Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2003]JRC107

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

30^th June 2003

The Attorney General

-v-

John Francis McCarthy

Sentencing by the Superior Number of the Royal Court, to which the accused was remanded by the Inferior Number on 4th April, 2003, following a guilty plea to the following charges:

Age:     47.

Plea:    Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant was stopped by Customs Officers at Jersey Airport.  He gave a false name.  When searched and examined he was found to have a package of heroin in his washbag and 7 packages concealed internally.  The packages contained a total of 105.34 grams of Diamorphine (heroin) with  wholesale value of between £15,811.00 and £21,086 and a street value of between £31,622 and £47,401.

The defendant also had in his possession 2 ecstasy tablets.  The defendant maintained that he had been forced the previous week to carry out the importation to clear a debt of £5,000.  The defendant had the previous week travelled to Jersey under a false name in order to conduct a reconnaissance of Customs controls.

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea. 

Defendant claimed that he had been beaten up because of the debt.  Claimed to be deeply remorseful.

Previous Convictions:

Numerous including one for supplying drugs for which the defendant had been sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment.

Conclusions:

Starting point: 10 years; guilty plea inevitable in circumstances; Defendant not entitled to full discount for guilty plea.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

D.E. Le Cornu, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate J. Grace for the accused.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You say that you were undertaking the drug run in order, you hoped, to clear a debt of some £5,000 which you had borrowed from a criminal family in order to start a business which unfortunately had failed.  The case of Rimmer and ors -v- AG [2001]JLR373 makes it clear that the appropriate starting point is ten years' in this case and we agree with the Crown's conclusions in that respect.

2.        In mitigation we do take into account your guilty plea but it was inevitable in the circumstances.  We note that you have a very poor record, as you have accepted.  In particular you have two previous drug trafficking offences, having been sentenced to two years' in 1991 and to six years' in 1998 for conspiracy to supply cocaine.

3.        We have listened carefully to what you Advocate has said.  In particular you have said that you were beaten up in order to bring these drugs in.  As the Court of Appeal said in Stammers -v- AG [2003] JCA008 the Court cannot give any real weight to an argument that an applicant deserves credit for seeking to discharge a non drug debt rather than a drug debt by the illegal importation of drugs.  The suffering and degradation caused to the young people of Jersey by the importation of this amount of heroin would have been substantial.

4.        We have taken into account the other mitigation to which your Advocate has referred; we have read your letter and we are pleased to note how you intend to use your time and we commend you for that.  Nevertheless, taking account of all these factors, the Court does not think it can give a further discount beyond that allowed by the Crown.  Therefore on Count one the sentence will be nine years' imprisonment; on Count 2 one month's imprisonment, concurrent and we order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Authorities

Stammers -v- AG [2003] JCA008.

Rimmer and Ors -v- AG [2001] JLR 373.