Nikita Lee Loyd, Tony Wayne Smith face Toowoomba Supreme Court for drug trafficking

A couple who trafficked methylamphetamine across Toowoomba to support their own drug addiction tried to get clean of the drug, only to have their drinks spiked in order to keep them hooked, a court has been told.

A young couple caught up in Toowoomba’s drug trafficking trade had tried to get away from drugs only for his drug addicted mother to spike their drinks to keep them addicted, the city’s Supreme Court has been told.

Nikita Lee Lloyd, 27, and Tony Wayne Smith, 28, were both meth users and had started trafficking the drug in and around Toowoomba from May 2, 2020, the court was told.

However, after police raided their home on September 3, 2020, the couple ceased their trafficking business, Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court.

About three months later, the pair again started trafficking meth and this time their activities became more intense and they were regularly selling the drug from small amounts such as a “point” for $100 up to an “8-ball” or 3.5g for $2400, she said.

The couple had a customer base of at least 33 people with six regulars, and they sold the drug from their home as well as delivering it.

Ms Friedewald said the Crown accepted the pair was selling the drug to support their own drug habit and going by “tick sheets” relating to supplying the drug and money owed it appeared the couple was owed $19,000 by customers and they owed $7000 to their suppliers.

Both pleaded guilty to trafficking in meth over the two periods of four months and nine months with Lloyd also pleading guilty to failing to provide her PIN for police to investigate her mobile phone which was accessed by police via the telecommunications provider.

Toowoomba courthouse.

Ms Friedewald said it was the Crown case that Lloyd was the more active of the two in the business but neither had any criminal history before embarking on this venture.

Lloyd’s barrister Scott Lynch said the couple had fallen on hard times and had moved in with Smith’s mother, a long-time drug addicted woman, who, when they tried to get away from drug use, spiked their drinks to keep them addicted for her own benefit.

Smith’s mother was now in jail, the court was told.

Mr Lynch said the couple had since relocated with their children north to a Central Queensland town where Lloyd was happily employed and both were clean of drugs and had tested negative to drugs in recent tests.

Lloyd was feeling the effects of surgery just days before appearing in court for sentence but she didn’t want the matter adjourned.

“She appreciates the burden she’s left behind but she genuinely wants to put this part of her life behind her,” he said.

Justice Peter Applegarth said it was “commendable” that both had worked hard toward self rehabilitation but the offending was serious even though Smith’s mother’s involvement was terrible.

“What a wicked thing to do to a son and daughter-in-law,” he said.

Justice Applegarth sentenced Lloyd to four and half years in jail but ordered she be eligible to apply for parole as of January 14, 2024, after having served 10 months in custody, while Smith was sentenced to four years in jail with parole eligibility from November 15, 2023, after having served eight months.

Originally published as Nikita Lee Loyd, Tony Wayne Smith face Toowoomba Supreme Court for drug trafficking