Joshua Rose: Tahmoor drug dealer’s bad driving in Bowral car park leads to arrest

A rural drug dealer was brought down by his bad driving when police busted him with an illegal taser and large quantities of three different drugs divvied up into plastic bags adorned with skulls.

A rural drug dealer was brought down by his own bad driving when police busted him with an illegal taser and large quantities of three different drugs divvied up into plastic bags adorned with skulls.

Joshua Rose, 37, appeared in Picton Local Court on Wednesday to be sentenced after he pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified, driving with drugs in his system, possessing a weapon without a permit, two counts of possessing drugs, and supplying three different types of drugs.

All of the charges were laid on the afternoon of October 21, 2020, when the Tahmoor resident was driving his orange Ford Territory wagon in Bowral.

Joshua Rose has been convicted for driving while disqualified with drugs in his system while he had a weapon and a large stash of drugs in the car. Picture: Adelaide Lang

Police stopped Rose in the car park of the Bowral railway station about 3pm after receiving a call about the owner of the vehicle driving dangerously along Station St, according to the court documents.

A licence check revealed his licence was disqualified in 2016 and he was on a good behaviour bond until August 2022 for a previous driving while disqualified conviction.

Police asked Rose to participate in a roadside test which returned a negative test for alcohol but a positive result for meth.

While police were searching Rose, court documents reveal they found $1950 in cash in his pockets. As they counted the cash, the documents show Rose fled the scene on foot and evaded police for about 20 metres before he was recaptured.

After he ran off, the documents state the officers suspected he was in possession of illegal drugs. Police searched his car and uncovered an illegal taser in the footwell and a black tackle box in a hidden compartment.

When police opened the black tackle box, court documents state they found a huge quantity of drugs in small plastic bags decorated with skulls. Rose admitted to supplying 26.6 grams of meth, 8.9 grams of cocaine, and 11.3 grams of buprenorphine (an opioid used to treat addiction).

Joshua Rose speaking to his lawyer Picture: Adelaide Lang

Rose also admitted to possessing a gram of cannabis and 0.37 grams of party drug MDMA, both of which were found in the box.

The facts note one of the plastic bags was vacuum sealed and labelled ‘8 ball’ in reference to the ounce of cocaine it contained.

Officers seized Rose’s phone and discovered a number of conversations discussing the supply of drugs in which he stated prices and amounts of drugs. Police facts also reveal he used terms such as “green waste” (slang for cannabis) and “bupe injection” (the slang term for buprenorphine).

The police facts state Rose had an extensive history of convictions for drug possession and supply and often travelled from Tahmoor to the Southern Highlands to deal drugs.

Court documents reveal the Tahmoor resident, who is a painter by trade, turned to drugs to deal with a traumatic childhood involving ongoing physical abuse. After the death of his teenage brother and then his sister not long afterwards, Rose used drugs to cope with the loss and depression.

“I had nothing to care about anymore and I kept digging myself deeper and deeper into a black hole of drugs and depression,” he wrote in a statement tendered to the court.

Rose was using heroin and ice daily after he lost his best friend to a car accident and then his brother died last year. Court documents reveal he was selling drugs to support his own heavy habit and the accrued debt.

Joshua Rose was sentenced in Picton Court on February 23. Picture: Adelaide Lang

However, Rose has since engaged in a number of rehabilitation programs as well as mental health counselling to address his long standing grief.

Magistrate Daniel Covington sentenced Rose to an aggregate sentence of 14 months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of eight months. The sentence was backdated so Rose was eligible for parole on Wednesday.

The magistrate also disqualified Rose from driving for seven months and fined him $500.

Court documents show Rose will enter into a residential rehabilitation program immediately.