey in his closing address, it does not appear that the defence case was that the appellant possessed a small portion merely for the purpose of sampling it. If that was the defence case, one would have expected it to have been put fairly and squarely, rather than 'delphically', to the jury. One would also have expected that his Honour would have been asked to direct the jury along those lines.
194 The State's case against the appellant on the question of possession was circumstantial. The evidence as a whole must be considered and evaluated. A piecemeal approach, both at trial and on appeal, is erroneous: R v Hillier [2007] HCA 13; (2007) 228 CLR 618 [48].
195 We have already set out salient portions of the evidence.
196 A convenient place to commence an analysis of the evidence is what occurred in Sydney, followed by the events in Perth. There was no challenge to the evidence that both the appellant and Mr Lothian were in Sydney in the early part of November 2010. The consignment note on the cardboard box revealed that it was delivered at General Carrying in Sydney for consignment to Perth on 12 November 2010. Certainly, the appellant was in Sydney on that day. Both men had returned to Perth by the time the cardboard box arrived on 15 November 2010.
197 Then there is the 731 number on the consignment label. As we have already mentioned, there is an indirect connection between that number and the appellant via, in particular, Mr Tassone.
198 Next, there are the events of 16 November 2010. If the appellant was not involved in the offence, it would be an extraordinary coincidence that, within five minutes of Mr Lothian carrying the cardboard box inside the premises at Falstaff Crescent, the appellant arrived at the house. It may be inferred that he was close by when the 'drug' arrived and was awaiting its delivery.
199 The appellant was inside those premises between about 3.20 pm and about 3.57 pm. During that time, the cardboard box was opened, the locks on the toolboxes were broken and the 10 bags of what was thought to be methylamphetamine were removed. The process of 'cutting' the 'drug' was in train. Given the very large quantity of 'methylamphetamine', as well as its value and illicit nature, the appellant's presence indicates that he was highly trusted and had some connection to the 'drug'.
200 The presence of DNA matching the appellant on one of the two pairs of disposable gloves in the kitchen is highly suggestive of him being involved in the unpacking of the cardboard box and the handling of its contents. The notion that the presence of the appellant's DNA on the gloves by reason of possible secondary transfer was speculative. There was no evidence to support the hypotheses put to Dr Broome in cross-examination that the appellant's DNA could have been placed on the gloves as a result of shaking hands or touching a doorknob.
201 Although the sound quality of the listening device product is poor and much of the conversation indistinct, it is evident that the appellant and Mr Lothian spoke to each other in friendly terms (for example, the appellant refers to Mr Lothian as 'Matty'). At approximately 3.36 pm, Mr Lothian left the premises at Falstaff Crescent, albeit briefly, leaving the appellant with the 'drug'. While Ms Tilbrook may have been in the premises, the fact that Mr Lothian was prepared to leave the appellant with the 'drug' is further evidence of their trust in each other. Further, given the sounds that can be heard from the listening device product, it appears that, while Mr Lothian was briefly out of the premises, the appellant continued to either unpack the cardboard box or, in some way, physically deal with it or its contents.
202 It is undisputed that the appellant asked for a pipe. It may be inferred that Mr Lothian provided the appellant with a pipe. Shortly afterwards, the appellant is heard saying (as we heard it) 'Don't move. I'll come back.' This is consistent with the appellant sampling the 'drug' and realising it was not what was expected. The words 'Don't move. I'll come back' indicate that there is a problem and that the appellant was going to deal with it. The words 'Don't move' are a command and tend to show that the appellant exercised some authority over Mr Lothian. There was evidence that the appellant was seen using a mobile telephone in the park, consistent with him making a call in an attempt to find out what had gone wrong.
203 To sum up, in the 37 minutes that the appellant was in the premises at Falstaff Crescent, the cardboard box containing a very large and valuable consignment of 'drug' was opened, the bags were removed from the toolboxes, preparations were made to cut the drug, the appellant sampled it and, when he saw that there was a problem, he undertook to deal with it.
204 Finally, there is the flight evidence. We are satisfied that the evidence established that the appellant did flee from Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie, and that he did so out of a consciousness of guilt for the offence with which he was charged.
205 The examination by police of the various mobile telephones found by them did not reveal any direct communication between the appellant and Mr Lothian. However, that does not mean that the two men did not somehow communicate with each other. Given the appellant's arrival at Falstaff Crescent was within five minutes of Mr Lothian carrying the cardboard box inside those premises, it may be inferred that there was some communication between them. We note that a BlackBerry telephone charger was found next to a power point at Kintail Road, but no BlackBerry telephone was found there. A white BlackBerry telephone was found at Falstaff Crescent, but the police were unable to access its memory. The appellant was seen using a telephone in the park, but no telephone was evidently found. We also note that in the part of the listening device product when Mr Lothian told the appellant he had earlier run out of fuel, he referred to sending the appellant a text message. Finally, Mr Lothian was not under surveillance after 9.45 pm on 15 November 2010. There is no evidence the appellant was under any surveillance before his arrival at Falstaff Crescent. It was by no means impossible for the two men to have communicated during 15 and 16 November 2010.
206 While it is the case that Mr Lothian, and perhaps Ms Tilbrook, exercised control over the drug, we are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant also exercised control. We are further satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that he exercised control over the entire 4.981 kg of 'methylamphetamine' and not over some much smaller quantity consistent with a mere sample. Given the quantity and value of the drug, it is inconceivable that the appellant would possess them without an intention to sell or supply them to another. We are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the appellant's guilt of the offence with which he was charged.
