Daniel Frederick Smith suffocated his own mother, trafficked drugs

A Rockhampton man, who trafficked meth, choked his own mother with a phone cord and punched her several times after having a shot of heroin. His shocking family life has been revealed in detail.

A drug trafficker was first injected with opiate drugs at 13 by his paranoid, schizophrenic, drug addict mother who turned to prostitution to pay for drugs.

Daniel Frederick Smith, told his psychiatrist he didn’t think he was as bad as his mother until he used a 13-year-old child as a shield to protect him from police.

Now 32, Smith has an 11-page criminal record with 27 court appearances for 73 offences and including deprivation of liberty, drugs, weapons, assaults, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and supplying drugs.

Smith pleaded guilty on September 2, 2021, in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton to one count each of trafficking a dangerous drug and suffocation.

He suffocated his own 55-year-old mother after he had a hit of heroin at a motel and bashed on her door at 6.15pm on April 29, 2020.

Smith then took two lyrica tablets and had a shower.

He fell asleep on the couch, woke up briefly and demanded his mother put his phone on charge and later fell off the toilet and his mother helped him off the floor.

Daniel Frederick Smith.

Smith then called a cousin and asked for money to catch a train to Brisbane.

His mother told Smith to tell his cousin the truth – that he’d had a shot of heroin and hit her.

Smith then punched himself in the head six or seven times and then punched a fridge six times.

His mother sat at the dining room table in an agitated state.

Smith grabbed the phone charging cord, which was about 60-80cm long, and told his mother he was going to kill her.

He folded the cord in half and held it to his mother’s throat before wrapping it around her throat.

He restricting her breathing for two to three seconds and she gasped for air before he loosened the cord.

His mother sat on the lounge with Smith following her and punching her in the right calf, causing his mother to cry.

Smith told his mother to stop crying, before falling asleep. His mother took the opportunity to leave and call the police.

Eight months earlier, police, in their search for Smith who was wanted on multiple warrants, came across him in a car on Telford Street, Allenstown, on September 17, 2019.

Once Smith spotted police, he jumped out of the car and ran towards them, until an officer produced a taser and he then ran into a block of units to escape.

Daniel Frederick Smith, pleaded guilty to one count each of trafficking a dangerous drug and suffocation.

Police had to activate a taser in their chase of Smith and when they searched him, they found him in possession of a phone under his housemate’s name which contained information about his drug trafficking.

Smith trafficked methamphetamines from September 4 to 18, 2019, carrying out 27 supplies.

He tried to get his housemate, who was aware he had a phone in her name, to do drug runs for him, but she declined and moved out.

Justice Graeme Crow said Smith, according to the documents provided to the court, had a “dysfunctional” and “extremely difficult upbringing”.

He said Smith’s mother had paranoid schizophrenia and was addicted to drugs, mainly heroin, while his father was an abusive alcoholic.

Justice Crow said Smith’s mother’s boyfriends, who were also drug addicts, also abused Smith.

He said Smith’s mother at one stage worked as a prostitute and had injected Smith with heroin when he was 13.

Smith had started using marijuana when he was 11.

He had auditory hallucinations at 15 and had also been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Smith had used many types of drugs over the years and had been addicted to morphine for two years.

Justice Crow said Smith told a psychiatrist he did not think he was as bad as his mother until he took a 13-year-old child and used them as a shield to protect himself from police.

He said the report showed Smith now accepted his mental illness was aggravated by his drug use.

Justice Crow said Smith’s mother, who was in court in support of her son, accepted he was under the influence of drugs when he assaulted her and claimed Smith was a “sensible person” when not on drugs.

“You are a dangerous and awful person when you are on drugs,” he said.

Justice Crow sentenced Smith to a head sentence of five years prison.

Smith breached three suspended sentences handed down in January 2020 with this offending.

Justice Crow ordered the suspended sentences be activated, served in full and run concurrent with the five year prison term.

He also declared 491 days of presentence custody as time served and, given the parole board delays, gave him immediate parole eligibility which would likely mean Smith will serve 25 months before his parole application is heard.