18 meth mums across Qld courts, Logan, Mackay, Gladstone, Ipswich, Rockhampton
It’s dangerous, anti-social and illegal, but these Queensland mums are still turning to methamphetamine, and are being busted for it. Here are the wild rides that led them there.
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Methamphetamine is one of the biggest contributors to anti-social behaviour and is highly prevalent across all southeast Queensland courts.
Meth use is seen in many mothers across the state and a Judge warned an Ipswich court this year of the extreme damage the drug has on the community.
“All of us understand the enormous damage that methamphetamine in particular does in the community, many sad tales are told in the walls of these courtrooms on account of the use and addiction to that drug,” said Judge Dennis Lynch.
Here we look at 19 mothers across Queensland who were in court for meth in 2023.
Convictions were recorded for all defendants.
Peta Caitlin Pearson
The former partner of an accused drug trafficker has faced court for her knowledge of drugs stashed in the car she was driving.
Peta Caitlin Pearson, pregnant with her first child, pleaded guilty on March 24 in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton to 14 charges including two counts of possessing more than two grams of a schedule 1 drug and six counts of possessing dangerous drugs.
The court heard that during the search, police found less than 2g of meth in a safe, a container with less than 0.1g of meth in it, and a clip-seal bag also containing less than 0.1g of meth.
Justice Graeme Crow said police located 19 clip seal bags of MDMA, one of cocaine, one of methamphetamines and a bag of marijuana, along with $18,000 cash and drug paraphernalia including a tick sheet in the vehicle.
He sentenced Pearson to three years prison with immediate parole.
Felicity Koffal
A meth addict mum has been locked up after a court heard she continued to supply drugs within months of being granted immediate parole for similar offending.
Mount Tarampa mother Felicity Ann Koffal, 38, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on February 21, 2023, to 25 counts of supplying dangerous drugs, one count of possessing a thing used in the commission of a crime (a mobile phone), and possessing utensils or pipes.
The court heard Koffal had engaged in low street-level drug dealing between July 20 and November 8, 2021.
Koffal was sentenced to a head sentence of 18 months imprisonment, with immediate parole eligibility.
Chloe Victoria Smith
She traded luxury cars and designer tastes for matching faded prison greens after this glamorous beauty salon owner began helping out her boyfriend’s successful meth trafficking business.
Beautiful, blonde, newly 30 and a sought-after lash technician, Chloe Victoria Smith will spend eight months of her next decade in jail and away from her three children.
The TikToker pleaded guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to trafficking, two counts of aggravated drug possession in excess of 2g and four counts of supplying dangerous drugs,
Smith was sentenced to eight months prison.
Selena Christine Stevens
A court north of Brisbane has heard how a former nail technician from Petrie, who was already on probation, stole food and a birthday card from an IGA, before police found her drug stash.
Selena Christine Stevens, 21, appeared in the Redcliffe Magistrates Court on September 11, charged with fail to take care and precautions in respect of needle and syringe, obstruct police officer, two counts of possessing dangerous drugs, breach of bail and unauthorised dealing with shop goods.
Police found a handbag containing four used syringes, nine clip seal bags, one containing 0.2 grams of methamphetamine.
Magistrate Mark Bucknall sentenced Stevens, who pleaded guilty, with a 15 month extension to her existing probation.
Tracey Anne Bills
A former police officer’s daughter, who spent 30 years as a slave to methamphetamines, has now been 11 months clean with the help of Queensland’s first purpose built, State Government funded residential rehab.
Tracey Anne Bills, 47, shared her powerful story outside Rockhampton Magistrates Court where details of her pre-rehab crimes and incredible recovery were read out this week.
She pleaded guilty on July 10 in Rockhampton court to 11 charges including serious assault of a police officer (she had grabbed one officer by the throat), obstruct police, public nuisance, unlawful moving of tobacco, possessing a knife in a public place, refusing to provide a specimen roadside and also at the hospital, drug driving and driving unlicensed.
