FULL LIST: Ipswich drug dealers punished in 2022
Mega busts, smuggling schemes, “side kicks” and “stupid” short-lived stints: Meet 13 Ipswich drug dealers punished in 2022.
Police & Courts
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Continued police efforts to crack down on drug sales in the Ipswich region during 2022 with a number of major drug busts.
But Queensland Crime Statistics reveal drug offending has actually decreased in Ipswich over the past few years.
There were 2790 drug offences reported in the Ipswich district in 2022 – the lowest number since 2014.
At Ipswich Courthouse, it was still business as usual with numerous drug offenders entering its doors throughout the year.
Of the drug dealers who fronted court, many graduated to supplying drugs after years of personal use — while others fell into it through monetary struggles or family issues.
From small-scale peddlers and “sidekicks” to traffickers well on their way to the big leagues, meet 13 unlucky dealers punished in 2022.
CONVICTIONS RECORDED
SHANNAN ARNEIL
Small-time Boonah cannabis dealer Shannan Patricia Arneil kicked off the year with a trip to Ipswich Courthouse.
The 36-year-old mum pleaded guilty to six drug charges on February 15, including drug driving, supplying and possessing drugs.
The court heard Arneil had been selling cannabis to fund her own addiction and had sold to at least 16 customers between January and July in 2021.
Arneil co-operated will police fully after officers raided her home in July and found 36g of weed.
She was sentenced to 15 months probation and disqualified from driving for four months.
LIAM DING
A Flinders View removalist was busted for a short-lived drug dealing stint after his “stupidity” on social media brought his crimes to light.
Liam Anthony Ding, 24, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on November 8 to 13 counts of supplying dangerous drugs.
Crown prosecutor Jessica Beckman told the court Ding had supplied cannabis, MDMA and unknown drugs on 13 occasions over 10 days.
Police uncovered messages he’d made on social media in which he’d planned to make drug transactions at local locations, including the Coles Ripley car park and the MiHi Tavern in Brassall.
In his messages, Ding advised buyers to communicate over Snapchat to avoid detection.
Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren said the chat between Ding and his customers demonstrated “the sort of stupidity [Ding] engaged in” and his “casual willingness” to supply drugs.
Ding was sentenced to 18 months jail, with immediate parole release.
ROSEMAREE-LEE IVES
A mother of six was caught selling a cocktail of drugs after her addiction started to alienate her from her children.
Rosemaree-Lee Ives pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court on March 17 to 25 counts of supplying dangerous drugs and one count of possessing a thing used in the commission of a crime.
Crown prosecutor Michelle Parfitt said Ives was caught selling drugs in 2019 and later again in 2020.
She said police had raided Ives’ home twice and uncovered incriminating text messages detailing the supply of methamphetamine, oxycodone, cannabis, and buprenorphine.
The court heard the mother of six smoked and injected one and a half points of meth daily at the height of her drug addiction, but had been clean for more than a year at the time of sentencing.
Ives was sentenced to an 18-month jail term with immediate parole.
BERNARD O’KEEFE
A mega cash and cannabis stash uncovered in an Ipswich grandad’s shed sent him to jail for more than two years.
Bernard O’Keefe, 52, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on March 31 to trafficking drugs, possessing drugs, possessing property obtained from trafficking or supplying, and possessing anything used in the commission of crime.
Crown prosecutor Andreas Galloway said O’Keefe was arrested for the offences in 2020 after police searched his Chuwar home and uncovered bags of cannabis in his backyard shed covered in his fingerprints, as well as $114,550 cash.
Lawyer Penelope White said her client was a “model prisoner” while he spent the next 771 days in custody awaiting his sentence.
The court heard O’Keefe had a history of similar offending and was sentenced to eight years’ jail in 2013 for trafficking MDMA, meth and cannabis.
O’Keefe was sentenced to four years’ jail, immediately suspended for five years.
WAYNE PATU
An Ipswich dad enlisted his 18-year-old daughter to smuggle drugs into his jail so he could repay drug debts to fellow inmates.
Wayne Patu, 44, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court in May, 2022, to one count of supplying dangerous drugs within a correctional facility.
The court heard at the time Patu had conversed with his daughter Aigataulagi over the phone 22 times in a strategic mix of English and Samoan while he was an inmate at Borallon Training and Correctional Centre in 2020.
He made payments to her totalling $4500 from a range of accounts and instructed her to bring opioids to him as “a gift”.
Police monitored their calls and intercepted Aigataulagi’s arrival at the facility in August, 2020.
The court heard she fully complied with them and removed about $26,700 worth of suboxone strips from her bra.
Judge Horneman-Wren reprimanded Wayne Patu, saying it was “a despicable act by a father to draw your daughter, who had no criminal offences at the time … into such serious offences”.
Patu was sentenced to 12 months jail, with immediate parole eligibility.
CLINTON ROBINSON
An Ebbw Vale dad described by a judge as the “sidekick” in his ex-girlfriend's drug trafficking business was determined to change his life after charges were laid.
Clinton Robinson, 39, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court in April to nine counts of supplying schedule one dangerous drugs.
The court heard the father of two had helped his now former girlfriend in her trafficking operation between September and November 2019.
The majority of his offences related to the supply of methylamphetamine.
Judge Dennis Lynch noted Robinson had been using meth daily at the time, but had since made genuine efforts to reform himself.
Robinson was sentenced to 18 months jail with immediate parole.
GRAHAME ROWE
A Goodna boilermaker was busted for his mega $220,000 drug stash after turning to cannabis trafficking during the pandemic.
