Jarred Leith George Gillies pleads guilty to possessing dangerous drugs

A Whitsunday man has been told to change his approach to beating his meth addiction or risk going back to jail.

A Whitsunday boat skipper has been sentenced to jail on drugs charges despite insisting he had cleaned up his act after a previous stint behind bars.

Jarred Leith George Gillies received a two-month suspended sentence on Monday after police found 6.9 grams of marijuana and drug utensils at his Conway property, which he admitted he had been using “to cope with withdrawals from meth”.

He pleaded guilty to one count of possessing dangerous drug and two counts of possessing utensils or pipes etc that had been used.

Proserpine Magistrates Court heard Gillies’s criminal history was an aggravating factor and that he was on a suspended sentence at the time of the October 13 offences.

Jarred Leith George Gillies pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs and two counts of possessing utensils or pipes etc that had been used. Picture: Facebook

Gillies told the court that since his release from jail on other charges he had found employment skippering a charter boat and “got off all the hard drugs”.

He said he had been using “choof” to help him sleep at night but insisted he was a “much healthier person and a better person than [he has] been in the past”.

Gillies told the court he had recently started getting drug-tested at his own expense to “prove a point” to himself. Picture: Facebook

Magistrate James Morton said police would not have executed a search warrant at his address without good reason.

“You’ve been before me enough times to know I say it how I see it,” Mr Morton said.

“You have a problem with drugs and I accept that you’re trying to get off the meth – trying to get off the drugs altogether would be a better idea.”

The sentence was suspended for nine months and the seized property was forfeited.

Gillies must appear before the Mackay District Court on a date to be notified to be further dealt with for breaching a District Court suspended sentence.