Former nurse, wife and mum jailed for drug trafficking

HAVING been a hard working, valued member of the community, she lost her marriage, her home, her children and now her liberty.

The pair bought 28g of meth at $3600 and sold it for $5000, the court heard.

THE ultimate fall from grace was completed for a former theatre nurse, wife and mother when she was jailed for four and a half years for drug trafficking.

Marlie-Rae Ohrin appeared via video link from the women's prison to plead guilty before Toowoomba Supreme Court to drug trafficking and related offences.

The 36-year-old had been picked up in a police operation targeting drug trafficking across south-western Queensland when she was heard on phone calls to a man targeted by police.

She had identified herself on phone calls made on her co-offender's phone arranging drug deals, Crown prosecutor Mark Green told the court.

The investigation found Ohrin and her co-offender partner had been trafficking in methamphetamine and cannabis in the Toowoomba region over almost a four-month period from September 23 last year.

Mr Green said the couple's trafficking related mainly to street level amounts but on one occasion they had supplied an operative with 1oz, or 28g, of meth which they had bought for $3600 and sold for $5000.

The pair had a customer base of at least 23 people, the court heard.

Ohrin also pleaded guilty to possessing money from drug trafficking, possessing drug related utensils and to two counts of drug driving when she was found to have had meth and cannabis in her system when pulled over while driving in Toowoomba on December 12 and January 15.

Her barrister David Jones told the court drug trafficking was so incompatible with his client's former life as a wife, mother and theatre nurse.

Things had gone down hill for his client after her relationship with her husband broke down and she lost her children, her marriage, her home and ended up homeless for a time, he said.

Mr Jones said his client had already spent 166 days in custody which hadn't been easy for her and she had been bullied in jail and because of COVID restrictions she hadn't been able to have visits from her family who live in New South Wales.

Because his client had been moved four times between prisons she had not been able access any of the courses on offer in jail, he said.

Declaring the 166 days of pre-sentence custody as time served under the sentence, Justice Peter Callaghan sentenced Ohrin to four years and six months in jail but ordered she be eligible for release on parole as of February 1 next year.

Originally published as Former nurse, wife and mum jailed for drug trafficking