208 The appellant cited Quartermaine v The Queen [1980] HCA 29; (1980) 143 CLR 595 to support the contention that the 'process' aspect of the proviso had been engaged. A more factually apt case is Krakouer.
209 In Krakouer, the appellant was charged with one count of conspiring to possess a quantity of methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply it to another contrary to s 33(2) of the MDA and one count of attempting to possess a quantity of methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply it to another contrary to s 33(1) of the MDA. Evidence was adduced at trial that 5.3 kg of methylamphetamine was hidden in a car which had been transported by truck from Victoria to Western Australia. When the car arrived in Western Australia, police removed the methylamphetamine and replaced it with flour. The appellant and another, C, were present at the time the car containing the flour was collected. C drove the car to the appellant's brother's house, during which time the appellant followed immediately behind him. At the appellant's brother's house, the 'methylamphetamine' was unloaded in the appellant's presence. He pleaded not guilty and gave no evidence.
210 The learned trial judge directed the jury that the presumption pursuant to s 11(a) of the MDA applied to the offences. Both the prosecutor and defence counsel took exception to this direction. Notwithstanding, no redirection was given.
211 The High Court held that the presumption in s 11(a) of the MDA did not apply to offences of attempt and conspiracy. A question arose as to the operation of the proviso pursuant to s 689(1) of the Criminal Code. In joint reasons, Gaudron, Gummow, Kirby and Hayne JJ did not accept the submission that the misdirection resulted in a trial that was 'fundamentally flawed' or 'ha[d] so far miscarried as hardly to be a trial at all' [23]. Their Honours noted that it was important 'to put the particular misdirection into the whole context of the trial' [24]. Their Honours noted that the 'thrust' of the final address to the jury by the appellant's trial counsel was that the evidence was insufficient to show that the appellant knew there was methylamphetamine in the car sent from Victoria to Western Australia, and that defence appeared to be directed, and directed only, to the anterior point of whether the Crown had proved that the appellant knew and agreed the drug should be hidden in the car [25] - [26].
212 Importantly for the present case, their Honours in Krakouer made the point that, if the charge of attempt had stood alone, it might have been possible to say that the evidence at the trial was consistent only with an attempt to possess with intent to sell or supply [32]. However, their Honours noted that the charge of attempt did not stand alone. Their Honours were of the view that, if the jury convicted the appellant on the charge of conspiracy to possess the drug in question with intent to sell or supply, the jury may have reasoned that the appellant must have attempted to possess them with the same intent. In those circumstances, it was inappropriate to apply the proviso.
213 In the present case, and unlike in Krakouer, the charge against the appellant stood alone. The real issue at trial was possession and, in particular, whether the appellant controlled the drug in the cardboard box. Although there was a misdirection about one of the elements of the offence, that does not mean that the trial was flawed in such a way as to preclude the application of the proviso in s 30(4) of the Criminal Appeals Act.
214 We reject the appellant's submission that the removal of the element of intention from the jury's consideration was analogous to a failure to leave a defence to a jury. There was no arguable defence on the question of intention. Once the appellant was found to have possessed the 4.981 kg of 'methylamphetamine' it was inconceivable that the jury could not have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant possessed the substance with an intent to sell or supply it to another.
215 Having considered the entire trial record, we are satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the appellant's guilt of the crime with which he was charged. We have been persuaded that, notwithstanding the error in ground 1, there has been no substantial miscarriage of justice. We would apply the proviso in this case.
216 Had the alleged error in ground 4 been made out, the proviso would have been applied because any error was trivial and could not reasonably have affected the outcome.
Conclusion and orders - appeal against conviction
217 The only ground of appeal to have been made out is ground 1. However, we are satisfied that the proviso should be applied. Accordingly, the appeal against conviction must be dismissed.
219 The appellant does not allege that the sentence imposed was manifestly excessive. It is alleged that his Honour made two express errors in sentencing the appellant.
220 Proposed ground 1 alleges that his Honour erred in his assessment of the superior role played by the appellant compared to Mr Lothian in the commission of the offence. The particulars to the ground allege that his Honour erred in finding that:
(a) Mr Lothian was in a lesser financial position than the appellant;
(b) Mr Lothian was acting at the behest of, or controlled by, the appellant; and
(c) there was telephone contact between the 731 number and the appellant's wife.
221 As to proposed ground 2, at the hearing of the appeal, senior counsel for the appellant sought to 're-articulate' the ground by way of further written submissions (appeal ts 45). He was granted leave to do so. On 31 March 2016, the appellant filed a document setting out the appellant's proposed amended ground 2 and the written submissions in support of that ground. The State filed answering submissions.
The Court erred in failing to address itself, in sentencing, to the factors relevant to the fixing of the parole eligibility order (and non-parole period) it imposed under s 89 of the Sentencing Act; accordingly, the sentencing discretion miscarried in relation to the fixing of the overall sentence and the parole term imposed.
223 The proposed amended ground is not easy to understand. It appears that what is being alleged is that his Honour erred in law by failing to take into account the effect of the statutory provisions relating to parole in setting the length of the term of imprisonment he imposed.
224 The question of leave to appeal with respect to both grounds was referred to the hearing of the appeal.
225 In order to understand the appellant's arguments with respect to proposed ground 1, it is necessary to say something about Mr Lothian's sentencing.
226 Like the appellant, Mr Lothian was charged with attempting to possess methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply it to another. He was also charged with other offences, including drug offences. It is unnecessary to refer to those other offences.
