Luke James Collins pleads guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to trafficking, supplying dangerous drugs

A 28-year-old convicted drug trafficker was placed on three years’ parole but just months later returned to the same offending.

A 28-year-old man who was caught trafficking methamphetamine while on parole for trafficking the same drug has been jailed for a total seven years.

Luke James Collins had been sentenced to three years in jail, but was released on immediate parole after pleading guilty in the Toowoomba Supreme Court in October 2019 to trafficking and supplying drugs.

However, just 11 days after being sentenced he had supplied 85g of substance which contained meth to another man, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court.

That substance had not been analysed but it was accepted it contained meth, she said.

Then, within two to three months of the October 2019 sentence, Collins had returned to trafficking drugs, she said.

Ms Friedewald said Collins had trafficked meth in January and February 2020 in various amounts to just two men who were onselling the drug.

Compounding his offending, Collins’ partner Bethany Rose Mitchell, 26, had on three occasions delivered drugs to one of those men, she said.

Mitchell, who had no criminal history at all, pleaded guilty to three counts of supplying a dangerous drug while Collins pleaded guilty to trafficking, supplying and possessing a dangerous drug.

Toowoomba Courthouse

The couple’s offending came to light after a police search of their Glenvale home in February 2020 turned up 10.31g of pure meth in 13.4g of substance separated into three clip seal bags, 3g of cannabis and drug utensils, Ms Friedewald said.

Mitchell’s barrister Scott Lynch told the court his client had been on bail since her arrest three years ago without any further offending or breaching bail.

Barrister Isaac Munsie, for Collins, said his client had since moved away from the Toowoomba drug scene and was employed in Brisbane.

“Part of the problem was he stayed in Toowoomba,” Mr Munsie submitted.

His client provided a letter of apology to the court along with four drug testing results which showed Collins was now clean of substances as well as 14 character references.

Mr Munsie submitted Collins was a different person now than he was three years ago when he was using drugs.

Justice Peter Callaghan sentenced Mitchell to 18 months’ jail but ordered she be released immediately on parole.

Justice Callaghan told Collins that he knew what the drug had done to him yet “you were prepared to spread that misery to others”.

He sentenced Collins to a total seven years in jail but ordered he be eligible for parole on January 10, 2025, after having served 20 months.

Originally published as Luke James Collins pleads guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to trafficking, supplying dangerous drugs