Woolworths manager Maria Kate Kapac sentenced for drug trafficking in Whyalla
Another country supermarket manager has been sentenced for selling meth as a side hustle, while using drugs to “numb the pain”.
Upper Spencer Gulf
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A second Whyalla Woolworths manager has dodged jail this year after they were busted selling drugs as a side hustle.
Maria Kate Kapac, 36, was given her “last opportunity” to rehabilitate from using meth to “numb the pain”.
The Port Augusta District Court heard police attended Kapac’s house on July 16, 2020 and found cash and a small amount of meth.
Kapac’s phone was seized and drug dealing messages were found.
Messages on July 7 and 10, 2020 showed Kapac sold one gram of meth for $450 and half a gram of meth for $250.
Kapac, of Whyalla Stuart, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.
The court heard Kapac had worked at the local Woolworths for 15 years, with her LinkedIn profile listing her as night manager.
Another Woolworths night-fill manager, Jacqueline Lee Sharp was sentenced in February to four years and one month jail, with a non-parole period of two years and four months.
Sharp, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, was found with 7g of meth and messages on her phone revealing regular drug dealing sales.
The sentence was suspended on a three-year, $1000 good-behaviour bond, with supervision, due to Sharp’s employment and good prospects of rehabilitation.
During Kapac’s sentencing, Judge Michael Durrant said he was “guardedly optimistic” about her prospects of rehabilitation.
He said he accepted Kapac’s offending was at the very lowest end of seriousness for the offending and she was remorseful.
“You took and made phone messages, you facilitated the handover of drugs and then used drugs given to you as a reward for those activities,” Judge Durrant said.
The court heard Kapac had a traumatic childhood and became addicted to methamphetamine over the past six years to “numb the pain”.
Judge Durrant sentenced Kapac to two years and four months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and two months.
“The business of drug dealing relies on street dealers like you to get harmful drugs into the hands of addicts and future addicts,” he said.
“The life of an addict is a miserable one, it is attendant with violence, poor health and exploitation.”
The sentence was suspended on a two-year, $100, good-behaviour bond, with supervision for 18 months.
“You should consider that this is your first and last opportunity to continue to rehabilitate, and that is up to you,” Judge Durrant said.
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