Post by Niemmy on Jul 4, 2008 19:19:47 GMT -5
Swedish-born waitress Charlotte Lindstrom has broken down during a Crown bid to have her jail term increased for soliciting a Sydney hitman to murder two witnesses.
At one stage during a break in Friday's NSW Court of Criminal Appeal hearing, the anorexic Lindstrom was comforted in the dock by Helena Hultgren, the First Secretary of the Swedish embassy.
David Arnott SC, for the Crown, told the three appeal court judges the sentence imposed on the 23-year-old in March was too lenient.
She was jailed for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years 10 months after admitting soliciting a hitman to murder two witnesses due to give evidence at her then boyfriend's drug trial.
Noting the 25-year maximum penalty applicable for the offence, Mr Arnott said that for a period of six weeks Lindstrom had known perfectly well that the object of the plot was to kill two people.
But Lindstrom's barrister, Paul Byrne SC, argued the case was "exceptional", saying the plot was not her idea, she did not recruit anybody, did not stand to benefit and had no control over "the course the enterprise took".
He said Lindstrom, clad all in black on Friday, had been "under the spell" of her much older boyfriend who had induced her into committing the offence.
Lindstrom admitted handing over money to an undercover officer who posed as a hitman and to providing him with documents to enable the witnesses to be identified.
She told the officer her boyfriend wanted them in the "cemetery" rather than hospital.
Mr Arnott described as too low, the sentencing judge's "starting point" of nine-and-a-half years, which he then discounted by 60 per cent to take into account her guilty plea and her help to authorities.
He said the judge also erred when he took the same factors into account when he set a shorter non-parole period than usually applied.
But Mr Byrne said Lindstrom's assistance to authorities had been "exceptional" and referred to the harsh conditions of her incarceration.
He said if Lindstrom's boyfriend was sentenced over the plot, he would likely receive the maximum or close to the maximum penalty of 25 years.
Given his much greater criminality, he said, it was not "an alarming difference" for Lindstrom's starting point to be nine-and-a-half years.
Appeal court president Justice James Allsop and Justices Bruce James and Derek Price will hand down their decision on an unspecified date.
At one stage during a break in Friday's NSW Court of Criminal Appeal hearing, the anorexic Lindstrom was comforted in the dock by Helena Hultgren, the First Secretary of the Swedish embassy.
David Arnott SC, for the Crown, told the three appeal court judges the sentence imposed on the 23-year-old in March was too lenient.
She was jailed for a minimum of two years and a maximum of three years 10 months after admitting soliciting a hitman to murder two witnesses due to give evidence at her then boyfriend's drug trial.
Noting the 25-year maximum penalty applicable for the offence, Mr Arnott said that for a period of six weeks Lindstrom had known perfectly well that the object of the plot was to kill two people.
But Lindstrom's barrister, Paul Byrne SC, argued the case was "exceptional", saying the plot was not her idea, she did not recruit anybody, did not stand to benefit and had no control over "the course the enterprise took".
He said Lindstrom, clad all in black on Friday, had been "under the spell" of her much older boyfriend who had induced her into committing the offence.
Lindstrom admitted handing over money to an undercover officer who posed as a hitman and to providing him with documents to enable the witnesses to be identified.
She told the officer her boyfriend wanted them in the "cemetery" rather than hospital.
Mr Arnott described as too low, the sentencing judge's "starting point" of nine-and-a-half years, which he then discounted by 60 per cent to take into account her guilty plea and her help to authorities.
He said the judge also erred when he took the same factors into account when he set a shorter non-parole period than usually applied.
But Mr Byrne said Lindstrom's assistance to authorities had been "exceptional" and referred to the harsh conditions of her incarceration.
He said if Lindstrom's boyfriend was sentenced over the plot, he would likely receive the maximum or close to the maximum penalty of 25 years.
Given his much greater criminality, he said, it was not "an alarming difference" for Lindstrom's starting point to be nine-and-a-half years.
Appeal court president Justice James Allsop and Justices Bruce James and Derek Price will hand down their decision on an unspecified date.
