‘Young idiot’ tradie punished for Covid lockdown drug stash

A Cairns tradie who got bored during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown and bought an ounce of cocaine has been sentenced with a judge finding one part of his story “inherently implausible”.

A CAIRNS tradie who got bored during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown and bought an ounce of cocaine to allegedly share with his flatmate has been handed probation and a $6000 fine.

Carpenter Michael Robert McCormack, 29, had just broken up with his long term girlfriend and was twiddling his thumbs with work drying up at the peak of the pandemic in June last year, the Cairns Supreme Court heard on Tuesday.

He and allegedly his housemate shelled out $3500 for the just over 28g of coke which defence barrister James Sheridan claimed they just planned to share between themselves.

The court heard the housemate has also been charged but his case remains before the court and he is yet to enter a plea.

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McCormack pleaded guilty to two counts of drug possession in May prior to his sentencing on Tuesday.

The court heard police raided the men’s Edmonton residence on June 13 last year, allegedly finding about 28g in a cryovaced bag on top of the fridge and a further 4g in McCormack’s jacket pocket in his bedroom which he claimed he got at a party.

“He had a lot of time on his hands,” Mr Sheridan said.

“He describes that he has been using cocaine socially on and off for a significant period of time.”

However it was Mr Sheridan’s claim the men would use small quantities before resealing the bag that Justice Jim Henry described as “inherently implausible”.

“I do not accept the full truth is being told in what was going on with a large amount of this drug,” he said.

“A rainbow of possibilities open up.”

Justice Henry said the “notion that two young idiots bought a large amount” of coke was not surprising, but they could have been planning to share it with friends – through payment or as gifts, or could have been holding it for someone else.

Mr Sheridan argued there was no evidence of commerciality such as “unexplained wealth” or “tick sheets”.

The court heard McCormack, who ran his own business and was now flush with work, had gone “cold turkey” off the drug since the police raid.

He has been ordered to pay the fine off by October.

Originally published as ‘Young idiot’ tradie punished for Covid lockdown drug stash