The Royal Court sentence given to a man involved in the importation of Class A ‘edibles’ into Guernsey has been quashed after the Court of Appeal found part of it was unrealistic.
Cory Lucas Cabral Le Sauvage was 23-years-old when he was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison earlier this year.
He was given a nine and a half year sentence for the importation of THC, a two and a half year sentence for the importation of cannabis to run concurrently, and a consecutive sentence of one year for not giving police the PIN to his phone.
The controlled substance that Le Sauvage and his co-defendant had imported was contained in ‘edibles’, which the court heard were “candy bars which were laced with Δ8–THC”.
Le Sauvage, represented by Advocate Candy Fletcher, was given leave to appeal against his sentence on the grounds that it was “arguably manifestly excessive” with the Bailiff saying that “it would be helpful to have resolved the question of the correct approach that a sentencing court should take to products such as these ‘edibles’, in particular in seeking to apply the Richards guidelines”.
In considering whether the Richards guidelines had been accurately followed in Le Sauvage’s case, the Court of Appeal found fault with one area of the sentencing – and that focused on the edibles themselves.
It said that the weight of the candy bars in this case had distorted the sentencing, as the weight of the controlled substance contained in the bars is only a fraction of their total weight.
“The forensic report for the Crown, which can be taken as presenting the prosecution case at its highest, reveals a total weight of the candy bars of 768 grams. However, the bars only contained, on average, 0.15% THC,” concluded the Court of Appeal.
“That means that the total weight of THC involved was, as Advocate Fletcher submitted, closer to 1.15grams. Once one understands that the very nature of edibles means that
they cannot sensibly be compared to drugs in powder form so far as weight is concerned (there is a vast difference, in terms of harm and street value, between 768 grams of pure cocaine and 768 grams of candy bars containing a total 1.15grams of THC), the approach adopted in the Royal Court has led to an outcome which is manifestly excessive. We will thus quash that sentence and turn to consider the appropriate sentence to impose in its stead.”
Le Sauvage’s sentence was reduced by two a half years bringing it down from 10 and a half years to eight.
This includes a seven year prison sentence for the importation of THC, a two year and six month prison sentence for the importation of cannabis, to run concurrently, and a consecutive one year sentence for the RIPL offence.
