Matthew Guy Peters faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court for drug, firearm possession

Work demands and the rise in beef prices saw a self-employed stock agent make the unfortunate decision to turn to methylamphetamine to keep up with the workload.

Long hours during a boom in cattle prices were to blame for a livestock agent’s slip into methylamphetamine use, a court has been told.

Running his own business and travelling around western Queensland, Toowoomba Magistrates Court was told Emu Creek man Matthew Guy Peters was introduced to the drug to keep up with the workload.

Things unravelled for the 47-year-old however when his property was the subject of a police search warrant which not only uncovered 2.7g of methylamphetamine but also a glass pipe and scales, as well as an unregistered air rifle and fireworks.

The air rifle was found locked in a gun safe along with other firearms, police prosecutor Sergeant Jessica Lynch told the court.

In total, Peters pleaded guilty to six charges, including authority required to possess explosives, possessing property suspected of having been used in connection with the commission of a drug offence, possessing dangerous drugs, possession of an unregistered firearm and secure storage of weapons.

“Perhaps the most serious matter is that possession of methylamphetamine, the weight was 2.7g … it is still at the upper end of what this court can deal with,” Sergeant Lynch said.

“The unregistered weapon is also a serious matter that the community would be concerned with.”

Peters’ solicitor Lejla Pehlivanovic said her client worked full time in the agriculture and livestock industry, and for the past four years had been self-employed as a livestock agent, acting as the “middleman” to broker livestock transactions.

Ms Pehlivanovic said Peters had purchased the methylamphetamine just two days prior to the search warrant being executed on the Emu Creek property.

The single father of three was currently undergoing counselling to address his drug problem, the court was told.

“The offending was quite a big wake-up call for him,” Ms Pehlivanovic said.

“He is remorseful for his offending. When the cattle market begun to rise my client was required to work longer hours to keep up with the increase in work, and unfortunately he made a poor decision to turn to methylamphetamine.”

The court was told the air rifle wasn’t registered because it was not operational, and was an “oversight” by Peters.

Magistrate Howard Osborne sentenced Peters to nine months probation with no conviction recorded.

Originally published as Matthew Guy Peters faces Toowoomba Magistrates Court for drug, firearm possession