R v Thompson

[2012] NZHC 2514

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND HAMILTON REGISTRY

CRI-2010-019-2006 [2012] NZHC 2514

THE QUEEN

v

SHEREE ANNE THOMPSON

Hearing:         27 September 2012

Counsel:         R Douch for Crown

G Boot for Accused

Judgment:      27 September 2012

SENTENCING REMARKS OF LANG J

R V SHEREE ANNE THOMPSON HC HAM CRI-2010-019-2006 [27 September 2012]

[1]      Ms Thompson, you have pleaded guilty this morning to a charge of offering to supply cannabis.   The maximum penalty for that charge is seven years imprisonment.

The facts

[2]      The facts comprising your offending are set out in a summary of facts that the

Crown has presented today.  You take no issue with that summary.

[3]      It records that on 15 September 2009 you were at home on the farm where you lived with your partner.  At about 3 pm, you answered a telephone call from an unknown male person.  This person discussed the price of an ounce of “pot”.  He then asked where he could get that from, and you said “here”.   The tenor of the conversation makes it clear that you were offering to sell this person an ounce of cannabis for $250, and that the person was to come to your house to pick it up and pay for it.

[4]      Ordinarily,  in  any case  of  drug dealing involving an  ounce of  cannabis, imprisonment  would  be  a  realistic  option.    The  Crown  accepts  in  your  case, however, that the gravity of your offending falls below that threshold.   You were clearly acting as the agent of your partner.  For that reason, the Crown accepts that a non-custodial sentence is appropriate, and I agree.

[5]      Your counsel initially submitted that the gravity of the offending, and your personal circumstances, were such that a conviction and discharge was sufficient.  I do not accept that to be the case, because this was a blatant offer to supply a reasonably significant quantity of cannabis.  I consider that some penalty needs to be imposed to reflect that fact.

[6]      Ordinarily, I would have considered a sentence of community work to be appropriate, as initially submitted by the Crown.  Your counsel, however, has set out details of health problems from which you suffer.  This leads me to have some doubt as to whether you are in a position to perform a sentence of community work.  In those circumstances, it would be inappropriate in terms of the legislation to pass

such a sentence.  Instead, I propose to take a middle road and to order you to come up for sentence if called upon to do so within 12 months.1

[7]      On the charge to which you have entered a plea of guilty this morning, you are convicted.  You are ordered to come up for sentence on that charge if called upon to do so within 12 months.

[8]      The practical effect of the order is that no sentence has been passed upon you at this time.   If, however, you offend again in a similar way, you can expect the Crown to ask the Court to have this charge placed before it again.  At that point, I would then sentence you to an appropriate sentence having regard to your circumstances at that time.

[9]      Thank you.  Stand down.

Lang J

1 Sentencing Act 2002, s 110.