Zara Lees: Sydney mum sentenced for dealing cocaine in eastern suburbs

An aspiring lawyer didn’t realise the job she signed up for was dealing drugs around Sydney’s glitzy eastern suburbs until the day she was busted, a court has heard. But that was not the only crime she committed.

A single Sydney mother and aspiring lawyer who needed to find work was told by her friend: “I have a job”.

A court heard Zara Lauren Lees soon learned that job was dealing cocaine across Sydney’s glitzy eastern suburbs — and no small amount.

The day Lees discovered what the work entailed was her first day on the job. Lees got into the driver’s seat of her Toyota Camry with her friend in the passenger seat and nearly 24g of cocaine hidden behind the panel of the front door’s armrest.

It was also the day police busted them, making Lees’ first drug run her last, Waverley Local Court heard.

The 21-year-old single mother from Rosehill in Sydney’s west initially pleaded not guilty to supplying more than an indictable but less than a commercial amount of cocaine, being 23.89g, as well as dealing with the proceeds of crime worth $1,000. She also pleaded not guilty to driving with an illicit drug in her system, being THC.

But she changed those pleas to guilty before being sentenced for them on Wednesday.

According to agreed facts, Lees and her friend — a co-accused — were stopped in her car by police doing drug and alcohol testing at Rawson Rd, Vaucluse, at 6:10pm on November 27 last year.

Zara Lauren Lees (left) leaves Waverley Local Court with her lawyer after facing a drug supply charge.

Lees appeared nervous, with her hands fidgeting and having a slight tremor.

She told police she was driving her friend around as she does hair braiding — but police soon found the cash and cocaine stashed behind the front door’s armrest panel and knew that was not the case.

Lees’ lawyer, Jessica Kells-Spartalis, told the court her client could not afford childcare, and in desperation, accepted her friend’s offer to deal drugs.

Magistrate Clare Farnan said she was caught with a “significant” quantity of cocaine and could not be treated as immediately remorseful given her initial not guilty plea.

“She was involved in the offending for financial gain, having trouble making ends meet,” Magistrate Farnan said.

“This, in combination with her own drug use of cannabis, contributed to her offending. She’s since been granted bail and has undertaken counselling as she suffers from depression and anxiety.”

The court heard Lees worked in a legal office before becoming pregnant and wanted to complete legal services studies.

She was convicted of the drug supply, proceeds of crime and drug driving offences and sentenced to 11 months imprisonment to be served in the community by way of an intensive corrections order.