Supreme Court overturns businessman Clinton Ribbon’s 17-year sentence for allegedly importing pseudoephedrine
An Adelaide businessman who was given one of the longest drug-related prison sentences in SA history has had his conviction set aside and could walk from prison on bail. Here’s why.
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An Adelaide businessman given one of the longest drug-related jail terms in South Australian history has had his conviction set aside and could walk from prison on bail.
Clinton Ribbon was last year jailed for 17 years over his alleged role in the importation of 13.5kg of precursor chemicals disguised as cleaning product in 2014.
But in its judgment, the Court of Criminal Appeal found a District Court judge had mistakenly concluded Ribbon was involved with importing the substance, and had allowed prejudicial recordings to be played to the jury.
Ribbon will seek bail in the Supreme Court on Friday and could be released after more than a year behind bars.
In his leading judgment, Justice David Peek said the definition of “import” involved directly dealing with the substance.
He concluded that despite extensive evidence from covertly recorded phone conversations involving Ribbon talking about trying to get his hands on pseudoephedrine, there was not evidence he had ever succeeded.
Justice Peek ruled that despite evidence “consistent with nefarious planning for the future”, there was no ground to conclude that the chemicals had ever been “on hand”.
Ribbon made reference in the intercepted phone calls to a previous deal that had never eventuated, going so far as to say “until the (stuff physically) is on the ground I don’t believe a word of it”. Ribbon was also recorded saying “it is head scratching why we can’t get it up and going”.
In allowing the appeal and ordering a retrial, Justice Peek said the recordings did not establish that the chemicals existed and were in Ribbon’s possession during the time of the alleged offending.
Australian Federal Police, Border Force and SA Police recorded 11,000 telephone calls between four men who they alleged were conspiring to import pseudoephedrine, a chemical used to make methamphetamine.
The court heard many of the recorded conversations lasted “hours rather than minutes” and that they stretched to “literally thousands of hours of recordings”. During Ribbon’s second trial after the first ended in a mistrial, 70 telephone conversations, five intercepted text messages and three covert recordings were played to the jury.
Ribbon’s lawyer David Edwardson QC said the prosecution were “cherry picking” the recordings they were trying to present to the jury. Justice Peek found that while most of the recordings presented to the jury were relevant, others indicated either past drug offences or plans that had yet to be put in motion.
Justice Peek said it appeared the trial judge had made mistakes in allowing some of the recordings.
Ribbon was sentenced to 17 years in prison with a non-parole period of 12 years for allegedly organising and co-ordinating the importation of the chemicals disguised as cleaning fluids in a shipping container. Ribbon’s cousin started the Thailand-based Complete Chemical Manufacturing in the early 2000s.
Two other associates founded Complete Chemical Solutions in Australia with the head offices registered in Sutherland, New South Wales.
The companies started shipping chemicals from Thailand to Australia in April 2014.
Five shipments arrived and were either found to be clean by Border Force officials or not searched. On August 17, 2014, a shipment was seized at Botany Bay and found to contain 10 five-litre bottles full of a yellowish liquid.
Analysis showed the bottles contained dissolved pseudoephedrine. It was replaced with water with a small amount of tea to make the same colour.
Police found the bottles of substituted liquid in the house of one of the other men. Only normal cleaning products were found in Ribbon’s house.