Senior Constable Toby Taylor sentenced for possessing cocaine

A North Queensland cop who was caught snorting cocaine off a phone screen has been sentenced in the Townsville court.

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A NORTH Queensland police officer who was caught snorting cocaine off a phone screen on a night out in Townsville has been sentenced in court.

Senior Constable Toby Mitchell Taylor pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing dangerous drugs in the Townsville Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Senior Constable Toby Mitchell Taylor faced the Townsville Magistrates Court charged with a single count of possessing dangerous drugs.

The court heard the 30-year-old stationed in the Central police region was busted on March 26 at 3.25am by Townsville City camera control outside Flynns Irish Bar with another man.

Police prosecutor Kassandra Hall said the other man involved pulled out of his pocket a clip seal and mobile phone.

“He was observed to create two lines of a white substance from that bag onto the mobile phone screen,” Ms Hall said.

Ms Hall said Taylor was observed to take a $10 note from his pocket and roll it up before sniffing the substance off the screen through the note “into his nasal passage”.

Police found the two males 10 minutes later and confirmed they were the men observed on the CCTV footage.

Police checks revealed Taylor was a serving police officer and he was released.

The next day, Taylor attended the Townsville district office and declined to take part in an interview and was issued with a notice to appear.

In court on Wednesday, Taylor’s lawyer said his client was in a “precarious situation” being before court as a serving officer.

The court heard Taylor moved to Queensland and joined the police service in 2013 and served almost his entire career in the Sarina region.

It was heard that as of 2015 Taylor had been an investigator in the Criminal Investigation Branch and was promoted in 2019.

Taylor’s lawyer said his client now had a significant problem with “binge drinking” and had no recall of the events before the court, accepting however the video evidence.

The court heard Taylor was now involved in alcohol assistance counselling to address his situation.

There was no allegation Taylor abused his position as a police officer to commit the offence.

Magistrate Ken Taylor took into account Taylor had no criminal history and had shown remorse for his offending.

Taylor was penalised with a $300 good behaviour recognisances bond for 20 months.

No conviction was recorded.

Originally published as Senior Constable Toby Taylor sentenced for possessing cocaine