Selling drugs to pay off a drug debt is not a mitigating factor — it is still selling drugs for a commercial purpose and at most explains how the offender came to offend. Where a mitigating factor is challenged by the prosecution, the onus remains on the offender to prove it on the balance of probabilities. A sentencing judge's remarks must be read in context and not taken literally in isolation.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 18 later cases that cite this judgment.
6 of the 18 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.