Vanessa Butler: Tanah Merah woman busted with ice, fantasy
A Logan woman’s sentence was delayed when she had to find someone to look after her toddler son, whom she brought to court.
Logan
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A Logan mum tried to pass off a small glass vial of GHB, also known as liquid fantasy, as perfume when police performed a search warrant on her home, a court has heard.
Tanah Merah woman Vanessa Grace Butler, 36, was charged with four offences following the May 21 search warrant of her home.
They included two counts of possessing a dangerous drug and one count each of possessing a drug utensil and contravening an order to access information stored electronically.
She pleaded guilty to all four charges.
The plea began in bizarre fashion, delayed due to Butler needing to find someone to mind her young toddler, whom she brought to court with her.
“I don’t think there’s many childminding services in Beenleigh Courthouse,” Magistrate Michael O’Driscoll observed tongue-in-cheek.
The court heard the search warrant occurred about 6.45am on the morning in question.
Police located a glass ice pipe in Butler’s bathroom, which she confessed to using the night prior to smoke ice; a small clip-seal bag containing less than a gram of ice on top of her bedroom table; and the 10mL vial of fantasy on a bedroom shelf.
When questioned, Butler tried to pass the vial off as perfume, but the police weren’t fooled and “recognised the substance” to be GHB.
Police asked to search Butler’s mobile phone for evidence of any other drug-related offences, but she refused, leading to the fourth charge.
The court heard Butler had a seven-page criminal history and that the current offences were committed barely one month after the end of the operational period of an 18-month suspended sentence.
“You’ve had a problem with dangerous drugs for a very long time,” Mr O’Driscoll said.
“You’re on the verge of spending time in a correctional centre.
“If you had’ve committed these offences a month earlier, you would have been.”
Butler was sentenced to four months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole.
Convictions were recorded.
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