Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - drugs - importation - class C.

[2016]JRC009

Royal Court

(Samedi)

15 January 2016

Before     :

J. A. Clyde-Smith, Esq., Commissioner and Jurats Crill and Thomas

The Attorney General

-v-

Penelope Violet Turmel

Brian James Le Monnier

Robert Emlyn Rees

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following guilty pleas to the following charges:

Penelope Violet Turmel

3 counts of:

Being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise (Jersey) Law 1999 (Counts 5, 6 and 7).

Age:  55

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

A postal package arriving in the Island from India, addressed to Rees, was inspected by a Customs Officer and found to contain 3000 diazepam 10mg tablets, controlled prescription medication.  Two further similar packages were received a few weeks later, addressed to Le Monnier both packages containing 3000 diazepam 10mg tablets each.  All the packages were sent from the same post office in India and had tracking numbers.  Rees and Le Monnier were arrested and their mobile telephones investigated.  Rees' telephone revealed a message 'What do I do with package' sent to a telephone identified as belonging to Turmel who was on holiday in Goa.  Le Monnier's telephone also revealed contact with Turmel and there was a note asking him to collect a numbered package from Jersey Post.  Rees and Le Monnier were co-operative during interview, acknowledging their involvement with the packages.  Following arrest Turmel was evasive during interview, accepting she had received messages relating to the packages but claiming not to know what the messages were about and struggling to provide any plausible explanation in that regard as well as with regard to certain large sums of money received into her bank account.  Street value of the tablets totalled £18,000, cost approximately £450. 

Details of Mitigation:

Turmel had been prescribed diazepam for 20 years and was physically dependent, however had expressed willingness to engage with the relevant services to overcome this.  Although late, guilty pleas sufficient to save expense of a trial entered prior to first Directions Hearing (Court left similar Counts 1 - 4 lie on file).  Unemployed and in receipt of benefits Turmel was married with adult children. 

Previous Convictions:

40 offences listed against her over 27 years, 35 offences being for dishonesty, some in UK, and had received custodial sentences previously. 

Conclusions:

Count 5:	18 months' imprisonment.
Count 6:	18 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 7:	18 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total: 18 months' imprisonment. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Declaration of benefit of £18,000 and Confiscation Order sought in the nominal amount of £1.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted.

Brian James Le Monnier

2 counts of:

Being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise (Jersey) Law 1999 (Counts 6 and 7).

Age:  59.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

See Turmel above.

Details of Mitigation:

Le Monnier was single, unemployed and with little structure to his life.  He too was co-operative and polite with Police and had benefit of early guilty pleas. 

Previous Convictions:

Previous convictions, mainly motoring or drink-related; had performed well on a community service order 16 years earlier and had not been before the courts in the interim. 

Conclusions:

Count 6:	9 months' imprisonment.
Count 7:	9 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total: 9 months' imprisonment. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 6:	150 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment.
Count 7:	150 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total: 150 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs ordered.

Robert Emlyn Rees

1 count of:

Being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of a controlled drug, contrary to Article 61(2)(b) of the Customs and Excise (Jersey) Law 1999 (Count 5).

Age:  51.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

See Turmel above.

Details of Mitigation:

Rees was single, in regular employment and well thought-of in his workplace.  Co-operative and polite with Police.  Guilty plea on indictment. 

Previous Convictions:

Rees had previous convictions but mainly in his teenage years for motoring or drink-related offending. 

Conclusions:

Count 5:

9 months' imprisonment.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 5:

120 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 6 months' imprisonment.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs ordered.

Advocate E. L. Hollywood, Crown Advocate.

Advocate N. D. E. Addis for Turmel.

Advocate A. M. Harrison.

Advocate N. MacDonald for Rees.

