Raiwhara Winikerei sentenced for commercial drug supply

A crane operator started taking illegal drugs to self medicate his chronic pain after he was injured at work before he started selling GBL to fund his habit.

Raiwhara Winikerei, 43, was sentenced in Downing Centre District Court on Friday for two sets of seven serious drug supply charges in 2018 and 2019. Picture: Facebook

A father-of-four has been jailed for six years after his “life spiralled of control” and into drug use when he started self-medicating for chronic pain following two workplace injuries.

Raiwhara Winikerei, 43, was sentenced in Downing Centre District Court on Friday for two sets of seven serious drug supply charges in 2018 and 2019.

The Woodcroft man was sentenced to a total of six years in prison with a non-parole period of three years.

Agreed facts tendered to court said on August 4, 2018 police searched Winikerei’s vehicle which had been left unattended after he was taken to hospital as a result of a suspected drug overdose.

Police seized 931.3g of GBL in varying amounts inside a large glass bottle, smaller metal container and glass jar along with 5.94g of meth in resealable bags in a bum bag along with 7.1g of cannabis leaf in a plastic bag in the centre console.

Raiwhara Winikerei was sentenced in Downing Centre District Court.

Winikerei’s mobile phone showed messages with multiple people discussing selling drugs.

A year later, Winikerei, who was on bail for the 2018 offences, was stopped in Kingsgrove about 12am after he failed to use an indicator when making a turn out of a carpark and his wife was also in the car.

Police seized a 1.125 litre Johnny Walker Red Label bottle containing 1176.9 grams of GBL, four clear bottles with various labels of a total 27.8g of GBL, $760 cash, two glass pipes, a bag of light brown powder of 1.03g of MDMA, 4.65g of meth in plastic containers and 1.2g of cannabis leaf.

Winikerei, who is married and has four children, told a sentencing report writer he was “humiliated” having let down his family.

The court heard Winikerei, had only completed Year 6 at school, and had a traumatic upbringing in New Zealand before his family moved to Australia.

Winikerei is a qualified carpenter and a crane driver but in 2013 he suffered two workplace accidents where he injured his back, hip and knee, and that started his anti-social lifestyle with his led to his “life spiralling out of control” when he took illegal drugs to self medicate the pain.

The injuries arose from falls through a roof, with the first causing a massive tear in his quad muscle and injury to his back and he couldn’t walk for a couple of days.

The second injury meant that he could not walk or work for six months and surgery would cost more than $100,000.

Winikerei told the court the drugs allowed him to continue to work and provide for his family, adding he was “ashamed” he hurt his loved ones and the family had lost their home.

He admitted to having a “fully big habit and was 100 per cent addicted” at the time of the offences.

Winikerei said he was now clean, and become physically stronger and was addressing his mental health issues while in prison.

Judge Phillip Mahony accepted Winikerei was remorseful and took full responsibility.

The court heard he suffered from severe depression and anxiety, had PTSD and a substance use disorder and chronic pain disorder.

Judge Mahony said he recognised it was “no small thing to overcome and rehabilitate from an addiction to such highly addictive illicit drugs, particularly in this case where that addiction arose through a perceived desire for pain relief for serious work injuries suffered by the offender”.

Winikerei has been in custody on remand for 745 days and he will be eligible for release to parole on August 23 next year.