Drug trafficker supported by mates in court despite ‘kick in the guts’ childhood

A young woman who grew up in an abusive household, which had no running water or electricity and was regularly without food, has been sentenced for her role in a drug trafficking business.

Dillon Marshall and Jessie Allana Storm Bingham-James

A young woman with 21 siblings who grew up in an abusive household which had no running water or electricity and was regularly without food, has been sentenced for her role in a drug trafficking business.

Jessie Allana Storm Bingham-James’s petite frame showed signs of anxiety and fear of going to prison as she stood in the dock in Rockhampton’s District courtroom on July 29.

Despite the ‘kick in the guts’ childhood which also involved her being abused by males and kicked out of home twice as a teenager, Bingham-James still had strong support with three people – including her new partner – in court backing her.

Bingham-James, 22, pleaded guilty to one count each of trafficking drugs, producing dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing an item used in the commission of a crime, possessing property suspected to be proceeds of a crime, possessing items suspected to have been used in the commission of a crime and possessing utensils and/or pipes.

Her co-accused, and former partner, Dillon Marshall, was sentenced in May for the drugs and then on July 20 for an alcohol-fuelled dangerous operation of a motor vehicle offence where he waved a knife around at a victim at a petrol station and threatened to kill him.

The pair trafficked marijuana in the Rockhampton area between September 16, 2019 and April 14, 2020.

The trafficking took place over seven months, with Facebook Messenger and SMSes used to organise sales on at least 204 occasions to at least 52 customers.

Most were street level supplies after purchases of 28.3gs of marijuana and dividing up to sell to end users in amounts of one gram to 14gs.

During a search of their residence on March 10, 2020, police located a marijuana plant at the rear of the property, three bags of marijuana hidden in a black cylinder case which also contained scales, clip seal bags and cash.

A total of 430 grams of marijuana was located.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said they were also found in possession of two police scanners and would pass information they heard on the scanners onto their clients.

Defence barrister Jordan Ahlstrand said Bingham-James was one of 22 children her mother gave birth to, and one of two she had with her father who died when Bingham-James was 12.

He said they lived in a house in Mount Morgan which had no running water, no electricity and regularly, no food.

Mr Ahlstrand said his client’s mother had been verbally abusive.

He said a psychologist’s report given to the court showed Bingham-James had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Bingham-James’s mother had carried out “excessive discipline”.

Mr Ahlstrand said his client had been kicked out of home at 15 and that was when she started her relationship with Marshall.

He said she had been in a relationship with another man for the past two months.

Mr Ahlstrand said that despite leaving school in Year 9, Bingham-James had managed to stay employed.

He said she had worked at Sunshine Kebabs for two years, then Zambero for two years, then Spotlight for two years and now at a takeaway shop in North Rockhampton for the past three months.

Mr Ahlstrand said Bingham-James rarely drank alcohol but had started smoking marijuana when she was 12 and was “excessively smoking” the illicit substance at the time of the trafficking.

Judge Clarke sentenced Bingham-James to two years prison with immediate parole release.