227 Mr Lothian pleaded guilty to the attempt. He was sentenced by Curthoys DCJ on 11 May 2012 to 10 years' imprisonment with eligibility for parole. Based on the material before him, Curthoys DCJ found that:
(a) Mr Lothian had a serious drug addiction at the time of the offending (combined blue and green AB 140). He had a difficult childhood and limited education, although virtually no criminal record (combined blue and green AB 140 - 141).
(b) Given the quantity and purity of the 'drug', the point at which Mr Lothian was engaged was 'very high in the drug distribution chain' (combined blue and green AB 141).
(c) Although it was not necessary to categorise Mr Lothian's position in the hierarchy of distribution with precision, he was 'plainly more than just a courier and warehouser' (combined blue and green AB 141, 142).
(d) Mr Lothian's financial gain was 'very limited' (combined blue and green AB 142). This finding was made against the background that defence counsel had asserted, without challenge by the prosecutor, that Mr Lothian was to receive $5,000 and half an ounce of methylamphetamine for his role in the offence (combined blue and green AB 128).
(e) Mr Lothian's level of involvement was less than the appellant's (combined blue and green AB 142).
228 Although Curthoys DCJ made no specific finding about Mr Lothian's financial circumstances, unchallenged submissions were made on his behalf that, on the assumption Falstaff Crescent (which was mortgaged) would be confiscated, he would be 'penniless' (combined blue and green AB 132).
229 On 26 September 2014, after the jury delivered its verdict and was discharged, his Honour was informed of the sentence that had been imposed on Mr Lothian and he was provided with the transcript of proceedings before Curthoys DCJ. It was common ground that Mr Lothian's sentencing was relevant for reasons of parity (ts 1100 - 1104). The appellant's counsel submitted that the appellant's role in the offence could not be put 'higher' than Mr Lothian's (ts 1090). It was contended that all the evidence established was that the appellant and Mr Lothian were in joint control of the drug for the period that the appellant was at Falstaff Crescent (ts 1090). The State took issue with this submission and contended that the role in the offence played by the appellant was 'higher' or 'more serious' than that played by Mr Lothian (ts 1102).
230 At one point, his Honour remarked on a juror's apparent reaction when a video of the search at Kintail Road was shown, making it apparent that 'there was a big contrast in the living circumstances of Mr Lothian and [the appellant]' (ts 1095). Defence counsel then explained that the appellant's family ran a successful business and 'ha[s] some money' (ts 1096).
231 Before the proceedings were adjourned, his Honour said that he would read the transcript of Mr Lothian's sentencing, but he was mindful of not falling into the error of sentencing the appellant on the basis of 'something said ... by the judge [Curthoys DCJ] in respect to Mr Lothian for the purpose of sentencing [the appellant]' (ts 1103). In context, his Honour should be understood to mean that he had to determine for himself the appellant's role in the offending based on the evidence adduced at the trial.
232 The sentencing proceedings resumed on 1 October 2014. By then, the parties had filed written sentencing submissions which dealt with, amongst other things, the relative roles in the offending of the appellant and Mr Lothian. In essence, the State and the appellant maintained the positions they expressed on 26 September 2014.
233 His Honour said that the appellant was to be sentenced 'in accordance with the verdict of the jury based on the evidence given to the court during this trial' (ts 1147). His Honour characterised the State case as 'a very strong circumstantial case' (ts 1148).
234 His Honour then summarised the facts of the offending. He described the search and seizure of the cardboard box containing the methylamphetamine at the office of General Carrying in Sydney on 12 November 2010 (ts 1148 - 1149). He observed that on 13 November 2010, the appellant returned to Perth from Sydney (ts 1149). He noted that on 15 November 2010, Mr Lothian made an attempt to collect the box from the office of General Carrying at Kewdale (ts 1149). His Honour then described the events of 16 November 2010, as to which his Honour found:
(a) Mr Lothian departed Falstaff Crescent at 1.10 pm in a white Toyota Yaris sedan which ran out of fuel (ts 1149).
(b) Mr Lothian then took a taxi to the Kewdale office of General Carrying and collected the cardboard box, which he then placed in the rear of the taxi (ts 1149).
(c) Mr Lothian was taken by the taxi back to his vehicle, having obtained fuel from a service station. Mr Lothian then refuelled his car and returned to Falstaff Crescent at 3.09 pm (ts 1149).
(d) At 3.16 pm, Mr Lothian went outside and retrieved the cardboard box from his vehicle (ts 1149).
(e) At 3.20 pm, the appellant arrived at Falstaff Crescent on his bicycle (ts 1149).
(f) Having regard to the audio product derived from the listening device hidden in the cardboard box, the box was opened in the appellant's presence in the kitchen area at Falstaff Crescent (ts 1149 - 1150).
(g) Once the locks on the two yellow tool boxes were removed, the 10 packages were taken out of the tool boxes. Nine of them were placed in a kitchen cupboard and the other was placed in a beer carton which was temporarily being used as a bin (ts 1150).
(h) The appellant and Mr Lothian were engaged in the process of 'cutting' the drug, using the MSM found by police in the baking dish in the kitchen (ts 1150).
(i) Shortly before the appellant left the premises, he asked Mr Lothian for a pipe. His Honour inferred that he did so to 'test the product' (ts 1150).
(j) Shortly after testing the product, the appellant said to Mr Lothian either 'not to move' (the appellant's version) or 'don't move' (the State's version) and then 'I'll come back' (ts 1150).
(k) The appellant left the premises at 3.57 pm, got onto his bicycle and rode into the park opposite Falstaff Crescent, where he was observed by a surveillance operative to make a telephone call (ts 1150).
