The Beat Megaclub owner Ross Stephen Hannay, 62, pleads guilty to three counts of drug possession

The owner of The Beat Megaclub in Fortitude Valley has faced court after police found more than 700 ecstasy pills in his garage.

Beat Megaclub owner Ross Hannay leaves Brisbane Supreme Court where he faced drug and weapon charges. Picture: John Gass

A Brisbane nightclub owner has escaped jail time after police found more than 700 ecstasy pills and a taser at his home during a raid in 2020.

Owner and manager of The Beat Megaclub in Fortitude Valley Ross Stephen Hannay, 62, pleaded guilty to three counts of drug possession and one count of weapon possession in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday.

A large volume of illegal drugs were uncovered at Mr Hannay’s Clayfield home during a police raid on September 2, 2020, including 738 pills containing 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and other bags of smaller amounts of cocaine, Methylamphetamine and illegal preworkout substance DMAA.

Crown prosecutor Dejana Kovac told the court the possession of the hundreds of MDMA pills carried a maximum punishment of 25 years imprisonment.

The court heard police uncovered the large bag of pills in Mr Hannay’s downstairs detached garage, while further bags of various drugs and a taser were found upstairs inside his unit.

“Specifically, a further six tablets, each containing MDMA, was found in one of the bedrooms, as well as a clip seal bag containing about 18 grams … a mixture of MDMA, cocaine and methylamphetamine,” Ms Kovac said.

“There was a further clip seal bag … containing DMAA and finally, a taser.”

The court heard Mr Hannay had left school at the age of 14 to work for his uncle John Hannay, the founder of The Beat nightclub and more famously, the former manager of the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub.

Mr Hannay took over The Beat from his late uncle and has been managing the nightclub for the last 14 years.

The nightclub was searched at the same time Mr Hannay’s home was raided in 2020, but nothing was found.

Of the 139 grams of substance found in Mr Hannay’s garage, only 13 grams were made up of pure MDMA.

Mr Hannay’s defence barrister Alastair McDougall told the court that the drugs found in the unit were for Mr Hannay‘s own personal use and while Mr Hannay was aware of the bag of pills in his downstairs garage, someone else had placed them there.

He said Mr Hannay had been using drugs while dealing with the loss of his uncle after he died of cancer in 2019.

The court heard it was Mr Hannay’s first time before a court on drug charges, with his 2020 arrest also his first time spent in custody.

Justice Susan Brown did not accept that Mr Hannay was drug dependant, nor rehabilitated after he failed to provide the court a urine test sample due to not having enough time between his night work at the club and sleeping during the day.

“It’s a matter of priority, you’re here on serious charges,” Justice Brown said.

Justice Brown told Mr Hannay that his drug use to deal with grief was unacceptable and that his knowledge of the large bag of drugs in the garage and his possession of a taser was “concerning”.

“You were aware they (drugs) were there but had subsequently forgotten about them, which given the quantity, is quite concerning given that you have an 18-year-old son,” she said.

“It was lucky he didn’t find them.”

Justice Brown took into account Mr Hannay’s early guilty plea and his lack of offending following his arrest more than two years ago.

He was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment with immediate parole.

Mr Hannay will face further charges of possessing utensils used in connection with drugs in the Magistrates Court at a later date.