Jermaine Piana: Oak Flats mum avoids more jail time after $65K ‘pokie win’ ice haul found
A mum-of-two broke down in tears after escaping extra jail time after she was busted dealing drugs, including ice and cocaine, twice in the space of four months.
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An Oak Flats woman will be released from jail on Tuesday after she was found with 13 grams of ice - which she claimed she’d bought after a $65,000 pokie win.
Jermaine Lucy Piana, 30, faced Wollongong Local Court for sentencing from a jail cell at Mary Wade Correctional Centre on Tuesday, where Magistrate Jillian Kiely sentenced her to a two-year intensive correction order, noting she had suffered from drug addiction and was supplying drugs to support her own habits.
“She was appropriately described as a user dealer,” she said.
“Since being in custody, she has to her credit, undertaken a significant amount of programs to assist in her rehabilitation.”
Piana has spent more than five months in jail, after she was busted dealing drugs twice in the space of just four months.
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to a raft of drug supply charges earlier this year, after she was stopped by police at Mt Warrigal on December 12 2019.
According to court documents, police spotted Piana’s Holden Cruze parked on Chapman Ave late that evening and pulled her over.
Noticing her “fidgety hands and rapid breathing” police searcher her car and handbag and found 4.7g of cocaine, 0.27g of heroin and 12 LSD tablets weighing 0.13g, as well as $800 cash.
In the footwell of the Holden Cruze, police also uncovered a container with almost 14 grams of meth stashed inside.
According to the documents, Piana told police she was a “heavy drug user” and had suffered from substance abuse issues for the past 10 years.
The 30-year-old told police she’d bought the meth in bulk after a $65K pokie win, because she used the drug daily.
However, was charged her with two counts supply prohibited drug, four counts of possess prohibited drug, and one count of deal with proceeds of crime, to which she pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
She was released on conditional bail following the incident but reverted back to her old ways shortly after.
Documents reveal police raided Piana’s Oak Flats home on March 11, finding cocaine, MDMA, meth and panadeine forte that she didn’t have a prescription for.
Several notebooks were also located which contained names of different people with lists of various values from $100 to $10,000 beside them.
She was additionally charged with deal with proceeds of crime, possession of equipment for administering prohibited drugs, five counts of supply prohibited drug and owner/ occupier knowingly allow use as drug premises.
Piana has been in custody since, however on Tuesday was released, with Magistrate Kiely noting her offending had been during a “cycle of drug addiction”, and that she did not have a criminal history until she started using drugs.
“It’s clear she has addiction issues,” she said. “Her letter (to the court) sets out her remorse and shame and that she’s let her children down.”
As part of her sentence, Piana will also be required to undertake 100 hours community service and drug and alcohol counselling.
The mum-of-two broke down in tears when magistrate Kiely explained she’d be released from custody on September 1, saying: “thank you so much”.