Josiah Tapim and Aleesha Vassallo in Rockhampton court for supplying drugs

A mother of two tried to bring a package with drugs into Capricornia Correctional Centre when visiting a prisoner jailed for a violent robbery.

Josiah Isaiah Simon Tapim (left) and Aleesha Maree Vassallo (right).

A mother of two children attempted to bring a package with drugs, including methamphetamine, into Capricornia Correctional Centre when visiting a young father who was in prison for a violent robbery.

Josiah Isaiah Simon Tapim, 23, and Aleesha Maree Vassallo, 27, pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton Supreme Court on October 4 to supplying dangerous drugs.

Crown prosecutor Kathryn Walker said while on parole in July 25, 2022, Tapim was involved in a robbery in Norman Gardens.

She said a man had gone to his brother’s house, but began to feel uneasy after noticing a crowd of people at the front of the house and rushed back to his motorbike to leave.

Josiah Isaiah Simon Tapim, 23.

Ms Walker said Tapim and another person approached the man on his bike and Tapim turned the ignition off and removed the key while the other person allegedly pointed a shortened rifle at the man and threatened him.

She said the man pleaded that he had only just bought the bike.

Ms Walker said Tapim removed the man’s helmet and the other person allegedly struck him on the head with the gun a few times.

The court heard Tapim handed the keys to the other person, who allegedly drove away on the bike.

Aleesha Maree Vassallo, 27.

Ms Walker said Vassallo attended Capricornia Correctional Centre with a hidden parcel for a “contact visit” with Tapim on September 16, 2022, but was told she could only have a “no contact visit” after failing a routine drug scan.

The court heard Vassallo left to put the parcel in the glove box of her car and returned and spoke to Tapim, which was monitored and recorded.

Ms Walker said Tapim told Vassallo she was a “f–king dumb c–t” and asked her where it was, to which she responded she put it in the car.

Ms Walker said Tapim said, “I told you when to do it and where”.

Capricornia Correctional Centre.

She said police were called and searched Vassallo’s car, finding a parcel in the glove box which contained 1.362g of meth, 75 buprenorphine strips and a syringe.

Tapim’s defence barrister, Jordan Ahlstrand, said his client, who was born in Mackay and had been in custody for 428 days, fell into a crowd where anti-social behaviour and criminal attitudes were normalised.

Mr Ahlstrand said his client smoked marijuana recreationally when he was a teenager and that use progressed over time.

Vassallo’s defence barrister, Scott Moon, said his client, who grew up at Sarina Beach and had two young children, was vulnerable after relocating to Central Queensland, so she turned to drugs.

The court heard Vassallo came into contact with Tapim after relocating to Central Queensland.

Mr Moon described his client’s offending as “an episode of an aberration of stupidity and poor choices”.

He handed the court a negative drug test from his client and said she had turned her life around.

‘GUTLESS ATTACK’

Justice Graeme Crow said the victim of the robbery Tapim suffered many months of agonising pain and fell into a deep depression.

“He was struggling to recover from physical injuries that he was left with after this quite gutless attack,” Justice Crow said.

He described photographs of the victim’s head as “smashed” and said his injuries included countless bruises, lumps and cuts, a fractured wrist, three broken ribs, shattered shoulder, two broken fingers and injuries to his skull, eye and nose.

He said the victim was also forced to resign from his job of 15 years.

Tapim also pleaded guilty to robbery in company, two counts each of unlawful use of motor vehicles and stealing, and one count each of driving without a licence and possessing dangerous drugs.

Justice Crow sentenced Tapim to five years prison with parole eligibility on September 25, 2024 and declared 251 days of pre-sentence custody as time already served.

Vassallo also pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing dangerous drugs, possessing utensils or pipes that had been used, contravening an order about information necessary to access information stored electronically and taking or attempting to take a prohibited thing into a corrective services facility.

Justice Crow sentenced Vassallo to two years prison, wholly suspended for two years.