The Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde has filed an appeal against the sentence handed down to Joshua Aziz Rahman by the Suva High Court.
On 12 October this year, Rahman was convicted and sentenced to 23 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 14 years imprisonment for being convicted of the possession of 39.5 kg of cocaine on 14 February 2019.
The State is appealing the sentence on the grounds that the court failed to give sufficient regard to the guideline judgment on drug offences in State v Abourisk [2019] and as a result has led the court to impose a sentence that was manifestly lenient.
Pryde says it is their view that the sentence of 23 years does not adequately reflect the degree of criminality, especially when compared to other recent drugs cases.
He says the sentence is also inconsistent with the recent sentence guideline handed down in State v Abourisk.
The Notice of Appeal against the sentence was filed in the Court of Appeal today.
