14 Adverting to the list of specific mitigating factors in s21A(3), the judge said that the only relevant factor was:
(k) a plea of guilty by the offender (as provided by section 22).
15 His Honour then addressed a number of "subjective features applicable to the offender", namely:
1. The offender's age. The offender was born on 1 March 1969. Accordingly, he was aged 34 years one month when he committed the subject offence and he is aged 34 seven months now.
2. The offender's background and upbringing. The offender is the only child of his parents. His parents separated when he was aged about two years. After the separation of his parents he was cared for by his mother. His mother later remarried. Thereafter, he was cared for by his mother and his step-father. He believed his step-father to be his biological father. His mother and his step-father separated after three years of marriage. Thereafter, he was cared for by his step-father and step-grandparents until he left his step-father's when he was aged about eighteen years. Unfortunately, life with his step-father and step-grandparents was less than fulfilling and satisfying. He met his biological father when he was aged about thirteen years. Unfortunately, a relationship with his biological father and his father's other children did not develop. His mother died when he was aged about eighteen years, just six months before he left his step-father's home.
3. The offender's education. The offender attended primary and secondary schools. He left school at the end of 1985 after completing Year 10 and obtaining the School Certificate. Thereafter, he attended a TAFE college and completed a sheet metal workers course, during which he was apprenticed.
4. The offender's employments. After completing the sheet metal workers apprenticeship, the offender had employment as a sheet metalworker until about 1990. Thereafter, following his desire for a change in lifestyle, he had casual labouring employments from time to time. Unfortunately, he was injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident and he has not had employment since his being injured.
5. The offender's marital status. The offender is single, never having been married. However, he has lived as man and wife with his girlfriend for the five years before his arrest. He is the step-father to his girlfriend's two oldest children and the father of her three youngest children.
6. The offender's health. Insofar as his physical health is concerned, the offender suffers disabilities in his back, right hip and right knee as a consequence of the motor vehicle accident. Insofar as his mental health is concerned, he feels anxious and depressed, perhaps that is due to his situation and his concern for his girlfriend and their children.
7. The offender's drug use. The offender's drug use is referred to in both the pre-sentence report and the psychologist's report and it need not be repeated. Notwithstanding his use of prohibited drugs, the offender does not regard himself as having a "drug problem".
8. The offender's character. The offender does not have an unblemished character. He has a criminal record. It is exhibit D. He has been dealt with for five offences, three of which were offences of supplying cannabis leaf. As his counsel commented, the offences must have been at the bottom of the range in view of the penalty imposed by the magistrate in a Local Court. However, the fact is that he has a criminal record including three offences of supplying a prohibited drug.
9. The offence itself. By any measure the offence committed by the offender is a very serious offence. The prescribed punishment for the offence, and the standard non parole period for it are an indication of the seriousness with which Parliament regards the offence. In the absence of any evidence from the offender, and with knowledge of the offender's accumulated assets, which have been confiscated by the New South Wales Crime Commission, I cannot accept what the offender told the Probation and Parole officer and the psychologist about the circumstances in which he committed the offence.
10. The offender's plea. There cannot be any doubt that the offender pleaded guilty to the subject offence at the earliest appropriate opportunity and his plea, having the greatest utilitarian value, entitles him to a discount of 25 per cent on account of the guilty plea.
11. The offender's remorse. Although I accept that an offender's guilty plea may show remorse on the part of the offender, I doubt, frankly, that the offender has any remorse for his conduct. The offence, for which I am to impose sentence on him, was not his first offence of supplying a prohibited drug. His accumulated assets show that he is not a street dealer of prohibited drugs, rather his accumulated assets show that he is a relatively large scale dealer of prohibited drugs.
12. The offender's loss of accumulated assets. The offender's accumulated assets totalled about $680,000 of which about $630,000 was a share portfolio in yet another assumed name. As I have said already, these assets have been confiscated by the New South Wales Crime Commission. The offender intends to claim the return of some, if not all, of these assets. Whether he loses all or some of these assets is not a mitigating factor. He is not entitled to retain assets which have been acquired by unlawful means.
13. Rehabilitation. I do not know whether or not the offender is likely to re-offend or to cease offending and whether or not the offender is likely to be rehabilitated. I have not heard evidence from the offender. I do not know what plans the offender might have for the future. His history has shown that he is likely to re-offend. He supplied a prohibited drug within three years of having been dealt with earlier supplying a prohibited drug.
14. Finally, deterrence. I must take into account both general and personal deterrence. Neither can be ignored or overlooked.
As to the determination of an appropriate non parole period, it is necessary, it seems to me, having regard to the requirement of s54B(3) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure Act) that I balance the aggravating factors, and I have referred to them, against the mitigating factor, and I have referred to it. In doing that, I have determined that the standard non parole period should be reduced by 20 per cent. Accordingly, the standard non parole period of fifteen years is reduced by three years to twelve years. As I cannot see any special circumstance, the balance of the term, or non parole period [sic], will be one-third of twelve years, which is four years. Thus, the sentence is imprisonment for sixteen years with a non parole period of twelve years and a parole period or balance of the term of four years.