Drug trafficker Matthew Lewis Abbott back in court for selling meth while on parole

He was jailed for 10 years and spent eight behind bars. But barely months into his parole release the convicted drug peddler was back at it.

Matthew Lewis Abbott pleaded guilty to supplying meth barely two months after his released on parole for serving eight years of a 10 year jail term for wholesale trafficking in meth and cocaine.

A successful wholesale meth and cocaine trafficker had been on parole for two months after serving eight years in jail when he sold low grade meth to fund buying a new car.

Now Matthew Lewis Abbott has had 2.5 years added to his existing 10 year sentence.

Mackay District Court heard the 47 year old was released from jail in August 2023 and in October that year had moved from the Gold Coast to Airlie Beach where the offending occurred.

Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas said on October 24 he sold 35g of meth to another person for $4000 “to buy a car” while he was living in Airlie Beach.

Then 18 days later on November 11 he organised to sell two ounces of meth to the same buyer for $15,000 – he hid the drugs at a bus stop with a plan for the buyer to collect it and leave money.

But that buyer couldn’t find the drugs and Abbott was forced to retrieve them, along with money the buyer had left for previous supplies and in credit for their bill, Ms Aldas said.

Ms Aldas labelled it as “more calculated and sophisticated” rather than opportunistic offending that was “clearly committed for a commercial purpose”.

She said it also demonstrated Abbott still had established connections within the community and access to a large quantity of drugs “even though he’d been inside for some eight years”.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan said his client had been heavily cutting the drugs down and was selling them for less than half the going rate.

“An ounce of methylamphetamine isn’t sold for $4000 … he had some drugs, he’s cut them significantly when this opportunity arose,” Mr McLennan said.

“It might be 35g of substance but the amount of methylamphetamine … is much lower.”

Ms Aldas argued the quantity of the drugs and nature were significant regardless.

Matthew Lewis Abbott pleaded guilty to supplying meth barely two months after his released on parole for serving eight years of a 10 year jail term for wholesale trafficking in meth and cocaine.

Mr McLennan said while Abbott had been living in Airlie Beach he had “fallen back in with the old crowd and then realised how stupid, what he was doing was” and moved back to the Gold Coast, re-engaged with parole, started a new relationship and tried getting his life back on track.

The court heard Abbott had also been prescribed medicinal marijuana for anxiety.

“Who is the medical practitioner who prescribed a drug addict with medicinal cannabis? That seems extraordinary,” Judge Vicki Loury questioned while determining the case.

Mr McLennan said he did not know who it was but understood there was a review in place.

“He’s the perfect example of the overprescribing of medicinal cannabis in our community,” Judge Loury said.

“To prescribe it to a man who has a longstanding drug addiction is just extraordinary.

“That’s just setting him up to fail.”

Abbott pleaded guilty to two counts of supplied meth. The court heard he did return a clean drug test when he was first released before he began living in the Whitsundays.

He has been back in custody for 11 months.

The court heard Abbott previously had a highly successful surfboard shaper business on the Gold Coast. When his marriage ended he moved to Sydney and invested all his money in his business, which did not survive the Global Financial Crisis.

At the same time he also suffered a neck and spinal injury. The combination resulted in Abbott using drugs and then selling drugs and in 2016 was jailed for 10 years for wholesale trafficking in meth and cocaine.

“And you obviously used your business acumen to traffic drugs quite successfully and found yourself getting sentenced to 10 years imprisonment,” Judge Loury said, also accepting Abbott found it difficult to transition back into society on his release after serving eight years.

Judge Loury said after moving to the Whitsundays he “relapsed quickly”.

“You were undeterred by that very long period of time in custody from engaging in the supply of methylamphetamines to the community,” Judge Loury said.

The court heard Abbott still had seven months of the 10 years sentence left to serve, to which Judge Loury added an extra 2.5 years with parole eligibility on May 26, 2025 after 12 months in custody.

Convictions were recorded.