//
© 2026 Zoe. All rights reserved.
Zoe gives general legal information, not legal advice. For the authoritative text, check the official register of the law's own jurisdiction, such as the Federal Register of Legislation for Commonwealth laws.
[2026] ACTSC 127
General information, not legal advice.
Supreme Court of the ACT
2026-05-06
Baker J
Original judgment source is linked above.
Source: the ACT Courts (www.courts.act.gov.au). Converted to plain text by ZoeLaw. Not the official version.
SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Case Title: R v Nightingale (a pseudonym) Citation: [2026] ACTSC 127 Hearing Date: 3 & 6 March 2026; 22 April 2026 Decision Date: 6 May 2026 Before: Baker J Decision: See [33] Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW – JURISDICTION, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – Judgment and Punishment – Sentence – sentencing of young person for drug offences – sale of different kinds of drugs to adults and young people – attempted import of cocaine – untreated ADHD at time of offending – unexplained delay – early guilty plea – proactive pursuit of rehabilitation – weight to be given to rehabilitation when sentencing young offenders – consideration of maturity, development and family circumstances – finding of remorse – suspended sentence Legislation Cited: Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT) ss 113C, 133D Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) ss 11.1(1), 307.6(1) Criminal Code 2002 (ACT) ss 603(5), 603(7) Firearms Act 1996 (ACT) s 42(1)(a)(iii) Medicines, Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 2008 (ACT) s 26 Parties: The King Sadia Nightingale (a pseudonym) (Offender) Representation: Counsel H Tilleman (Crown) S Jerome (Offender) Solicitors Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Andrew Byrnes Law Group (Offender) File Number: SCC 166 of 2025 SCC 167 of 2025 BAKER J: Introduction
The offending
The offences
During 2021 and 2022, when the young person was aged between 16 and 17 and was attending school, the young person regularly sold drugs to a number of other school students and adults. She primarily communicated with buyers via Signal under her own first name. She frequently advertised to a large number of contacts when she had products in stock. She would send photos or videos to demonstrate the type and quality of the stock that she held.
The young person negotiated prices for the drugs with buyers. She was paid in cash, and in some instances allowed buyers to purchase on credit. She kept a record of drug sales and amounts owed to her when buyers purchased on credit.
The young person sold illicit drugs to a variety of buyers. She would meet buyers at a pre-agreed location, have them collect the product from her home address, or would deliver the drugs to them, sometimes for a small fee. Occasionally, the young person recruited other people to sell drugs for her in Canberra.
The young person first came to the attention of police on 9 October 2022, when the Australian Border Force intercepted a consignment from the United States of America, which was addressed to the young person. That consignment was found to contain a marketable quantity of cocaine. On 12 October 2022, ACT Police delivered the consignment (having replaced the original white powder with an inert substance) to the young person’s home pursuant to a controlled operation authority. The young person accepted the parcel in person when it was delivered.
On the same day, ACT Police executed a search warrant at the young person’s home. During the course of that search, Police found the consignment, two bags of cannabis and as well as digital scales, a cocaine kit, cash and a replica firearm. Police seized the young person’s mobile phone and laptop. Examination of those devices demonstrated the following.
Between 10 January 2022 and 19 March 2022, the young person sold alprazolam, under the brand name Xanax (Count 1). The prices ranged from $4.50 to $10 per tablet, depending on the number of tablets purchased. Seventeen sales of Xanax were documented on the young person’s phone during the period of offending.
Between 22 March 2022 and 7 October 2022, the young person sold ketamine and MDMA (Count 2). Prices for ketamine ranged from $25 to $600, depending on the quantity purchased and prices for MDMA ranged from $25 to $250, depending on the quantity purchased. Six ketamine sales and two MDMA sales were documented on the young person’s phone during the period of offending.
Between December 2021 and October 2022, the young person sold a variety of different strands of cannabis (Count 4). The prices ranged from $10 to $350 depending on the quantity purchased. Fifty-two cannabis sales were documented on the young person’s phone during the period of offending.
Subsequent testing of the 482 grams of white powder found in the consignment revealed that the powder contained cocaine with a purity of 76.3% (Count 3). The pure weight of the cocaine was 367.7g.
The replica firearm that was found at the execution of the search warrant was located in the young person’s bedside drawer (Count 5). It substantially duplicated the appearance of a self-loading pistol. The young person has never held a firearm licence in any Australian State or Territory.
Objective seriousness
It is necessary to make findings as to the objective seriousness of each of the above offences. Neither party contended that it was necessary for me to do so by labelling the offences as low, mid or high range.
As outlined above, Count 1 involved seventeen occasions of supply of Xanax in quantities between two to 100 tablets, with the offender supplying 50 or more tablets on eight occasions.
Count 2 involved sale of Ketamine on six occasions and MDMA on two occasions. The young person was a street-level dealer. She charged between $25 and $600 for quantities of ketamine between 0.1 and 3.5 grams and between $25 and $250 for quantities of MDMA between one tablet and 1 gram. Count 4 involved possession of 374.8g of cannabis, which is a trafficable quantity, and sale of cannabis on 52 occasions, with pricing from $10 to $350 for quantities from 0.5 to 28 grams.
There was a measure of sophistication involved in each of the sales. Noting the extent of the young person’s business, but also accepting that the young person was herself consuming drugs at the time, I find that the offending was partly for financial gain and partly to maintain her own drug use.
