Hayley Kitson: drug dealer learns fate as partner Ryan Smith watches on
With her partner in the public gallery and her children waiting outside the court, the young mum-of-three sobbed in the dock as she was sentenced for her part in a major drug dealing operation.
Macarthur
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A young mother of three charged with supplying MDMA has wept in court as she narrowly avoided going to jail only weeks after her partner was released on parole for the same offence.
Hayley Kitson, 24, was charged with large commercial drug supply in November 2016 for her role in an illicit drug supply syndicate along with her partner Ryan Smith.
The pair were netted at their Woodbine home after a series of police raids across Sydney’s Macarthur region.
Smith was jailed for a maximum five years and three months for his role in the supply and was released on parole last month after two years and three months behind bars.
Judge John Pickering sentenced Kitson at Darlinghurst Court to a two-year jail sentence to be suspended immediately and served as an intensive corrections order.
“It’s not nothing to put a young mother of Aboriginal descent with significant mental health issues, with three children, in custody full time when she is making positive steps towards rehabilitation,” Judge Pickering said.
“Supplying drugs is really serious and people involved in these offences normally go to jail - but everything depends on the material before the court and I’ve come to the view that there is a different way of dealing with it.”
Kitson will be forbidden from using illegal drugs or consuming alcohol for the term of her sentence and will be required to keep engaging with her psychologist.
Her sentence had earlier been deferred in August 2019 to give the court time to review her progress through mental health treatment ahead of sentencing.
Judge Pickering acknowledged the arising difficulty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and particularly to prisoners in full time custody.
“From August last year to March 20, 2020, the world is a different place,” he said.
“There is no authority at the moment but I’m taking into account the looming impact of coronavirus on people in custody, though if they are going to jail they are going to jail.”
Kitson sobbed in the dock when her sentence was finalised and Smith burst into tears in the public gallery as their young children waited outside the court.
“Ms Kitson has learned a hard lesson,” Judge Pickering said.
“I’ve previously sentenced Ryan Smith, I’m pleased to see him out and I wish him the best.”
Kitson spent two months in custody after her initial arrest in 2016.