Richmond safe injecting room worker sentenced for heroin trafficking
A drug support worker who was trafficking heroin while working at the Richmond safe injecting room used the code name ‘Mum’ to sell outside a primary school, a court has heard.
Melbourne City
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An outreach support worker at the Richmond safe injecting room who was selling heroin out the front has appealed his jail term.
Matthew Honey pleaded guilty to trafficking heroin to people around the safe injecting room, his home and a school between September and October last year.
The 50-year-old was sentenced to 12 months behind bars, but immediately appealed and has been released on bail.
The court heard his job was to educate addicts on safe drug use and how to avoid overdose all while selling heroin himself.
Magistrate Kieran Gilligan said Honey managed to undermine the entire aim of the facility while breaching trust of the safe injecting room.
“In my view, your offending involved a gross breach of trust because of your employment at the centre and that aggravates your offending,” he said.
“Your conduct completely undermined and subverted the purposes of the establishment of the
facility.
“You trafficked in the street and outside a primary school.
“It is little wonder that local residents regard your conduct with distaste.”
Using the code name ‘Mum’ another woman would supply him and his co-offender heroin daily to be sold while using his work phone to organise deals with a network of users.
Honey had been a long-time heroin user who had kicked the habit, but relapsed in the six months leading up to his offending.
As part of his bail he must report daily to police, cannot associate with any co-accused, must not use a drug of dependence and cannot go within 50m of the safe injecting room.
The Richmond man will face court next month.
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