Count 3 was an attempt to possess 367.7g of cocaine. The quantity which the young person attempted to possess was above the minimum threshold for a marketable quantity, but less than a quarter of a commercial quantity. The young person submitted that the offender’s involvement was simply providing her address and accepting the parcel when it arrived. The agreed facts indicate that the young person was not the intended final recipient of the parcel and I have assessed the objective seriousness of the offence on this basis.
Count 5 is possession of a replica firearm. It was not capable of discharging ammunition and the firearm was found located in the young person’s bedside drawer.
The offender
Background
The young person is now 20 years old. The young person had a mixed upbringing. She experienced difficulties as a result of her father’s gender dysphoria and had behavioural issues at school from around age 15.
The young person was diagnosed with ADHD in year 9. Around this time, she started drinking “pretty heavily” with friends. She also commenced using cannabis and MDMA at the age of 15 and also reported a brief period of frequent benzodiazepine use. The young person’s cannabis use progressed to daily consumption before ceasing in March 2022 around the time of the young person being in a car accident. She was a frequent user of cocaine around 2024.
At the time of the offending, the young person was spending time with antisocial peers including a former partner who was a heavy drug user. The young person has since “severed all ties” with these people.
At the time of the offending, the young person was not obtaining regular psychological treatment or medication for her ADHD diagnosis. Mr Visser, a clinical psychologist, has noted that people with ADHD generally show a “strong tendency towards behaviours that have a more immediate positive effect”, such as drug use. Mr Visser also considered the young person may have been addressing anxiety and mood issues through her drug use.
The young person now regularly attends a psychologist and takes medication to treat her ADHD. She has also experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression and received treatment for these in the past.
In the last three years since the offending, the young person has completed secondary education, completed a three-year hair apprenticeship, maintained full time employment and purchased a property in Canberra with her current partner. She no longer uses or is involved in the supply of drugs. The young person has the support of her mother, who has written an eloquent letter explaining the difficulty which she experienced as a mother at the time of the offending, and the pride that she has for her daughter because of the changes that her daughter has been able to make in her life.
Remorse
The young person pleaded guilty after the matter was committed for trial but before the matter was listed for criminal case conference and trial. Counsel for the young person tendered a letter of apology which described her relationships and lifestyle at the time of the offending. In that letter the young person explains that, at the time of the offending, she was immersed in “that world”, and felt unable to say “no” to the adults she was assisting. She states that she did not realise how serious and detrimental her actions were, both to herself and to the community.
Character references tendered on behalf of the young person (including from her employer) further confirm the young person’s deep remorse for the offending that she had engaged in, and describe her commitment to building a life which contributes positively to the community.
I find that the young person is remorseful.
Determination
The offending engaged in by the young person was grave. As the Crown submitted, the devastating social consequences that flow from the introduction and distribution of illicit drugs are well recognised. The young person sold drugs to young people, as well as to adults. Her conduct risked introducing these young people to a life of addiction. The sentences to be imposed must denounce the offending, and recognise the harm that is occasioned by the supply of drugs. Noting the difficulty in detecting offences of this nature, the sentences to be imposed must also be of such a severity that will deter others from engaging in such activities. No sentence other than imprisonment can meet each of these purposes.
However, the offender was a young person at the time of committing the offences. The law recognises that a young offender’s maturity, development and family circumstances are relevant to sentencing: s 133D Crimes (Sentencing) Act 2005 (ACT). I do not accept that the sentence to be imposed should be mitigated by reason of addiction. There is insufficient evidence that the young person was suffering from a drug addiction for me to be satisfied of this matter on the balance of probabilities. However, I do accept that the young person’s moral culpability is reduced by her ADHD which was untreated at the time of the offending, and in combination with her youth, adversely affected her ability to exercise judgment, and to take full account of the consequences of her conduct. In these circumstances, somewhat less weight will be given to the need for denunciation and general deterrence. Greater weight must be given to the need to ensure her ongoing rehabilitation: see s 133C Sentencing Act.
The police took over two years to charge the young person, despite having ample evidence of the offending from the time that the search warrant was executed. This delay was unexplained and regrettable, and has caused additional stress to the young person. However, it has nonetheless afforded the young person with an opportunity to proactively embark upon a path of rehabilitation. The young person has taken full advantage of this opportunity. She no longer takes drugs, and is no longer involved in the supply of drugs. She has severed her ties with antisocial peers. She has completed her secondary schooling and has obtained stable employment.
As the Crown properly acknowledged, it would be counterproductive to interrupt the young person’s rehabilitation by requiring her to serve a period of full-time custody. The competing purposes of punishment, denunciation, deterrence and rehabilitation will be best be served by way of suspended sentences (for the Territory offences) and a recognizance release order (for the Commonwealth offence).
In setting the terms of imprisonment, I have had regard to the comparative cases that were helpfully provided by the Crown, but have also borne in mind that the offender’s youth is a significant matter which distinguishes the present offending from the offences considered in those authorities.
The terms of imprisonment that will be imposed will be reduced by 25 percent, to take account of the young person’s early plea of guilty, which was entered before the matter was listed for Criminal Case Conference. The sentences to be imposed will be partially accumulated, to recognise the separate criminality that is involved in each of the offences. I have been careful to ensure that the overall term of imprisonment is one that reflects the totality of the offending.
Orders
I certify that the preceding thirty-three [33] numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the Reasons for Sentence of her Honour Justice Baker.
Associate: Date: 6 May 2026
R
Nightingale (a pseudonym)