Meth trafficker David John Ogden in court for Rockhampton prison drug supply

A convicted drug trafficker pressured his mother into supplying him drugs while he was in prison for firebombing and drug possession after his delivery driver was shot in the leg, a court has heard.

David John Ogden

A convicted drug trafficker once described as being “fascinated by firearms” pressured his mother into supplying him drugs while he was in prison for firebombing and drug possession after the original delivery driver was shot in the leg, a court has heard.

David John Ogden, 34, was escorted by two prison guards along with a Queensland Police Service officer into the dock of Rockhampton District Court this week where he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated supply of a dangerous drug to a prisoner.

Crown prosecutor Kathryn Walker said Ogden was remanded at Capricornia Correctional Centre when he gave his mother, Tracey Ann Lang, instructions on how to supply him the drugs by mail without being detected.

Lang pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated drug supply to a prison and one of possessing a phone used in the commission of a crime.

She was sentenced in March 2024 to 18 months prison, suspended after serving six months prison, with an operational period of three years.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Ogden had a “very bad criminal history” for drugs, dishonesty, arson, violence, weapons and property offences spanning his “whole adult life”.

He referred to Justice Martin Burns’ sentencing remarks from his 2017 methamphetamines’ trafficking conviction from the Sunshine Coast where he said Ogden had a “fascination with firearms”.

Judge Clarke said a man was shot in the leg in late November 2022 for failing to deliver a drug parcel destined for delivery to the Capricornia Correctional Centre.

“That investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Judge Clarke said the parcel was ultimately picked up by Lang and in late December and a phone conversation between Lang and Ogden recorded where there was a discussion about how she was going to get the drugs in to the prison.

Instructions were delivered to Lang through a third party and Lang was offered $1000 payment for her efforts.

The court heard during Lang’s sentencing that she had described this offending as “the stupidest thing I’ve ever done”, having felt some pressure from her son but ultimately, it was her decision to participate.

Judge Clarke said Ogden told his mother prison staff cannot open prisoner’s mail if it is from lawyers and said: “They’ve got to get who it’s addressed to open it in front of them and ask them to shake it in front of them”.

He said Ogden claimed he was not doing this drug supply for money, but because he wanted to treat his intense drug withdrawal.

“I find that hard to understand because it seems you’ve been in jail for quite a while,” he said.

“It’s unknown how much of a dangerous drug was actually in the mail.”

Judge Clarke sentenced Ogden to 12 months prison cumulative on a sentence handed down in the Brisbane Supreme Court in June 2023.

His parole eligibility date was set for October 6, 2024.

The sentence in Brisbane on June 6, 2023, was for offences in July 2021 including one count of possessing more than two grams of a schedule one drug at Caboolture, arson of a vehicle at Morayfield, two counts of possess a dangerous drug at Caboolture, one of possessing drug utensils and one of possessing property suspected of having been used in a drug offence.

Justice Ryan had sentenced Ogden to two years and 11 months prison with no presentence custody declared and parole release on June 6, 2023.

Rockhampton District Court heard this week Ogden was released from prison in July 2023 and reoffended within a week for failing to appear in court.