Former couple Rhys Johns and Jessica Pitt sentenced for drug dealing enterprise
An online gambling win, $30k meth and falling in love with the wrong bad boy ended in a woman’s narrow miss for jail, but her ex-lover wasn’t as lucky.
North & North East
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A woman who involved herself in a $30,000 drug dealing enterprise has narrowly avoided jail, while her ex-lover has been locked up for several years.
Jessica Alice Pitt, 24, had lost herself and fallen in love with the wrong bad boy, Rhys Aaron Johns, 30, when an online gambling win led to a significant meth purchase.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police stopped Johns’ car in April 2020.
They found 18g of methamphetamine, valued at $5400, 82g of fantasy, plastic resealable bags and digital scales.
Police then searched the couple’s Parafield Gardens residence in January 2021 and found a bumbag on the roof with 56g of methamphetamine.
They also found a 27g of methamphetamine in the shed, with both amounts valued at $30,000.
Cash, tick lists and multiple mobile phones were also located, with text messages revealing drug dealing sales.
Pitt was then detected with 15g of methamphetamine, valued at $7500 in April 2021.
Johns and Pitt, both of Parafield Gardens, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
The court heard Johns won $15,000 online gambling and purchased methamphetamine on credit in anticipation of the winnings coming in but police put a freeze on it after the raid.
Pitt was under pressure to pay back the debt when Johns was taken into custody and resorted back to selling drugs.
The court heard Johns was smoking up to 3g of meth per day and had an “overwhelming and voracious” addiction but had abstained since being in custody.
“That has been his dead end life and he recognises that it’s a life of someone who’s destined to get nowhere,” Nick Vadasz, for Johns, said during sentencing submissions.
The court heard Johns now had significantly reduced vision in his left eye due to an injury he suffered during arrest.
Judge Liesl Kudelka sentenced him to five years and six months jail, with a non-parole period of three years and three months.
The sentence was backdated to January 7, 2021.
The court heard Pitt started using drugs after her father passed away in 2018.
“You say that is when you lost yourself, you say you formed a disgusting drug habit … and fell in love with the wrong person,” Judge Kudelka said.
The court heard Pitt, who was no longer in a relationship with Johns, was currently abstinent from drugs and undertaking rehabilitation programs.
Judge Kudelka sentenced Pitt to four years jail, with a non-parole period of two years.
Due to her rehabilitation efforts and employment, the sentence was suspended on a three-year good behaviour bond.
Judge Kudelka commended Pitt’s efforts to turn her life around.
“You look so much better today than you did the first time I saw you, so well done and I hope everything goes well for you,” she said.
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