Mackay mum Sam Hennessy pleads guilty to trafficking methylamphetamines

A meth-trafficking mum who faced up to 25 years in jail has been shown mercy amid a judge’s fears her efforts at rehabilitation will be undone by going back to prison.

Mum of two Sam Hennessy pleaded guilty to trafficking meth in Mackay over about one month.

A meth-trafficking mum has learned she will not have to go back to jail after a supreme court judge agreed it would undo all her rehabilitative efforts.

Sam Hennessy had been peddling methylamphetamines to 13 customers for just more than one month between December 2021 and February 2023 in South Mackay.

Crown prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence said this marked a significant escalation in her criminal conduct given her criminal history.

Mackay Supreme Court heard then 27, she ran a wholesale trafficking business, supplying meth 23 times in quantities from one gram to a half ball with the price ranging from $400 to $800.

It was accepted most sales were at street level but a concerning aspect involved trafficking larger amounts to at least four customers she knew planned to onsell the dangerous drug.

Justice North said trafficking methylamphetamine was serious offending and recent legislative amendments pushing the maximum penalty out to life imprisonment - however when Hennessy was charged the maximum penalty was 25 years.

“You would know how addictive methylamphetamine can become,” Justice North said.

“It has the potential to endanger the health of long term users.

“Addicts will go to great lengths to get their hands on the drug, hence its association with serious offending (like) offences of violence or offences of dishonesty.”

Mum of two Sam Hennessy pleaded guilty to trafficking meth in Mackay over about one month.

This was why, he said, there was such a push to hand down stern punishments.

The court heard Hennessy was arrested after police stopped a vehicle she was driving on February 5, 2022 - a search uncovered eight clip seal bags containing small amounts of meth. Hennessy denied the drugs were hers.

Police also found her phone and saw messages related to the supply of dangerous drugs.

The court heard the profit received by Hennessy was unknown but $4589 had been transferred into her account from three different customers.

Justice North said the messages on her phone showed “you were busy”.

As a result the Mackay mum of two spent 80 days in pre sentence custody but had since been on bail for about two years with no further offending and during which she had been working to rehabilitate herself including engaging Lives Lived Well and a number of clean drug screen tests.

Justice North found there was a real risk the rehabilitative efforts she had undergone would be undone if she was sent back to jail, even for a small period.

He also accepted she and her children would suffer a hardship.

Hennessy, now 30, pleaded guilty to trafficking.

She was jailed for 3.5 years, suspended after the 80 days which was declared as time already served.

The suspended sentence will hang over her head for four years. A conviction was recorded.