Doctor caught with drugs and money released without serving jail time
A BRISBANE doctor who confessed to hiding more than $1,000 cash and a bag of methamphetamines from police has been spared jail time after a judge “took a risk” allowing her to walk from court.
Crime & Justice
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A BRISBANE doctor who confessed to hiding more than $1,000 cash and a bag of methamphetamines from police has been spared jail time after a judge “took a risk” allowing her to walk from court.
Suspended medical practitioner Rebecca Jane Ianniello, 33, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to possession of dangerous drugs in the Brisbane Supreme Court after being caught in the back seat of a car at Spring Hill with more than 30g of methamphetamine in October 2016.
She was sentenced to 18 months’ jail, but released on parole immediately.
The court heard Ianniello, who studied a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Queensland, was soon to become a trained pathologist before she became involved in the drug scene.
The former Taringa-based doctor has spent time behind bars over cannabis possession in 2016, crown prosecutor Catherine Birkett told the court.
Defence barrister Carl Martinovic said Ianniello “had the world at her feet” after becoming “chronically addicted to drugs” while in a domestically violent relationship.
“It was the continued love she had for him that kept her in that relationship,” he said.
The court heard Ianniello was arrested by police after they raided a car she was travelling in and found a pink cosmetic bag containing the drugs and $1,200 cash in the back seat.
The Crown could not prove the drugs belonged to the 33-year-old or that she know they were being used for a commercial purpose, only that she had tried to hide them from police.
Justice John Bond told Mr Martinovic not to “exaggerate too much” the circumstances that lead to Ianniello’s offending.
“She has started from a position of advantage compared to so many people, so let’s not exaggerate that position,” he told Mr Martinovic.
The court heard Ianniello had undertaken several stints of rehab and was now drug free and expecting a baby.
In sentencing, Justice Bond told Ianniello, he would impose a lenient sentence and allow her to be released without serving jail time because of her positive signs of rehabilitation.
“You should appreciate that what I’m being asked to do really turns on effectively me being asked to take a risk on your behalf to give you a lenient outcome because the evidence suggests you’re capable of rehabilitation,” he said.
“… You’ve got to appreciate that’s a chance you need to seize with both hands.
“… If you slip, if you go back into drug use, it’s almost certain you’ll come back before the courts.”
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