Drug traffickers lose bid

TWO men jailed for drug trafficking after the seizure of drugs worth up to $500,000 have lost appeals against their sentences.

Garry Maxwell Billinghurst and Christopher Adam Leaman were jailed in the Supreme Court in Hobart in December after being found guilty of trafficking in methylamphetamine, amphetamine, oxycodone, morphine and cannabis.

During their trial before Justice Stephen Estcourt, the Crown contended the men were engaged in a “continuous and systematic commercial business of trafficking in drugs” in various places around Tasmania between about July 2012 and September 2013.

Billinghurst was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of six years, while Leaman was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 2½ years. They were jointly charged with a third man, Adam Jones, who was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of six years. Jones did not appeal against the sentence.

Billinghurst and Leaman appealed against their sentences in August as “manifestly excessive”, but yesterday the appeals were dismissed in the Supreme Court of Tasmania.

In delivering the decision, Chief Justice Alan Blow said he reviewed the circumstances and decided both sentences were “not manifestly excessive”. In the case of Billinghurst, Chief Justice Blow noted the offender was not a drug user.

“The fact that he trafficked in drugs purely for commercial reasons, rather than for the purpose of funding drugs that he was addicted to, is an aggravating factor for sentencing purposes,” he said.

He said the motivation of Leaman, who was described as a “junior partner” in the operation, was also financial.