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Key decisions

  • R v Busby [2018] NSWCCA 136
  • Gould v Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) [2018] NSWCCA 109

R v Busby [2018] NSWCCA 136

Supply prohibited drug – knowledge of the amount of drug

In a decision that has potentially wide-reaching ramifications for drug supply matters, the Court of Criminal Appeal (‘CCA’) has found that the relevant quantity level for a prohibited drug (‘small’, ‘traffickable’, ‘indictable’, ‘commercial’, ‘large commercial’) must be for the drug that the accused believed they had, not the drug that they actually had.

A co-offender of the respondent’s came under surveillance and so he was seen secreting a suitcase in the boot of a car the respondent was driving. The respondent drove off, police stopped the car, and found that the suitcase contained over 20 kg of ecstasy and over 2 kg of cocaine – a haul worth, in all, more than $1.4 million. Asked about what was in the suitcase, the respondent replied that he thought it was cannabis bud, and that he was transporting it in return for payment in the form of $80 of cannabis.

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