Drug-addict trafficked cocaine in ‘sophisticated’ $400k racket

A man who couriered cocaine for a “sophisticated” $400k enterprise to fuel his own addiction has walked free on a wholly suspended sentence.

Chad Te Ahu Alex Campbell-Willoughby leaves Brisbane Supreme Court. Picture: John Gass

A man who couriered cocaine for a ‘sophisticated’ $400k enterprise to fuel his own addiction had walked free on a wholly suspended sentence.

Chad Te Ahu Alex Campbell-Willoughby, 30, faced sentence at Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday for trafficking cocaine over a three-month period in 2022.

Crown prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said Campbell-Willoughby had worked under the instruction of co-offender Reece Jacob Cribb to courier drugs, alongside a second co-offender Joshua Mark Emery.

Mr McIntyre said Campbell-Willoughby and Emery supplied to 35 customers on nearly 300 occasions, with amounts ranging from a gram to an ounce of cocaine.

The court heard the “sophisticated” enterprise turned over a profit of approximately $400,000 – with Campbell-Willoughby being paid around $20,000 for his involvement.

Campbell-Willoughby was “essentially an employee” and profited “significantly less” than Cribb, the court was told.

Emery had received a wholly suspended four-and-a-half years for his “comparable” involvement to Campbell-Willoughby’s, whereas Cribb had been sentenced to eight years with parole eligibility in May 2026.

Campbell-Willoughby had no criminal history and had been motivated by a desire to fund his own cocaine addiction, the court was told.

Born in New Zealand, he was now at risk of being deported as a result of his offending.

Chad Te Ahu Alex Campbell-Willoughby attended Brisbane Supreme Court on November 7, 2024, for sentence. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

The court heard he had struggled with a significantly disruptive and prejudicial childhood, but that his arrest had been a “wake up call”.

He had spent just one day on remand in custody before being granted bail, the court heard.

Defence barrister Nicholas Brown said his client had immediately abstained from drugs after he was arrested and had returned clean drug test results since March 2024.

He said Campbell-Willoughby had since obtained a certificate 2 in meat processing and paid off a $12,000 loan – which he said had been part of the motivation for the offending.

Campbell-Willoughby pleaded guilty at sentence to trafficking a dangerous drug, possessing a schedule one drug in excess of a schedule four quantity, possessing anything used in the commission of a crime, possessing dangerous drugs, possessing property obtained from trafficking, and two breaches of bail.

Justice Declan Kelly warned Campbell-Willoughby that “lives are ruined by trafficking drugs like cocaine”.

But he said when he read Campbell-Willoughby’s letter of apology, he had been “struck by its sincerity and its demonstration of clear remorse and insight”.

Justice Kelly found that an order requiring Campbell-Willoughby to serve time in custody would be detrimental to his efforts at rehabilitation.

He sentenced him to five years jail, wholly suspended for an operational period of five years.

Campbell-Willoughby’s day in presentence custody was taken into account but not declared time-served.