Gold Coast cabinet maker apprentice guilty in RBT cocaine bust

A Gold Coast apprentice and Coles worker has been sentenced after police busted him with 17 bags of cocaine ready for sale during a random breath test.

A Gold Coast cabinet making apprentice and Coles supermarket worker has been sentenced after a random breath test led to a search which uncovered 17 clipseal bags of cocaine ready for sale.

An Oxenford man in his 20s pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday to three drug offences.

They included possessing a commercial quantity of cocaine, a quantity of Australian currency, and drug paraphernalia including scales, clipseal bags, a spoon and a mobile phone used to make drug transactions.

The court heard the man’s offending was detected when he was pulled over for an RBT in Worongary on August 22 last year, which he failed.

A search of his vehicle and person uncovered 17 clipseal bags of cocaine inside his wallet, a quantity of clipseal bags, a spoon with cocaine residue on it, digital scales, $780 cash and a mobile phone, which he refused to unlock.

He was also discovered in possession of a stolen hotel room key for which he has previously been dealt with, receiving a $400 fine with no conviction recorded for possessing stolen property.

He admitted to being a cocaine user but alleged he was holding the drugs for another person, a claim not accepted by the Crown.

The total weight of the white powder found in his possession was 15.35g, with 2.943g of that pure cocaine.

Defence counsel Gerry Elmore told the court his client’s drug offending and consumption was precipitated by the breakdown of a three-year relationship.

He said his client, who is an apprentice cabinet maker who also works at a Coles supermarket, is a “productive member of the community”, notwithstanding his offending.

“He is someone that hadn’t engaged in mental health services when he should have,” Mr Elmore said.

Justice Helen Bowskill sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole.