Unacceptable Risk in Bail Laws: What Does it Mean?
Under the new NSW Bail Act, it is up to the bail authority to determine whether a defendant poses an unacceptable risk to the community if they are released on bail pending their court date. A bail authority can be...
Sale of E-Cigarettes Declared Illegal in WA
Western Australia is the first state in the country to ban the sale of e-cigarettes, even though it is still legal to sell and purchase ordinary tobacco products. In a recent landmark ruling, Perth e-cigarette seller Vince Van Heerden was...
Defences to Cultivation of Cannabis Charges
The law relating to cultivating, supplying or possessing prohibited plants such as cannabis in New South Wales is set out in the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (the Act). Cultivation means growing, tending, planting or harvesting of prohibited plants....
Should Entrapment be a Defence in Australia?
Entrapment is when a police officer induces a person to commit a crime they wouldn’t have otherwise committed, or provides them with an opportunity to commit a crime that they would not ordinarily have had. Entrapment can be used as...
Why a Proceeds of Crime Barrister is a Wise Idea
If you have been convicted of a serious offence, such as drug trafficking, or fraud, there is the very real prospect that the prosecution will apply to the court for a confiscation order for the proceeds of your crime. Under...
What is the Cannabis Cautioning Scheme?
If you have been charged with a drugs offence, the severity of the penalty you face will depend largely on the type and quantity of drug that you were allegedly found in possession of. Possessing cannabis may be treated less...
Caught in Possession of Drugs? What Now?
The last decade has seen a rise in the number of police officers deployed at festivals and events across NSW. The sight of sniffer dogs at live music events is commonplace, and the annual Nimbin Mardi Grass festival, which was...
The Offence of ‘Deemed Drug Supply’ in New South Wales
If you are found in possession of more than a certain quantity of drugs, you can be charged with deemed supply, even if you did not actually supply the drugs to anyone else and had no intention of doing so....
Recent Sydney Drug Sentencing Success Stories
What are the odds that a man caught supplying 1000 ecstasy tablets and 79 grams of ice will soon be seeing the world from behind bars? If you think they are fairly high, the results of his case may surprise...
Barbaro v The Queen
It has become quite common in criminal cases for the prosecution to make submissions to the judge about what they think should be the appropriate sentence for an offence. However, a recent ruling by the High Court in Barbaro v...
