Lebanese refugee Bassim Abdul Karim makes meth to soothe trauma
A ‘haphazard’ drug lab hidden away in the suburban street of a seaside NSW town was being used to cook meth for a refugee to escape the trauma he suffered fleeing his war-torn home.
The South Coast News
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A convicted drug manufacturer busted making meth out of a “haphazard” suburban laboratory was self medicating for trauma he suffered fleeing his war-torn home.
Bassim Abdul Karim, 51, cooked about 60g of meth out of his Old Erowal Bay home, near Jervis Bay, until a NSW Police raid in June 2021.
Karim, who was born in Lebanon, pleaded guilty at Nowra District Court on Thursday to manufacturing the meth, possessing precursory materials involved in making the drug, namely about 2kg each of pseudoephedrine and hypophosphorous acid, as well as possessing equipment.
Fleeing from the Lebanese Civil War, Karim settled in Australia with his family as a child, but told a clinical psychologist, whose report was tendered to court, he suffered from post traumatic stress disorder.
In letters addressed to Judge Julia Baly, Karim’s four sisters further detailed the struggles their brother had after emigrating, from language difficulties to mental health challenges that resulted in self-medication.
“It’s clear from the material Karim experienced the horrors of war when in Lebanon,” Judge Baly said.
“One particularly harrowing event, that I will not go into detail about, caused a great deal of struggle.
“He now suffers PTSD following what happened to him and his family.
“He feels a degree of guilt in relation to what happened to them and their lives.”
Despite being caught with more than five times the indictable quantity of meth, Judge Baly agreed with lawyer Denis Stewart that the drug was not being used for profit or resale, but exclusively for personal use.
“There is no evidence of any dissemination into the community of methamphetamine,” Judge Baly said.
“The Crown submits Karim was engaged in a commercial process, but the photos show quite the opposite.
“It was a rudimentary process, there is no sophistication. It was haphazard.
“He was clearly manufacturing the methamphetamine for his own use.”
Karim had been under the belief that by manufacturing the meth himself, he could do so to a higher quality.
Despite the large amount of precursory material, the was no evidence he had made any further batches.
Judge Baly told Karim, who appeared via AVL from the Mid North Coast Correctional Facility in Kempsey, that while his offending fell around the “low range”, he was not entitled to leniency because of prior drug charges.
In 2013, Karim was convicted of possessing a prohibited drug and manufacturing equipment.
Three years later, he was sentenced to almost three years in jail for further drug offences.
Despite a significant period of drug use following the death of his father in 2019, Karim was, Judge Baly said, now drug free and had good prospects for rehabilitation with support from his large family.
Judge Baly sentenced Karim to three years and one month in jail.
He will be eligible for parole from February 2023, with a finding of “special circumstances”.
In sentencing, admissions of guilt to two additional charges were taken into account, including possession of another 7g of meth and 2.5kg of iodine, another substance used in the manufacturing of the drug.
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