Dalby District Court: Convicted trafficker busted after failed drug deal attempts

A police raid uncovered meth, marijuana and knives in a Dalby drug dealer’s home, with claims the man is trying to turn his life around failing to convince the court.

A convicted drug trafficker has been berated by a judge after again fronting court on serious charges related to meth and marijuana.

Charles Hodges Edward Maxwell claimed he changed his ways since being convicted of drug trafficking in 2004, despite continually facing court for drug-related charges from 2014 to 2020.

The Dalby District Court heard that on May 12, 2021 police raided Maxwell’s Dalby home and found meth and marijuana, knives, a glass pipe, scales, and a syringe.

Crown prosecutor Brendan White said there was 1.5g of meth and 14g of marijuana, and police discovered six separate occasions where the 40-year-old messaged others asking if they wanted to buy drugs.

“Some of the messages had clearly been for social reasons and some for money, so there were mixed reasons,” he said.

“There was some commercial element to it.”

The court heard the supply attempts occurred throughout May 2021, with only one of the six attempts being completed.

That transaction involved 2.6g of meth for an unknown price.

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Defence lawyer Frank Martin said his client had attempted to self-rehabilitate, but Judge Nathan Jarro said he found it concerning the attempts were only recent.

“For example, the letter where he’s engaged in an assessment by telephone last month, and he attended one counselling session last week,” Judge Jarro said.

“I’m not sure if he’s been deterred, because he’s not doing anything to address the drug offending.”

Judge Jarro said he accepted that of the six supply charges, only one was an actual supply.

Mr Martin said his client’s drug addiction stemmed from abuse throughout his childhood.

Maxwell pleaded guilty to six counts of supplying drugs, and one each of possessing weapons, possessing drugs, possessing utensils, failing to take reasonable care with syringes.

He was sentenced to 15 months’ jail, with a parole release date of November 23, 2022.