Junkie builder sent burglars into client's home

A Sunshine Coast builder has been sentenced to three years in jail for telling thieves where to steal guns from a client's home.

Picture: FILE

A BUILDER turned ice addict, who told thieves where to find guns in a home he had built, has been sentenced to three years in jail for drug trafficking.

Brisbane Supreme Court heard David John Ogden was in the "grips of a serious addiction" to methylamphetamine when he betrayed a former customer in the hope antiques stolen from his home could repay a drug debt.

Defence barrister Stephen Courtney said his client was previously a successful tradesman who had turned to drugs after his best friend committed suicide.

When he could not fund his habit, he turned to selling drugs and even then, he "didn't make any money".

During that time Odgen armed himself with a gun when trying to retrieve money from an addict who had been tied up by others and held captive in the boot of a car.

He personally owed almost $5000 to a drug dealer.

Telephone intercepts revealed Ogden and his dealer spoke in code and were taped by police saying things like they were "hungry and coming over for a feed" when they needed to source drugs and were "keen to put in a full day's work".

Mr Courtney said his client's addiction cost him his career, car, relationship and eventually his freedom.

High and deprived of several days sleep, Ogden was on bail for the trafficking charge when he turned up to his ex-girlfriend's home with what he told police was a replica gun, rested the it against the driver's window, pointed to it and warned his victim, "you ain't seen nothing yet".

It was only when he returned to the home the next day to "apologise" that the police were called and he was arrested. He has since spent almost a year behind bars.

Justice Martin Burns said he hoped Ogden was "thoroughly ashamed of himself" for breaching trust of the home owner where he had worked.

He said he hoped it was true Ogden was remorseful and was now clean from drugs and warned his "fascination with firearms" would only lead to trouble.

Taking into account the time already served, Ogden will be eligible to apply for parole in July.

- ARM NEWSDESK