Julie Mead pleads guilty to possessing knives and cannabis
A Gippsland woman busted with knives and cannabis in her car and handbag has blamed a catastrophic reason for her offending. Here’s what happened in court.
Bass Coast News
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A Gippsland woman caught with knives and cannabis in her car, has blamed the bushfires in Bairnsdale for her offending.
Julie Mead, 50, pleaded guilty in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates court to charges including possessing a controlled weapon without lawful excuse, possessing a drug of dependence namely cannabis, driving without a licence and retaining goods knowing the goods were stolen.
The court heard on January 18, 2020 police found Mead sitting in the front driver’s seat of her car in a laneway in Morwell.
Mead’s car had a stolen number plate on the rear and she was seen removing items from her handbag and placing them under her front seat.
Police conducted a search of the car and located two zip lock bags that contained cannabis.
Police also found a folding knife in her handbag and a kitchen knife in her boot.
Mead told the police she carries the folding knife for protection as she walks alone at night.
Mead’s lawyer Chloe Frantz said at the time of the offending, she was evacuating from the fires near Bairnsdale.
“She has thrown everything in the car and she has taken off,” Ms Frantz said.
“She has forgotten she has the weapons in her purse”.
Ms Frantz said Mead carried the weapons as a means to “look after herself”.
Mead said she “saw the fires coming over the back of the hill” and she “didn’t know what to do”.
“I made a mistake,” she said.
Magistrate Jacinta Studham said the 50-year-old “seemed a bit displaced” at the time of the offending.
“Obviously there was some chaos going on in [her] life at that time with the fires”.
Mead was given an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour for a period of 12 months.
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