LA2018 Criminal Law B Assignment- Learnjcu PDF

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Criminal B - Semester 2 - 2021 Assignment
Drug offences and Offences against morality...

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LA2018: Criminal Law B…40% Assignment You are required to answer both Question 1 and Question 2 Below Question One: On 20 April 2017, Michelle O’Brian was 15 years old when she visited Miles Brown’s sonographer clinic, which was located in Brisbane, Queensland. At the time Michelle was three months pregnant and the purpose of the consultation was to receive a routine external ultrasound examination of the unborn child. Michelle had lived with her parents in Cairns. However, she had recently moved out as her parents had refused to support her decision to have the child. Michelle’s parents were of the opinion that she was too immature to have a child. Michelle moved into her boyfriend’s (Tom Wells 15 years of age) parents’ home in Cairns. Michelle decided to have the ultrasound examination conducted in Brisbane in order to preserve her privacy; more specifically, to prevent knowledge of her pregnancy being spread within the Cairns community. To this end, she had borrowed a friend’s (Sharon Bold, 20 years old) Medicare card and used it to book her appointment with Miles Brown under Sharon’s name. Michelle entered the clinic’s ultrasound room with her new schoolbag filled with drinks and food for the day. Before the ultrasound examination began, Miles said ‘you look very young for a 20 year old’. The external examination began when Miles placed a lubricant gel on Michelle’s stomach and then placed the ultrasound transducer on her abdomen. Within a few minutes Miles stated to Michelle that the external examination had revealed a possibly alarming abnormality in the development of the fetus. Miles told Michelle that to better diagnose the potential abnormality, he would need to conduct an internal vaginal examination. Michelle was reluctant to agree to the invasive procedure. However, Miles advised her that ‘for the sake of the child’s well-being, she would need to make a decision now’. While it was a difficult decision to make without any support from friends or family, Michelle agreed to the procedure. Miles conducted the invasive procedure. Sharon was relieved when advised by Miles Brown that the internal examination had confirmed that the unborn child appeared healthy and had no signs of abnormality. Later that afternoon, Michelle caught a flight back to Cairns and was met at the airport by Tom Wells, boyfriend and father of the unborn child. Tom told Michelle that they were going to a party that night at Dan Connor’s (18 years of age) share house. Tom said to Michelle that if she was tired, he had arranged with Dan that she could sleep in a spare bedroom at Dan’s house. Tom was unaware that Dan had ulterior motives. Dan was not aware that Michelle was pregnant and believed that she secretly loved him. Dan planned to begin having sexual intercourse with Michelle while she was asleep in the spare bedroom. According to his plan, after she awoke he would continue with the interaction. However, if she told him to stop then he would do so. That night Tom and Michelle arrived at the party. Michelle was already exhausted. Dan believed that Michelle would soon enter the spare bedroom and fall asleep. Dan entered the darkened spare bedroom and sat in the wardrobe and waited for Michelle. Within fifteen minutes another female, Jacinta (18 years old), entered the bedroom. Jacinta was intoxicated and had decided to have a quick sleep in the darkened room. Dan mistakenly believed that Jacinta was Michelle. He waited until he was certain she was asleep on the bed. Dan then crept out of the wardrobe and up to the bed with his outstretched arms. Feeling about in the dark, he found Jacinta’s breast and started fondling it. Jacinta awoke, and in her intoxicated state just froze. She didn’t know what was happening, but someone was fondling her breast. Dan moved his other hand between her legs. Jacinta instantly sat up, screamed and ran out of the bedroom into the arms of her boyfriend.