Grahame William Rowe, 40, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court in May to trafficking dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs and possessing property obtained from drug trafficking.
The court heard police had searched Rowe’s home in Goodna in June, 2021, and uncovered 13.6kg of cannabis, $6000 in cash, various iPhones, a cryovac machine and two poker machines.
The cannabis had an estimated value of $194,000 and $226,000.
Lowe’s lawyer told the court Rowe had started obtaining cannabis for his friends after borders shut during the Covid-19 pandemic and it became increasingly difficult to obtain the drug.
Rowe was sentenced to three years jail, suspended after serving five months.
TOR STROMBERG
A police investigation into an Ipswich meth trafficking ring led to the arrest of Viking Gunnar Stromberg.
The 52-year-old tradie pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court to two counts of supplying drugs on February 10, 2022.
The court heard Stromberg’s dealer had contacted him in September, 2020, asking to use his personal stash for a drug deal.
Stromberg agreed, resulting in the sale of six points of meth for $500 and three points for $100.
His offending was later uncovered after a police raid.
Stromberg was sentenced to 18 months jail, immediately suspended for two years.
SHARON THOMS
An Ipswich businesswoman began dealing meth to fund her own addiction, but insisted her days of drug offending were behind her.
Small business owner Sharon Maree Thoms, 55, pleaded guilty in February to nine charges of supplying drugs.
The court heard Thoms had been buying between 1.75g and 3.5g of methamphetamine a day at the time of the offending to fund her own addiction.
Defence barrister Cecelia Bernardin said Thoms was working towards recovery and started her own online jewellery business in 2021.
Thoms broke down in tears as she was sentenced to 18 months jail, with parole after serving four months.
She returned to court from behind bars in April to plead guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to an additional 10 charges.
They included three counts of possessing dangerous drugs, several other drug-related charges, two breaches of parole, and one count of driving under the influence of drugs.
At that time, she insisted those offences would be her last.
Magistrate Dennis Kinsella said he would give her “one last second chance”.
“Some people may call me naive or ignorant,” he said.
“I am hopeful.”
Thoms was sentenced to two years probation, with her previous parole-release date unchanged.
DALE WHALLEY
A Banyo plumber enlisted his girlfriend’s help to smuggle opioids into his jail after he was taken into custody for a horrific series of assaults on three separate victims.
Dale Patrick Whalley, 32, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court in September to supplying a dangerous drug, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, two counts of wilful damage, two counts of choking (DV), assault occasioning bodily harm (DV), stealing, and assault occasioning bodily harm.
The father of two was arrested after drunkenly assaulting his co-worker and leaving him unconscious on the street in December, 2021.
Before that he had violently assaulted his partner – choking her and yelling “I will give you a five second head start, ready set go”, before hitting her in the face, headbutting her, and later choking her again.
After his arrest, Whalley enlisted his new partner to collect two packages and deliver them to him while he was incarcerated at Brisbane Correctional Centre.
Police intercepted her and found she had been attempting to smuggle in 48 subutex strips, valuing $9600 to $14,400.
Whalley received a head sentence of five years jail, with his parole release date set for December 19, 2023.
NO CONVICTIONS RECORDED
SEAN KNEALE
Police busted a local tradie for possessing a small amount of cannabis but things escalated quickly when he confessed out of the blue to supplying meth.
Sean Kneale, 28, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court to supplying a dangerous drug, possessing a dangerous drug, receiving tainted property and possessing utensils that had been used.
The court heard police had searched Kneale’s house in June, 2021, and uncovered 1g of cannabis, stolen licence plates, and various drug related utensils.
Kneale was transported to the police station, where he admitted he had supplied 0.1 grams of methamphetamine to two people the previous day at his house for $50.
Kneale’s defence lawyer emphasised the only reason Kneale was before a judge and not a magistrate was because of his own admissions.
The court heard Kneale worked in a scrap yard and suffered from significant mental health and physical difficulties.
Kneale received six months of probation, and no convictions were recorded.
KYLE MCEWAN
A Gympie dad turned to dealing drugs when money grew increasingly tight after over a year of struggling to land a job.
Kyle William McEwan, 20, pleaded guilty in May to nine charges including possessing explosives, possessing a firearm, and two counts of supplying dangerous drugs.
The court heard police had uncovered a number of incriminating items in McEwan’s possession while inspecting his car in August, 2021.
The items included two clip-seal bags containing 1.51g of methamphetamine, a firearm, ammunition, and $1575 – which the court heard was the proceeds of selling drugs.
Messages on his phone revealed he had agreed to supply “a quantity” of drugs for $240 on one occasion, and 7g of cannabis for $60 on another.
McEwan’s defence lawyer emphasised his client’s young age, lack of criminal history and co-operation with police.
McEwan was sentenced to two and a half years probation, and ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid community service.
No convictions were recorded.
AIGATAULAGI PATU
A young criminology student tried to smuggle opioids into a prison to help her incarcerated dad repay his drug debts.
Aigataulagi Patu, 20-year-old daughter of Wayne Patu, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court alongside her father to one count of supplying dangerous drugs within a correctional facility.
Patu was just 18 when she was discovered attempting to smuggle $26,700 worth of suboxone strips into her dad’s prison so he could repay drug debts to fellow inmates.
The court heard Patu had been “worried about her father” and “knew he was under some pressure”.
Her lawyer told the court her client had no previous criminal history and had recently enrolled in a TAFE course in crime and justice, with hopes to pursue criminology in the future.
“Ms Patu is not a drug addict; she doesn’t use drugs; she hasn’t stolen them,” she said.
Patu received two years probation and no convictions were recorded.
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