(l) The appellant's departure was for the purpose of making a telephone call to ascertain 'what in fact had happened' (ts 1150).
(m) The appellant attempted to ride away from Detectives Shanahan and Ferrie, despite being called upon to stop by Detective Ferrie (ts 1151).
(n) The appellant 'continued to ride [his] bicycle in an effort to escape' (ts 1151).
(o) The appellant subsequently deliberately misled the police as to his true residential address which caused delay in the search of his house at Kintail Road (ts 1151).
(p) There was communication between the 731 number with 'other mobile telephones, including one in the possession of Mr Tassone and [the appellant's] wife, indicating that there was a line of communication to that extent' (ts 1152). His Honour also said that 'I incorporate what I said about that aspect of the evidence to the jury in these [sentencing] remarks' (ts 1152).
235 His Honour then turned to the appellant's personal circumstances, noting that he came from 'a good background' and had been 'provided with opportunity' (ts 1152). He accepted that the appellant had a strong work ethic and appeared to have had some success in the various businesses he had owned up until 2010 (ts 1152). His Honour found that the only reasonable inference open was that the appellant committed the offence for financial gain (ts 1153).
236 His Honour then turned to the sentencing proceedings in respect of Mr Lothian before Curthoys DCJ. After stating that he had read the transcript of those proceedings, his Honour proceeded to summarise them in some detail (ts 1154 - 1156). His Honour concluded this summary by saying:
All of that is to be contrasted and compared for the purpose of parity with your role and involvement in the possession of the drugs and your personal circumstances (ts 1156).
237 In the context of dealing with the issue of parity, his Honour addressed the question of 'whether or not [the appellant] played a lesser, the same or greater role than Mr Lothian in relation to the possession and distribution of the drugs on this occasion' (ts 1156). His Honour then referred to certain aspects of the evidence, including that:
(a) The appellant arrived at Falstaff Crescent a few minutes after Mr Lothian had returned to that address with the drug in the cardboard box. His Honour said, 'that was no mere coincidence' (ts 1156).
(b) The appellant went to Falstaff Crescent 'in order to open the cardboard box with Mr Lothian and to check that the drugs were there' (ts 1156).
(c) In the 37 minutes that the appellant was in the house, the box was opened in his presence, from which his Honour inferred that the box was not to be dealt with until the appellant arrived (ts 1156).
(d) The appellant's request for a pipe was to sample the drug and that, after he had used the pipe, his words and conduct were only consistent with the realisation 'that all was not right' (ts 1156).
238 His Honour concluded that the appellant 'played a higher role with respect to responsibility for the control and dissemination of this drug than Mr Lothian' (ts 1157). He explained what led him to this conclusion in this way:
All of the facts relied upon by the State indicate, in my view, that you were a person who had some authority and knowledge with respect to the intended drugs.
Various propositions are put on your behalf with respect to the individual parts of the evidence referred to and relied upon by the State but in my view, the only reasonable inference from the entirety of the evidence is, and I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you were in a position of control at a greater level and therefore higher up the chain of distribution than Mr Lothian.
In my view, he was plainly being used to warehouse the drugs for the owners. I make no finding about whether or not you had any legal ownership in the sense of monetary investment but you were a person beyond reasonable doubt who had control and a say over Mr Lothian.
He was acting in accordance with your dictate and your instructions and everything he did in the place was consistent with you having a say and responsibility for those drugs in particular with respect to their further dissemination.
It is of course the case that you have chosen not to give any explanation about your role and as I've said, that is entirely your legal right and therefore that does not bear upon the reasoning process but plainly common sense in all the circumstances admits to one conclusion only and that is as I've indicated that you were in a superior position to Mr Lothian who was used as the mule to collect the drugs at the point of greatest risk from the courier company in Kewdale.
The finding is also consistent with the lack of any evidence on your possession or as a result of the download of various mobile telephones in your possession or your wife's possession with respect to direct communication between you and Mr Lothian. That does not admit to equality (ts 1158).
239 His Honour imposed the sentence of 14 years 6 months' imprisonment, '[h]aving regard to the sentencing considerations which apply and comparable cases' (ts 1159). He backdated the sentence to commence from 17 March 2013 to take into account time already served in custody. His Honour made a parole eligibility order and explained its operation to the appellant in these terms:
[This] means you are eligible to be released on parole after you have served all but 2 years of that sentence (ts 1159).
240 The term of imprisonment imposed by his Honour was 18 months less than the term that had been imposed following the appellant's conviction at his first trial.
241 The appellant submitted that, on a close analysis of the sentencing remarks, the conclusion was based on three key findings which were not available on the evidence. The three key findings are the subject of the three particulars to ground 1.
242 With respect to the first particular (that his Honour erred in finding that Mr Lothian was in a lesser financial position than the appellant), it was submitted that his Honour could only have arrived at that conclusion based on statements made in Mr Lothian's sentencing proceedings before Curthoys DCJ, or based on his Honour's view of the difference in the appellant's and Mr Lothian's houses as they were depicted in the video recordings of the execution of search warrants. With respect to the video recordings of the execution of search warrants, the appellant also pointed to the comment made by his Honour, on 26 September 2014, about the juror's reaction to the apparent disparity in the living circumstances of Mr Lothian and the living circumstances of the appellant. The disparity that was apparent from the video recordings of the search warrants was, it was contended, an insufficient basis for the finding. The appellant submitted that evidence of Mr Lothian's financial situation derived from the proceedings before Curthoys DCJ was inadmissible (white AB 91).
