Four Mackay people face supreme court for drug crimes

A meth trafficker with 27 customers threatened to punch a woman’s ‘f--king teeth out’ when she owed him money. Read about him and others in Mackay court this week on drug-related offences.

A former Mackay meth dealer who once threatened to punch a drug debtor’s teeth out now presents as one of the fittest prisoners his lawyer had ever seen.

A former Mackay meth dealer who once threatened to punch a drug debtor’s teeth out now presents as one of the fittest prisoners his lawyer had ever seen.

Johnathon Jeffrey O’Brien’s was not living a “Pablo Escobar-ish lavish lifestyle” during an 11-week ice trafficking stint in Mackay.

Mackay Supreme Court heard he was “dealing with the absolute same crumbs every day” and “dealing with junkies being a junkie himself”.

“Making absolutely no profit,” Barrister Marty Longhurst, instructed by RH Legal, said.

Mr Longhurst added his client now “doesn’t present as an ice junkie at all”.

“He’s one of the fittest prisoners I’ve ever seen,” he said.

Pablo Escobar talking to reporters in 1984. Johnathon O’Brien’s

O’Brien pleaded guilty to a string of charges including meth trafficking between July and September 2020 at Mackay, drug possession, possessing shortened firearms, and refusing to give information to access an electronic item.

The court heard he was “buying in half balls”, had three suppliers and 27 customers.

Justice Graeme Crow said O’Brien was not a “large level drug dealer” and debtors owed no more than $5000 at any one time.

O’Brien made threats to some debtors including telling a woman he would “punch the rest of her f--king teeth out”.

He has since spent 657 days in pre-sentence custody.

Mr Longhurst said when O’Brien was in jail “he seemed to produce miracles”.

The court heard during his latest stint behind bars the 41 year old obtained his certificate four in fitness and had been working in the storeroom.

Justice Crow said O’Brien’s criminal history included 17 appearances for 67 offences.

He was jailed for five years with parole eligibility on July 26, 2022. Convictions were recorded.

Teen spirals after testicular cancer diagnosis

A testicular cancer diagnosis in his teen years led a Mackay man to a troubled history of drug offending.

Mark Edward Hull was 17 when he found out he had cancer, but self-medicating as a teenager kicked off a dangerous spiral into addiction.

The now 38-year-old pleaded guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to drug possession and trafficking following police searches at two Mackay homes.

Police found a crystal substance containing 20.4 grams of methylamphetamine during one of the raids in Bucasia, which Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips said was evidence of a commercial trafficking operation beyond personal use.

The court heard Mark Hull’s meth possession pointed to a commercial trafficking operation.

He said police had found restricted drugs not prescribed to him in an earlier raid at a separate home.

Justice Graeme Crow said the raids also uncovered small amounts of diazepam, noscapine, and marijuana, but the packaging of the meth indicated the more serious charge of trafficking.

“At the time of the search, it was packed and stored … (with) the overall weight consistence with one ounce”, he said.

“If sold in that quantity, it’s somewhere between $9000 and $11,000.”

The court heard Hull’s upbringing was normal apart from the cancer diagnosis, yet he faced other courts for drug charges from 2008 onwards and had now spent considerable amounts of time incarcerated.

Hull was sentenced to three years in jail but he was released on the day of his court hearing after 14 months in pre-sentence custody.

Man chucks meth baggie as police approach

A justice has schooled a Mackay drug addict about the origins of a drug he tried to hide from police.

Peter Richard Clarke, 59, was a passenger in a car police pulled over about 1am on August 6 2016, where he attempted to throw away a plastic bag containing 2.5 grams of pure methamphetamine.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips told Mackay Supreme Court a small amount of marijuana was also found in his shirt pocket back at the police station.

At sentencing, Justice Graeme Crow said Clarke’s drug offending had begun after a serious back injury while working at a quarry in 1996.

Mr Clarke was jailed in New South Wales for four years on related drug charges and was released June 2021.

Justice Crow accepted evidence Clarke had stayed clean since his release, but slammed him for “self-medicating with drugs … that led to your downfall”.

“It is such a powerful drug, such an addictive drug, designed in the early days by German pharmaceuticals for use in World War II.

“It’s a terribly addictive drug.”

In what amounted to an interesting history lesson in Mackay Supreme Court, Justice Graeme Crow told a drug addict meth was designed during World War II for soldiers. Picture: iStock

Mr Phillips said if the two charges had been addressed when Clarke went to prison in 2016, it was likely he would have been convicted without further punishment.

This went without challenge from defence counsel Michael Gatenby.

Mr Clarke walked free after Justice Crow sentenced him to have the drug possession charges listed as convictions, without any further punishment, on his criminal history.

Mum of three busted with meth

A Mackay mother busted with three bags of meth has been given an immediate parole release.

Mackay Supreme Court heard a cleaner at a motel on November 8, 2021 found a wallet, which she opened in an attempt to find the owner’s name and instead found a small amount of meth.

Two days later, police stopped Melissa Rose-Ann Dreghorn as she was driving around Andergrove.

A search of her car uncovered three hidden bags of meth, weighing 13.7 grams.

The court heard she said the wallet was hers, but denied ownership of the drugs.

Dreghorn, 36, pleaded guilty to aggravated meth possession and possessing dangerous drugs.

The court heard the mother of three’s criminal history was littered with drug entries.

She has spent eight months and two days in pre-sentence custody.

Dreghorn was jailed for two years with immediate parole release. Convictions were recorded.