Hayden Macklin: Daughter’s new ‘dad’ heartbreak led to ice crimes
A Ned Kelly-inspired Cockatoo crim fell into a drug spiral after his little daughter broke his heart uttering the words no dad wants to hear.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A “Such is Life” drug-addicted father relapsed into an ice crime spiral after he heard his young daughter call his ex-partner’s new man “dad”, a court has heard.
Hayden Macklin, who sports a Ned Kelly-inspired tattoo across his chest, had not long been out of jail when he was caught at a Dandenong motel with a stolen motorbike, a knife and a bag of meth.
The Cockatoo 29-year-old pleaded guilty to theft, drug, weapons, disqualified driving and court order breach charges at the online Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
The court heard Macklin booked in for a night at the Comfort Inn in Dandenong at 11pm on January 23 this year.
A witness noticed he rode in on a suspicious-looking black motorbike, and contacted police.
When officers came to check they discovered the bike was stolen so went to Macklin’s room.
He wasn’t there, but the next day police got a call saying Macklin had returned.
This time officers got their man, finding him with a small bag of ice and a large kitchen knife –— which he said was for “cutting rope” — in his room.
At the time he was on an 18-month community corrections order that had been imposed after he finished a 10-month jail term in April last year.
His defence lawyer said her client relapsed into drug use at the end of 2020, and this offending was “a cry for help”.
She said he had been keeping out of trouble and had, until the motel incident, removed himself from the drug scene.
She said he was “severely impacted by his daughter calling (his ex-partner’s) new man ‘dad’” and that’s when things spiralled out of control.
She said he had spent 11 days in custody, had detoxed while on remand and was ready to give the corrections order another go.
But Magistrate Costas Kilias said that amount of time was not long enough.
“It is way too early in the piece; he needs at least a month to six weeks before I could be confident he is in a better condition,” Mr Kilias said.
“There is no magic wand when it comes to methamphetamine, he needs to be realistic if he wants to defeat the demon that is ice addiction.
“He needs to be detoxing for a while longer.”
Macklin was jailed for two months, minus 11 days he had already served, and ordered to restart the corrections order upon release.
