Santos v WA

[2016] WASCA 107

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Appeal against sentence
4. › Withdrawal of notice of discontinuance
5. › Discretionary power
6. › Whether delay adequately explained
7. › Whether proposed grounds of appeal have merit
8. › Whether miscarriage of justice demonstrated
9. › Criminal Appeals Act 2004 (WA), s 40(1)(l)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Drug offences
4. › Possession with intent to sell or supply
5. › Parity principle
6. › Whether lack of disparity between co-offenders' sentences gave rise to justifiable sense of grievance
7. › Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA), s 6(1)(a)
1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Totality principle
4. › First limb
5. › Whether total effective sentence including interstate sentence bore proper relationship to overall criminality
1. Constitutional Law (Cth)
2. › Inconsistency of laws
3. › Whether State drug quantification provisions inconsistent with Commonwealth Criminal Code provisions
4. › Whether s 109 of the Australian Constitution engaged
5. › Australian Constitution, s 109

Quick Take

An application to withdraw a notice of discontinuance of a criminal appeal filed almost three years earlier will be refused where the delay is gross and inadequately explained, and none of the proposed grounds of appeal have merit. Offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1981 (WA) retain their character as State laws and there is no s 109 inconsistency with the Criminal Code (Cth) regarding drug quantification methods.