243 As to the second particular (that his Honour erred in finding that Mr Lothian was acting on behalf of, or was controlled by, the appellant), the appellant sought to analyse the evidence in a piecemeal fashion, alleging that either a piece of evidence did not sustain the conclusion reached by the Judge or that the piece of evidence was impermissibly garnered from the proceedings before Curthoys DCJ.
244 With respect to the third particular (that his Honour erred in finding that there was telephone contact between the 731 number and the appellant's wife), the appellant submitted that there was no evidence of any direct communication between the 731 number and the appellant's wife. Rather, the evidence was of communication between Mr Tassone's telephone and that of the appellant's wife on 17 November 2010.
245 The State submitted with respect to the first particular that his Honour was entitled to have regard to findings made by Curthoys DCJ with respect to Mr Lothian when making the comparison between the personal circumstances of Mr Lothian and those of the appellant. Further, the difference in the living conditions of Mr Lothian and the appellant as evident in the video recordings of the execution of the search warrants was 'striking' (white AB 104) and that his Honour's reference to the reaction of the juror was simply to illustrate this point.
246 With respect to the second particular, it was said that there were a number of factors which, in combination, supported and entitled his Honour to find that the appellant occupied a position superior to Mr Lothian. Those factors included that:
(a) The cardboard box containing the substituted substance was not opened until after the appellant arrived at Falstaff Crescent (white AB 104).
(b) The appellant requested a pipe from Mr Lothian in order to test the methylamphetamine. This request suggested that he had knowledge of what was expected to be in the cardboard box and had a greater degree of authority than Mr Lothian (white AB 105).
(c) Mr Lothian deliberately misled the appellant about the circumstances of him running out of fuel while collecting the cardboard box. The State submitted that this was only consistent with Mr Lothian reporting to the appellant as a superior (white AB 105).
(d) The appellant left Falstaff Crescent shortly after sampling the substance in the cardboard box because he realised that it was not, in fact, the methylamphetamine he was expecting in the consignment (white AB 105).
(e) Shortly before leaving, the appellant said (on the State's case) 'Don't move. I'll come back.' The State submitted the instruction suggested that the appellant was in a superior position to Mr Lothian in relation to the contents of the cardboard box. Further, the appellant intended to contact another person involved in the operation, suggesting a degree of authority greater than Mr Lothian (white AB 105).
(f) The appellant was seen to make a telephone call in the park shortly after having left Falstaff Crescent (white AB 105 - 106).
247 With respect to the third particular, the State submitted that his Honour's sentencing remarks should be read as being consistent with the evidence led at trial, which demonstrated that there had been telephone contact between the 731 number and Mr Tassone and then, separately, between Mr Tassone and the appellant's wife (white AB 106).
248 The legal principles relevant to proposed ground 1 were outlined by Martin CJ, in The State of Western Australia v JWRL (a child) [2010] WASCA 179 [9] - [10], as follows:
Where the offender to be sentenced has been found guilty following trial by jury, the judge must determine the facts relevant to the sentencing process: see Cheung v The Queen [2001] HCA 67; (2001) 209 CLR 1 [5] and [36]. Although the facts found by the sentencing judge must be consistent with the verdict of the jury, it is the trial judge who must find those facts, rather than speculate about the facts that may or may not have been found by the jury: Cheung [9] - [11]. '[P]rovided the facts found by a sentencing judge are not inconsistent with the jury's verdict, a sentencing judge may well make an assessment of an offender's degree of culpability which would not be supported by all, or perhaps any, members of the jury': Cheung [36].
The facts found by the trial judge for the purposes of sentence are to be made on the evidence adduced at trial, together with any further material received during the sentencing process. For the purposes of sentence, the court may inform itself in any way it thinks fit: Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), s 15. As a result, facts and propositions that are not contentious may be received by the court informally, by a statement from the bar table, or by the production of documentary material. However, where there is a dispute as to fact, the dispute must be resolved by the trial of an issue, as part of the sentencing process, to which the rules of evidence are applicable: see Pelemis v The State of Western Australia [2009] WASCA 151. The party asserting a disputed fact relevant to sentence carries the onus of proving that fact. If the fact is asserted by the State and is said to be an aggravating circumstance, the State is obliged to prove the fact beyond reasonable doubt. If the fact is asserted on behalf of the offender, and is said to be a mitigating circumstance, the offender carries the burden of proving the fact on the balance of probabilities: see R v Olbrich [1999] HCA 54; (1999) 199 CLR 270 [25] and [27]. If the party asserting a contested fact fails to discharge the burden of proving that fact, it is not taken into account for the purposes of sentence: see R v Lobban [2001] SASC 392; (2001) 80 SASR 550 [32].
249 Section 15 of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) reads:
To decide on the proper sentence to be imposed, or on imposing an order in addition to sentence, a court sentencing an offender may inform itself in any way it thinks fit.
250 In our opinion, it was open to his Honour to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that, compared with Mr Lothian, the appellant was higher up the chain of drug distribution, essentially for the reasons his Honour gave.
251 His Honour's general approach to the assessment of the appellant's role compared to that of Mr Lothian was to view the factors he identified as relevant and to assess their combined strength. There can be no criticism of that approach. In contrast, the approach taken by the appellant with respect to ground 1 was a piecemeal one, illustrated by the way in which the ground has been particularised. That said, in our opinion, the error alleged in each particular has not been made out.
