Lauren Debra Neale sentenced for huge car haul of illicit substances including 15g of meth
A search of the defendant’s car uncovered a huge haul of contraband, including 15g of meth, date-rape drug GBL, and a variety of other substances and paraphernalia, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A Gold Coast woman has been allowed to continue her rehabilitation in the community after pleading guilty to possessing more than 15g of methamphetamine, as well as other illicit substances.
Helensvale woman Lauren Debra Neale, 36, appeared in Brisbane Supreme Court on May 29 this year, where she pleaded guilty to possessing a schedule 1 drug in excess of 2g, and six summary charges.
The offending was detected after police stopped Neale while she was driving at Ashmore on October 7, 2023, and searched her vehicle, according to newly published sentencing remarks of Chief Justice Helen Bowskill KC.
The search uncovered a container inside her handbag containing 6.5g of 1,4-Butanediol, a date-rape drug, while inside a hidden compartment in the vehicle was found four clipseal bags of meth weighing a total of slightly more than 15g, with a purity of about 77 per cent, as well as a vial of GBL (another date-rape drug) and paraphernalia such as a syringe and glass smoking pipe.
The court accepted the drugs were for personal use.
Justice Bowskill told the court Neale had a relevant criminal history, featuring previous entries for possessing dangerous drugs including meth.
Neale had a period between 2020–23, while she was on a probation order, when she was abstinent from substance abuse, but she “came back to using drugs as a result of a relationship breakdown and difficulties with [her] living arrangements”.
However, Justice Bowskill said she was impressed at Neale’s current efforts at rehabilitation.
She had undertaken 15 sessions with QuIHN – the Queensland Injectors Health Network – since September 2023, and began seeing a psychologist in August 2024.
“You have been very intensively engaged with that person and that is an extremely positive step as well,” Justice Bowskill said.
“Since January you have been going every week.
“And I think the reality must be that is what you have got to do to overcome something like this. It is not a quick fix.
“It is a long-term, hard job, but all I can say is good on you for doing what you are doing, and keep trying and do not give up, because it will be worth it in the long run.”
Justice Bowskill said a custodial sentence would undo the hard work Neale had put in.
As such, she sentenced the defendant to two years’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole.
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