Matt Green: Redlands meth dealer sentenced in Supreme Court

A Redlands meth dealer who has had ‘chance after chance’ has been sentenced for helping run a local ice ring with his fiance’s mother’s partner.

A Redlands man who was a key player in a methamphetamine ring and indeed returned to dealing just days after being arrested and charged with an array of supply offences has been sentenced in the Supreme Court to three years’ imprisonment.

Thornlands man Matthew James Green, 32, pleaded guilty in Brisbane on Friday to more than 20 drug and weapons offences, stemming from a driver’s licence check on March 18, 2019, and a raid on properties at Thornlands and Ormiston a fortnight later on April 8.

They included 12 counts of supplying meth, two counts of possessing more than 2g of meth, three counts of possessing a dangerous drug, possessing a Category H ‘pen gun’, possessing the proceeds of a drug crime and other offences.

As part of the drug busts, the partner of Green’s fiance’s mother, Justin Lee Hope, was also charged with drug-related offences.

Thornlands man Matthew James Green, 32. Picture: Facebook

Hope was sentenced on January 29 this year to two years’ imprisonment to be served cumulatively on an existing sentence he is serving.

Two other co-accused’s charges are set for a hearing next week on April 13.

The court heard Green’s first set of offending occurred between February 1 – March 18, 2019, when he was first arrested.

Police were patrolling outside the Tingalpa Hotel when they witnessed a car, driven by Green, with changed number plates which police intelligence suggested had previously been involved in drug-related crime.

When police pulled Green, the court heard, they witnessed sores on his face and arms consistent ice use.

During a search of the car, police uncovered 5.689g of pure methamphetamine within 7.5g of substance, split between five clipseal bags and hidden inside a secret compartment in a phone charging station.

Furthermore, on Green’s phone, they uncovered nine text messages indicating Green had been dealing in the drug since February 1, to customers with such colourful names as ‘Pickle Rick’.

Green was given a notice to appear in the Wynnum Magistrates Court; however, this did not deter his drug offending or dealing.

On April 8, police raided two Redlands properties, one of which, the Thornlands one, was occupied by Green.

There, in the garage, they discovered four clipseal bags containing 4.74g of pure meth in 6.28g of substance; a tablet of ecstasy and small quantity of loose MDMA; two Diazepam tablets; digital scales, glass pipes and clipseal bags; a ‘pen gun’ and a laser pointer.

Elsewhere in the house, they discovered two more laser pointers, $2000 cash, and about 20g of Nandrolone anabolic steroid.

An analysis of Green’s mobile phone revealed he had dealt meth on a further three occasions since his initial arrest, including twice the day prior.

The court heard Green had an appalling history of drug offending stretching back to 2014, with the breach of at least three probation orders since 2018, and drug offending subsequent to his second arrest on April 8, 2019, which was dealt with in the Cleveland Magistrates Court on June 27, 2020.

“He’s had chance after chance, breach after breach,” Judge David Boddice told the court.

Nevertheless, he granted Green one further chance, swayed by his full-time employment he gained in September last year, granting Green immediate court-ordered parole on his three years.

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