Shortly afterwards the police were called to the party and Dan told the police his plans. Dan told the police that this was a ‘simple case of mistaken identity’. The following week Michelle read a report in the local newspaper that Miles Brown had been arrested following complaints from a number of patients. Each of the patients had been subjected to the same type of ‘emergency’ internal vaginal examination that was performed on Michelle. The patients claimed the examination was carried out by Miles for his own sexual gratification. The patients also claimed the procedure had no diagnostic purpose. The newspaper article reported that Miles claimed that the internal examination was ‘conducted solely as a diagnostic tool and that he was a qualified sonographer’. Upon reading the newspaper article, and because she felt uncomfortable with the procedure at the time it was performed, Michelle formed the opinion that she too had been ‘violated by Miles’. Michelle contacted the police and made a formal complaint against Miles. Required: In relation to relevant offences examined this semester, explain Miles’ and Dan’s potential criminal responsibility. Your answer must explain any exculpatory provisions examined this semester that defence counsel for each accused may seek to raise. You should assume that all the above information would be admissible evidence at trial. You are not required to consider Miles’ potential criminal responsibility as it relates to the unidentified complainants referred to in the newspaper article. The break-up of marks attributable to Miles and Dan is below: Miles:

15 marks

Dan:

10 marks

Total:

25 marks

Answer for each party under a separate heading or in a separate paragraph/s. If you are repeating law or an explanation of legislation or authority that you have already discussed for one of the above parties, then you may refer back to that previous discussion, either by a comment in the body of your answer or by a footnote, if it assists you in explaining potential criminal responsibility, while remaining within the word count. It is strongly advised that when completing your answers, that your word count reflect the marks allocated above for each party. (25 Marks)

Question 2: Pablo is a drug dealer who imports quantities of cocaine from Columbia and Heroin from Afghanistan. His centre of operations is on the Gold Coast and he distributes from there. He recently had discussions with Annette in Townsville, who has been a mid-level dealer in Schedule 1 drugs for some time. Annette has been eager to increase her business and needs a higher end distributor to provide that impetus, and she thinks Pablo might be that dealer. Over the course of a number of months, Annette and Pablo discussed a number of matters, including how communication will be effected between them, what quantities Annette can handle, credit arrangements and logistical issues like getting the cocaine that Annette wants to buy from the Gold Coast to Townsville, safely. Additionally, Pablo provided Annette with a number of samples to confirm she is happy with the quality of the cocaine that is to be supplied. They also negotiate prices. Annette is initially seeking 100 grams. Pablo tells Annette that he will sell to her at his special discount rate of $400 per gram. However, if she were to purchase 300 grams of cocaine, he would sell it to her for $90,000, which is only $300 per gram.

Effectively a bulk discount and given that the cocaine has been represented to be 90% pure, it is a very good price. Annette thinks it over, and comes to the conclusion that it is a significant discount if she buys in a larger quantity. However, she does not have that kind of money at present so she contacts an associate of hers, Bruce. Bruce has a number of large tattoos on his neck, face and head and is generally a large and intimidating man. As a side hustle from his usual job as a concreter, Bruce also assists in debt recovery for debts incurred by those who use illicit substances. She sends Bruce through a list of debtors and asks if he could please persuade some of these debtors to pay their debts, which he duly does, and Annette completes the transaction with Pablo. Bruce, for tax purposes, would rather be paid in cannabis than money, and for his services, Annette gives him 1 ½ pounds (680 grams) of cannabis. Annette does not usually deal in cannabis but she has contacts in the “industry” that are able to procure some for Bruce. Annette sends Shamus to the Gold Coast with $90,000 in cash. She touches her nose, and tells Shamus that if anyone asks, he is collecting a new, prototype protein powder. Upon his return he is to give it to one of Annette’s associates, a chemist by the name of Sarah. Shamus, duly jumps on a plane and goes to Gold Coast, completes the transaction and delivers 300 grams of cocaine to Sarah. Two of Annette’s good clients, Ramsay and Oliver are looking to score some cocaine. They both want to purchase 3 grams. Annette tells them to go and see Sarah and she will sort them out. Annette calls Sarah and tells her to cut a portion of the cocaine with washing powder, package it up and have it available for Ramsay and Oliver. Annette said she will come by later to collect the money. Oliver shows up and is provided with his 3 grams of cocaine, but Ramsay never attends to collect his packaged and cut cocaine. Whilst these transactions have been occurring, the police have been monitoring their calls with a telecommunications interception warrant and they all end up getting raided and arrested, with the exception of Ramsay. An analyst certificate later confirms that the cocaine Sarah is found in possession of was 90% pure, and the pure weight of the cocaine that she has in her possession, after providing some to Oliver, is 267.3 grams. Oliver’s 3 grams amount has 1.35 grams of pure cocaine in it. Required: Ignoring any ethical issues about representing multiple parties in the same matter, you have been engaged by the above parties to act on their behalf. Explain the potential charges that they may be facing, the jurisdiction that they might be heard in, as well as the maximum penalty for each offence. Use case law and legislation to determine how they might be liable for each offence that you think applies. For clarity, you are representing Pablo, Annette, Sarah, Bruce, Oliver and Shamus. You are not acting for Ramsay as he was never arrested and is not facing any charges. Only consider offences under the Drugs Misuse Act 1986 (Qld). However, if there is other legislation that impacts on jurisdictional limits, then refer to that as well. The break-up of marks attributable to each party is as follows: Pablo:

