Caddens: Steven Valesini appeals drug-deal sentence in court
A man who was convicted of selling meth out of his luxury car in Sydney’s west has successfully appealed the severity of his jail sentence.
Penrith
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A man who sold methylamphetamine out of his luxury car in Sydney’s west has successfully reduced the amount of time he will spend behind bars.
Steven Joseph Paul Valesini, 42, of Cambridge Gardens, was last month sentenced to 18 months in jail for supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime.
According to court documents, Valesini arranged the drug deal in November last year using coded text messages, offering ‘work’ to a buyer.
The customer told Valesini he only wanted a ‘half day’s work’ because he ‘had a bad back’ with the pair arranging to meet that night.
Police later watched Valesini leave his driveway in his Audi Q7 and stopped him before the arranged deal.
A search found 16g of methylamphetamine in a resealable bag.
A later search of his then Caddens address found another 15.7g of the drug in a motorcycle boot, as well as $8050 in cash under a trailer.
Police facts also state the intended buyer was found with nearly $2000 in cash, which police said was the value of 16g of meth.
During an appeal in Penrith District Court, Judge Ian Bourke told Valesini’s lawyer that he had committed the crime’s just six weeks after he was given a conditional release order for unrelated offending.
His lawyer acknowledged this was a “breach of the trust given to him on that occasion”, but argued it didn’t disentitle him to a more lenient sentence, and asked for an intensive corrections order.
“This is below the middle of the range of objective seriousness for this type of offending,” he said.
“This is the first drug offence on his record, it’s the first time he’s served a custodial sentence, and it’s the first time he’s received a conviction.
“He was assessed by community corrections as a low risk of reoffending, and he expressed genuine remorse and understood the gravity of what he had done.”
His lawyer also argued that any time in custody would be onerous as he had a young family who were reliant on him financially.
The prosecution opposed an ICO, arguing that any prisoner would suffer hardship in jail.
Judge Bourke said full-time imprisonment was the only option, but agreed to lessen the sentence.
“The objective seriousness lies just below the mid range,” he said.
“It’s a matter where the prosecution could have elected for a sentence in this court where the maximum penalty was 15 years and not the two years in the Local Court.
“In my view, an ICO would be wholly inadequate given the seriousness of the offences, however I intend to impose a lesser sentence.”
Valesini now faces a 12-month jail sentence with a non-parole period of seven months.
He will be eligible for parole in February next year.