Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - attempting to remove criminal property from the jurisdiction.

[2016]JRC234

Royal Court

(Samedi)

16 December 2016

The Attorney General

-v-

Carl Roy Brennan

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

Age:  44.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant travelled to Jersey on 15^th June, 2016 to answer customs bail in relation to an offence of importing 0.56 grams of cocaine on 14^th May, 2016.  He was subsequently charged and bound over to leave the Island by the Magistrate's Court.  The defendant was stopped leaving the Island and declared that he had £400 cash in his pocket but did not have anything else to declare.  The vehicle the defendant was driving was searched and a wash bag was found concealed in the spare wheel well of the car.  It contained £11,660.  The defendant claimed that this money was winnings from a bet he had placed.  Trial dates were set.  Further investigations took place and following a ruling from the trial Judge, Commissioner Pitchers, in relation to admissibility of background evidence the defendant entered a guilty plea on a basis that he had agreed to take the money out of the Island in return for a payment of £500. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea.

Previous Convictions:

42 offences including violence, fraud, theft and drug-related offences. 

Conclusions:

Forfeiture sought of the money seized.

Costs sought towards the prosecution £511.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Forfeiture ordered of the monies seized.

No costs order made.

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

Advocate M. P. Boothman for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are to be sentenced in relation to one count of attempting to remove criminal property from Jersey.  We do not need to set out the facts of this matter; they have been amply explored by the Crown in the submissions before us today.  You have pleaded guilty and you have offered a basis for that plea which the Crown has accepted. 

2.        Accordingly we proceed on the basis that you were aware that the money that you were taking, some £11,660, secreted in your car, was money tainted by criminal activity.  You were to receive a fee of £500 for acting as a courier. 

3.        Unlawful activity such as, for example, dealing in drugs, cannot thrive unless individuals are prepared to assist in channelling the criminal process of that conduct back to those who engage in it.  Acting as a courier facilitates criminal activity no matter what it is and is accordingly viewed by the Court as a serious matter. 

4.        You have the benefit of your guilty plea but is could not be said that you were fully cooperative with the authorities in as much as you originally denied having any money to declare and thereafter tried to pass it off as the proceeds of a bet.  However your guilty plea is of value in this case and we take it into account. 

5.        We note the other mitigation available to you.  You have expressed your remorse and clearly you are mindful of the effects that your criminal activity has had and will have on your family.  As the Court often observes when that submission is made, that is something you really should have thought about before engaging in criminal activity in the first place.  We have noted the references given on your behalf which speak well of you. 

6.        Turning to the appropriate basis of sentence we agree with the Crown as to the factors that need to be considered and indeed with the Crown's analysis of those factors against the facts of this case.  However in our view the sentence moved for by the Crown is too high in these circumstances and the correct sentence is one of 12 months' imprisonment. 

7.        We order the forfeiture of the money as requested by the Crown and make no order as to costs. 

Authorities

Criminal Justice (Forfeiture Orders)(Jersey) Law 2001.

Police Force (Disposal of Property)(Jersey) Regulations 1975.

AG-v-Turney [2016] JRC 175.

AG-v-Goodwin [2016] JRC 165.

AG-v-Cleaver [2016] JRC 080.

AG-v-Adam [2015] JRC 215.