Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2009]JRC121

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

19^th June 2009

The Attorney General

-v-

Issac Edward Dunn

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Age:  19.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

On Friday 6^th March, 2009, at 1800 hours a Customs Officer at the Elizabeth Terminal stopped Dunn as he disembarked from the St Malo ferry in a French-registered car.

Dunn was travelling with Tamara Dubois, and her 7 month old daughter.  They said that they had recently started a relationship and that the purpose of their trip was to visit Dubois' mother.  Dunn said that he had never been to Jersey before and did not know anyone from Jersey other than Dubois.  He added that Dubois' mother had paid for the ferry ticket.  Dunn and Dubois both said that they had no prohibited drugs with them.

During a thorough search of the vehicle, Officers found a silver tape wrapped package of green herbal cannabis, with a street value of £2,740.

In interview Dunn admitted that he had imported the drugs and that he knew it was illegal to do so.  He claimed that the drugs were for his own personal consumption to feed his habit of 40 grams of herbal cannabis per day.  He said that he was going to be in Jersey for "at least a couple of weeks".

Dunn claimed that he had bought the car less than a week before travelling, for €1,000 from a friend of his father's whom he could not name.  He said that he had purchased the cannabis that morning from a homeless person in Rennes, for €2,000 in cash.  He then placed the cannabis inside the air filter before driving to the ferry.

Dunn is unemployed and has never had a permanent job, and claimed that he paid for the cannabis and the car from his life's savings.  He denied any intention to supply any of the cannabis, although now concedes that there may have been social supply to friends.

Dubois said that she had no knowledge of the cannabis and was released without charge.

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, youth, remorse.

Previous Convictions:

None.

Conclusions:

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted.

Forfeiture and destruction of drugs ordered.

R. C. P. Pedley, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate I. C. Jones for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        Mr Dunn you are an example of the damage that cannabis can cause.  Your family moved to France when you were about seven but you started smoking cannabis at an extraordinarily early age, so much so that by the age of fourteen or fifteen you were apparently smoking about 10 grams of herbal cannabis a day.  In addition, you started drinking heavily.  Not surprisingly your education suffered, you left school and truanted, and you have never held down a job.  It is a lesson of the dangers that cannabis can cause.  You came to Jersey to visit the family of your girlfriend but you brought with you 275 grams of herbal cannabis with a street value of £2,700 concealed in the car.  It is however, accepted that it was intended for your personal use.

2.        We have seen all the reports.  They suggest that the time you have spent on remand in prison since your arrest has opened your eyes to the damage you were doing to yourself.  It is said in the reports that you are now determined to return to France, get a job and try and make something of yourself and the recommendation therefore is that we should pass a prison sentence which will allow your release today so that you can return to France with your parents, who are here.

3.        We hope very much that what is said in the reports is correct, because if it is not, you are heading for a very difficult future.  We agree with the Crown that the correct starting point for this offence is one of 15 months.  We take into account the guilty plea, the fact that you have no previous convictions and the reports that we have seen, and also the letter that you have written to us in which you repeat your determination to try and turn your life around.  We bear in mind Article 4 of the Criminal Justice (Young Offenders)(Jersey) Law 1994.  We do find that this matter is too serious to be dealt with by way of a non-custodial sentence but we agree that the right course is to pass such sentence as will allow you to return to France today and try and begin putting your life back on track.

4.        We impose a sentence of 5 months' youth detention as moved for by the Crown.

5.        We order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Authorities

Criminal Justice (Young Offenders)(Jersey) Law 1994.

AG-v-Skeete 2002/130.