Teneille Elaine Van Kerkwyk pleads guilty to meth trafficking

A meth trafficker will not spend any more time behind bars after the ‘odd nature’ of her offending was laid bare. Read what unfolded.

A meth trafficker who sold drugs to support her own habit and allegedly ran another person’s major drug business will not spend any more time behind bars after the “odd nature” of her offending was laid bare.

The hospitality worker was snared in 2020 as part of a police operation targeting drug dealing in Mackay.

It was revealed Teneille Elaine Van Kerkwyk was involved in two separate drug trafficking stints – one between June 2018 and December 2019 and then again between June and November 2020.

Teneille Elaine Van Kerkwyk pleaded guilty to meth trafficking.

Mackay District Court heard the now 32 year old was a “street level drug trafficker” during the first stint, and for the second she was a “significant aider” in the alleged substantial trafficking activities of another including running the business when they were away.

Crown prosecutor Eddie Coker said police searched her home on August 6, 2020, during the second trafficking period and uncovered a variety of drugs including a substantial amount of meth, as well as cocaine, oxycodone, a hallucinogenic known as DMT and marijuana.

“Despite being caught in the possession of a large amount of methylamphetamine and other drugs … she continued to traffic after that both by continuing to aid … and (in) her own small street level business,” Mr Coker said.

The 32 year old was involved in two separate drug trafficking stints.

Van Kerkwyk pleaded guilty to trafficking and other drug offences.

Mr Coker said she was “entitled to substantial credit” in light of admissions she made to police that had bolstered charges against her.

The court heard she would not have been prosecuted “in any way” on the first stint without her admissions and the time period for the second trafficking would have been shorter.

Mr Coker highlighted “the odd nature of the offending” in the different levels of criminality between both stints. She spent 468 days in custody on remand.

Defence barrister Scott McLennan said his client had a good work history but “suffered a number of blows in her life” including the murder of her cousin Shandee Blackburn and her dad dying of cancer the following year.

Van Kerkwyk was jailed for 4.5 years.

Mr McLennan said his client began dating a meth user who introduced her to the drug – by the time of her first trafficking stint her habit had increased and she was selling to other users to support her addiction.

The court heard Van Kerkwyk met another man, the alleged ringleader of a drug ring through a dating app, and she “essentially became reliant on him to (allegedly) supply her with methylamphetamine”.

Mr McLennan said his client’s trafficking “wasn’t overly successful” and she often found herself in debt.

He said Van Kerkwyk attended counselling and completed certificate 3 in business and a diploma of marketing and management while in custody.

She was jailed for 4.5 years suspended after time already served. The remaining jail time will hang over her head for five years. Van Kerkwyk was also placed on a three-year probation order.