Jersey Unreported Judgments

Superior Number Sentencing - drugs - importation - Class B.

[2015]JRC229

Royal Court

(Samedi)

12 November 2015

The Attorney General

-v-

Rogerio Da Silva Dos Santos

Sentencing by the Superior Number of the Royal Court, to which the accused was remanded by the Inferior Number on 25^th September, 2015, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Age:  58.

Plea: Guilty

Details of Offence:

Dos Santos, who lived and worked as an estate agent in Portugal, drove a hire car from Lisbon to Malaga, Spain, where 21.265 kg of cannabis was concealed in the diesel tank of the car by third parties.  He claimed to have first met them when they approached him about buying a property.  He said that they had then asked him to drive to Jersey for them in exchange for payment.  He accepted because he was in financial difficulties.  He then drove to St Malo and travelled to Jersey on the ferry.  Dos Santos was stopped by Customs on his arrival and the drugs were discovered.  He was largely cooperative in interview, stating that he knew he was importing something illegal, but thought that it was tainted money.  He became involved in the importation for financial gain and did not have any history of involvement in drugs.  He did not name the organisers of the importation, but stated that they had made threats towards him and his daughter. 

Details of Mitigation:

The Crown: Guilty plea and cooperation in interview.  Previous good character. 

The Defence:  Remorse.  Devastated by his actions. 

Previous Convictions:

Conclusions:

The Crown submitted that Dos Santos should be sentenced on the basis of the goods he imported, not those he stated he believed he had imported (Hamilton and Owens v Attorney General [2010] JLR 313) and therefore took a starting point of 8 years' imprisonment. 

Confiscation Order sought in the sum of £511.71.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Recommendation for deportation sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted.

C. M. M. Yates, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate C. M. Fogarty for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE BAILIFF:

1.        You are here to be sentenced for being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis.  The facts are that you drove a car from Portugal to St Malo and onto the ferry to Jersey.  Concealed in the petrol tank were packages of cannabis, weighing 21.265 kilograms.  We are told the purchase price in Portugal would have been between €15,000 and €33,000.  The wholesale value in Jersey is £220,000 and the drugs have a street value in Jersey of between £330,000 and £440,000 so this was a very substantial importation. 

2.        You told the police that you knew you were carrying something illegal but you did not know that it was cannabis; you thought perhaps it was laundered money, your counsel says, tax money; you agreed to import the material for a fee of 3-4,000 euros.  At one point you were going to change your mind, and the Court is satisfied that you were, and you turned the car around but you were threatened, you say, and indirectly so was your daughter. 

3.        It is well established that threats of this kind do not provide any mitigation.  When you knowingly engage in criminal conduct on behalf of other people you cannot be surprised if they play a rougher game than you anticipated and there is also the policy reason that we do not allow such claims as mitigation because it is impossible in most cases to verify whether the claim is true or not. 

4.        As you will have been told by your counsel the sentencing policy in this Court for cases of this kind is well established and we follow AG-v-Campbell [1995] JLR 136 which was a Court of Appeal decision some years ago. 

5.        We have to fix a starting point by reference to your involvement in drug trafficking and the weight of the drugs is a very material factor in that assessment.  For this offence the Crown contends that a starting point of 8 years is appropriate and your counsel does not dissent from that.  We agree too, having regard to the quantity of the drugs and you're being trusted to bring them to Jersey and we therefore take 8 years' imprisonment as the appropriate starting point.  As your counsel says, you are aged 58 and have no previous convictions and that is a substantial point in your favour.  It is also very much in your favour that you have cooperated with the customs officers and that you have pleaded guilty and that gives us cause to look for a reduction against the starting point. 

6.        We have read carefully not only the reference which you have provided from your sister and from your colleague in the UK, but also your own letter and we accept that you are ashamed and remorseful and that you realise what a stupid thing you did on this occasion, and we have taken all that into account but having done so we still think that the conclusions which the Crown reached are correct. 

7.        You are therefore sentenced to 4½ years' imprisonment in relation to this charge. 

8.        We also have considered the question of deportation.  It has not been a matter which has been opposed by you and we certainly are satisfied that an offence of this kind meets the first part of the test in Camacho-v-AG [2007] JLR 462 and therefore that it is appropriate we look to see if there is anything personal in your circumstances which should prevent us from making a recommendation; we do not think there is any personal circumstance that should prevent us doing so and accordingly we make a recommendation for deportation. 

9.        We also order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs. 

Authorities

AG-v-Campbell [1995] JLR 136.

Camacho-v-AG [2007] JLR 462.

Barr v Attorney General [2003] JLR N 42.

Barr v AG [2003] JCA 158.

Hamilton and Owens v Attorney General [2010] JLR 313.

Attorney General v Miah [2004] JLR N 10.

AG-v-Miah [2004] JRC 048.

Attorney General -v- Logan [2015] JRC 113.

Attorney General -v- Brown [2008] JRC 208.

Attorney General -v- Ferreira [2015] JRC 213.