Rockhampton resident on an 18-month probation order, fined her $1000 and disqualified her from driving for seven months with convictions recorded.
Nishanthi Maree Csont
A Mackay mother was told her honest admissions to police were her saving grace after she stashed drugs inside of a washing machine.
Nishanthi Maree Csont was found with 2.499g of methamphetamine in a bag during a police stop on March 11, 2021.
The next day she admitted the bag was hers.
Mackay Supreme Court heard the 34 year old was placed on a good behaviour order only to then breach it weeks later on May 4.
Csont pleaded guilty to possessing a banned substance, supplying dangerous drugs, possessing dangerous drugs, and possessing dangerous drugs exceeding two grams.
She was sentenced to 15 months’ jail with immediate parole for excessive possession, and convicted but not further punished for the other charges.
Hannah Jane Quant
A Central Queensland mother who began using meth again once she was released from prison after serving jail time for possessing $55,000 in drugs was sentenced to parole only when she was busted with 8.42g of pure meth in an 11g substance.
Hannah Jane Quant, 33, had $3105 cash in her wallet when police raided her Boyne Island home on October 13, 2022, the Supreme Court in Rockhampton heard on January 15, 2024.
Quant pleaded guilty to possessing more than two grams of a schedule one drug, possessing a used glass pipe, possessing Australian currency suspected to be the proceeds of a drug crime and possessing property suspected of being used in a drug crime
Justice Crow sentenced her to three years prison with immediate parole.
Leanne Jade Hartigan
A Rockhampton grandmother with a seven-page criminal record, who was busted with more than eight grams of methamphetamines while on parole for supplying drugs, avoided jail after fronting court.
Rockhampton Supreme Court heard Leeanne Jade Hartigan, 47 was on parole when police raided a Norman Gardens unit on July 13, 2022.
There, they found 11.221 grams of “crystal substance” later revealed to be 8.49g of pure meth worth $4500-$5500 along with used syringes and digital scales.
She was sentenced to three years in jail, wholly suspended for an operational for five years.
Hartigan was also placed on probation for three years.
Jodi Kareen Huls
After a series of tragic life events caused an Ipswich mum-of-six to turn to meth, a court heard she was compelled to turn her life around after her daughter’s suicide.
Aged care worker Jodi Kareen Huls, 40 of Forest Lakes, pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court to supplying dangerous drugs in July 2021 after police discovered she had engaged in a bizarre trade with a friend, where she gave him a small amount of cannabis in exchange for meth.
The addiction ultimately resulted in Huls becoming estranged from her six children aged between five and 21, but in March 2022, her adult daughter tragically took her own life, prompting Huls to kick the drug habit for good.
She was sentenced to two years probation.
Rachel Palmer
A meth-dealing mum of four has avoided spending any time behind bars after she supplied the highly addictive drug in multiple street-level deals.
Mackay woman Rachel Palmer “acted as an intermediary” when she provided methamphetamines five times over about two and a half weeks in October 2022.
Palmer pleaded guilty to seven charges including five counts of supplying dangerous drugs, and one count each of possessing dangerous drugs and possessing anything used in the commission of a crime.
Palmer was jailed for 12 months with an immediate parole release date.
De-Elle Shae Randall
Randall, 27, appeared in custody in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton on December 21 where she pleaded guilty to charges including six counts of supplying dangerous drugs and trafficking.
The court heard that Randall was a passenger in a Rockhampton-bound vehicle which police stopped and searched on the Bruce Highway at Koumala, on December 9, 2022.
The court was told that police had intelligence that Randall was dealing amphetamine, methamphetamine and cocaine at East Street in Rockhampton.
She was sentenced to three years’ jail with immediate parole eligibility.
Chantelle Leigh Pike
Mother-of-two Chantelle Leigh Pike pleaded guilty in Mackay Supreme Court to possessing and supplying dangerous drugs.
The deal was set for December 3, 2022 on a Mackay street, but patrolling police had spotted the buyer, who was a man known to them, beforehand.
