Tameeka Kelly: Partner of Jamie Hanlon in court for shooting dealer

A Moreton Bay woman who helped cook up a violent robbery with her beau which saw a dealer shot in the chest has made a stunning claim in court.

A Moreton Bay woman who cooked up a drug-fuelled plan to rob a drug-dealer with her beau, who ultimately shot the dealer in the chest, has claimed via her lawyer she didn’t know the shotgun was loaded.

Tameeka Lee Kelly, 22, formerly of the Morayfield area, entered pleas in Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday to seven counts including burglary, armed robbery in company and acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm.

The offences relate to the February 3, 2019 stick-up of Margate dealer Ethan Tyler Richards at his McCulloch Ave residence.

Former resident of the Morayfield area, now of Curra, Tameeka Lee Kelly, 22. Picture: Facebook

Kelly and her boyfriend Jamie Christopher Hanlon, 32, of Deception Bay, targeted the man as retribution for being sold a purported bad batch of drugs, the court heard.

The duo entered about 11am, with Hanlon brandishing a sawn-off shotgun.

Hanlon’s sentence in March this year heard Richards produced a revolver and fired off a misdirected shot, which was met with a blast of buckshot the chest by Hanlon.

On Monday, it was submitted on Kelly’s behalf that she was “not the prime mover” in the plan and that she was standing outside the house when Hanlon shot Richards, decamping when she heard the shots as she didn’t know who has fired them.

Deception Bay man Jamie Christopher Hanlon, 32. Picture: Facebook

However, Justice Soraya Ryan’s assertion that Kelly was an “enthusiastic participant” in the scheme was accepted.

The court heard Hanlon and Kelly made attempts to recruit others into the armed robbery which nearly turned fatal, but these attempts were drug-fuelled and “somewhat scattered”.

It was the submission made on Kelly’s behalf that she didn’t know the shotgun was loaded which caused the court consternation.

This raised deep questions regarding the “probable consequence” of Kelly’s actions and whether she was “wilfully ignorant” of what outcome may follow.

Justice Ryan opined that the issues, which go to the heart of Kelly’s criminality, were not able to be resolved by way of a contested sentence.

The sentence was adjourned until Wednesday to allow the Crown and defence to conference.

Hanlon was previously sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for his role in the shooting, with parole-eligibility set at August 2, 2023.