Heidi Marie Tomkins given home detention sentence for $250,000 worth of drug trafficking due to ‘remarkable rehabilitation story’

Trafficking $250,000 worth of drugs almost inevitably leads to jail, but a judge says this disgraced educator deserves mercy for a most “remarkable” reason.

Heidi Marie Tomkins received a six-year home detention sentence for trafficking in $250,000 worth of drugs. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / Emma Brasier

A veteran educator who trafficked in almost $250,000 worth of drugs including meth has been spared a jail cell because of her “remarkable story of rehabilitation and redemption”.

The District Court this week ordered Heidi Marie Tomkins serve her six-year sentence on home detention, saying that leaving her “without hope” was not in the community’s best interests.

Judge Rauf Soulio said Tomkins had spent two decades selflessly teaching children with special needs and behavioural issues, and lived 40 years without committing a single crime.

Her “descent” into meth use and dealing, he said, arose from her acute self-consciousness, crippling lack of self-esteem and “pattern” of abusive relationships.

Tomkins had a 19-year career with the Department for Education and Child Development prior to her arrest. Picture: Supplied

Tomkins’ expertise was in special education and behavioural support. Picture: Supplied

“That is how a high-functioning professional with a significant degree of professional responsibility ended up being charged with drug offending,” he said.

“You have been brutally honest about yourself and your future, describing yourself as naive, trusting and not understanding the drug world in which you were living.

“Since your arrest, you have been ultimately successful in freeing yourself of your pernicious addiction … it seems to me that yours is a remarkable story of rehabilitation and redemption.

“To require a person who has successfully rehabilitated themselves to return to prison would be contrary to the best interests of the community (and) would leave you without hope.”

Tomkins, 42, of Mawson Lakes, pleaded guilty to having trafficked in MDMA – also known as ecstasy – and methylamphetamine in May and August 2020.

She was, at that time, working for the Department of Education and Child Development as a senior educator and behaviour support coach for almost 19 years.

Tomkins was spared a prison cell on account of her efforts to rehabilitate. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE / Emma Brasier

In sentencing, Judge Soulio said Tomkins had worked extensively with primary school-aged students in Gawler and Port Pirie prior to her arrest, which resulted in her suspension.

“You were introduced to meth sometime in 2019 following an incident in which you experienced significant distress,” he said.

“You used it to relax and to dull your senses when feeling stress or loneliness.”

He said Tomkins had experienced a “significantly disrupted” childhood and “adopted” her mother’s “pattern” of relationships that ended in extreme domestic abuse.

That and her drug use, he said, led to her becoming involved in drug trafficking with other people, who have managed to evade arrest.

“You are jaded and weary, display significant insecurity, timidity and self-doubt, but you are clearly an intelligent woman,” he said.

“You have led a constructive, productive and prosocial life, despite your difficulties, providing assistance to children requiring significant additional attention.

“While perhaps it is unusual … the protection of the community is best served by ordering you serve your sentence under home detention.”