Briana Ioannides pleads guilty to possessing an illegal pistol and stolen goods
Disgraced Gold Coast lawyer Briana Ioannides has pleaded guilty to two charges after appearing in court via a videolink from prison today.
Crime and Court
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A FORMER criminal lawyer for a boutique Gold Coast firm jailed for drug offending has faced court from prison, pleading guilty to possessing an illegal pistol and stolen goods.
Briana Christine Ioannides, 30, was previously sentenced for trafficking and a raft of other drug offences.
Her offending involved ice (methamphetamines), heroin, MDMA, GHB and steroids, and she was also convicted of weapon and property crimes.
Ioannides, who previously worked for Gatenby Criminal Lawyers, faced Southport Magistrates Court over videolink from prison on Wednesday.
She pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a pistol and possession of tainted property, including stolen clothing and bags.
Ioannides’s trouble with drugs began in 2015, when she dealt illicit substances at a street and wholesale level after meeting a new boyfriend, the Supreme Court was previously told.
On Wednesday, police prosecutor Sergeant Kasey Lowe detailed the offences still before the court.
She said Gold Coast police officers raided a Bundall home on November 24, 2015.
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Ms Lowe said officers found a loaded shotgun – which Ioannides was not charged over – and a pistol in a room she shared with a man.
“A search of the bedroom that the defendant and (the man) share together located a loaded shotgun under the bed,” she said.
“There was actually a serviceable pistol located within the room shared by the defendant and (the man), in addition to that shotgun.”
Ioannides refused to be interviewed and was subsequently charged.
Ms Lowe said on February 6, 2016 police tracked stolen goods to a unit where Ioannides and a man were staying.
Police discovered the victim’s wallet alongside purses, handbags and 12 items of clothing, the court was told.
Defence lawyer Chris Hannay told the court the clothing did not fit Ioannides and the pistol was “certainly not used by her”.
He said Ioannides entered a guilty plea for “economic and other reasons”, after submissions were rejected by the prosecution.
Ioannides was a “sought after criminal lawyer in her day prior to being involved in drugs” and getting caught in a “vicious cycle”, Mr Hannay said.
Mr Hannay said Ioannides was a “model prisoner” after distancing herself from the drug ice and was one of only four inmates at her prison involved in an assistance dog program.
Magistrate Jane Bentley convicted Ioannides but did not punish her further, considering her ongoing jail-term.
Ioannides will be eligible for parole on February 20, 2021.
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