The Queensland Court of Appeal held that a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for trafficking in methylamphetamine over an eight-month period, with an estimated turnover of $1.8 million and profit of approximately $448,000, was not manifestly excessive, notwithstanding the automatic serious violent offence declaration under s 161B of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld). The Court also held that the sentencing judge did not err in characterising the guilty plea to the trafficking count as 'not particularly timely' where the applicant had pleaded not guilty at arraignment and did not resolve negotiations with the prosecution until relatively close to the trial date, even though the ultimate plea followed amendment of the particulars. The weight given to guilty pleas is not reviewable as a specific error under the House v The King standard.
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