Police hear glass pipe break as Mount Gravatt Ice addict drops it from car during intercept

A 46-year-old woman caught red-handed with meth smoke still visible in her car will serve her prison sentence in the community as she fights a gripping addiction.

A woman introduced to meth by her partner in her forties has been given blunt advice by a magistrate who has seen hundreds of lives ruined by the pernicious drug.

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Magistrate warns 46-year-old Victoria Point woman of Ice perils

Appearing at Cleveland Magistrates Court today Katrina Shipp, 46, pleaded guilty to one count of stealing and a string of drug charges.

The court heard Mount Gravatt woman Shipp, who had a history of property and fraud offences, stole brake pads worth $87 from Supercheap Cleveland Auto on March 28 by placing the goods in a bag and simply walking out of the store to a vehicle, the registration of which was used to identify the defendant.

But her most serious offence occurred on June 22.

The court was told police heard a glass meth pipe break as it was dropped out of a vehicle intercepted at 6.40pm in Bowen Hills and could still see smoke from the drug in the interior.

Officers would discover a broken glass Ice pipe, digital scales, clip seal bags and methamphetamine stored in a shoebox in the vehicle driven by Shipp.

Aggravating matters a police prosecutor said the woman had been given numerous chances by courts in the past but persisted in offending.

Defence solicitor Rhys Foster said his client had been given her first taste of meth in 2016 after the death of her mother and had started offending in 2017.

Mr Foster said Shipp – a carer to her 83-year-old father – was particularly hard hit by the drug’s lure, was in need of rehabilitation and was on the verge of a relapse.

“Addiction later in life seems to grip harder than with younger ones,” Mr Foster said.

Having shown the court dramatic images of before and after images of Ice users, Magistrate Deborah Vasta said time was of the essence when treating addiction.

“Do you really want to be chained to this drug for the rest of your life?” magistrate Vasta asked.

“If not today, when?

“You have to tell your partner ‘you are either with me or against me’”.

Shipp was sentenced to 18 months’ probation and two months’ imprisonment to be served in the community under an intensive corrections order.

A conviction was recorded.