Nervous, sweating Christian Soto-Santander had only been out of jail a few days when caught with ice and GHB
A Cranbourne man had just got out after spending close to a year in jail but thought it wise to get in taxi late at night and go and buy drugs. But his panicky perspiration gave him away to police.
South East
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A “nervous and sweating” drug-abusing curfew breaker had only been out of jail for nine days when he was nabbed in a cab late at night with ice and a bottle of GHB in his bumbag.
Christian Soto-Santander was a back seat passenger in a taxi pulled over by police for a random curfew check at 10.20pm on September 2 on Stud Rd in Dandenong.
They noticed he was sweating profusely and looking very nervous, so searched him.
Inside his black bumbag officers found four deal bags of ice and a small plastic bottle of GHB.
He was arrested but gave a “no-comment” interview.
The Cranbourne West 31-year-old pleaded guilty to drug possessions and curfew breach charges at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
His defence lawyer told the court Soto-Santander had been given a straight 12-month jail sentence last September but was released on August 24 this year.
She said he had got out earlier than expected because of COVID-19 emergency management days he had accrued.
She said he didn’t have any post-release plans in place and was homeless for a few days but then found some accommodation with a friend in Cranbourne West.
She said he had found it difficult adapting to the coronavirus-19 world and relapsed into drug use.
She said the ice and GHB he was found with were for personal use and he regretted the “thoughtless and spontaneous” decision to go and buy drugs.
She said substance abuse had “coloured much of his life” since he first took ice at the age of 14, and he had been using more lately to deal with the grief of losing his son in a drowning accident in 2014.
Magistrate Julie O’Donnell said Soto-Santander had already spent one night in the cells and warned him continuing down the same path would inevitably result in longer stints behind bars.
“You ended up back in custody very quickly,” Ms O’Donnell said.
“It was always likely if you are out past curfew you would be apprehended.
“You need to hear you are in very dangerous territory.”
Soto-Santander was convicted and fined $600.
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