Public Prosecutor v Ulas [2009] VUSC 12; Criminal Case 96 of 2008 (23 March 2009)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU
(Criminal Jurisdiction)

Criminal Case No. 96 of 2008

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

V

BOBBY ULAS

Coram: Justice N. R. DAWSON

Date of Hearing: March,, 2009

Date of Decision: 23rd March, 2009

Counsels: No appearance for Public Prosecutor (Mr. Obed)
No appearance for Accused (Mr. Vira)

SENTENCE

1. Mr. Ulas you appear in Court today for sentencing on a charge of Cultivation of Cannabis. Last Friday you appeared before me in Court after you had been arrested having been an escaped prisoner. Today at 2pm this afternoon was set down as the time for sentencing as the Probation Report had already been received by the Court and written submissions had already been received by the Court from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and also from the Public Solicitor’s Office on your behalf.
   
2. This afternoon neither the Public Prosecutor, nor the Public Solicitor who was representing you, are here in Court ready for your sentencing. My secretary has made efforts to try and ring both of those lawyers on the telephone and has not been unable to contact them.
   
3. I am aware from the reports before the Court that you have already spent approximately five months in custody. This being the first time you have committed this particular offence it has always been very likely that I will be sentencing you to a sentence less than the time that you have already served. To put off sentencing until the time your counsel can be here to represent you, it would be necessary to remand you in custody for some days and you will be spending more time in custody than the sentence that is likely to be imposed upon. That is been explained to you and you have indicated that you would prefer the Court to proceed with sentencing today in the absence of your lawyer and as that is your wish I will do so.
   
4. The facts of the matter are that on 24th October, 2008 three police officers went to your house. When they arrived there they spoke to you and your father and another person and then they found two cannabis plants growing in a garden of island cabbage and you were arrested and taken to the police station and you admitted that you had planted the two cannabis plants.
   
5. In sentencing you today it is necessary I take into account the appropriate sentencing factors which are first to hold you responsible for the wrong decision you made to plant and grow these cannabis plants. It is also necessary for me to denounce your conduct and make it very clear to you and others that growing cannabis is a very totally unacceptable thing to be doing in this country. I need to take into account the gravity of your particular offending in sentencing you today. The only aggravating feature is that you have a previous conviction for unlawful entry and theft. But that is not a similar conviction to what you have been sentenced for today. In mitigation you have entered a guilty plea at an early stage and there were only two cannabis plants in the garden so clearly you were not involving yourself in a commercial operation.
   
6. The Probation Report notes that you are losing any support you have in the community and your family because of your behaviour. Hopefully the time you spent in prison already will bring home to you the error of your ways and give you some idea of how bad your life will be if you continue to offend in future. Hopefully it has been a shock to you so that you have learnt your lesson and gone back to being a good member of the community.
   
7. In my view for this offence, taking into account that you have a previous conviction the appropriate sentence would be a term of imprisonment of four months. The aggravating and mitigating features cancel each other out and I therefore sentence you to a term of imprisonment of 4 months. I note however that you have already served 5 months imprisonment and therefore you can be released from prison today.
   
8. You have the right to appeal this sentence. For any appeal you must lodge a notice of appeal within 14 days of today’s date.
   

Dated at Port Vila, this 23rd day of March, 2009

BY THE COURT

N. R. DAWSON
Judge