North Brisbane cafe owner Melissa O’Mara-Grant smuggled prohibited item into son’s prison

A North Brisbane cafe owner concocted a creative plan involving a baby to smuggle a mysterious substance into her son’s prison, after she received a disturbing threat in her mailbox.

Deception Bay mum Melissa Kaye O'Mara-Grant, 51. Picture: Facebook

A violent mailbox threat spurred a north Brisbane cafe owner to smuggle a mysterious substance into her son’s jail, a court has heard.

The Deception Bay mum Melissa Kaye O’Mara-Grant, 51, pleaded guilty on March 22, 2023, in Ipswich Magistrates’ Court to one count of giving a prohibited thing to a prisoner.

The court heard O’Mara-Grant received a vitamin bottle in her mailbox on January 10, 2023.

Police prosecutor Amanda Renton said there was a small square of unknown substance in cling wrap inside, which O’Mara-Grant later told police she believed to be drugs of some kind.

The court heard she also told police there had been a note attached, which read: “Take this to Brandan or else he will be stabbed. Burn this note”.

The court heard her son Brandan had been incarcerated at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre at the time.

Ms Renton said O’Mara-Grant had told police she had burned the note, as instructed.

The next day, O’Mara-Grant visited her son at the jail with a baby – along with the package hidden in her waistband.

When she passed the child for her son to hold, she also passed him the substance.

The court heard Brandan then swallowed the substance before anyone could intervene.

He was then takento a separate unit for the substance to pass, but it was never able to be identified.

Defence lawyer Jarrod Bell said O’Mara-Grant had a limited, irrelevant criminal history and had “lived an unremarkable life – in a good sense”.

He said she had been establishing her cafe business at the time of her offending, and had recently suffered the loss of a grandchild and her mother.

As a result, Mr Bell said his client was “in a state” when she received the item and “fearful” for her son’s safety.

“She’s definitely quite remorseful, in her words she said ‘I’m not a criminal I don’t do these sort of things’,” Mr Bell said.

Magistrate Robert Walker said O’Mara-Grant’s offending was “serious” and there were other avenues she could have taken – such as alerting police.

However, he accepted she was “otherwise a person of good character” and that a sentence of imprisonment would not serve any benefit under the circumstances.

O’Mara-Grant was fined $750, referred to SPER, and no convictions were recorded