The Fiji Court of Appeal has ruled that a sentence of 23 years for possession of 39.5kg of cocaine “is by no stretch of the imagination could be termed as severe or disproportionate”.
Justice Chandana Prematilaka made the statement in a ruling delivered this month in the trial of Joshua Rahman.
In October, 2021 Rahman was jailed for 23 years after he was found guilty of being in possession of the drugs in 2019.
He subsequently filed 40 grounds of appeal.
“The appellant complains that the sentence imposed by the learned sentencing judge was harsh and excessive,” said Justice Prematilaka.
“However, when a sentence is reviewed on appeal, again it is the ultimate sentence rather than each step in the reasoning process that must be considered.
“The approach taken by the appellate court in an appeal against sentence is to assess whether in all the circumstances of the case, the sentence is one that could reasonably be imposed by a sentencing judge or, in other words, that the sentence imposed lies within the permissible range.”
Justice Prematilaka said the possession of 39.5kg of cocaine fell under category five of the recommended tariff by the Court of Appeal.
The judge has granted Rahman leave to appeal against his sentence.
