A one-year jail imprisonment sentence imposed on a man convicted of possessing marijuana has been quashed and substituted with a three-month jail term.
Jonetani Tawake had pleaded guilty to a count of unlawful possession of illicit drugs after he was found with 68.6 grams of marijuana. He was initially sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment on December 11, 2025.
Tawake later sought leave to appeal against the sentence out of time, arguing that it was harsh and excessive and that the magistrate had erred in law and fact.
In allowing the appeal, Justice Daniel Goundar noted that the magistrate had classified Tawake as a “drug pusher” based solely on the discovery of 82 sachets of marijuana. However, the State pointed out that the summary of facts did not state that the appellant was selling or supplying cannabis or encouraging others to use drugs, but recorded possession only.
Justice Goundar also observed that the magistrate relied on an online dictionary definition of “drug pusher”, which is not a legal classification and cannot replace evidence of commercial dealing or supply.
“In the absence of any factual foundation in the admitted summary of facts, characterising the appellant as a ‘drug pusher’ and treating that as an aggravating factor was both speculative and prejudicial, and therefore an error in principle,” Justice Goundar said.
In his overall assessment, Justice Goundar said the cumulative effect of the identified errors — the failure to account for remand time, the misapplication of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, the speculative classification of the appellant as a “drug pusher”, and a starting point inconsistent with the local law guideline demonstrated that the sentencing discretion miscarried.
Justice Goundar said he was satisfied that three months’ imprisonment was appropriate and proportionate.