252 It is not disputed that, in sentencing the appellant, his Honour was obliged to consider the question of parity with Mr Lothian. That, in turn, required his Honour to consider what was said and decided in the proceedings before Curthoys DCJ. The material before Curthoys DCJ indicated that Mr Lothian did not have the advantages in life that had been given to the appellant. The only asset of substance he owned were the premises at Falstaff Crescent, which were mortgaged. No issue was taken with that consideration in the proceedings before his Honour.
253 In any event, the disparity in the financial positions of the appellant and Mr Lothian was there to be seen in the video recordings of the execution of the search warrants at Falstaff Crescent and Kintail Road. The difference in the living conditions in those premises is, as the State put it, 'striking' (white AB 104). The accommodation at Kintail Road spoke of prosperity, even luxury. The accommodation at Falstaff Crescent conveyed the opposite. We do not consider that his Honour sought to use the juror's reaction as evidence that Mr Lothian was in a lesser financial position than the appellant. Rather, his Honour's reference to the juror's reaction was to illustrate just how stark the difference was between the living conditions of the appellant at Kintail Road and Mr Lothian at Falstaff Crescent.
254 The evidence before Curthoys DCJ clearly showed that Mr Lothian came from much less fortunate circumstances than the appellant. Mr Lothian, unlike the appellant, was an entrenched drug addict who had a difficult childhood and no apparent family support.
256 In our opinion, Stevenson DCJ did not err by finding that Mr Lothian was acting under instruction by the appellant. That conclusion, reached by his Honour, was one that was open on the submissions and the evidence adduced at trial.
257 The combined weight of the factors identified by the State in its submissions amply justifies this conclusion.
258 In our opinion, the finding the subject of particular 3 was not, in fact, key (white AB 88) to his Honour's finding as to the relative roles of the appellant and Mr Lothian. It was not a necessary finding with respect to the ultimate conclusion that the appellant played a superior role in the offences.
259 However, we do not think that his Honour fell into the error alleged by the appellant. His Honour's finding about the relationship between the 731 number and mobile telephones in the possession of Mr Tassone and the appellant's wife must be read, as his Honour stated, having regard to the way he summarised the relevant evidence to the jury in his summing up. In the summing up, his Honour told the jury:
The contact on Mr Tassone's telephone occurred as an incoming call from a [sic] the 731 number on 9 November 2010, a 50-second telephone discussion, it would appear, and there is a text message between Mr Tassone and the wife of the accused on 17 November 2010. So the State relies upon that part of the mobile evidence to invite you to draw the inferences of guilt of the [appellant] (ts 1060).
260 The statement made by his Honour in the sentencing remarks, when read in this context, is not erroneous. The evidence adduced at trial was that there was a text message between Mr Tassone and the appellant's wife on 17 November 2010.
262 None of the particulars upon which proposed ground 1 relies have been made out. It was open to his Honour to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant's role in the commission of the offence was 'higher' than that of Mr Lothian. We would not grant leave to appeal on proposed ground 1.
263 His Honour approached the sentencing of the appellant in this way. First, having regard to the maximum penalty for the offence, the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and the relevant sentencing principles for offending of this kind, he imposed what was, in his judgment, the appropriate penalty for the offence, namely a term of 14 years 6 months' imprisonment. Having determined the appropriate sentence, he then considered whether to make an order that the appellant be eligible for parole. There was no dispute that the making of such an order was appropriate in the circumstances of the case. Accordingly, the appellant was made eligible for parole. His Honour informed the appellant, following the requirements of s 34(2) of the Sentencing Act, that he would be eligible for parole after he had 'served all but 2 years of that sentence' (ts 1159).
264 His Honour proceeded on the basis that his task was first to determine the length of the term of imprisonment and then to consider the question of parole eligibility. It is apparent that the length of time the appellant was liable to serve in custody as a result of the making of a parole eligibility order was not regarded as relevant to the determination of the length of the term of imprisonment.
265 The manner in which the appellant was sentenced reflects the orthodox approach adopted by all sentencers in Western Australia and is in accordance with the approach taken in this State over many years: see, for example, Archibald v The Queen (1989) 40 A Crim R 228; Wicks v The Queen (1989) 3 WAR 372; Kirby v The Queen [2003] WASCA 164 and The State of Western Australia v BLM [2009] WASCA 88; (2009) 40 WAR 414 [22]. In Kirby, Roberts-Smith J (with whom Murray & Wheeler JJ agreed) held:
In imposing a sentence appropriate to a particular offence, a sentencing court is concerned only to set the fixed term. It is not appropriate to set that having regard to how long the offender will actually serve before becoming eligible for parole [118]. (original emphasis)
266 The appellant contends that the orthodox approach taken by his Honour is erroneous.
267 The appellant notes that, pursuant to s 93 of the Sentencing Act, an offender who is serving a parole term is only eligible to be released on parole - where the term imposed is more than 4 years - when he or she has served 2 years less than the term. The appellant submits that a sentencer must be 'mindful' of this and, in particular, must be mindful of the fact that the longer the term of imprisonment the more punitive it becomes, in that the offender will have to serve a greater proportion of his or her sentence in custody. It is submitted that to ignore such realities would be inconsistent with the decision of the High Court in Hoare v The Queen [1989] HCA 33; (1989) 167 CLR 348.
268 It is further submitted that a fair reading of the relevant statutory provisions in the Sentencing Act accords with the approach urged upon this court by the appellant.
269 The State submitted that the appellant's approach is erroneous, principally because it is contrary to the relevant statutory provisions.
