Kyle Nieuwenhoven faces Gold Coast court pleading guilty to obtaining and possessing nicotine to be used in vaping

A McDonald’s manager has been dragged before a court charged with obtaining and possessing a regulated poison – nicotine for vaping. Here’s how it happened.

A fast-food worker claimed he only bought highly concentrated liquid nicotine to be used in vaping because it was cheaper.

Prosecutors alleged that if the product got into the hands of a child, it could have caused serious injury or death.

Kyle Nieuwenhoven pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court on Tuesday to obtaining a regulated poison and possessing a regulated poison.

Magistrate Kerry Magee fined the 24-year-old $1000 and ordered he pay $250 in costs. No conviction was recorded.

“Your level of co-operation was extraordinarily high,” she said.

“Not only did you, upon production of the search warrant, take the relevant officers to the location of the items, you also produced your telephone which had details of the purchase of your items.”

Where illicit, illegal tobacco and vapes are being sold under the counter on the Gold Coast

Barrister Simon Hamlyn-Harris, prosecuting for the Gold Coast Public Health Unit, said a search of Nieuwenhoven’s Reedy Creek home on September 17 last year found two bottles of highly concentrated nicotine.

One bottle had 114mL, while the other had 21mL. Each had a concentration of 100 milligrams per millilitre. The usual concentration is about 6mg.

He said it was in such a concentration it could cause serious injury or death.

Mr Hamlyn-Harris said the product was diluted for vaping which was becoming an increasing public health problem in Queensland.

“The health department is concerned about the health risks of vaping but it is also concerned about the risk of injury or death of consumption of nicotine in its concentrated form,” he said.

Mr Hamlyn-Harris noted Nieuwenhoven had a toddler.

Defence lawyer Nicole Conlan, of Howden Saggers Lawyers, said the nicotine was for personal use.

“He is a smoker, he was attempting to quit … he had taken up vaping as you can control the amount of nicotine,” she said.

Vaping is a popular replacement for smoking, but health experts have raised concerns. Picture: Valery Hache/AFP

“He heard of some people purchasing it online and (he) looked at it as a cheaper option.”

Ms Conlan said a number of resources had been used by Queensland Health in prosecuting the matter.

Gold Coast catholic school Aquinas College has locked toilets during class time to clamp down on vaping and vandalism

“The nature and circumstances of offence do not warrant the resources utilised by Queensland Health,” she said.

She said Nieuwenhoven worked as a deputy manager at McDonald’s and had lost $600 in wages due to court proceedings.

Kyle Nieuwenhoven’s lawyer told the court he was attempting to quit smoking. Picture: Lea Emery

Ms Conlan said he had been ready to plead guilty the first time the matter was in court.

In December last year the Bulletin revealed a number of tobacco shops were selling nicotine-based vaping products under the counter.

In March raids were conducted across the city targeting vaping products containing the drug.

Originally published as Kyle Nieuwenhoven faces Gold Coast court pleading guilty to obtaining and possessing nicotine to be used in vaping