Star student cops earful from magistrate after he’s busted with party pills
A high-achieving student has copped a penalty far worse than a school detention after he was hauled before a court to answer a charge of possessing a trafficable quantity of MDMA.
East
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A promising A-grade student has had a dramatic fall from grace after he was hauled before a court to answer drugs charges.
The 16-year-old fronted court today (Jan 22) in front of his tearful mother where he faced a charge of possessing a drug of dependence after he was busted with a more than seven times the trafficable quantity of MDMA late last year.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Michael Kaye told the court the teen was arrested at a northern suburbs train station shortly after midnight on November 24 after protective services officers searched his backpack and found 19.2g of MDMA pills.
The court heard a trafficable quantity of the drug was just 3g.
When questioned by the PSOs about the pills, Sen-Constable Kaye told the court the boy said: “they’re not mine” and he planned to sell them.
Defence lawyer Grace Naug told the court the teen had a loving, stable home life, and his offending was completely “out of character” according to his parents.
“It (the offending) goes against all the values his family have taught him,” she said.
Ms Naug told the court the teen was a highly motivated student who scored top marks on his recent English exam.
He also juggled two part time jobs around his school commitments, she said.
Magistrate Meagan Keogh said the boy appeared to have a promising future ahead of him but she was shocked by the severity of his drugs charge.
“I’m really a bit stuck when I’m thinking about you because it’s a really serious offence,” Ms Keogh said.
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“Are you aware that the offence of drug trafficking, the maximum penalty for that is 15 years? That’s like most of your life to date.
“You don’t know how the pills are made, so you don’t know what’s in them, you don’t know how the people taking them are going to react.”
The teen was sentenced to a 12 month diversion, but Ms Keogh warned him that any further offending would land him back in court and potentially result in a much harsher penalty.