Marcello Nello Casella sentenced to eight months jail for concealing mate’s cannabis plantation
A MEMBER of the family behind the Yellow Tail wine brand has been sentenced to eight months jail for concealing his friend’s mammoth cannabis plantation in rural NSW. But two hours later he was bailed.
NSW
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A MEMBER of the family behind the Yellow Tail wine brand has been granted bail two hours after a judge gave him a jail sentence for concealing a major cannabis plantation.
Lawyers for Marcelo Nello Casella, 58, lodged an “intention to appeal” notice immediately after Judge Peter Zahra handed down the eight-month sentence, with a six-month non parole period.
Judge Zahra this morning said “no penalty other than imprisonment is appropriate” for Casella, who knew about a massive cannabis crop on Karoopa Farm, in Crowther, which was busted by police in a major raid on February 12, 2014.
But the matter was back before Judge Zahara at 12.30pm after Casella’s barrister Graham Turnbull, SC, lodged an appeal and applied for bail.
Mr Turnbull said his client should be released until his sentence went through the Court of Criminal Appeal, which could take months.
He also argued Judge Zahra should have considered an alternative to jail time, like an intensive corrections order served in the community.
“There was no canvassing of any alternatives to full time custody,” Mr Turnbull said.
Casella was initially accused of helping long-time friend Luigi Fato finance and grow the crop of 2750 cannabis plant on a section of the property known as Little Creek.
But weeks into a district court trial this year, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of concealing the crop.
Judge Zahra said Casella denied to police in September 2014 ever having been to Karoopa Farm, despite visiting three times and discussing the scheme with Fato.
He said Casella knew Fato and one of his own employees were running a “highly organised” criminal enterprise but withheld information which would have assisted police.
Casella did not react as Judge Zahra sentenced him to eight months jail with a six month non-parole period.
Casella resigned as a director of Casella Family Brands, a wine empire worth an estimated $1.5 billion, after he was charged.