Strike Force Gooroa: Former Rebels president John Svidron sentenced for supplying ’ice’
While most dads take their daughters out for ice cream, a former Rebels president has been sentenced for purchasing ‘ice’ off his daughter, who a court heard was his ‘upline supplier’.
Central Coast
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A Central Coast daddy-daughter duo won’t be vying for family of the year any time soon after both received the equivalent of jail terms for the ongoing supply of methylamphetamine.
John Svidron, of Kanwal, faced Wyong Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with goods in custody.
The court heard the 43-year-old was picked up as part of an investigation into the supply of the drug `ice’ across the northern part of the Central Coast by a number of associates including his “upline suppliers” being his daughter and her husband — his son-in-law.
His lawyer, leading criminal solicitor Samar Singh-Panwar, said Svidron was at the “bottom end” of the drug supply hierarchy and he purchased methylamphetamine from his daughter Danica Wigmore-Svidron and her husband Ibrahim Kaya.
The court heard Svidron was a “street level dealer” who supplied drugs to “fund his own addiction”.
However the antecedents in an agreed set of facts states Svidron was a “former president of the Rebels outlaw motorcycle gang with a long history of drug possession”.
“Police allege he is a mid-level supplier of methylamphetamine on the NSW Central Coast sourcing it from his daughter and son-in-law before onselling it to his own customer base to subsidise his Centrelink wage, which doesn’t even account for his rent,” the facts state.
Tuggerah Lakes Police established Strike Force Gooroa in September 2021 and in October obtained warrants to intercept the telephone calls of a number of those under investigation.
The facts state Svidron was captured on recorded phone calls and text messages using code words such as “rock”, “eye”, “prawns” and “bait” to organise the supply of a total of 42.25g of methylamphetamine between October and December 2021.
Svidron was arrested on December 17 in a caravan park at The Entrance North where police seized $4220 in cash.
Mr Singh-Panwar said Svidron should be sentenced in “parity” with his daughter and her husband, who were higher up the supply chain but were younger and had no criminal record.
“It’s all part of the same criminal conduct if I could put it that way,” Mr Singh-Panwar said.
Wigmore-Svidron, 22, and Kaya, 23, of Woongarrah, pleaded guilty to two counts each of supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of crime and were both sentenced in the same court in September to an intensive corrections order (ICO) for 22 months.
An ICO is considered by the court to be the equivalent of a jail sentence but one served in the community.
Magistrate Stephen Olischlager said Svidron’s total supply of 42.24g of methylamphetamine was “clearly a significant amount” and “drugs are a scourge in the community”.
He sentenced Svidron to a 22-month ICO with a condition that he also perform 200 hours of community service work.
He also sentenced Svidron to a community corrections order for 12 months for the goods in custody offence.
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