270 The general principles underpinning the Sentencing Act are set out in pt 2 div 1 of that Act. In broad terms, a sentence must be commensurate with the seriousness of the offence: s 6(1). The seriousness of an offence must be determined by taking into account:
(b) the circumstances of the commission of the offence, including the vulnerability of any victim of the offence; and
271 A court must not impose a sentence of imprisonment on an offender unless it decides that the seriousness of the offence is such that only imprisonment can be justified or the protection of the community requires it: s 6(4). Aggravating factors are factors which, in the court's opinion, increase the culpability of the offender: s 7(1). Mitigating factors are factors which, in the court's opinion, decrease the culpability of the offender or decrease the extent to which the offender should be punished: s 8(1).
272 Part 13 of the Sentencing Act is entitled 'Imprisonment'. Section 85 defines certain terms. Relevantly, 'fixed term' means a term that is not life imprisonment. A 'parole eligibility order' means an order under s 89. A 'parole order' means an order made under pt 3 of the Sentence Administration Act 2003 (WA), that a prisoner be released on parole. A 'parole term' means a term to which a parole eligibility order applies.
273 Part 13 div 2 of the Sentencing Act is headed 'Imposing imprisonment'. Section 86 provides that a court must not sentence an offender to a term of 6 months or less except in the circumstances described in s 86(a), s 86(b) and s 86(c). Section 87 allows that time on remand may be taken into account. Section 88 deals with concurrent, cumulative or partly cumulative terms of imprisonment.
274 Section 89 is as follows:
(1) A court sentencing an offender to a fixed term may order that the offender be eligible for parole in respect of that term by making a parole eligibility order.
(2) A parole eligibility order must not be made if the fixed term, or the aggregate of the fixed terms, imposed by the court is less than 12 months, except where the offender, at the date of the sentence, is serving or has yet to serve -
(a) a parole term imposed previously; or
(b) a fixed term or fixed terms imposed previously -
(i) which, or the aggregate of which, is less than 12 months; and
(ii) which, with the term or terms imposed by the court, would result in an aggregate of 12 months or more.
...
(4) A court may decide not to make a parole eligibility order in respect of a fixed term imposed on an offender if the court considers that the offender should not be eligible for parole because of at least 2 of the following 4 factors -
(a) the offence is serious;
(b) the offender has a significant criminal record;
(c) the offender, when released from custody under a release order made previously, did not comply with the order;
(d) any other reason the court considers relevant.
275 Part 13 div 3 is entitled, 'Release from imprisonment'. Section 93 reads:
(1) Subject to sections 94A, 94 and 95A, a prisoner serving a parole term is eligible to be released on parole -
(a) if the term served is 4 years or less - when he or she has served one-half of the term; or
(b) if the term served is more than 4 years - when he or she has served 2 years less than the term.
(2) Any order for the release on parole of a prisoner to whom subsection (1) applies must be made in accordance with Part 3 of the Sentence Administration Act 2003.
276 Part 3 of the Sentence Administration Act is headed 'Parole'. In broad terms, it empowers the Prisoners Review Board to consider and decide whether to release on parole a prisoner subject to a parole eligibility order. See, in particular, s 20.
277 Prior to 1988, when a term of imprisonment was imposed in Western Australia, sentencers set the maximum term, as well as the minimum term before which the offender was eligible for parole. Alongside parole considerations, there also existed a system of earned remissions. The length of a maximum term was determined according to the principles laid down by the High Court in Power v The Queen [1974] HCA 26; (1974) 131 CLR 623.
278 However, since 1988, sentencers in Western Australia no longer have the power to determine the minimum term. Instead, sentencers determine the fixed term and then decide whether a parole eligibility order should be made. If such an order is made, the length of time an offender actually spends on parole is determined by a statutory formula. In due course, remissions were abolished.
279 The statutory formula determining the length of time an offender remains on parole has changed over the years. It is unnecessary to go through the various iterations since 1988.
280 The law in this State since sentencers lost the power to set the length of the minimum term has been that, save for exceptional circumstances, a sentencer must not have regard to the minimum term likely to be served by an offender in imposing a fixed sentence for the offence or, when it was applicable, the possibility of remissions.
281 Section 93 of the Sentencing Act in its present form was enacted in the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 (WA) (the Amendment Act) which commenced on 31 August 2003.
282 Immediately before the Amendment Act, where an offender was subject to a parole eligibility order, if that prisoner was not released on parole, he or she was required (by the then s 29 of the Prisons Act 1981 (WA)) to be discharged from that sentence after serving 2/3 of the term. (The history of this requirement is discussed at some length by Martin CJ in Yates v The State of Western Australia [2008] WASCA 144 [3] - [10]; see also The State of Western Australia v BLM [9] - [22]). If the offender was made eligible for release on parole, they could be released into the community earlier.
283 These provisions were somewhat controversial and attracted further attention from Parliament. The passage of the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2002 (WA) (later enacted as the Amendment Act) and the Sentence Administration Bill 2002 (WA) reveal that the alterations to the parole regime made in the Amendment Act were the result of detailed and lengthy consideration by Parliament.
