Mohamed Bahouche: Greensborough landscaper’s drug house
A haul of drugs has been seized from a Greensborough home after a police raid, with detectives finding evidence the man living there had been using the property’s mailbox to ply his trade.
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A heap of drugs have been seized from a Greensborough house, with police believing the resident has been dispensing them out of the mailbox.
Mohamed Bahouche faced Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, August 26 after police discovered 26 grams of methamphetamine, more than 350ml of GHB, ecstasy and prescription medication at his home.
The court heard police used a ram to force their way into the house about 10.45am on June 8, finding only Bahouche’s ex-partner, who he lived with, in the hallway.
The methamphetamine was found spread around the house in multiple bags, as well as several bags of ecstasy, prescription tablets, a shot glass filled with GHB and ice pipes.
Police then discovered 350ml of GHB — 150ml in a coke bottle and 200ml in a Johnny Walker bottle — and Bahouche’s ex-partner’s phone in the freezer.
On her phone they found texts from Bahouche asking her to put “drink” in the letterbox for a friend to come and pick up.
He told her the drink could be found in the same place as the other items on top of the TV unit – where police had found a large portion of the drugs.
A stolen electric bicycle and a bicycle believed to have been stolen were also found in the yard.
When police returned to arrest Bahouche on June 11 they found he had another 500ml of GHB and a phone in his bedroom, and confessed to having two phones and a gram of methamphetamine in the living room.
The court heard he refused to give the passcodes to the phone to police, saying all the drugs were for his personal use.
Bahouche had only restarted his third attempt at a community corrections order four months before being arrested.
He pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs.
Lawyer Raj Bhattacharya said his client had lost his landscaping job due to the pandemic and struggled with drug use for more than 20 years and mental health issues.
He noted Bahouche had a limited criminal history before the past two years, and said this offending was a de-escalation from his previous crimes.
Magistrate Denise Livingstone said Bahouche clearly needed help with his drug problems, but putting him on another corrections order would be hopeless unless he changed his tactics and priorities.
She sentenced him to three months’ jail for the June offences, with 76 days having already been served, and three months for breaching a corrections order, minus seven days he’d served previously.
Ms Livingstone ordered one month of each sentence be served concurrently.
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