Drug courier beats bid to lift sentence
A FORMER stripper who attempted to smuggle $150,000 worth of drugs in her bra on a flight to Hobart may still walk free from jail this month, following a failed appeal to increase her sentence.
Alexandra Rose Kobelke, 26, was jailed for a minimum of 16 months from March 2019, after pleading guilty to trafficking ice and cocaine from NSW to Tasmania over a 13-month period from late December 2017.
On Thursday, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed an attempt by the Crown to increase Kobelke’s sentence on the basis it was manifestly inadequate.
The decision means that Kobelke, who appeared in court via video link from the Mary Hutchinson Women’s Prison, will be eligible for parole from July 5.
Acting Justice Brian Martin and judges Helen Wood and Michael Brett said they agreed the sentence was inadequate, finding a five-year sentence would have been appropriate, rather than Kobelke’s maximum of two years and eight months.
But, despite that, the judges chose to exercise their discretion and dismiss the appeal given Kobelke’s age and the fact she was a first-time offender who had never been to prison before.
Kobelke was nabbed by police as she was about to take her 14th flight after working for the trafficking operation for more than a year, during which she repeatedly brought drugs into Tasmania using cryovac packaging, then took hundreds of thousands of dollars back to her home state.
Acting Justice Martin said it was important to avoid “glossing over” Kobelke’s
role as just a worker in the operation rather than an entrepreneur.
He said she knew she was involved in a large-scale commercial enterprise, and that her role was critical to its success, and was trusted with moving “large quantities of dangerous drugs and cash” between state borders.
However, he said while he agreed with the Crown that the sentence was manifestly inadequate, it wasn’t a “gross departure” from the appropriate range.
Acting Justice Martin also said Kobelke was a relatively young person with no previous convictions, and was due for “imminent release on parole”.
Justice Brett said the court had fulfilled the purpose of the appeal by identifying the inadequacy of the sentence, and giving an indication of what sentence would have been imposed.