284 The Bill was significantly amended by the Legislative Council and returned to the Legislative Assembly. One of the clauses that was amended ultimately became s 93 of the Sentencing Act in its current form. Prior to the amendment by the Legislative Council, it was proposed that an eligible prisoner would be subject to release on parole after serving 50% of their sentence regardless of the length of the sentence imposed. An amendment made by the Legislative Council reflected what is now s 93(1)(a) and s 93(1)(b) of the Sentencing Act so that no offender spends more than 2 years on parole. The Hon Mr McGinty, the Attorney General, said this about the proposed amendment:
The most significant amendment moved in the Legislative Council was to maintain two bases of parole being granted. In the legislation introduced and debated in this House, the Government sought to provide one simply understood system of eligibility for parole; that with the abolition of remission, every prisoner would spend a minimum of half his time in gaol and the balance on parole. The Legislative Council did not agree with that approach. There were strong arguments. That is why the Government is happy to support the Council's amendment that provides that no prisoner should spend more than 2 years on parole. A person who gets a head sentence of more than 4 years will spend 2 years in prison and 2 years on parole. Someone who gets a 20 year sentence will spend 18 years in prison and 2 years on parole. Every minute of every sentence that is imposed will be spent on either parole or in prison, with a maximum of 2 years on parole. (emphasis added)
(See Council's Amendments - Consideration in Detail, Sentence Legislation Amendment Act Repeal Bill 2002 (returned from the Council with amendments) Western Australian Parliamentary Debates, Legislative Assembly, 26 June 2003, 9458b - 9460a.)
285 This Parliamentary material confirms the objective intention manifested by the statutory text to require eligible prisoners who are sentenced to longer terms of imprisonment to serve a greater proportion of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
286 We now return to the relevant statutory provisions. The scheme is clear: a sentencer must fix a sentence commensurate with the seriousness of the offence, taking into account the matters in pt 2 div 1 of the Sentencing Act. Where the court imposes a fixed term of imprisonment, the court has the discretion to order that the offender be eligible for parole. The length of that parole term is dictated by the operation of s 93 and not by any decision of the court. Whether or not an offender is released on parole is to be determined by the Prisoners Review Board.
287 In our opinion, s 89(1) of the Sentencing Act requires a court sentencing an offender to first fix the term of imprisonment and then decide whether to make a parole eligibility order 'in respect of that term'. The phrase 'that term' points to the construction that the question of whether a parole eligibility order is made is addressed only after the length of the fixed term has been determined. That construction is also supported by the text of s 89(4): the decision not to make a parole eligibility order is made once the fixed term is determined. Thus, whether or not the offender is made eligible for parole does not affect the length of the fixed term. In our opinion, that construction is evident from the clear language of s 89, in particular, s 89(1) and s 89(4). It is a construction supported by the history of the provision.
288 The cases cited by the appellant, including Hoare, deal with different statutory provisions and different issues of construction and principle. They are distinguishable from the present case and have no application.
289 The appellant's arguments focus on the proportion of a sentence for which a sentenced prisoner may be eligible for parole. The appellant says that a prisoner sentenced to 4 years' imprisonment with eligibility for parole will spend at least 50% of his or her sentence in custody before being eligible for parole. The appellant says that a prisoner subject to a 10-year sentence of imprisonment will spend 80% of his or her sentence in custody before being eligible for parole (appellant's supplementary written submissions, par 8).
290 A difficulty with this submission is that it equates the legislatively prescribed non-parole period with the time actually served in custody, and ignores the difference between eligibility for parole and the grant of parole. The question of whether parole is granted to an eligible prisoner is a matter for the exercise of the executive discretion of the parole authorities. The experience of this court under the current regime is that some eligible prisoners are not granted parole and serve the whole of their sentence. Other prisoners may be released after their earliest eligibility date, while others may have their parole suspended or cancelled after release. The courts do not attempt to predict how executive discretionary powers concerning parole will be exercised at some future point in time, when the legislation governing the grant of parole and the policies applied to its administration may be different.
291 The only appropriate course for the court is to determine the sentence which is commensurate with the seriousness of the offence on the basis that the prisoner may be required to serve the whole of his or sentence, even when eligible for parole. To adopt any other approach would risk requiring a prisoner to serve a sentence greater than that which is commensurate with the seriousness of their offence if the court incorrectly predicted the prisoner's release before the completion of his or her sentence. The fixed term which a court imposes can only be properly determined on the basis that in every case the prisoner may serve 100% of their sentence in custody.
292 The appellant also submits that a sentencing judge should determine the appropriate parole term and adjust the head sentence which would otherwise be imposed downward to achieve, or partially achieve, that result (appellant's supplementary written submissions, pars 8 - 14). That submission is inconsistent with the scheme of the legislation. The Sentencing Act and Sentence Administration Act provide for the court to determine the fixed term commensurate with the seriousness of the offence and whether a prisoner is to be eligible for parole. It is the legislation, rather than the court, which then fixes the point at which the prisoner becomes eligible for parole, and thereby determines the maximum parole term.
293 His Honour did not take into account the non-parole period to be served by the appellant when imposing a fixed term of imprisonment upon him. However, he was not required to do so and, accordingly, his Honour did not make an error of law.
294 We would not grant leave to appeal with respect to proposed ground 2.
Conclusion and orders - appeal against sentence
295 As leave to appeal has been refused on both proposed grounds, the appeal must be taken to be dismissed.
(2008) 232 CLR 438
(1990) 169 CLR 525
(2008) 236 CLR 358
(1990) 5 WAR 269
(2011) 245 CLR 282
(2015) 299 FLR 197
(1993) 178 CLR 193
(2001) 208 CLR 593
(2008) 236 CLR 293
(1989) 167 CLR 348
(1998) 194 CLR 202
(1974) 131 CLR 623
(1980) 143 CLR 595
(2007) 228 CLR 618
(2015) 49 WAR 176
(2009) 40 WAR 414
(2007) 33 WAR 483
(2005) 224 CLR 300
(1989) 3 WAR 372
(2001) 209 CLR 1
(1999) 199 CLR 270
(2001) 80 SASR 550