Robert Rich fails drug tests in breach of home detention sentence for Operation Ironside ‘firing range’

A farmer sentenced to home detention after allowing a criminal syndicate to use his rural property as a firing range – found himself back behind bars after a female visited.

A young farmer who allowed a criminal syndicate to use his rural property as a firing range has breached a home detention sentence by allowing a female friend to visit him with drugs while his parents were away.

Robert Rich, 35, was sentenced in the District Court to home detention in May for firearms offences and trafficking a small amount of methamphetamine at his regional SA property.

The offending was captured in security footage which showed associates coming and going from the property with an array of guns. He was also captured handling a rifle and two shotguns, including a self-loading model with a sawn-off barrel.

During a search of his property, police found a loaded double-barrel shotgun hidden inside some overalls. Nearby, they also found 2.6g of methamphetamine Rich said was left over from birthday celebrations.

After his May 2021 arrest, which was part of Operation Ironside, he spent two years in jail drug free before being sentenced in May this year, when he was released from prison to serve the remainder of his four-year, 10-month and 13-day term on home detention.

He had seven months of his non-parole period remaining.

Robert Rich is back behind bars. Picture: Facebook

He was taken back into custody this month after twice testing positive for illicit drugs, on August 3 and August 11, in breach of home detention conditions.

Yasmin McMahon, for Rich, said “everything was going well” for Rich – a former drug addict – until this month.

The court heard he was living with his parents but they were away travelling. While they were absent he had allowed a female to visit him with drugs.

“He accepts that it was a very foolish thing to do,” Ms McMahon said.

She said he had been working long hours and had complied with all other conditions, including group drug counselling sessions as directed, but they did not address the underlying cause of his drug addiction.

“Drug addiction is not something that is resolved easily… this is an unfortunate lapse into drug use,” she said.

“He now realises that he needs more help than he thought.”

A prosecutor said the breach was not trivial and urged the court to revoke his home detention order.

Judge Liesl Kudelka said it was clear Rich had relapsed, but the “lesson learnt” was that “you are not as good as you thought you were in terms of having your prior drug addiction under control”.

She excused the breach and ordered Rich back on to home detention for the remainder of his sentence but warned him against any further breaches. She suggested his sister live with him until his parents returned from their trip.