Daniel James Hunter faces Mackay Supreme Court on drug charges

He faced Mackay Supreme Court on 13 drug-related charges after police caught him dealing from his bicycle in the CBD.

Daniel Hunter faced Mackay Supreme Court on Monday, April 19, 2021. Picture: Facebook

Mackay police have unravelled an "unsophisticated" drug dealer's extensive illegal activities after catching him on his bicycle with 15 clip seal bags.

Daniel Simon Hunter faced Mackay Supreme Court on Monday for possessing stolen property as well as 13-drug related offences.

The most serious of these included trafficking, supplying and possessing dangerous drugs, two of which carry a maximum sentence of 25 years jail.

On December 5, 2019 police found marijuana stashed under the driver's seat of a Holden wagon with Hunter at the wheel.

 

Six months later, on June 12, police found marijuana and a plastic bottle "fashioned into a bong" in Hunter's bedroom.

Then on February 24 last year, police searched a South Mackay home where the now 46-year-old man was living with his father.

The court heard officers found used drug utensils, amoxicillin capsules, codeine tablets, methylamphetamine with up to 76.5 per cent purity in bags and scattered on the floor, two mobile phones and marijuana in a bowl, bumbag and clip seal bags.

 

 

 

 

The court heard the drugs' total street value was $1000. Police also found a notebook under Hunter's bed with a "tick sheet" listing 79 names with debts ranging from $4 to $800.

Hunter told police he had trafficked over eight months to fund his own ice habit, which began after his close friend of 32 years and then co-worker was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan, instructed by Legal Aid Queensland, said Hunter worked closely with this friend during his 24-year career as a professional fisherman.

The court heard Hunter quit his job in 2018 to help care for his friend who died in April 2019, and had turned to drugs to cope.

Drugs were also the main source of his income which he also spent on horse races, he said.

"Your business was unsophisticated, occasionally customers failed to pay debts, they would sometimes place fake bills in the bundles of cash they gave to you which you couldn't see because the transactions took place at night," Justice Graeme Crow told Hunter.

The court heard Hunter had been on bail for drug offending when on August 16, 2020 police spotted him talking on his mobile while riding a bicycle along Peel Street.

"You were nervous and your phone received constant notifications while police were speaking to you," Justice Crow told him.

The court heard police found 15 clip seal bags of methylamphetamines in his pockets.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O'Rourke argued Hunter, who has spent 246 days in pre-sentence custody, should be jailed between 3.5 to four years.

But Mr McLennan said police only had evidence of commercial drug supply from his client's "excellent" co-operation.

He said Hunter had been working in the jail's metal shop six days a week and would return to his career on release.

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Justice Crow said factors in Hunter's favour were his "unsophisticated" operation and lack of wealth-making, "excellent" work history and rehabilitation efforts while in jail.

Hunter, who pleaded guilty to all charges, was jailed for three years with parole release on September 15 this year.

Convictions were recorded.

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Originally published as Daniel James Hunter faces Mackay Supreme Court on drug charges