Conviction overturned on appeal Court reduces drug sentence

A MAN who was found guilty of trafficking drugs has had his conviction overturned on appeal.

Daniel John Richards’ ute was searched in February 2012 and police found 1.8kg of substance, of which 176.6g was pure methylamphetamine.

Police estimated the drugs were worth about $ 543,000.

A fortnight earlier, Richards and convicted drug trafficker Ramon Moran drove the vehicle to Sydney, leaving it with vehicle transport business CEVA to transport back to Townsville.

A receipt, showing $ 1336 was paid for the transport, named Richards under the heading “pick- up” and his brother Jason Smith under “delivery”.

In a judgment published yesterday, the Court of Appeal said Richards faced trial in Townsville Supreme Court in October last year, charged with trafficking drugs, possess- ing drugs and possessing a vehicle used for drug offending.

The issue at trial was whether Richards “knew of any intention on the part of Moran to repeat the conduct of transporting dangerous drugs or to engage in other conduct in relation to the transport of drugs with a view to making a financial gain”.

A jury found Richards guilty on all counts and he was sentenced to four- and- a- half years’ jail.

Richards’ lawyers appealed the conviction on two grounds.

The first was that the justice should not have directed the jury that they could use the knowledge Moran had pleaded guilty to trafficking “in proof of the appellant’s guilt as an aider”.

During the trial, Richards’ barrister asked the justice to tell the jury that Moran’s plea of guilty did not prove the facts for Richards’ case.

The prosecutor did oppose that direction.

The court upheld the appeal not ground, noting, “the direction actually given was both diametrically opposed to that which should have been given”.

The second ground was the verdict – that Richards was “carrying on the business of trafficking” – was unreasonable and could not be supported by the evidence.

The Court of agreed.

“Taken as a whole, the evidence in the Crown case was incapable of excluding the reasonable hypothesis that, to the knowledge of the appellant, Moran’s role was confined to the transportation of the drug from Sydney to Townsville,” the judgment read.

The Court of Appeal acquitted Richards of trafficking and possessing a vehicle used for trafficking, but upheld the conviction for possessing a commercial quantity of drugs.

Richards was resentenced to four years’ jail, suspended after he has served 20 months. Appeal