Court of Appeal finds penalty against Melissa Jane McLean ‘too high’
She was jailed for five years for her role in a high-level drug syndicate pushing ice in the Whitsundays, but the Court of Appeal found this was too harsh.
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A young mother jailed for her role in a high-level trafficking ring pushing ice in Bowen has had her penalty reduced on appeal.
Melissa Jane McLean was handed a five-year jail term with parole eligibility in December 2021 at 18 months, after she was picked up during a police sting targeting methylamphetamines in the Whitsundays.
But Supreme Court Justice Walter Sofronoff has determined the penalty was "too high" and there was "an inadequate amelioration" for her terrible personal circumstances at the time.
A Court of Appeal judgment stated McLean was raised by a violent, alcoholic mother and at 16 years old she met her father, who was also a drunk.
She left home and began to fend for herself, leaving school after Grade 10 first working at a petrol station before securing a job at the mines in Central Queensland, when she began taking care of her ailing paternal grandmother. She also took up with older men.
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"Her father took the grandmother's pension money for himself but, nevertheless, (McLean) managed to support her grandmother," Justice Sofronoff said.
"This was a devastating period for (McLean)."
Her sister died from a drug overdose, her brother confined to a wheelchair after a car crash, a cousin tried to take her own life and her grandmother died from cancer.
Justice Sofronoff said during this "awful period" she met a man named Walker - her co-accused in the offending - who introduced her to ice.
He was a dealer and she began to work for him.
Her offending spanned from November 20, 2018 to December 2, 2019 and involved trafficking ice at Bowen, possessing ice at Cannonvale and aggravated possession of ice and cash at Sarina.
"Walker was not just a drug dealer. He was abusive to (McLean) physically. He hit her and, on one occasion, poured petrol through her bedroom window and threatened to set it alight," Justice Sofronoff said.
The judgment revealed he was abusive in other ways as well via threatening phone calls before and after her arrest and a threatening letter demanding to know why she applied for bail without his permission.
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Justice Sofronoff said a letter penned by McLean's sister for the court demonstrated "a young woman who, despite the complete lack of an upbringing that a child needs in order to become a decent human being, managed during her formative teen years to strive to live a productive life".
"That her efforts miscarried so badly during her period with Walker does not evidence total failure because the future remains to be seen," Justice Sofronoff said.
"Youth is a powerful mitigating factor."
Justice Sofronoff also said the Penalties and Sentences Act required a jail term should only be imposed as a last resort, unless violence was involved.
He found the like cases used by both prosecution and defence to determine McLean's penalty "lead to a head sentence that was too high and to an inadequate amelioration of it to take into account the applicant's personal circumstances".
"(McLean's) offending was undoubtedly largely the product of Walker's emotional and physical pressure to exploit a susceptible young woman," Justice Sofronoff said.
He also found parole was unnecessary because of her own proactive steps.
The five-year jail term was set aside. Instead she was sentenced to four years imprisonment to be suspended after serving 12 months.
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Originally published as Ice trafficking mum's jail term reduced on appeal
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