Ice ring member dealt to feed habit court told

A 40-year-old man told the court at his sentencing his escalating methylamphetamine use was the reason he turned to dealing drugs

Court generic, Lady Justice statue

A MEMBER of a methylamphetamine supply syndicate that sold ice while on bail after he was arrested for drug dealing has told a court during his sentencing that he only sold drugs to feed his own habit.

Jason Wayne O'Driscoll, 40, appeared in Grafton District Court on Monday for sentencing after pleading guilty to two charges of supply prohibited drugs on an ongoing basis.

Judge Clive Jeffreys was also asked to take into account further offences of recklessly deal with proceeds of crime and two further drug supply charges on sentencing.

The court heard that from March 7 to March 21 last year the South Grafton man supplied 3.34g of methylamphetamine in seven transactions to associates before he was arrested and charged.

While on bail, the court heard O'Driscoll then resumed supplying ice and went on to sell another 3.35g between June 26 and July 7 before he was arrested on August 8 when his South Grafton property was searched as part of a series of co-ordinated raids by officers from Coffs/Clarence Police District, with assistance from operational support units.

The Crown Prosecutor told the court while the quantities of methylamphetamine sold by O'Driscoll were small and the level of sophistication was low the offences were part of a network of supply detected by strike force detectives investigating a separate matter.

The Crown also told the court the second continued supply charge was aggravated by the fact O'Driscoll went "back to business" selling methylamphetamine while on bail for similar offences.

O'Driscoll's barrister John Carty called his client to the witness stand who told the court he had previous convictions for possessing marijuana, including two charges for attempting to bring marijuana into a prison while serving weekend detention.

Describing his marijuana use as "chronic" in the years leading up the offences, O'Driscoll told the court his ice use began to spiral out of control in 2018 and by the following year he was selling drugs to fund his own addiction.

"I know now that what I did was wrong and I shouldn't have done it in the first place," O'Driscoll said.

Mr Carty told the court his client had spent eight months on remand for the offences listed for sentence before he was granted strict conditional bail, and that his client had remained drug and alcohol free since he was arrested on August 8 last year.

"While I was in custody I used that time to do what it's there for and to get clean and think about what I did and realise my mistakes," O'Driscoll said.

Judge Jeffreys adjourned the matter to be finalised next week.

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