Woongarrah: Danica Wigmore-Svidron and Ibrahim Kaya sold `ice’ through Snapchat to fund lifestyle, court hears
A young couple have blamed gambling, a Covid-affected business and family financial stress for why they resorted to selling drugs. But a magistrate ruled it was mainly to fund their “lifestyle”.
Central Coast
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Clean-skins Danica Wigmore-Svidron and Ibrahim Kaya used mobile phone apps such as Snapchat to sell methylamphetamine to fund their lifestyle, a court has heard.
Wigmore-Svidron, 22, and Kaya, 23, faced Wyong Local Court on Monday where they both pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying prohibited drugs and one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime.
A common, agreed set of facts tendered for both offenders states Tuggerah Lakes Police proactive crime team began an investigation into the supply of drugs on the Central Coast in September 2021.
The court heard the young couple were identified through a series of phone taps as selling drugs.
“Wigmore-Svidron and Kaya were working in a joint criminal enterprise sourcing quantities of methylamphetamine which they would then break down into smaller amounts and supply indictable amounts of methylamphetamine,” the facts state.
“Wigmore-Svidron and Kaya conducted their methylamphetamine business through covert applications such as Snapchat.”
The pair were picked up in lawfully recorded telephone conversations selling 14g of methylamphetamine for $3650 on separate occasions on October 12 and 28 and again on November 12.
The couple were arrested at their home at Woongarrah Rd, Woongarrah, on December 17 where police found 28g of methylamphetamine and $12,300 in cash.
They were taken to Wyong Police Station where they both “made admissions to supplying methylamphetamine for financial gain”.
Wigmore-Svidron’s solicitor told the court her client was running a small beautician business, which was failing because of Covid, and members of her family needed money.
She said Wigmore-Svidron had planned to stop selling drugs once her business was back on its feet.
Kaya’s solicitor told the court his client needed money because he was gambling and was driven to “appear successful” financially in the eyes of his family and friends even though he wasn’t.
He said this made Kaya too proud “to go to Centrelink because he held himself out as successful”.
However Magistrate Kirralee Perry said there was no evidence Wigmore-Svidron ever planned to cease the drug trade if her failed beauty business bounced back and that — by their own admissions to police — were motivated to sell drugs to “fund their lifestyle”.
She convicted both and sentenced them to an intensive corrections order (ICO) for 22 months with 200 hours of community service.
An ICO is considered the equivalent of a jail sentence but served in the community.
Magistrate Perry said their young age, no previous criminal record and the fact they spent nearly three months on remand following their arrest — before being granted Supreme Court bail — saw them avoid full-time custody.
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