Ottoway bust leads to court appearance for Upper North duo on trafficking charges

A couple in their 50s from the tiny Upper North community of Yatina are facing drug trafficking charges after they were allegedly busted with stash of cannabis and cash in their car at Ottoway.

An Upper North couple have been charged with drug trafficking after police allegedly found close to 2kg of cannabis when they stopped their car at Ottoway.

Shane Richards, 56, and Rachel Louise Bass, 52, both of Yatina, appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court via video-link, charged with the basic offence of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug and both applied for bail.

Police prosecutor Brevet Sgt Jane Lomax said the car was pulled over on Tuesday, May 4.

Shane Richards, 56, and Rachel Louise Bass, 52, both of Yatina, appeared in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with drug trafficking. Picture: File / Jack Guez /AFP

“This is a serious allegation of trafficking of cannabis,” she said.

“Officers pulled over a vehicle and (the female defendant) was in the car driving.

“There was a passenger in the car – the co-accused. There was a strong smell of cannabis emanating from the vehicle.”

The court heard a search of the car located 470g of dried cannabis in a bag in the footwell on the passenger’s side of the vehicle.

“There were three further plastic bags with cannabis in backpacks on the rear seat, for a sum total of 1.8kg (of cannabis). There was also just shy of $5000 in the car, in various denominations.”

The court heard Bass was sentenced in the District Court in 2015 for selling a controlled drug, for which she was placed on a three-year bond.

Defence lawyer Alda Shkambi said Bass had the presumption of innocence in her favour.

“She doesn’t have any pending matters and has never been in custody,” she said.

“Reading the facts of charges, it seems the drugs were found in a backpack in the footwell of the co-accused. She was simply the driver.”

Ms Shkambi asked for bail or a home detention report to be considered.

Magistrate Luke Davis said he wasn’t prepared to consider any form of bail.

“This is really serious offending, let alone with your criminal history,” he said.

Magistrate Davis said, in his view, the likelihood of reoffending, the gravity of the offending and the strength of the case made her unsuitable for bail.

Richards, who was self-represented, was also refused bail.

Magistrate Davis said refusal was on the grounds of the seriousness of the alleged offending, the strength of the case and Richards’ criminal history, which includes a suspended sentence in 2019 for cultivating cannabis and a four-year imprisonment sentence in 2013 for cultivation of a controlled plant.

Both will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court for charge determination in August.