Meth dealer’s win on contempt sentence no key to freedom

A bikie-linked meth trafficker under an indefinite jail sentence has scored a landmark legal victory – but he won’t be celebrating just yet.

A methamphetamines trafficker jailed indefinitely for refusing to answer questions in an Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission coercive hearing has successfully had the sanction lifted in the Federal Court.

But the man, 32, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will not taste freedom and instead start serving an 11-year sentence imposed on him for drug trafficking and money laundering offences.

In an unprecedented legal case in Australia, the convicted drug trafficker, who is heavily involved in a syndicate operating within the Descendants bikie gang, was ordered to start his District Court sentence only after completing the sentence imposed on him by the Federal Court for contempt of the ACIC hearing.

Methamphetamine and cash seized when EVA20 was arrested by Federal Police in February 2020. Picture: AFP

Although then Judge Adam Kimber imposed the 11-year sentence with a non-parole period of seven years in November last year, the man did not start serving it until last Friday following his Federal Court victory.

The man was charged after Federal Police caught him with almost 2kg of methamphetamine and more than $125,000 in cash in both his vehicle and house. The car had been fitted with a professionally built hidden compartment activated by pressing a key fob and a demister button simultaneously – a key characteristic of traffickers connected to the Descendants syndicate.

The man was summonsed to the ACIC coercive hearing after being arrested in February 2020 as part of investigations into the drug syndicate. He refused to answer six questions relating to his activities when he appeared at the September 2020 hearing and was subsequently charged with contempt.

Methamphetamine and cash seized when EVA20 was arrested by Federal Police in February 2020. Picture: AFP

Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney. Picture: Supplied

The man – who was given the pseudonym EVA20 during the Federal Court proceedings because of the strict secrecy provisions of the ACIC Act – was given an indeterminate sentence for contempt by Justice Tony Besanko in May last year.

He ordered EVA20’s detention until he purged his contempt by agreeing to answer the questions he had refused to respond to.

Earlier this month, the man applied to the Federal Court to have Justice Besanko’s indeterminate sentence replaced with a fixed sentence, which was opposed by the ACIC.

In his reasons, Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney said it was appropriate to fix a term of imprisonment for the contempt and ordered EVA20’s prison sentence to end on August 19 – 15 months and 14 days after it commenced.

“That does not mean EVA20 will be released from custody today, it means the sentence imposed on him by a Judge of the District Court will effectively commence from today,’’ he said.

“I am not persuaded that a sentence of imprisonment of more than 15 and a half months is warranted, nor am I persuaded however that a lesser sentence is warranted in all of the circumstances.

“I should add that nothing I have said should be interpreted in any way as indicating that the order imposed by Justice Besanko was not entirely appropriate in the circumstances … however, circumstances have changed since that time …”

EVA20 did not appeal his conviction on the trafficking and money laundering charges and will be due for release from prison in 2029.

Originally published as Meth dealer’s win on contempt sentence no key to freedom