‘I’m not ready yet’: Drug user tells judge not quitting

An aspiring hairdresser who told a court she wouldn’t be able to give up drugs has been jailed.

Jade Henderson has been jailed for drug related matters.

An aspiring hairdresser who told a court she wouldn’t be able to give up drugs has been jailed.

Jade Margaret Henderson, 23, faced Maroochydore District Court on Monday for breaching a suspended sentence.

Crown prosecutor Laura Hamilton told the court Henderson was sentenced in Brisbane District Court on April 19, 2018, for an attempting to pervert justice.

She given a three-year probation order.

“The offending was slightly unusual,” Ms Hamilton said.

“It involved herself and her partner at the time, they were victims of a home invasion.

“After their complaint to police, the defendant was persuaded by others, including one of the offenders who participated in the home invasion to withdraw that complaint to police.

“Police were suspicious of the withdrawals and the offending was revealed in a phone call between the defendant and one of the offenders who called her from prison.”

The court heard Henderson breached the probation order, which was then revoked and Henderson was sentenced to nine months in jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.

The court heard Henderson was also caught with marijuana on October 25, last year and had two charges on drug driving on November 10, 2019 and January 9, 2020.

“The defendant’s vehicle was intercepted by police, they could smell cannabis coming from the vehicle and detained the defendant for a search and a clipseal bag containing 14g was located,” Ms Hamilton said.

Ms Hamilton said Henderson was caught with marijuana in her system on both drug driving charges, admitting to police on the second offence that she had smoked 10 cones earlier that day.

Ms Hamilton submitted that the suspended sentence should be activated, for Henderson to serve a third.

The court heard Henderson worked at a dry cleaners while studying to be a hairdresser and jail would affect her rehabilitation.

Judge Glen Cash asked Henderson what it would take for her to stop using drugs.

“I don’t think I’m ready yet but I will be there,” she said.

“There’s 12 months until I get my licence back, maybe when it comes closer to that we’ll go down the avenues of getting a drug counsellor but right now I’m not ready.

“You have to be ready to stop and I’m not.”

Mr Cash said there was no other option but to jail her as she wasn’t willing to give up marijuana.

“You’ve done exactly what I said to you not to do and that is to involve yourself in drugs again because it would lead only to you coming back and ultimately going to jail,” he said.

“You are not yet willing to give up cannabis.

“In my view your actions are such that you will have to serve a period of time actually in custody.

“Hopefully by the time you are released on parole, you will have decided to give away the drugs and progress your life without relying on the crutch of cannabis.”

He activated her suspended sentence with a parole release date of September 19.

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