Jeremy Streeter

The appellant pleaded guilty on the fifth day of trial to possession of cocaine and ecstasy for the purpose of trafficking.

He was sentenced to 41 months' imprisonment, plus 7 months' credit for restrictive pre-sentence bail.

The appellant appealed the sentence, arguing it was unduly harsh and overlooked his rehabilitation and positive antecedents.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the sentence fit given the large quantity of drugs involved, which included over 769 grams of cocaine and 2000 ecstasy pills.

The appellants appealed the dismissal of their applications for certiorari to quash their committals for trial on charges of making false and fraudulent claims for GST refunds.

The preliminary inquiry judge found evidence supporting a reasonable inference that the appellants were not involved in commercial activity and generated paperwork solely to defraud the government of GST refunds.

The appellants argued that under a literal interpretation of the Excise Tax Act, they were entitled to claim GST credits even if the transactions were constructed solely to obtain public money.

The Court of Appeal rejected this argument, finding no jurisdictional error by the preliminary inquiry judge, and dismissed the appeals.