Agustin Victor Picca appeals jail sentence after getting caught with more than 50g of cocaine

A Central Coast dad who resorted to selling cocaine to alleviate financial stresses of Covid has appealed his jail sentence.

A concreter who took up drug supply to deal with the financial strains of Covid has managed to avoid jail.

Agustin Victor Picca, of Umina Beach, has successfully appealed his 15 month jail sentence, with a non parole period of nine months, handed down at Gosford Local Court in February.

The father of two pleaded guilty to one count of supply prohibited drug after supplying 6g of cocaine in September 2021. Police also found 57.7g of cocaine in his house.

The 45-year-old, who owns a concreting business, appeared before Gosford District Court on Tuesday where the severity of his sentence was reduced to a 15 month intensive corrections order (ICO). An ICO is the equivalent of a jail sentence served in the community.

Agustin Victor Picca, of Umina Beach, appealed the severity of his sentence.

Mr Picca’s defence tendered a range of outstanding bills, from rates and water to veterinary bills, that Mr Picca and his family were facing to demonstrate their dire financial situation as a result of lockdowns during Covid.

He said Mr Picca, who had no history of drug supply, embarked on supplying cocaine as a “temporary measure” due to financial pressures of Covid and has since undergone counselling.

“His motivation was a temporary fix to a bad financial situation … not to become a heavily invested drug supplier,” he said.

The Crown prosecutor said the bar for extreme financial hardship had not been reached by Mr Picca and pointed out that the future was unknown in terms of whether his finances would improve.

A Central Coast Council rates notice was one of the bills tendered to the court to demonstrate Mr Picca’s financial hardship.

Judge Tanya Bright said a lot of crimes had been committed by financial motivation during Covid.

“The supply of prohibited drugs to people in the community has a serious detrimental effect,” she said.

However she said the court was satisfied that Mr Picca, who now had a full time job, had good prospects of rehabilitation provided he received financial counselling.

“His only motivation was to fix a poor financial situation,” she said.

“I am satisfied that the appellant’s risk of reoffending will be much better addressed if he remains in the community.”

The agreed set of facts has revealed how dashcam footage led to the arrest of Mr Picca.

The facts stated that on September 10 2021 Mr Picca supplied a man with 6g of cocaine at Brooklyn.

Mr Picca drove his ute to a driveway on Brooklyn Rd, parking behind a Toyota Hilux. A man exited the Hilux and headed to the driver’s window of Mr Picca’s vehicle.

“He reached into the accused’s open window with an object in his right hand and walks away with an object in his left hand,” the facts stated.

Mr Picca’s sentence was reduced to an intensive corrections order at Gosford District Court. Picture: David Swift

The man then had a cigarette and conversation with Mr Picca before they both left. At around 4pm that day, Central Coast Highway patrol officers pulled the man over on the M1 at Berowra and found eight resealable bags in a cigarette container containing 6g of white power later confirmed as cocaine.

Police also seized a dashcam from the vehicle which had captured audio and visual footage of the man’s meeting with Mr Picca as well as previous conversations.

On October 8 2021, police carried out a search warrant of Mr Picca’s house in Umina Beach while he was at work. They found two plastic freezer bags containing cocaine in a plastic container in the top drawer of a wardrobe in the guest bedroom. The total weight was 51.77g while police also found more resealable bags, set of scales, handwritten tick list, sling shot and an IPAD.

Later that day Mr Picca went to Gosford Police Station and was arrested. During an interview he told police that he had bought the two bags of cocaine two days earlier for the purpose of making money as he and his wife had been short of cash during the pandemic.