Drug courier slapped with more jail time after losing appeal

A MAN caught trying to smuggle 25kg of cannabis on a plane into Darwin has been slapped with a longer jail sentence after losing an appeal based on the fact his original sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

A man caught trying to smuggle 25kg of cannabis on a plane into Darwin has been slapped with a longer jail sentence after losing an appeal based on the fact his original sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

• Man caught smuggling 25kg of cannabis into Darwin on a plane sentenced to three years’ jail

A MAN caught trying to smuggle 25kg of cannabis on a plane into Darwin has been slapped with a longer jail sentence after losing an appeal based on the fact his original sentence was “manifestly inadequate”.

Wilton Lam, 28, was jailed last September after being arrested at the Darwin Airport when a sniffer dog alerted police to the two locked suitcases belonging to Lam which were opened to reveal more than 25kg of cannabis underneath a bath towel.

The court heard Lam, of Melbourne, had agreed to smuggle the drugs into the Territory to settle around half of the $20,000 debt he had racked up due to his cocaine addiction.

The cannabis found reportedly has a Darwin street value of $275,000 and a value of about $2.5 million in indigenous communities.

Lam pleaded guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis and was sentenced to three years’ prison, with a non-parole period of two years and one month in December.

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Crown prosecutor Matt Nathan SC told the court on Friday the head sentence of three years was “manifestly inadequate” because of “the volume of the material (and) the significance of the commercial activity he was a part of.”

“Couriers are not so reduced in their criminal responsibility to escape combined punishment,” Mr Nathan said.

He also told the court the fact Lam’s debt to his drug dealer was still outstanding meant he was at risk of reoffending if released on parole.

But Lam’s lawyer Peter Elliott told the court his client had shown positive signs of rehabilitation while in custody.

“People get caught up in using drugs, their judgment suffers,” he said.

“He has completed the Stay Sober Strong program (while in prison).”

Justices Peter Barr, Graham Hiley and Stephen Southwood ruled to allow the appeal, agreeing the original sentence was manifestly inadequate.

“Lam was found with 50 times the commercial threshold amount,” Justice Barr said.

“But, more important (than the amount of drugs) is the role of the offender and the level of his participation in the offence.”

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Lam was resentenced to four years and nine months’ prison, to be suspended after two years and nine months served.