Tamika Maker: Sunshine Coast ice trafficker pleads guilty

A southeast Qld ice trafficker has entered guilty pleas to three counts, but her sentence has been complicated by her 10-week-old breastfeeding baby.

A southeast Queensland methamphetamine trafficker has pleaded guilty to an eight-month drug operation and associated offences, but her sentence, in which there is a “very real prospect” of her being locked up, has been delayed by her giving birth 10 weeks ago and her mother’s knee reconstruction.

Minyama woman Tamika Shae Maker, 37, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday to three serious drug offences.

They included trafficking in a Schedule 1 dangerous drug and two counts of possessing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine.

The court heard the trafficking occurred between September 28, 2018 and May 23, 2019.

The first aggravated possession of ice occurred on May 22, 2019, when she was arrested in connection with her trafficking operation, and again on February 28 last year at an address in Warana.

Sunshine Coast woman Tamika Shae Maker has pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to drug-trafficking and aggravated possession of methamphetamine. Tuesday November 2, 2021. Picture, John Gass

The Maroochydore Magistrates Court heard in June last year, during a sentence for which Maker pleaded guilty to charges including receiving tainted property, possessing a knife and knuckle dusters, and breaching bail, her offending was mainly the result of a “horrible” former marriage, where she was introduced to drugs.

“At the time of the offending, the defendant had an issue with the use of illicit drugs,” Maker’s former defence lawyer Patrick Meehan told her previous sentence.

“There’s no doubt she needs support to refrain from the return to illicit drugs.

“The past three months in prison she’s had the opportunity to reflect on her conduct and also to overcome the urges.”

At her arraignment on Tuesday, current defence lawyer Alan Phillips said Maker’s sentence, which was originally to be passed in a fortnight and included the “very real prospect” of her returning to custody, would have to be delayed because of two pressing factors.

“Ms Maker has a 10-week-old baby,” Mr Phillips told the court.

“Her grandmother is to take care of the baby should Ms Maker go to custody.

“She had a knee reconstruction on Sunday (and so is) unable to look after the baby until mid-December.”

Mr Phillips said there was no-one else who could look after Ms Maker’s baby aside from her mother.

Her sentence was adjourned to February 25 next year to allow for her mother’s recovery from her operation.