Six people plead guilty after police drug blitz at Snowy Mountains
A man was playing “Russian roulette” when he took MDMA to the NSW ski fields. He was one of eight people charged during a police crackdown on illicit drugs at the snow
Canberra Star
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A magistrate has told a young man he was playing “Russian roulette” with his life after being charged as part of a police blitz on drug use at the Snowy Mountains.
Eight people were charged with drug possession as part of Operation Azure in mid-August when police searched 60 people as they swooped on 13 licensed venues with drug dogs in Jindabyne, Thredbo and Perisher.
Six of them entered guilty pleas at Cooma Local Court on Wednesday including Joshua Kerton, from Victoria, who was caught with two capsules of MDMA at Lake Jindabyne Hotel on August 17.
Magistrate Roger Clisdell spared the 21-year-old a criminal record so he could “grow up and get away from drugs” but told him he had played “Russian roulette” with his young life.
“Would you put a bullet in a gun, put it to your head and pull the trigger after spinning the chamber?” Magistrate Clisdell said.
“How do you know the MDMA you are about to stick down your gob hasn’t been filled with rat poison or … (will lead to) a painful death?
“You take the MDMA and you can dance all night and carry on and drink and scream and yell and you have all the energy of a first-grade footballer in the grand final but the problem is people die.”
Katherine Dodson, of Victoria, was also spared a conviction after pleading guilty to possessing 1.1 grams of cocaine while celebrating her fortieth birthday at a live concert at The Station resort on August 17.
“Cocaine is not quite the same as MDMA so you’re probably not going to die from it in the same way you might die from MDMA but it can play havoc with your sinuses,” Magistrate Clisdell said.
“Don’t make the mistake of doing drugs again because you won’t get a second chance.”
Court documents stated it was the first time Ms Dodson had used cocaine and that she had admitted to having the drug on her at the first opportunity when asked by police.
Mr Kerton and Ms Dodson were handed six month conditional release orders.
Peter Garry Clarke, 25, Christopher Bryan, 22, Branden Riley Ross, 22 and Vaughan Nathaniel Tanner, 26, also entered guilty pleas for drug possession at Cooma Court but did not appear.
The cases of Mr Clarke, who was caught with one capsule of MDMA at Banjo Patterson Inn, and Mr Bryan who was busted with two grams of cocaine at The Station in Jindabyne, were adjourned so they could be heard at their respective local courts at Kempsey and Forster.
Mr Ross, of Noraville, was caught with one gram of cocaine at Thredbo Alpine Hotel but told police the drugs belonged to his girlfriend.
His case was dismissed as was the case of Mr Tanner, from Queensland, who was caught with less than one gram of cocaine and less than two grams of cannabis leaf as he was walking to Lake Jindabyne Hotel.
The other two people charged were dealt with at an earlier date.
In August a special Daily Telegraph investigation revealed rampant illicit drug use among revellers who slay the slopes by day and party hard by night.
A shocking 29 out of 30 drug wipes, which were used to swab the cisterns of toilets and toilet roll dispensers, detected illicit substances at 14 licensed venues in Thredbo and Jindabyne.
In July police seized 384kg of cocaine, worth $144 million, which had been hidden in an excavator shipped from South Africa to Port Botany.
Officers believed some of the record breaking haul was set to blanket the ski fields.
The two Karabar men charged over the failed importation, Adam Philip Hunter and Timothy John Engstrom, remain in custody, have not entered pleas and will next face court on November 4.