Christopher Bower: man sentenced over cocaine supply

A Canberra tradie who smuggled almost 2kg of cocaine from Sydney to Queanbeyan, and concealed the drugs in a toolbox in a storage shed, has learnt his fate.

A tradie who was busted after smuggling almost 2kg of cocaine from Sydney to Queanbeyan has been sentenced to five years jail.

Christopher Bower, 29, pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited drug, supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and possessing a prescribed restricted substance.

Queanbeyan District Court Justice Robyn Tupman sentenced Bower to five years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and six months.

Ms Tupman read out the agreed facts to the court stating Bower drove from his McGregor ACT residence to Gregory Hills in Western Sydney to pick up two blocks of cocaine.

Bower then drove to a storage unit in East Queanbeyan where he left the drugs concealed in a cognac box which was placed into a toolbox.

The court heard during his offending Bower was accompanied by an employee of his who denied knowing about the drugs and was never charged in relation to the crime.

During a search warrant at Bower’s residence in September 2020 police found a large amount of both Xanax and Valium.

Christopher Alexander Bower, 29, has been sentenced for supplying almost 2kg of cocaine. Picture: Facebook

Following a search of the storage unit, where the drugs and drug paraphernalia were seized, police arrested Bower for his involvement in supplying the large quantity of cocaine on October 30 2020.

Bower has remained in custody ever since.

NSW police estimated the street value of the drugs at $900,000 following the seizure in 2020.

In sentencing Ms Tupman told the court leading up to his offending Bower was struggling with financial and personal issues.

His wife is impacted by multiple chronic illnesses including Crohn’s disease while Bower’s concreting company was suffering due to the strain of Covid-19.

Ms Tupman said she accepted a psychologist report which suggested Bower may have ADHD and Generalised Anxiety Disorder.

The judge said it was likely Bower self medicated with Xanax and Valium and stated while he had a large supply of both drugs there was no evidence to suggest he was trafficking them.

Christopher Alexander Bower, 29, has been sentenced after smuggling almost 2kg of cocaine from Sydney to Queanbeyan. Picture: Facebook

She described Bower’s offending as towards the lower end of objective seriousness, and said the man had expressed genuine remorse for his actions and described him as someone with strong prospects of rehabilitation.

Ms Tupman said while in custody Bower had made efforts to improve himself and remarked he is a “significantly healthier human being than he was at the time of arrest”.

She described his crimes as a “significant fall from grace” and said his time in custody during the pandemic was particularly onerous due to frequent lockdowns.

“During lockdowns prisoners spend up to 20 hours in their cells,” she said.

Bower’s sentence was backdated to October 30, 2020 to account for his time in remand.

He will be eligible for parole on April 29 next year.