Pike’s car was searched and four clip seal bags were found containing more than three grams of methamphetamine.
In total, the four bags contained more than 3 grams of methamphetamine.
She was jailed for 18 months with immediate parole release.
Sophie Clare Sweetland
Police had 24-year-old Sophie Clare Sweetland and her boyfriend on their radar, a court heard.
And then on the afternoon of April 18 last year, officers executed a search warrant at the young mother’s Buchanen Street home at Boyne Island in the Gladstone region, that would turn her life upside down.
In the District Court at Gladstone on February 27, Sweetland, now 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying methamphetamine, possessing drug utensils, and contravening an order.
The court heard police saw that on January 25, Sweetland told a customer that her boyfriend, allegedly, “could do a half ball if you need”.
There was then a discussion between Sweetland and the customer which led to her supplying 1.75g of methamphetamine to that person for an unknown price.
She was sentenced to nine months’ jail with immediate parole.
Tiffany Jayne Whitechurch
A Central Queensland couple has “been to hell and back” helping their daughter who became addicted to methamphetamines and was coerced into dealing the illicit substance by her supplier.
Tiffany Jayne Whitechurch, 26, was supported by her parents Grant and Michelle in Rockhampton District Court when she was sentenced for four drug supply charges, two of possessing drugs and one of possessing anything used in supplying drugs.
Whitechurch was busted possessing meth and marijuana on November 22, 2021.
The four meth supplies of 0.5 grams, seven grams, 0.5 grams and 0.2 grams, took place in September and October, 2021.
Whitechurch was sentenced 18 months prison, wholly suspended and operational for two years.
Billie May Williams
Billie May Williams were arrested following a raid at an Andergrove home on September 9, 2022 when information on their respective phones revealed their drug dealing efforts.
Mackay District Court heard there were four counts of meth dealing against Williams, then 24, over two days, including three actual supplies and an offer to supply.
The court heard Williams, now 26 and a young mother, had been attending Lives Lived Well, was committed to making positive changes and had supplied a number of negative drug screens.
Williams was jailed for 15 months with immediate parole.
Bianco Leigh Serio
A mum became a trafficker’s sidekick – collecting debts, passing on information and supplying dangerous drugs, to feed her own addiction.
Rockhampton Supreme Court heard Bianca Leigh Serio trafficked methamphetamine across the Rockhampton region between November 20, 2020 and February 1, 2021.
Serio pleaded guilty on April 20 for trafficking dangerous drugs, possessing a thing used in connection with trafficking dangerous drugs, contravening order about device information from digital device, possessing dangerous drugs and two counts of supplying dangerous drugs.
She was sentenced Serio to three years’ jail with immediate parole and declared 129 days of pre-sentence custody as time already served.
Shelly-Ann McShane
An Agnes Water mum who developed a series of codewords to sell drugs to friends and family has avoided jail.
Shelly-Ann McShane pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking dangerous drugs in the Bundaberg Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The court was told the 34 year old had been dealing in “low-level trafficking” over an eight-month period between 2018 and 2019 in Agnes Water to friends and family.
McShane’s profits during the eight month period was difficult to calculate, as she made several cash sales and used the drugs herself.
She was sentenced to three years’ prison with immediate parole.
Danielle Louise O’Brien
A Logan mother whose son drove over a young police officer and tragically died in the Beenleigh Watchhouse last year, was caught by police with a shotgun and 5g of methamphetamine stashed up her bum.
On September 14, 2023 in Crestmead the 43-year-old mother of three was found with a shotgun and ammunition in her car.
Police also located 5g of methamphetamine stored up the Crestmead woman’s bum on August 13, which had an estimated purity of 75 per cent.
O’Brien pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs exceeding schedule three, authority needed to use explosives, possession of utensils or pipes and two charges of unlawful possession of a weapon.
She was sentenced to 18 months prison, wholly suspended for an operation period of two years, she had already served 133 days of pre-sentence custody.
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