On 8 February 2019, 19-year-old Jewel Victoria Griffiths was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for importing 121.76 milligrams of carfentanyl into Australia with no commercial intent. She will be eligible for release on recognisance after five months, subject to paying $5000 and being of good behaviour for six months.
A 54 year old Brisbane man, Peter Gooding, appeared before the District Court of Queensland on 13 December 2018 and was convicted of 76 charges of aiding his company, Storetrans Pty Ltd, trading as Goodings Container Transport, to deal with goods at non-quarantine approved premises without the permission of a quarantine officer or a director of quarantine.
On 22 November 2018, Ahmad Zia Alizadah, 35, was sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia to 9 years’ jail with a non-parole period of 4.5 years, for smuggling asylum seekers on boats from Indonesia.
On 9 October 2018, Troy Stanley Gould pleaded guilty in the District Court at Brisbane to one count of attempting to utter counterfeit currency and two counts of possessing counterfeit currency. Gould was sentenced to a total effective sentence of 18 months imprisonment and ordered to be released immediately.
On 5 October 2018, Ms Akal Kaur Khalsa was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court to 12 months’ imprisonment to be served by way of an Intensive Corrections Order, for eight offences involving:
On Friday, 9 November 2018, a 38-year-old female (name suppressed) was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria in Melbourne for dishonestly causing a loss to the Commonwealth by submitting false claims for child care rebates. The offender was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and eligible for release on recognisance after 9 months, subject to a good behaviour condition for 3 years.
On 31 October, Luca Silverii, previously owner and practice manager of ‘Allmed’, a medical clinic in Melbourne, was jailed for defrauding the Commonwealth of $3,371,033.25 in respect of fraudulent claims he submitted between 24 December 2011 and 27 December 2016 for medical services purportedly provided by staff of the clinic. The services were, in fact, never rendered.
On 1 November 2018, Richard Ramos, 41, was sentenced to 23 months’ jail after he was found guilty of a range of offences relating to online child pornography material.
A 39-year-old Sydney man, David Leslie Grubb was convicted for child exploitation offences—using a carriage service, to procure a person under 16 years of age for sexual activity and for possessing child abuse material. Grubb was also sentenced for separate state offences.
On 8 February 2018, Brent Philip Counsell was convicted of 10 charges of possessing an endangered species and 4 charges of importing endangered fauna and flora. Counsell was fined a total of $5,500, and placed on a good behaviour bond for 24 months.
On 6 February 2018, Martin Brook, Lee Kringsberg and Matthew Skelton were each convicted for the offence of walking in a Commonwealth reserve other than on road or track. Each individual was fined $1,000 and each were ordered to pay more than $3,000 in reparation.
On Friday, 31 August 2018, Henry Sabbah was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months’ jail by her Honour Judge Girdham SC, after he was found with a satchel containing $31,550 in counterfeit $50 banknotes in April 2016.
On 27 July 2018, Yunhui Xue, a 26-year-old Chinese national who had overstayed his student visa, was sentenced to five years and six months’ imprisonment for smuggling 11.32kg of ephedrine contained in two consignments into Australia.
Following a lengthy 10-week trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, seven men involved in trying to smuggle 182kgs (145.6kgs pure) of methamphetamine onto a remote beach in Western Australia, were collectively jailed for over 164 years.
On 18 June 2018, 35-year-old Purdy McGee was given an effective sentence of 2 years' imprisonment in the Brisbane District Court, after pleading guilty to receiving $89,238.88 in Centrelink benefits to which she was not entitled.
On 6 June 2018, 48-year-old Artur Wojcik, a Polish national, was sentenced to 9 months’ imprisonment, in addition to his existing non-parole period of 6 years and 8 months for importing 2.29kg of pure cocaine, after he was sentenced for escaping from Mannus Correctional Facility in Tumbarumba in early April
On 1 June 2018, the former Chief Executive Officer of abalone farm Australian Bight Abalone Ltd (ABA) Andrew Ferguson, was sentenced to 3 years, 6 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 1 year for providing false or misleading information to the company’s board and potential investors.
On 22 May 2018, the former general manager for a Perth-based livestock exporter was sentenced in the District Court of Western Australia to 18 months’ jail, suspended immediately and released on a $20,000 recognisance order to be of good behaviour for 18 months, for falsifying official documents that saw some 22,000 sheep slaughtered in Pakistan.
On 7 May 2018, general practitioner Humphry Gomes was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in the Supreme Court in Hobart, after pleading guilty to defrauding Medicare of $175,266.50.
Gomes, 54, made 2349 claims for services he did not provide, over four periods between May 2011 and July 2013. He submitted some claims while he was overseas.
On 18 April 2018, 23-year-old Canadian national Melina Roberge was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment, to serve a minimum four years and nine months, after pleading guilty to her part in smuggling nearly 72 kilograms of cocaine into Australia on board a luxury cruise liner in August 2016, with an estimated value of $21.5 million.
On 29 March 2018, 67-year-old Michael Issakidis was sentenced to 10 years’ jail in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, for his role in a $135 million tax fraud and money laundering case, the largest ever successfully prosecuted in Australia.
Issakidis and his co-accused Anthony Dickson masterminded a corporate tax scam that netted them more than $63 million.
On 1 March 2018, Mr Raban Alou was sentenced by the Supreme Court of NSW in Parramatta to 44 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 33 years, for abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of a terrorist act. Mr Alou sourced and supplied the handgun which was used to shoot dead NSW Police accountant Mr Curtis Cheng as he left Parramatta Police Headquarters in 2015.
On 13 March 2018, 39-year-old Luke Taylor was fined $10,500 in the Perth District Court after his aggressive behaviour on a Qantas flight from Perth to Brisbane in July last year forced the plane, carrying 212 passengers, to turnaround. The Court further made a Reparation Order payable to Qantas in the sum of $15,207, being the cost to return the flight to Perth and the delay.
On 9 February 2018, 74-year-old Malcolm Sanders was sentenced in the Townsville District Court to five years imprisonment after pleading guilty to 29 charges—20 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception, four counts of attempting to obtaining financial advantage by deception and five counts of using false documents to obtain a gain.
