26-year-old Marjorie Griffiths who appeared in The Bachelor tv show has been charged for her alleged involvement in a large drug supply and money laundering criminal enterprise at an international level.
Griffiths has allegedly supplied up to 1kg of cocaine to an undercover police officer in March and then supplying 1kg of MDMA to another person in June. She is also facing court for an allegation of dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars of proceeds of crime and playing a main role in the syndicate who supplied large amounts of drugs before using the proceeds of that to money launder.
Her defence team claim that she had no knowledge of the contents of the boxes and bags she was directed to transport. That the prosecution case is based entirely on circumstantial evidence. The court heard that she was simply used as a low level courier following directions of people much higher up in the hierarchy.
The prosecution told the court that the investigation is ongoing, particularly in respect to the criminal syndicate noting it is at an international level. The evidence is still being collected and yet to be disclosed for the prosecution case.
The prosecution conceded that at this stage, the phone taps and listening devices used to obtain evidence are inadequate to establish the requisite knowledge to be guilty of the offences.
Given the complexity and ongoing investigation of the case, it is likely to cause delay of over a year. After having spent nearly 2-months in custody from being arrested, charged and bail refused, in the circumstances of a not so strong prosecution case at this stage, the court granted her bail with strict bail conditions. One such condition required to be complied with is electronic monitoring, and a strict curfew.
Drug supply penalties depend on the quantity of the drug supplied. A small quantity of drug supply carries up to 2 years imprisonment and/or $5,500 fine.
An indictable quantity of drug supply carries up to 15 years imprisonment and/or $220,000 fine if dealt with in the District Court.
A commercial quantity of drug supply carries up to 20 years imprisonment and/or $385,000 fine and can only be dealt with by a District Court, not a Local Court.
A large quantity of drug supply carries up to life imprisonment and/or $550,000 fine.
Cocaine small quantity is 1g, in contrast to cocaine traffickable quantity is 3g and indictable quantity is 5g. cocaine commercial quantity is 250g, and large commercial quantity is 1kg.
The penalties are just as harsh if a person supplies drugs in New South Wales on at least three or more separate occasions over a consecutive 30-day period of time for purposes of gaining a financial or material reward for it. This offence, prescribed by section 25A of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW), carries up to 20-years imprisonment and/or $385,000 fine.
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