George Zakou: Port Melbourne painter pinged over ice stash

It’s party over for a Port Melbourne painter turned plug who was pinged with a stash of meth he says was for a buck’s night.

George Zakou has fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court over drug offences. Picture: Facebook

A Port Melbourne painter who was nabbed with a stash of meth he claims was for a buck’s party has escaped a jail sentence.

George Zakou, 38, was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to a community corrections order after he was caught red-handed with 28g of the drug in September 2019.

The addict told police he had “organised those drugs for a buck’s party,” the court heard.

Zakou was also busted for possess cartridge ammunition, driving and theft offences at Camberwell in August 2019.

Zakou’s lawyer said his client had “transformed” his life since 2019 and was working full time as a painter and carer for an unwell and elderly parent.

Zakou has attended cognitive behavioural therapy sessions and has remained abstinent from drugs and offending since 2019, the court heard.

“There’s a dramatically different person to the man you were when you were caught up in drug use back in 2019,” Magistrate Kate Hawkins said.

“While you have relevant prior convictions for dishonesty, they are not extensive.”

Zakou pleaded guilty to charges including possess meth, obtaining property by deception, possessing ammunition, burglary, theft, equipment to make false documents.

He was sentenced to an 18 month corrections order and fined $5000.