STATE OF TASMANIA v TALEAH MAREE McLAUGHLIN 20 NOVEMBER 2024
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE JAGO J
I have before me an application for breach of a suspended sentence, pursuant to s 27 of the Sentencing Act 1997. The respondent does not show cause in respect to the application but submits through her counsel that it would be unjust for me to activate all of the period of suspended imprisonment.
On 29 November 2023, I sentenced the respondent in respect to the crime of trafficking in a controlled substance, together with a number of related summary charges pertaining to the respondent’s drug use. The trafficking related to an approximate 14-month period between 1 May 2021 and 7 July 2022. It involved the respondent trafficking in methylamphetamine by selling the drug on an ongoing and recurring basis. The quantum of the trafficking enterprise is reflected in the fact that when police searched the respondent’s residence on 6 July 2022, they seized 31.12 grams of methylamphetamine, much of the substance covertly hidden throughout the respondent’s residence. Her mobile phone, when forensically examined, revealed that she had been selling methylamphetamine constantly throughout May and June 2022.
The following day, on 7 July 2022, police conducted a second search at the respondent’s residence. On this occasion 28.68 grams of methylamphetamine was located, much of it packaged in separate snap lock bags, ready for sale. The basis upon which the respondent was sentenced included an acceptance that the respondent had a significant drug addiction and had started selling methylamphetamine to try and cover the cost of her own addiction.
At the time I sentenced the respondent she was 38 years of age. She had a significant history of drug offending, starting in 2011, including several prior convictions for possessing and using illicit drugs, and a prior conviction for supplying a controlled drug. Significantly, on 3 July 2019, she was sentenced by Porter AJ for trafficking in a controlled substance. That trafficking matter occurred between 9 December 2017 and 9 December 2018, and involved the respondent trafficking in three different illicit substances.
The respondent was sentenced by Porter AJ to a Drug Treatment Order. That Drug Treatment Order was cancelled in March 2020. The respondent served the custodial component and upon her release, all but immediately resumed her drug taking lifestyle, and within a short period of her release, began trafficking. When I sentenced the respondent, I was told that she had successfully completed a drug rehabilitation programme and had not used illicit substances since her release from that programme in April 2023. I was also told that it was the first substantial period in which she had abstained from drug use for many years. With some hesitation, I determined that I should provide the respondent with an opportunity to demonstrate that she was genuinely committed to her rehabilitation. When I sentenced the respondent, I said this:
“With some hesitation, I have determined that it is in the public interest and, of course your interest, to continue to encourage you with your rehabilitation, rather than send you to gaol immediately. I am satisfied that the catalyst for your trafficking was your addiction, thus if that can be successfully addressed in the longer term, the risk of reoccurrence of a crime of this nature is minimised. You should be under no illusion, however, that this is the last opportunity that will be extended to you. If you were to reoffend in any serious way into the future, particularly if it involves the selling of illicit substances, a lengthy period of imprisonment would be almost inevitable.”
Sadly, the respondent did exactly what I warned her against and, indeed, it seems was doing it the whole time that sentencing proceedings were before the Court.
On 2 July 2024, the respondent entered pleas of guilty to the following charges in the Magistrates Court: one count of possessing a controlled drug, occurring on 19 December 2023; one count of selling a controlled drug, occurring between 7 July 2022 and 19 December 2023; and one count of using a controlled drug, occurring on 18 December 2023.
The respondent also pleaded guilty to a charge of posses a thing used for the administration of a controlled drug, but given this is not a gaolable offence, it is not a breach of the suspended sentence.
As can be seen then, the possess a controlled drug charge occurred 20 days after the imposition of the suspended sentence, the use a controlled drug charge occurred 19 days after the imposition of the suspended sentence and, significantly, the selling charge was occurring before I imposed the suspended sentence and continued for 20 days following the imposition of the suspended sentence.
At the time I sentenced the respondent, I also imposed a community correction order. In order to fully assess this application, I obtained a pre-sentence report from Community Corrections to determine the attitude the respondent had displayed whilst participating in that order. Whilst I acknowledge the respondent has completed a number of the hours imposed, the report also indicates the respondent’s engagement with the supervision condition of her Community Correction Order has been sporadic and a “breach tab” was, in fact, open on 3 June 2024 because of the respondent’s further offending. The report also notes that whilst the respondent’s use and selling of drugs has decreased since the charges to which she pleaded guilty in Magistrates Court came to light, it has not completely ceased. The report indicates that Ms McLaughlin stated her reasons for her ongoing use were “it helps with her ADHD…she enjoys the spontaneity…and she enjoys the social side of drug using and noted that she was bored when she went without it.”
The report also notes that since the breach proceedings were brought, the respondent has ceased all engagement with Community Service, telling her Community Service officer, “she no longer saw the point of it…if she is going to gaol, why bother with it in the meantime”. That last statement, in my view, is particularly telling. It sums up the respondent’s attitude generally towards her rehabilitation.
It is important to remember that in considering any application for breach of a suspended sentence, the Court is not considering the punishment for the breaching offences, or re-visiting the original sentence imposed; rather it is concerned only with the question of whether it would be unjust to activate the suspended sentence. The starting point is the sentence must be activated unless the Court is satisfied it is unjust to do so. In my view, there is no sensible basis upon which I could conclude it would be unjust to activate the suspended sentence. The respondent, in my assessment, has demonstrated an ongoing attitude of disobedience towards the law by the commission of further drug offences and significantly, has made minimal genuine attempts to address her drug addiction and rehabilitate herself.
There are only so many opportunities a Court can offer to the respondent before a stern response is warranted. It is necessary to make clear to her and to others, that there will be consequences if suspended sentences are breached. It was made abundantly clear to the respondent what the consequences of any breaching behaviour would be. I have no doubt she well appreciated the potential consequences of committing further offences, and yet chose to offend in several ways on a number of occasions in breach of the suspended sentence.
On an application of this nature, the broader question is whether the suspended sentence is having its desired effect in terms of rehabilitation. Here, it clearly is not. It would significantly undermine the purpose and effect of the suspended sentence if it is allowed to be breached with impunity.
The application is granted. I order the 16-month period of imprisonment imposed on 29 November 2023 be activated and that the respondent be required to serve it. That period of imprisonment will commence as of 21 October 2024. I order the respondent be eligible for parole upon serving one half of that period of imprisonment.