Sean Hudson sentenced in Rockhampton court
A man will spend Christmas behind bars after he tried to smuggle opioids into a Central Queensland prison.
Police & Courts
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A court has heard how a man recruited his partner to smuggle opioids into prison, out of fear of being beaten up by younger prisoners.
Sean Christopher Hudson, 54, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court on Thursday, December 7, to one count of supplying buprenorphine to another person within a correctional facility.
At the time, on July 8 last year, Hudson was serving out a jail term of nine years for a previous offence.
The court heard Hudson had used another prisoner’s phone credit to call his on-and-off again partner, procuring her to leave 76 strips of buprenorphine in a bathroom at Rockhampton Hospital.
As part of the plan, another prisoner, who was at the hospital, was going to use the bathroom as a guise to pick up the drugs.
However after suspicions were raised, the drugs were intercepted and the plan was unsuccessful.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton told the court Hudson had a 13-page criminal history in Queensland, with short histories also in New South Wales and Victoria.
He said Hudson’s history included many entries relating to drugs and also robberies.
The court heard Hudson has been in and out of jail for the past 23 years.
Mr Sutton submitted Hudson was not suitable for a suspended sentence because of his history.
However Hudson’s barrister Julie Marsden “ambitiously” submitted for a suspended sentence to assure her client’s release date.
Ms Marsden told the court her client had been clean from drugs for two years, and only tried to source the drugs out of fear of getting hurt, with no plans of using them himself.
She said while in prison Hudson had been working with authorities to help eradicate drugs in the facility.
Ms Marsden said when Hudson is released from prison he had plans to start his own mobile welding business.
Judge Jeff Clarke took into account Hudson’s plea of guilty and that it came at an early opportunity.
Judge Clarke said drugs being brought into prisons cause a “disruption” and created a “black market”.
He also took into account Hudson’s “very bad” criminal history.
Hudson was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment with 74 days declared as time already served.
He will be eligible for parole in March 2024.
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