Samoa’s Supreme Court sentenced Darren Stanley to four years and three months in prison for cultivating narcotics.[1] The sentence followed a police raid on 21 August 2018 on a home in Vaiusu, where 71 marijuana plants were found.[1]
The raid was carried out at the property of co-defendant Taitaifono Ulugia Sala Suivai.[1] Presiding Supreme Court Justice Lei’ataualesa Darryl Clarke said the prosecution did not lead evidence of the height and size of the plants, so those particulars of the charge were not proven.[1] The judge said photographs showed the plants were not small and that some were well grown.[1] The court accepted that Stanley, with Suivai, planted and grew the marijuana, and that he came to Suivai’s land three to four times a week to tend it.[1]
Stanley was 23, married and had three young children.[1] The judge listed as aggravating factors the significant amount of marijuana cultivated and the high degree of premeditation and planning.[1] Because the case went to trial and Stanley had prior convictions, he received no deduction for previous good character.[1] The judge set a starting point of four years and six months and reduced it by three months for Stanley’s personal circumstances.[1]
The judge said the jail term ran less time Stanley had already spent remanded in custody.[1] Stanley continued to dispute his role when speaking to the Probation Service, while expressing remorse, and the judge said the two positions were inconsistent.[1] Lawyer Afa Lesa represented Stanley and Fuifui Ioane, of the Attorney General’s Office, prosecuted.[1]