After being pulled over by police and his vehicle searched, a 28 year old man was charged with 5 offences, being 2 charges of Supply Prohibited Drug, 2 charges of Possess Prohibited Drug and Deal with property suspected to be proceeds of crime ($2,480).
At the time of the offences, he was on a student visa and was suffering financially. Due to this, he acknowledged he was guilty and disclosed that the offence was committed with a financial motive.
Ms Regan advised to negotiate the charges with police in order to downgrade the seriousness of the matter to maximise his chances at avoiding serious penalties such as custody.
Police agreed with the offer put by Ms Regan, which resulted in the withdrawal of 2 charges, placing 2 other charges on a ‘Form 1’, reduction of the sum of proceeds of crime sum to $750 and favourable amendment to police facts.
On advice, Ms Regan’s client prepared a number of subjective materials including an apology letter, good character reference letters, evidence of his study and his engagement in the SMART Recovery Program.
Ms Regan made persuasive submissions seeking a community based order instead of a custodial sentence ordinarily considered in these cases.
The Magistrate of the Downing Centre Local Court agreed with our submissions and imposed a Community Corrections Order.
On a Form 1, the charges of possess prohibited Drug and having $750 suspected to be proceeds of crime were taken into account however no penalty was imposed for these individually.
