Man’s $50k drug stash under stereo was for ‘personal use’

Mackay man went from ‘little league to the big league’ when recreational use became huge possession.

Liam Dunworth was sentenced to 2.5 years probation after being found with a large quantity of drugs in a home raid.

GOING from the "little league straight to the big league", Liam Dunworth progressed from recreational marijuana use at 14, to MDMA at 15 and then daily methamphetamine use at 20.

He yesterday pleaded guilty at Mackay Supreme Court to possessing dangerous drugs worth up to $50,000.

Through reflection of his young age of just 21, his co-operation with counselling and rehabilitation treatment and series of clean drug-screening tests, the young man was ordered to report to probation authorities in Mackay by noon on Thursday.

He received a suspended jail sentence of three and a half years, with an operational period of four years and 2.5 years probation.

On December 2018, Dunworth pulled up to his South Mackay house to find police searching his home.

Their search efforts uncovered scales, cash, clip-seal bags, and a bag behind a stereo containing 1.027 grams of MDMA.

Police found another bag with 25.253 grams of white substance, proven to be 19 grams of methylamphetamine with a purity of 75 per cent.

Upon searching Dunworth's vehicle, police found a white substance weighing more than 106 grams - 80.20 grams of pure methylamphetamine.

The wholesale value of the drug was reported to be between $25,000 and $50,000, with a street value even higher.

Dunworth had previously appeared before the courts for drug charges four other times.

Justice David North said the offence was "very serious".

"The quantity of the drugs and its value speaks for itself. I accept what was submitted by your counsellor that there is very little detail in the evidence that reveals what role you played in relation to the drugs that were found in your possession," he said.

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