Sentence for Queensland fraudster upheld on appeal

The Queensland Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Dr Roger Munro against the sentence imposed on him following conviction for three counts of fraud. 

The Matter

Between September 2011 and May 2014, Dr Roger Munro was the operator of an unlicensed financial services business, where he raised funds from investors, friends and family for trading purposes.

In September 2011, he commenced emailing investors inviting them to invest money with him in TradeStation Futures Trading Fund (TradeStation). 

Three separate investors invested a cumulative total of $299,600 into TradeStation. Rather than reinvesting those funds, the Dr Munro dishonestly applied them to personal expenses, cash withdrawals, payments to other investors and transferred funds into a trading account in the name of his wife. The investors did not receive any return on their investments. 

Following an ASIC investigation, Dr Munro was arrested on 17 March 2017 and charged with five offences contrary to section 408C(1)(a)(i) of the Criminal Code (Qld), to which he eventually entered pleas of guilty. One of the counts was discontinued following the death of the complainant investor.

Sentence

On 8 May 2022, the offender was sentenced by his Honour Judge Smith in the District Court at Brisbane to a head sentence of four and a half years’ imprisonment, which was suspended after he served 15 months.

In sentencing, Judge Smith said that the conduct involved a calculated and sophisticated course of conduct which defrauded unsophisticated investors of a significant amount of money over a reasonable period (13 months) and that Dr Munro’s conduct was designed to induce them to entrust him with the money. 

His Honour had regard to Dr Munro’s medical conditions and those of his wife, his cooperation concerning another matter, which was of marginal relevance, and that there were no prospects of recovering the funds that had been obtained.

The Appeal

In May 2022, Dr Munro sought leave to appeal his sentence before the Queensland Court of Appeal. The appeal was heard in October 2023 and the offender was self-represented in the proceedings. The sole ground of appeal was that the primary judge erred in not allowing an application made by the defendant in 2021 for his guilty pleas to be vacated. The offender also sought leave to adduce eight pages of additional evidence (medical records and evidence that his legal aid application had been denied on a merits basis).

The Court of Appeal delivered their judgment on 30 July 2024 dismissing the appeal.

Relevant links

Court of Appeal Judgment: R v Munro [2024] QCA 136

Judgment in Application to vacate plea: R v Munro [2022] QDC 80

ASIC Media Release: 24-169MR Dr Roger Munro unsuccessful in criminal appeal