For substantial trafficking at a wholesale level in Schedule 1 dangerous drugs over an extended period, a sentence of 13 years' imprisonment imposed after trial is within the appropriate range established by R v Markovski, where the benchmark for a plea of guilty is 11 to 13 years. The case illustrates that comparable cases must be carefully analysed for distinguishing features including plea, period of offending, level of trafficking, and age of offender, and that mere demonstration of different sentences in other cases does not establish manifest excess. Facts included in an agreed schedule at sentencing that were not given in evidence at trial do not vitiate the sentencing discretion where the sentencing judge did not rely on them.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 1 later case that cites this judgment.