Public Prosecutor v Jimmy [2011] VUSC 88; CRC 72 of 2007 (9 June 2011)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU
(Criminal Jurisdiction)
Criminal Case No. 72 / 2007
PUBLIC PROSECUTOR
V
JOHN NAUPA JIMMY

Hearing: 9 June 2011
Before: Justice Robert Spear
Appearances: Leon Malantugun for State
Eric Molbaleh for Accused

SENTENCE

1. John Naupa Jimmy you are for sentence on one charge of possession of cannabis. You pleaded guilty to that charge but certainly not at the first reasonable opportunity. Indeed, this offending occurred in May 2007.
   
2. You are from the island of Malekula. In 2007, you were apprehended on the wharf at Port Vila having disembarked from a ship with a large bag stuffed full of cannabis which you intended to sell here in Port Vila. The committal papers have a photograph of the cannabis bag. Unfortunately, the cannabis was not weighed but there was clearly a substantial quantity.
   
3. The carry bag contained three 25 kg rice bags each half full of cannabis plant material. The cannabis leaves was dried and so that indicates that it was ready for sale. It is now impossible to be exact as to the weight of the cannabis that you had for sale. I simply put it in the substantial quantity category.
   
4. In the pre-sentence report, and through Mr Molbaleh today, you claim that you did not know that cannabis was against the law and that you were breaking the law growing it and bringing it in to sell. Even if I accepted that to be so, and I do not, it would not reduce your liability or more particularly your culpability. However, I find that an extra ordinary statement. I do not accept it. I am in no doubt that you realised that the "big money" that you expected to make selling the cannabis was because it was illegal to do so.
   
5. It is important that this sentence sends the clear and consistent message out that those who involve themselves in the illegal trade in cannabis will be punished severely if they are apprehended. The principal reason for that is obvious but stands repetition. It is to ensure that the supply of cannabis is not easily accessed particularly by the young people of Vanuatu. The use of this recreational drug can become habit forming and can affect motivation and general health.
   
6. When drug dealers are apprehended they must be dealt with in a way that tells them that this trade in cannabis is not worth the risk. You told the probation officer that you understood you thought that you would be able to make "big money" by bringing cannabis to Port Vila to sell. Certainly, you would have been able to make a good profit and that is because this is an illegal drug for which there is a demand and that demand of course is fueled by a variety of factors.
   
7. You were endeavouring to profit from pedalling misery to others.
   
8. Accordingly the sentence must do its best to denounce this offending, to hold you responsible and accountable for what you have done and to deter you and others from ever be tempted to make easy money from the illegal trade in cannabis.
   
9. You are 39 years of age and I am told you are in a long term relationship with 7 children who are of or about school age. Furthermore, your wife is partly disabled. You are clearly someone on whom they depend for their very survival. The fact that you must go to prison for this offending is no one's fault but your own. The misery that will be incurred by your family is entirely your doing.
   
10. I adopt a starting point of 18 months imprisonment for this offending. I may have been persuaded to have gone to a higher starting point but for the fact that I do not have a weight for this cannabis. I allow you 3 months off that starting point for your guilty plea which cannot be considered as having been entered at the first reasonable opportunity. I will also reduce the sentence by 3 months to reflect your otherwise good character. You are fortunate indeed that I am prepared to make that further reduction because you have been a fugitive from justice now for some 3 years having absconded on your bail. However, that is not represented by a separate charge.
    
11. You were arrested last month on Malekula and brought to Port Vila where you have been in custody for the last 1 month and 12 days awaiting sentence.
    
12. You are sentenced to 10 months and 19 days imprisonment.
    

BY THE COURT