Bonny Lee Osborne jailed for supplying ice in Goulburn

A young woman has been busted selling meth after police heard her tell a buyer if they didn’t pay up she’d “go around and punch some heads” and boasted about fooling the cops.

A young woman has been jailed for her role in a rural drug ring supplying ice throughout the Goulburn region after she was identified by extensive police phone taps.

Bonny Lee Osborne, 22, appeared via video link in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to three counts of supplying small amounts of prohibited drugs and one charge of possessing an illicit drug.

In September 2020, police identified the Goulburn resident and her de facto partner as being allegedly involved in the supply of drugs in Goulburn and were granted permission to tap their phones.

According to the police facts, officers intercepted more than 70,000 calls and messages and realised a large number of the communications related to supplying, buying and using drugs. Police say drug terms like “point” (which refers to a 0.1 grams of methamphetamine) were rife throughout the messages and accompanied by prices.

Bonny Lee Osborne was jailed for her role in a rural drug ring supplying meth throughout Goulburn. Picture: Facebook

On February 19, Osborne was heard agreeing to supply 0.1 grams of meth for $70 to a regular client. According to the police facts, she went on to tell the buyer to pay or she and her partner would “go around and punch some heads in”.

A few weeks later on March 1, police listened as Osborne agreed to sell the same amount of meth for $100. Police facts show she picked the customer up at his house, went back to her house to get drugs, and then took his bank card to withdraw payment from the ATM.

On March 12, police intercepted a conversation where Osborne was roused from her sleep at 3am to bring 0.2 grams of meth to a customer in a different area of Goulburn.

Police facts show she was stopped by police a week later after she attempted to evade police in the streets and officers found a wallet with her partner’s ID, three packets of Suboxone (a drug used to treat narcotic addiction) and 0.55 grams of the opioid Buprenorphine.

Despite being caught with the drugs, phone taps revealed Osborne thought police had accepted her explanation that she’d picked up the wallet from a friend’s house and hadn’t checked the contents.

Strike Force Koombahla was established to investigate the supply of prohibited drugs in the Goulburn area.

“We both won’t get charged for it because of what I said, they can’t pinpoint on who it was,” she told her partner over the phone.

The Goulburn resident was arrested on April 14 after dawn police raids found her at a house on Churchill St, along with a number of mobile phones, “tick books” showing debtors, and a small amount of cannabis.

Osborne’s lawyer, Joe Weller, told the court his client had been blinded by her love for her partner, who had influenced her to supply drugs.

“When the older man offered her love and affection, she grabbed it with both hands,” he said.

“The older man was the one who was leading this criminal enterprise.”

However, the court heard Osborne intends to continue her relationship with her partner, which Magistrate Geraldine Beattie said had “alarm bells ringing as to what will happen when she gets out.”

She said Osborne was supplying drugs to others to feed her own drug addiction, despite having experienced the effects.

“You know what drugs do to people and yet you’ve still supplied,” the magistrate said.

“You were willing to engage in drug supply … with all the effects that has on the community.”

Police officers located and seized a small amount cannabis during their raid on April 14.

Mr Weller told the court Osborne’s first time in jail had provided a “phenomenal wake up call” about her addiction and her offending.

“She wants to lead not only a clean life but a crime-free life,” he said.

Magistrate Beattie was not convinced.

“I have grave concerns that you’ll fall back into your old ways,” she told the offender.

Osborne was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with a six month non-parole period and fined $900.

Her partner is facing more than 60 charges of supplying drugs in Goulburn. He is still before the courts.