14 Mackay and Whitsunday convicted drug dealers revealed
They hide in the shadows of our underworld supplying illicit substances. Meet 14 convicted drug traffickers who have been collectively sentenced to more than 75 years in jail.
Police & Courts
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They have supplied illicit substances across the Mackay region. They have played a part in an illegal trade that has the potential to ruin lives. Each of the 13 convicted drug traffickers have a different excuse for their actions, but all have the same outcome. Click their names for more about each case in 2020-21.
Shannon Matthew Hita
An old school friend convinced the Mackay mine worker to join a statewide methamphetamine trafficking operation, with alleged links to an outlaw motorcycle gang Finks Motorcycle Gang.
Hita, from Rural View, moved to Brisbane and pleaded guilty to trafficking, possessing more than 840g of ice, possessing Schedule 1 dangerous drugs, possessing cash suspected of being the proceeds of a drug offence, and possessing a thing used in the commission of a crime.
Between the period of November 30, 2019 – March 31, 2020, when Hita was arrested following the execution of a search warrant on his address, Hita became bagman and courier for the operation, earning $2000 a month plus a one-off $4000 payment.
He was under instructions not to look at the packages which were being dropped off, and to remove his partner and children from the house when deliveries were being made.
Hita went so far as to cut the ringleader a spare key, the court heard.
On other occasions, Hita undertook extraordinary highway trips at the behest of the ringleader, ferrying people and bags as far north as Cairns and as far south as Yatala.
The court heard he was “targeted and taken advantage of” because of the “financial pressures” he was facing, and “engaged willingly” in the operation.
Police discovered five packages containing 861.2g of pure methamphetamine in Hita’s chest of drawers, with the estimated street value of the drugs totalling between $172,500-198,000.
Hita, formerly a “hardworking member of the community” who previously worked as a tiler and in the mines, was sentenced to eight years’ jail.
Convictions were recorded.
Stephen Frederick Brandenburg
The Mackay father pleaded guilty to four charges including trafficking and aggravated drug possession, and was jailed for three-and-a-half years, to be suspended after five months.
Police searched Brandenburg’s car and seized 3.287kg of marijuana, $5500 in cash and a number of empty clip seal bags.
Brandenburg turned to trafficking marijuana when his business began failing, with medical bills piling up.
The 61 year old had been working in the mines when he seriously hurt his back in 2005, and was forced to leave the job in 2009 because of the injury.
Convictions were recorded.
Melissa Jane McLean
The Bowen mother was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to trafficking and possessing drugs, with McLean “peddling over 50 grams” of methamphetamine a week.
McLean was pregnant when she trafficked ice – allegedly for the father of her then unborn child, who was the principal mark in a police operation targeting methamphetamines in the Whitsundays.
Police first busted McLean possessing ice at Cannonvale on November 20, 2018 – rather than learning her lesson she then went on to traffic methylamphetamines between December 1, 2018 and January 16, 2019 at Bowen.
She was further charged with aggravated ice possession and possessing cash from drug sales at Sarina on December 2 last year.
The court heard she had about 10 customers, but also allegedly pushed drugs for the father of her child, and was considered between a street level and wholesale dealer.
Her initial jail term of five years was set aside, with a successful appeal reducing the sentence to four years jail to be suspended after serving 12 months.
Supreme Court Justice Walter Sofronoff determined the penalty was “too high” and there was “an inadequate amelioration” for her terrible personal circumstances at the time.
Convictions were recorded.
Daniel James Hunter
An “unsophisticated” drug dealer’s extensive illegal activities were unravelled when Mackay police caught him on his bicycle with 15 clipseal bags.
Hunter had been on bail for drug offences when police spotted him talking on his mobile while riding a pushbike.
He told police he had trafficked for eight months to fund his own ice habit, which began after his close friend of 32 years was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Hunter pleaded guilty to all 13 charges, which included trafficking, supplying and possessing dangerous drugs, and was jailed for three years with parole release set for September 15, 2021.
Convictions were recorded.
Andrew John Collett
Collett sold a cocktail of drugs, including heroin, methylamphetamine, ketamine, marijuana, DMT, LSD and MDMA, after a workplace back injury left him in pain.
The Hamilton Island supervisor pleaded guilty to trafficking, drug possession and 14 summary charges after police found a number of the drugs he sold at his Airlie Beach home.
Justice David North said the trafficking business was a novel and sophisticated commercial operation, and Collett was looking to expand his business before he was caught.
Collett was sentenced to three-and-a-half years jail, and was eligible for parole after six months served.
Convictions were recorded.
Vanessa McKenzie
The twice-convicted ice trafficker faced court barely 18 months after she breached a suspended sentence for pushing and producing methamphetamines.
Mackay Supreme Court heard McKenzie’s second trafficking stint began two months after her parole in February 2019.
Justice Graeme Crow said the imprisonment deterrence had no effect on McKenzie, and the answer was to “keep amping up those sentences all the way to 25 years and lock you up forever”.
She was sentenced to cumulative terms totalling seven years, and will be eligible for parole on October 4, 2021.
Convictions were recorded.
