The Court: Geelong Magistrates Court
The Lawyer: Ryan Robertson
The Charges:
The Allegations:
The client was a 23-year-old male at the time of the offence. The offences for which he was charged involved drugs that he and his friend had hidden on themselves as they attempted to enter a nightclub.
The client was arrested and searched outside the club, where police found drugs on him. He was subsequently interviewed, where he made admissions to having the drugs on him and said he intended to make them available to his friends inside the nightclub. Police tried to make out that our client and his friend were acting as a partnership, but importantly, our client stated he did not know about the drugs his friend had on him.
The police charged him based on the evidence available, which included the drugs he had on him, statements from witnesses who saw the two men together and the contents of our client’s admissions in the interview. The fact that our client denied any knowledge of his friend’s drugs and had not indicated by way of statement that they were acting together meant police could not charge him on the basis that he and his friend were acting in concert, even though they both had drugs on them.
At Court:
At court, our solicitor sought to negotiate our client’s charges with the police prosecutor to have the possession withdrawn on a plea to the more serious trafficking charge. Our solicitor argued that the possession was part of the trafficking and that charging him with both possession and trafficking was ‘double dipping’.
A plea of guilty was entered to the trafficking charge. Our solicitor made submissions to the court and highlighted that our client had been forthright and honest in his recorded interview. Our solicitor further submitted that the client pleaded guilty early and tried to admit wrongdoing immediately, knowing he would inevitably be punished. He was a young man of good character with no prior history.
The Outcome:
Ultimately, the Magistrate agreed and was persuaded to impose a $1,200 financial penalty without conviction as punishment.
This was a fantastic result for our client. A fine allowed him to put the matter behind him and continue on with his life, while a non-conviction disposition meant that the conviction would automatically be spent.
A more serious penalty would have interfered with his work and potentially put him in a worse situation. It is rare to receive a lesser penalty than gaol time or a Community Correction Order in relation to drug trafficking, so the client was very happy.
