Kierin Pitcher, Joseph Kelly: Logan pair jailed for ice supply

Two Logan men in their twenties were busted and one required ‘emergency surgery’ after their cack-handed smuggling attempt.

Two Logan friends have been jailed for a cack-handed attempt at smuggling methamphetamine into a Brisbane immigration detention centre which saw one of the men require “emergency surgery”.

Kierin Charles Pitcher, 25, understood to have resided in the Shailer Park area, and Slacks Creek man Joseph Lawrence Jackson Kelly, 29, both pleaded guilty for their part in the doomed operation.

Kelly, who acted as the “courier”, was charged with supplying a Schedule 1 dangerous drug, while New Zealand-born Pitcher, who at the time was detained in the Brisbane Immigration Transit and Accommodation centre at Pinkenba after the cancellation of his visa, was charged with supplying a Schedule 1 dangerous drug, possessing a Schedule 1 or 2 dangerous drug, and possessing 2.04g of pure ice, a Schedule 3 quantity.

Former Logan resident Kierin Charles Pitcher, 25, understood to have resided in the Shailer Park area. Picture: Facebook

The offences occurred on November 23, 2019 about 8.30am.

In the previous days, Pitcher had texted an associate to arrange for Kelly, a close friend, to pick up a package of “strips” – a.k.a. Suboxone film – and deliver it to him on the inside.

Kelly picked up the package, which, in addition to 17 of the Suboxone films, contained the 2g of ice and a shortened syringe, wrapped in the finger of a latex glove.

When Kelly, who had only been released from custody on parole three weeks earlier, arrived at the centre, he attempted to slip Pitcher the ice inside a packet of potato chips.

Pitcher then went to the bathroom to insert the drugs into his rectum.

However, the interaction was caught on CCTV camera, leading to Kelly’s arrest and Pitcher’s transfer to the Brisbane Watchhouse where he began showing “signs of discomfort’ due to the fact he removed the package from his anus and swallowed it.

Slacks Creek man Joseph Lawrence Jackson Kelly, 29. Picture: Facebook

He required “emergency surgery” to remove the item from his stomach.

The court heard both men had significant criminal histories revolving around drug addiction and offending.

Pitcher breached a six-month suspended sentence with his offending.

He was sentenced to 23 months’ imprisonment with parole release on June 25 at which point he will likely be deported to New Zealand, despite spending most of his life in Australia.

Kelly was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, suspended after time already served (13 months, although not all of it related to the current offending) for a period of three years.

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