Dale Christopher Smelt
A drug dealer’s “deplorable” criminal and trafficking history caught up with him, offending just three months after he was released on parole.
Police executed a search warrant at his home and found three clip seal bags containing 4.102g of methylamphetamine.
Smelt did not contest Crown legal officer Ryan Godfrey’s claim the possession of the drug was for commercial purposes.
The court heard Smelt had nine pages of criminal history, including 18 convictions for possessing dangerous drugs, eight convictions for failing to appear and breaching bail, and three convictions for assaulting or obstructing a police officer.
Mr Godfrey noted fines, good behaviour bonds, probation, parole, suspended sentences, correction orders nor jail terms had curbed Smelt’s offending.
Justice David North sentenced Smelt to two years in jail, with parole available after seven months served.
“Methylamphetamine is a well-known addictive drug that causes no end of harm in our community including collateral crime,” he said.
Convictions were recorded.
Chloe-June Christine Wilson
A self-represented mother of three was jailed for four years after her role in an ice trafficking venture was revealed to police.
Wilson was caught trafficking methamphetamines for 49 days in the Mackay region after she obtained wholesale quantities of the drugs and sold them in personal-use amounts.
Mackay Supreme Court heard Wilson struggled with a dysfunctional family life, domestic violence, mental and physical health issues and drug addiction.
In the span of 24 hours, police caught Wilson with methamphetamines twice.
Wilson appealed the length of the sentence, and argued it should have been three years suspended after serving nine months for trafficking and aggravated possession of ice.
Justice Wilson said Wilson had not demonstrated a misapplication of principle by Justice Crow or the punishment was unjust, so the appeal was denied.
Convictions were recorded.
Toby Peter Rollason
The twice-convicted Whitsunday ice dealer dodged a five-year jail sentence despite pushing methamphetamine while on parole for trafficking the same drug.
Rollason was caught using three runners to deal drugs in the Whitsunday area in January 2020, with the quantities ranging from 0.1 gram to 3.5 grams.
Justice David North told Rollason his offending warranted a five-year jail term, but said it would be reduced because he still had more than two years remaining on his current sentence.
Rollason was instead jailed for three years with parole eligibility after twelve months to avoid a “crushing sentence”.
Convictions were recorded.
Geoffrey Peter Kean
Facebook messages were the undoing of a Bowen man who spent six months in jail for trafficking marijuana and supplying dangerous drugs.
Kean’s dabble in drug trafficking was short and “unsophisticated”, spanning three months from January to May in 2019.
Police issued a search warrant on Kean’s property and uncovered a number of Facebook messages on his mobile phone.
Kean sold quantities of marijuana ranging from one gram to as much as an ounce, and often sold on credit or for exchange of methamphetamine.
He received a total of 12 jail sentences ranging from three months to two-and-a-half years, all to be served concurrently.
Convictions were recorded.
Brooke Suzannah Greive
The 31-year-old mother was sentenced after pleading guilty to unlawful drug trafficking from March 9, 2019 to July 15, 2019.
Police obtained a search warrant for Greive’s Mackay home and found notebooks containing records of sales, as well as 48.887g of substances (34.803g of which was methylamphetamine).
The mother wept as her sentence was handed down, with Justice David North saying Greive was a “busy trafficker of drugs during that period”.
Greive was sentenced to a total of 4.6 years jail.
Convictions were recorded.
Jason Anthoney Nielson
A miner struggling to deal with his wife’s cancer diagnosis aided a known drug dealer in his trafficking business in the Whitsundays.
Nielson pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, possessing property suspected to be used in commission of a drug offence and possessing a drug utensil.
Nielson had worked at Glencore’s Hail Creek mine for 11 years, where his wife was still working, but lost his job when he was charged with trafficking.
The court heard Nielson had worked his way up at Collinsville back to the dragline operator position he had before he was fired.
Neilson said his wife’s cervical cancer diagnosis led him to using methamphetamines more often, after being a long-time recreational user.
Neilson was sentenced to four years jail, suspended after 161 days which had been served as pre-sentence custody.
Convictions were recorded.
Dean Michael Matthews
A lower back injury led a boilermaker to begin a small-scale methylamphetamines trafficking business.
Matthews had been cut off from family finances when his addiction to illicit drugs took over.
He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, supplying dangerous drugs and other drug-related offences, with Matthews identified supplying seven customers with illicit substances.
Crown legal officer Ryan Godfrey said Facebook messages showed a “clear intent to grow the commerciality through the advertisement of prices and the negotiating”.
Matthews received a four-year jail term with the sentence suspended after four months, and Justice David North said the offending was “about as small a business as you can get consistent with trafficking,” as he delivered a “very lenient” sentence.
Convictions were recorded.
Brendan Charles Camilleri
Mackay man Brendan Charles Camilleri received a jail sentence in Mackay Supreme Court but he does not have to serve actual custody.
Justice David North said there were realistic prospects for Camilleri’s rehabilitation.
He sentenced Camilleri to three-and-a-half years in jail for trafficking drugs and two years of probation for possessing a large amount of marijuana.
He wholly suspended the jail sentence which will hang over Camilleri’s head for four years.
Convictions were recorded.
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