JUDGMENT

THE commissioner:

1.        The defendants stand to be sentenced for the importation of 9,000 diazepam tablets with a street value of £18,000.  The defendant, Turmel, arranged the posting of the three packages involved from India, where she was staying, to the home addresses of the defendants Le Monnier and Rees, over a period of a month.  The importations are accepted by the Crown as having been relatively amateur in execution in that they were addressed to her co-defendants at their home addresses with their mobile numbers.  There has been nothing discovered by the police which suggested that Le Monnier and Rees were more than minders, receiving the packages for passing on or handing back.  Turmel, on the other hand, was physically closest to the source of the drugs in India and was involved in all three packages hence the higher conclusions sought by the Crown in her respect. 

2.        For the reasons set out in AG-v-Page Childs and Keane [2012] JRC 131 the Court has eschewed starting points for the importation of class C drugs, the maximum sentence of which is 5 years.  The Court will take into account the sentencing policy of the Court set out by the Court of Appeal in Campbell and others-v-AG [1995] JLR 136:-

"The courts cannot by themselves provide a solution to the problem but they can play their part by adopting a sentencing policy which marks the gravity of the crime.  We desire therefore to make absolutely clear what is the policy of the courts in this jurisdiction in relation to the sentencing of offenders who import or deal in drugs on a commercial basis.  That policy is that offenders will receive condign punishment to mark the peculiarly heinous and anti-social nature of the crime of drug trafficking."

3.        All of the circumstances of the case will be taken into account in relation to an importation of class C drugs including:-

(i)        The quantity of the drugs;

(ii)       The closness to the main supplier ;

(iii)      The street value, although recognising that can, of course go up and down;

(iv)      The potential for the profit to be made; and

(v)       The sophistication or otherwise of the operation.

As to profit, we are advised that the cost of 3,000 tablets in India was £150 so that one can see that the potential profits here were enormous.

4.        Diazepam is marketed under the name of Valium.  It has a sedative hypnotic anti-anxcietal(sic) property.  Valium is widely prescribed and, we are told, widely abused and by these importations substantial quantities of controlled drugs would have become available in the streets of Jersey. 

5.        Turmel is assessed at a moderate to high risk of reconviction in 12 months, Le Monnier a medium risk of reconviction in 12 months and Rees a moderate risk of reconviction within 12 months.  The Crown move for custodial sentence for all three of the defendants. 

6.        In terms of mitigation, all three defendants have pleaded guilty and although they all have a history of previous convictions, that does go back many years and there are none for drug trafficking offences.  The importations were amateur in nature, or relatively amateur in nature as the Crown has said, and the Crown have also said that there are no aggravating circumstances. 

7.        We have taken into account all of the individual mitigation put forward by counsel this morning but in our view there is a clear distinction between the position of the defendant Turmel and the other two defendants.  Turmel was, we say, the organiser; she was close to the source of the drugs in India, and was involved in all three importations and, indeed, placed the other defendants at risk by the use of their addresses.  Her offending is too serious to justify a non-custodial outcome.  The other defendants were, as the prosecution say, minders and in our view, and having taken into account their mitigation, we feel we can deal with them by a non-custodial outcome.  The sentence for Rees will be slightly reduced because he was involved in a smaller quantity of drugs and in our view has greater mitigation available to him than Le Monnier. 

8.        Turmel, on Count 5 you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, on Count 6; 18 months' imprisonment, concurrent to Count 5 and on Count 7; 18 months' imprisonment, concurrent to Counts 5 and 6, which makes a total of 18 months' imprisonment. 

9.        Rees, on Count 5 you are sentenced to 120 hours' community service, which is equivalent to 6 months' imprisonment. 

10.      Le Monnier, on Count 6 you are sentenced to 150 hours' community service which is equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment and on Count 7 to 150 hours' community service, which is again equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment, concurrent, making a total of 150 hours' community service, which is equivalent to 9 months' imprisonment. 

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

Authorities

AG-v-Page Childs and Keane [2012] JRC 131.

Campbell and others-v-AG [1995] JLR 136.

AG-v-Munro [2011] JRC 121.

AG-v-Matutite [2013] JRC 047.