Bradley Abotane busted throwing steroids in shoe over Lotus Glen wall

A Cairns carpenter has been sentenced after throwing a shoe full of steroids, phones and needles into the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre just a few months after he got parole.

A Cairns carpenter has been sentenced after throwing a shoe full of steroids, phones and needles into the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre just a few months after he got parole.

Bradley James Abotane, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of supplying dangerous drugs – schedule one drugs, one count aggravated supply of dangerous drugs within a correctional facility, one count of obstructing police and one count of entering a corrective facility without permission in the Cairns Supreme Court on Tuesday March 26.

The court heard Mr Abotane was released on parole from Lotus Glen on October 25, 2022 after serving 12 months of a four and a half year prison sentence for two counts of drug possession.

Oxandrolone was one of four steroid types found in the shoe after a fence alarm alerted correctional staff to its presence.

The initial sentence came after Mr Abotane was pulled over by police on Lake Street in August 2020.

Police found two quarter-ounce bags of uncut methylamphetamine, a cutting agent and another cut 3.5g bag of the drug.

Mr Abotane was subsequently released on his first parole eligibility. The court heard he had pledged to start a new life and make a new circle of friends when sentenced in October 2021.

However, Justice James Henry said “clearly this is not the case. He is returning to the jail and giving his mates this package” while serving parole.

On May 28, 2023, armed with a shoe full of 60 bodybuilding steroid tablets as well as two mobile phones and syringes, he ventured onto the perimeter land at Lotus Glen and approached the fence at the back of the residential block. He then tossed the shoe over the inner security fence, causing alarms to go off.

Staff retrieved the shoe and the onsite dog squad were notified.

Staff escort prisoners through Queensland; Lotus Glen Correctional Centre. Picture: Daniel Soekov for Human Rights Watch

The police and their dogs entered the perimeter bushland, saw Mr Abotane and told him to stop.

However, Mr Abotane kept on running and was chased by a police dog, which quickly caught him and bit his arm.

The 26-year-old was first taken to Mareeba hospital and then back inside Lotus Glen where he has remained.

His solicitor Bebe Mellick told the court the attempt at supplying drugs was not a sophisticated one, he was “always going to get caught” and “would never make a successful criminal”.

Mr Mellick said his client was committed to moving out of Cairns and to Brisbane to take up a job concreting.

Justice Henry told Mr Abotane the act was “extraordinarily stupid” and said he hoped the time he would sever ties with his criminal friends in Cairns.

He sentenced him to nine months imprisonment with a parole eligibility date of June 25 this year.

Originally published as Bradley Abotane busted throwing steroids in shoe over Lotus Glen wall