The Court imposed an aggregate sentence of 12 years' imprisonment with a 6-year non-parole period for 11 offences of aiding and abetting importation and attempted possession of border controlled drugs (cocaine and methamphetamine) over a 9-month period. The Court applied Bugmy principles to reduce moral culpability based on the offender's catastrophic childhood as a child soldier in Sierra Leone and his chronic PTSD, and found some attenuation of general and specific deterrence, while holding that general deterrence remained an important sentencing factor for serious drug importation offences. The Court declined to find beyond reasonable doubt that the offender intended to take possession of the drugs on the importation counts (as distinct from Count 11, the attempted possession count), sentencing him on the basis of his role as a trusted and essential accessory who provided consignee details.
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