2 marks

Annette:

4 marks

Sarah:

3 marks

Bruce:

1 marks

Oliver:

2 marks

Shamus:

3 marks

Total:

15 marks

Answer for each party under a separate heading or in a separate paragraph/s. If you are repeating law or an explanation of legislation or authority that you have already discussed for one of the above parties, then you may refer back to that previous discussion, either by a comment in the body of your answer or by a footnote, if it assists you in explaining potential criminal responsibility, while remaining within the word count. It is strongly advised that when completing your answers, that your word count reflect the marks allocated above for each party.

(15 Marks) Assessment weighting and general instructions and information: The total number of marks for this assignment is 40 Marks. This equates to 40% of the assessment in this subject The maximum length for the assignment is 2000 words not including footnotes, but it does include headings. Due date is 23 September 2021 at 5pm. Upload your answers to the Assignment DropBox under the Assessments icon on the LEARN JCU LA2018 Subject site. Your assignment should be formatted as follows: 

Students should make liberal use of headings and subheadings;



Answers should be typed, using size 12 font;



Pages should be numbered;



All citations or references should comply with the Australian Guide to Legal Citation; and



A word count must be provided.

In answering each question, students must demonstrate that they are able to critically analyse the relevant law. It is important that students provide authority, in the form of cases and legislation, to support their arguments. Students must avoid simply summarising the facts of cases, and copying large sections of legislation and judgments. Students are required to use footnotes. When first referred to, the name of a case must be set out in full, but an abbreviation can be used for subsequent references. For example, Woolmington v DPP [1935] AC 462 becomes Woolmington's (abbreviation first appears in the footnote). The Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) (Code) can also be abbreviated. Students must refer to the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) and not Carter's Criminal Law of Queensland. Students must rely on primary sources (cases and legislation), unless no such source is available. Where students are critiquing the law, they may use and reference a critical commentary contained in a law journal. Subject to the lecturers’ workload, the 40% assignment result will be given to the students within 21 business days after the due date for submission of the assignment. After the assessment is completed, the Townsville based lecturer may provide written answers for the 40% assignment to the Townsville and Cairns students so they can self-mark their assessment

and engage in reflective practice. This assists to achieve equality, consistency and fairness in the marking process across both campuses. The marking of the assignment will be undertaken by the Townsville and Cairns based lecturers, who will take a percentage of papers from both campuses. This is to ensure a consistency of marking across both campuses. Students must ensure that the word count for their answers reflect the marks allocated above for Question 1 and Question 2 and that their answers for both questions do not exceed the 2000 word limit applicable to the whole assignment. Words in excess of this limit will not be read and will not be taken into account in awarding the final mark....