Prisoner sentenced for smuggling drugs into Hu'atolitoli [1]
Thursday, September 13, 2018 - 17:38
Lord Chief Justice O.G. Paulsen on September 7 sentenced him on two counts of possession 0.072 grams of methamphetamine and 0.49 grams of cannabis, which he had pleaded guilty to.
Selu is presently serving a sentence of imprisonment after he was convicted last year on possession of cannabis and possession of a firearm without a licence. He was sentenced to an overall three-years imprisonment from August 31, 2017 with the final year suspended on conditions.
In this case, he was taken from Hu'atolitoli Prison to the Magistrate's Court at Fasi on November 20, 2017. He had with him a backpack and on his return to prison a bottle of perfume was found in the backpack and in the lid of the bottle were the drugs, with the methamphetamine in three packets. He said, he had received the bottle of perfume at the court and knew that it contained methamphetamine and cannabis.
The Lord Chief Justice said although the amount of methamphetamine found was small, an aggravating feature was the offending occurred while already serving a prison sentence for drug offending and he was attempting to take the drugs into a prison environment and where the risk of collateral harm through the use of the drug must be very high.
"These aggravating features require a strong response," he said.
"Given the seriousness of his offending, involving as it does the drug methamphetamine and the smuggling of it into a prison environment while already serving a period of imprisonment for offences of a similar nature, he must be required to serve a period of imprisonment in addition to his present sentence."
Some part of his sentence is to be served concurrently with the sentence of imprisonment he was already serving. In addition, the suspension of the final year of his first offendings shall take effect only on the completion of this two-year 10 months imprisonment.